Putting on weight

[mountaintom]

Hi all,

Seeking advice on how to put on weight. Lost 3 stone just before diagnosis and have only managed to put back on 1 stone in 5 months. Would like to add another one and stay there. I’m eating well. Meat, vegetables, bread, cheeses, nuts, salads, whole milk. And plenty of it. Any advice?

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi all,

Seeking advice on how to put on weight. Lost 3 stone just before diagnosis and have only managed to put back on 1 stone in 5 months. Would like to add another one and stay there. I’m eating well. Meat, vegetables, bread, cheeses, nuts, salads, whole milk. And plenty of it. Any advice?

I watched a presentation from the PHCUK Confrence yesterday, where the speaker went on to answer questions on gaining weight on a reduced carb way of eating. His response was along the lines of managing carb levels to you meter, and manage the levels of fats consumed to the bathroom scales.

Firstly, I appreciate you may not be eating a reduced carb diet, and you will be challenged to match insulin with whateverer you do, however, if you've tried the usual thing of just "eating a bit more" of everything, then in yourr shoes, I'd ensure I wasn't eating or drinking any reduced fat options, then start putting cream on it. The cream being double/extra thick double or clotted cream. Butter on veg etc.

If you are eating carbs and fat, that's usually a formula for weight gain.

I know when I have actively been trying to gain weight, it can take several weeks to show any impacts on the scales.

Good luck with it all.

 

[mountaintom]

Thanks. I’m not low carbing. I eat around 100/150g a day naturally.

 

[mountaintom]

I love butter and cheese. Always have done. A lot of my previous weight was from beer and I don’t drink anymore (not diabetes related).

 

[NicoleC1971]

If weight gain is your main concern then upping the carbs and hence the insulin should help. The extra insulin signals to your body that it can store fat so if you can add in a couple of high carb snacks. Cheese and nuts by themselves don't need insulin but if you ate them with crackers for example, your body would burn the cabrs for energy and store the fat as body fat.
If we assume most normal folk eat 2,500 kcals to maintain weight and that 50% of that intake is carbs (1,250 kcals) then that translates into 300+g of carbs. You are trying to gain weight and eating 150g so it seems to me you need to eat more carbs as a proportion of your intake i.e. do what gets a large proportion of the general population into diobesity in the first place!

 

[mountaintom]

If weight gain is your main concern then upping the carbs and hence the insulin should help. The extra insulin signals to your body that it can store fat so if you can add in a couple of high carb snacks. Cheese and nuts by themselves don't need insulin but if you ate them with crackers for example, your body would burn the cabrs for energy and store the fat as body fat.
If we assume most normal folk eat 2,500 kcals to maintain weight and that 50% of that intake is carbs (1,250 kcals) then that translates into 300+g of carbs. You are trying to gain weight and eating 150g so it seems to me you need to eat more carbs as a proportion of your intake i.e. do what gets a large proportion of the general population into diobesity in the first place!

So basically I’m not eating enough carbs?

 

[tayelola]

Would like to know whether your recommendations apply to T2 also. I go LCHF and am now underweight as my BMI indicates recently.

 

[Fairygodmother]

Hi @mountaintom, are you still gradually putting on weight? If you are, then maybe it’s more likely to become muscle than fat and thus better for you?
Five months isn’t long. It’s tempting to want to hurry things up but your body’s had a lot to deal with before diagnosis and it’s clearly already made a good start on recovering.

 

[Brunneria]

Thanks. I’m not low carbing. I eat around 100/150g a day naturally.

There is no hard and fast universally accepted amount of carbs that is considered 'low carb'
But a lot of places, diets and websites have a general consensus that anything below 130g-150g carb is low carb.
While anything above 130g ish can also be considered moderate carb.
There is certainly a fair amount of grey area overlap!

The problem then comes when a 5 foot sedentary woman tries to compare her 'low carb' with a fit, active 6 foot 4 man.
Tricky, eh?

So, on balance, from my viewpoint, you probably do fall into the 'low carb' zone. And if you are T1, trying to gain weight, then your current carb level may well be stopping that regain.

 

[mountaintom]

Hi @mountaintom, are you still gradually putting on weight? If you are, then maybe it’s more likely to become muscle than fat and thus better for you?
Five months isn’t long. It’s tempting to want to hurry things up but your body’s had a lot to deal with before diagnosis and it’s clearly already made a good start on recovering.

