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I want to GAIN weight ... how to do it?

Mike d

Mike d

Expert
Messages
7,994
Location
Australia
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
idiots who will not learn
Hi guys

Question if I may. All's tracking well with my readings etc etc and when I was first diagnosed in June I was 90 kilos (near 200 pounds). WAY too heavy but that's from a few years of laziness. I wanted to get down to around 80 (on the doc's advice and what I felt was closer to my ideal weight when younger) which I did in quick time ... say around mid August.

I still walk after work and on weekends (not as much as I did) and my work (which I'm leaving tomorrow) saw me ascending / descending five flights of stairs perhaps around 10 - 15 times a day.

I was pretty surprised when weighing my self this morning to discover I'm down to 77 (170 pounds) which I'm now feeling is WAY too much as I'm 6 feet tall. In any event, I want to put some weight back on (say 3 to 4 kilos max) and leave it at that.

Any suggestions re the right foods / snacking etc etc that will see me stack on some pounds ?

Thanks people :)

Mike
 
Mike D said:
Hi guys

Question if I may. All's tracking well with my readings etc etc and when I was first diagnosed in June I was 90 kilos (near 200 pounds). WAY too heavy but that's from a few years of laziness. I wanted to get down to around 80 (on the doc's advice and what I felt was closer to my ideal weight when younger) which I did in quick time ... say around mid August.

I still walk after work and on weekends (not as much as I did) and my work (which I'm leaving tomorrow) saw me ascending / descending five flights of stairs perhaps around 10 - 15 times a day.

I was pretty surprised when weighing my self this morning to discover I'm down to 77 (170 pounds) which I'm now feeling is WAY too much as I'm 6 feet tall. In any event, I want to put some weight back on (say 3 to 4 kilos max) and leave it at that.

Any suggestions re the right foods / snacking etc etc that will see me stack on some pounds ?

Thanks people :)

Mike
Click to expand...

My comments would be that your current height/weight ration leaves you still in the upper half of the "Healthy Weight" on the BMI range. (61.9 - 83.9kg), so there is unlikely to be any clinical concern with your weight. You have lost your weight relatively quickly, and my own experince suggests it takes our more mature bodies a little while to catch up with itself when we have lost weight. By that I mean the skin takes a little while to settle into our slimmer selves, and of course it take us longer to used to looking different.

I'm curious to know whether you weighed yourself because you felt too thin, or weighed, as a matter of course, and were then shocked to discover further weight loss, which, in turn then made you feel you had gone too far? I think that's perhaps important.

I note you are about to leave a job which has you pretty active on the stairs. You don't say if you are moving forward onto something equally active or if you will be more sedentary.

Me? I might make that mental note, and task myself with eating really well, moving forward, but reminding myself I am no longer in weight loss mode, so ensuring I was eating enough. When I wanted to stop losing weight (and it took a while to get the balance, so I appreciate your dilemma), I firstly upped portions in general a little. I then added a bit of cheese, and latterly a few peanuts with my lunch. Over time, I seem to have just about managed it.

If your activity levels are about to drop a bit, because of your work changes, then that may in itself take care of your issue. Perhaps to try to gain weight at a time when you may become a bit more sedentary could have a double impact.

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey,............................ As my good old Dad would have said.

Well done on the loss though. It's to be commended.
 
jack412 said:
How is your blood glucose?
did you lose weight by reduced calories or reduced carbs?
Click to expand...

I suspect both Jack :)

Blood glucose levels are fine. Calories (not sure) and carbs (I suspect) down as well.

Here's my daily routine

Brekkie - Avocado and one beef mince pattie (lean) When at home, an omelet with beef mince

Lunch - four slices of lean turkey breast inside a sandwich of 6 lettuce leaves.

Dinner - Lean fillet steak x 2 (or beef patties x 2 or 3) with a generous serve of vegetables (cauliflower / snap peas / broccoli).

Just get the feeling that it isn't enough.

No snacking, no biscuits, no breads, no pastries, no pasta, no bacon, no cereal (I'm lactose intolerant to some degree)

Thanks mate

Mike
 
AndBreathe said:
My comments would be that your current height/weight ration leaves you still in the upper half of the "Healthy Weight" on the BMI range. (61.9 - 83.9kg), so there is unlikely to be any clinical concern with your weight. You have lost your weight relatively quickly, and my own experince suggests it takes our more mature bodies a little while to catch up with itself when we have lost weight. By that I mean the skin takes a little while to settle into our slimmer selves, and of course it take us longer to used to looking different.

I'm curious to know whether you weighed yourself because you felt too thin, or weighed, as a matter of course, and were then shocked to discover further weight loss, which, in turn then made you feel you had gone too far? I think that's perhaps important.

I note you are about to leave a job which has you pretty active on the stairs. You don't say if you are moving forward onto something equally active or if you will be more sedentary.

Me? I might make that mental note, and task myself with eating really well, moving forward, but reminding myself I am no longer in weight loss mode, so ensuring I was eating enough. When I wanted to stop losing weight (and it took a while to get the balance, so I appreciate your dilemma), I firstly upped portions in general a little. I then added a bit of cheese, and latterly a few peanuts with my lunch. Over time, I seem to have just about managed it.

