Type 1 Building Muscle

Hi Murray.99
No special diet or supplements are required unless you are a professional athlete or do extreme amounts of training. On the whole you need to consume up to 1g of protein/kg of body weight per day for good health. A small amount of protein in liquid form (say 15-20 grams) within an hour of resistance exercises helps as it is readily digested. My sport physician/exercise physiologist advised me to use whey (no additives) or the Atkins shakes which are low carb (please note they are net carbs. I am a T2 and have been happy with the results as per above - although I am not a candidate for Mr Universe.
Good on you for doing it, as muscle is of great assistance in controlling sugars. So just do it. Takes time and efforts but well worth it. But please ignore the service/product pushing loony fringe and get medical advice.
Regards
fene48

 

If you're recently diagnosed as type 1, the best muscle building plan is to learn to regulate your glucose levels. Many people lose a considerable amount of muscle prior to their type 1 diagnosis as high blood sugar levels and lack of insulin promote muscle breakdown (without necessarily promoting the loss of body fat). Beginning insulin injections caused most of us to gain that HEALTHY weight back.

 

Sorry, way outside my experiences as I am a T2 and hence my treatment/management of blood glucose is probably different to yours. From the little I know what you are saying seems sensible. Perhaps you may want to have a chat with an exercise physiologist who works with diabetics - the one I see was very helpful in setting up my proramme and ongoing changes.
All the best.

 

A good plan when you start is to measure before your workouts and after to see how your exercise program effects you, and even a couple of hours after to see how long it effects your blood glucose. There isn't really a one diet fits all just general rules and guidelines which you'll have to adapt to your own personal needs.

 

Hi. I would check my blood sugar during a workout to see the effect of a typical exercise routine. A piece of fruit or other low-GI carb might make sense before if needed; you shouldn't need a meal if your insulin balance is good. Personally I would avoid Lucozade as it's an empty carb and having one with fibre etc has more food value.

 

I've always had an easy time maintaining muscle mass. For me all it takes is reasonable blood sugar control and endurance exercise that's fun - like paddling, rock climbing, hiking, cycling .... One thing I've discovered however, now that I'm in my mid 50s, I tend to lose muscle mass much faster if I don't do anything for a couple of weeks but I've been told that's normal. Find a fun recreational activity that doesn't feel like exercise that you can do for a few hours a week and I suspect you will start noticing a difference.