I put some on then lost a little. I do look undernourished. This is purely for aesthetics.
Before diagnosis I was 12 stone then 9 at diagnosis. Now I’m just under 10. I’m genetically quite lanky but need just a little more. Perhaps building muscle is the answer.

 

[Fairygodmother]

If you’re going to do more exercise then you’ll need some carb for it, plus some more for gaining weight.

 

[mountaintom]

I’ll get to it then!

 

[NoKindOfSusie]

I have been told I "look underweight" though according to the chart I am not.

 

[mountaintom]

Same here. I’m not officially underweight but look like I did in my early twenties. Heroin chic is passé now.

 

[Circuspony]

I also struggled to regain weight. I'm the weight now I was over 20 years ago, but it's a bit too thin. Got myself a fitbit which quickly showed I wasn't eating enough for the exercise I do. Nowhere near on some days.

I struggle with novorapid in my system within 3 hours of exercise though which makes upping the carbs tough.

 

[mountaintom]

I also struggled to regain weight. I'm the weight now I was over 20 years ago, but it's a bit too thin. Got myself a fitbit which quickly showed I wasn't eating enough for the exercise I do. Nowhere near on some days.

I struggle with novorapid in my system within 3 hours of exercise though which makes upping the carbs tough.

What do you mean you struggle with Novorapid in your system?
Also, how do you know how much to eat for how much exercise?

 

[Circuspony]

What do you mean you struggle with Novorapid in your system?
Also, how do you know how much to eat for how much exercise?

If i have novorapid in my system then exercising - even a decent paced walk - sends my BG through the floor. I can start at 10 and be in hypo territory in less than an hour.

The fitbit app calculates how many calories you're using based on height, weight, heart rate etc. Enter in the food you've eaten and - in my case - there's a significant shortfall. There will be inaccuracies in the data, but I'm not even close to eating the right amount.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Would like to know whether your recommendations apply to T2 also. I go LCHF and am now underweight as my BMI indicates recently.

The theory of insulin/weight gain is the same for type 1s and type 2s but I'd say that as a type 2 you may have dropped to a weight level that allows your metabolism to function well (reversal of your type 2?). It may well be that you can eat more carbs but if your diabetes then got worse this would be more dangerous for your health than being underweight.
If you are type 1 then you cannot cure your diabetes by eating less carbs but may be able to achieve better bg control and may avoid becoming insulin resistant or overweight. So gaining weight for an underweight type 1 by taking more carbs/insulin is much less risky than for a type 2.

 

[tayelola]

The theory of insulin/weight gain is the same for type 1s and type 2s but I'd say that as a type 2 you may have dropped to a weight level that allows your metabolism to function well (reversal of your type 2?). It may well be that you can eat more carbs but if your diabetes then got worse this would be more dangerous for your health than being underweight.
If you are type 1 then you cannot cure your diabetes by eating less carbs but may be able to achieve better bg control and may avoid becoming insulin resistant or overweight. So gaining weight for an underweight type 1 by taking more carbs/insulin is much less risky than for a type 2.

Thanks @NicoleC: I should have added that am not on insulin but on Metformin 500mg twice daily.

 

[NicoleC1971]

I put some on then lost a little. I do look undernourished. This is purely for aesthetics.
Before diagnosis I was 12 stone then 9 at diagnosis. Now I’m just under 10. I’m genetically quite lanky but need just a little more. Perhaps building muscle is the answer.

Sorry. Been out for the day in the sun. So by the laws of physics you will need to eat more than you expend to gain mass. It isn't just calories in/calories out though because your body will store different foods differently. The easiest route to improving the aesthetic would be to do some resistance based exercise AND eat some more carbs across the day chased with some balanced insulin shots. There is a genetic limit to what you can gain if you are a natural born skinny but training 2 x a week combined with right food choices will work to add bulk that you can notice in about 6 weeks.
With walking/cycling/running type exercise your big muscles are using up stored glucose(gylycogen) rapidly so you need LESS insulin and your body will take its energy supplies from fat reserves after about 2000 kcals have been used so if you do that kind of exercise you need to pay attention to your increased appetite and load up on carbs again to replenish what's been used.

Also bear in mind that almost everyone else is more lardy hence the comments about 'looking underweight' when you are normal weight because 'normal' now means overweight (majority of the adult population is overweght/obese).