If your activity levels are about to drop a bit, because of your work changes, then that may in itself take care of your issue. Perhaps to try to gain weight at a time when you may become a bit more sedentary could have a double impact.

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey,............................ As my good old Dad would have said.

Well done on the loss though. It's to be commended.
Click to expand...

Thanks Keep calm :)

I guess I felt a little thin and maybe weak ... Good advice mate :) I did not expect it, but it does explain a general feeling of not being as bouncy as I have been in the last few weeks. I love my sleep (always have) but began to feel a little "pumped" like I needed some food.

Yep, I'm retiring to the States but I intend to keep up with a reasonable exercise program, effectively anything that balances health versus energy.

What you surrender for this I can take .... if the results are good, then I win :)

My grateful thanks

Time for me to retire for dinner :)

All the best

Mike
 
My guess is not enough fats/oils, the lean steak tells it all :)
healthy fats, no trans fats like marge etc or grain oils,

get full fat everything, meat fats, real butter, olive and coconut and other fruit/nut oils
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf it’s a long page and a video
 
No bacon? Are you mad, man?

Seriously, though, Mike, your food intake does look a bit scant to be honest, for someone who is quite active. If you are feeling hungry, you quite possibly are. I might be inclined to consider increasing your fats a bit too. I don't subscribe to bulletproof coffee or slices of cheese with butter. The thought make my tummy flip. But, adding a quality dressing to my salad, or a little butter to veg, and leaving some fat on lamb or pork chops, or even on your steak will probably give you more energy and it tastes sooooo good! Similarly, bacon and egg for breakfast is fab, from time to time.

I don't know where you are at the moment, but if it's dinner time, it's clearly somewhere antipodean (to UK), but if you are about to go through a real upheaval; moving to the States, again I would probably want to have a great big think about how you're going to handle that. Your routine will be disrupted and new routines will need to be established.

All of the foregoing again, I might be inclined to keep the changes to the minimum, because of the canges enforced upon you by relocation etc. I know how that feels. I did it under a month after I was diagnosed. I had so many vertical learning curves going on at one time that I had to set myself some very simple targets - for me that was pretty much to get my bloods in check and ensure me and my OH didn't grow apart during all our life changes. It worked for me.

You've got a lot on your plate, so maybe keep it simple? I hope your retirement is long and happy. Are you heading for the sunshine? I can understand that.
 
I only have bacon and other processed meats once or twice weekly, it's hard to get a real bacon now. :arghh:

I think of it like a seesaw, as the carbs come down the fats go up, the protein stays the same in the middle
 
AndBreathe said:
No bacon? Are you mad, man?

Seriously, though, Mike, your food intake does look a bit scant to be honest, for someone who is quite active. If you are feeling hungry, you quite possibly are. I might be inclined to consider increasing your fats a bit too. I don't subscribe to bulletproof coffee or slices of cheese with butter. The thought make my tummy flip. But, adding a quality dressing to my salad, or a little butter to veg, and leaving some fat on lamb or pork chops, or even on your steak will probably give you more energy and it tastes sooooo good! Similarly, bacon and egg for breakfast is fab, from time to time.

I don't know where you are at the moment, but if it's dinner time, it's clearly somewhere antipodean (to UK), but if you are about to go through a real upheaval; moving to the States, again I would probably want to have a great big think about how you're going to handle that. Your routine will be disrupted and new routines will need to be established.

All of the foregoing again, I might be inclined to keep the changes to the minimum, because of the canges enforced upon you by relocation etc. I know how that feels. I did it under a month after I was diagnosed. I had so many vertical learning curves going on at one time that I had to set myself some very simple targets - for me that was pretty much to get my bloods in check and ensure me and my OH didn't grow apart during all our life changes. It worked for me.

You've got a lot on your plate, so maybe keep it simple? I hope your retirement is long and happy. Are you heading for the sunshine? I can understand that.
Click to expand...

Sound advice once again :)

Yep, I'm in Australia but moving to the States early next year. I'm dealing with all the issues related to the move one by one and giving myself plenty of time for each of the items ..... and thus far, I'm well on top of everything having organised a lot in the last 12 weeks. All good on that front.

Retiring effective today is gonna be just what I need to direct all my attentions to keeping well, taking daily readings and tying up any loose ends with the relocation. I'm going to Washington state as it's a climate I can better handle than the stifling summers of Melbourne :)

Cheers mate :)
 
jack412 said:
I only have bacon and other processed meats once or twice weekly, it's hard to get a real bacon now. :arghh:

I think of it like a seesaw, as the carbs come down the fats go up, the protein stays the same in the middle
Click to expand...
Nah my fats and proteins stayed the same and my carbs went up ;) until my weight became stable.
 
yeah but carbs are the best for weight gain. Just look at a bun and it is on the tum. Fat alone doesn't do it and that is why LCHF works for weight loss.
 
from Utube ...you are suppose to stabilise at your body's gene pool weight with LCHF..it's not suppose to be a forever lose weight thing
if he's low carb and low fat, he will lose weight until he lifts one or the other, assuming he's on normal protein
 
if you want to lose weight it's fine, if you find yourself cold or lack energy, bump up your fats, but it may be because you have too much protein and that's why you didn't lose weight
I think I would check your protein..o.8-1g perkg LEAN body mass, that's your BMI minus the fat %
or ideal weight less 20%
 
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