Fitness And Maintaining Muscle

[Russuk 2]

So to start with some good news. I was diagnosed as T2 in February after a private medical. I had an hba1c of 72. I think i was my own worst enemy as had started to get fit and was drinking loads of juices and eating fruit on top of my carbfest of bread and chips.

Thanks to this forum, I went low carb. I lost over 4stone since Feb. BMI down from mid 30s to 26. Scared myself with the rate of weight loss. Plus GPs while good with the drugs, dont seem to understand the dietary side so much so was also freaked by weight loss and referred me to Heamotolgy unit at local hospital today.

Had my appointment today. Good news is I was discharged as fine. Not other health issues. White blood count in normal range. As I had a full suite of blood test I asked for my latest hba1c score and was really pleased to get a result of 37.

So the diet and excursive since feb has worked wonders.

While not a vocal member here, this forum threads have provided a lot of info, advice and support over last few months. Especially initially when the diagnosis put me in a dark place. So thank you.

My question now is I lost a lot of fat, but also muscle mass in this process. I have stabilised my weight now. But want to swap fat for muscle to just get my BMI under 25. Plus be more lean. But I struggle to build and maintain muscle. So would like input from people here about how they adjust diet and exercise regime to protect muscle.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks
Russell

 

[Safi]

Hi @Russuk 2 & a big congratulations on your impressive weight loss

I've been doing yoga/bodyweight exercises whilst I rehabbed a neck/shoulder injury & while that helped to mitigate any serious muscle loss it wasn't until I started lifting a few days a week that I started to see any real muscle gains. Increasing my protein also seems to have helped while having no negative impact on my blood sugar levels.

I believe reddit has a keto/low carb bodybuilding forum (called 'ketogains' I think) & while it's not aimed specifically at diabetics you might pick up some good tips & advice there. There will probably be a lot of talk about lifting heavy but I've found just being consistent, even at lower weights, has made a significant difference over the past 6 months or so.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Russuk 2]

Hi @Russuk 2 & a big congratulations on your impressive weight loss

I've been doing yoga/bodyweight exercises whilst I rehabbed a neck/shoulder injury & while that helped to mitigate any serious muscle loss it wasn't until I started lifting a few days a week that I started to see any real muscle gains. Increasing my protein also seems to have helped while having no negative impact on my blood sugar levels.

I believe reddit has a keto/low carb bodybuilding forum (called 'ketogains' I think) & while it's not aimed specifically at diabetics you might pick up some good tips & advice there. There will probably be a lot of talk about lifting heavy but I've found just being consistent, even at lower weights, has made a significant difference over the past 6 months or so.

Best of luck to you.

Hi Safi,

Thanks for the response. Made me think more on diet. I think I have been very much ketogenic rather just low carb. Just didn't consider myself that. Doing a bit of reading up on Keto diets last night, I think I need to increase my fat intake in order to have enough fuel for muscle protection and growth. At moment I am just about holding weight steady, but had to pull back on excursive to achieve that. I want to be able to get fitter as well as just manage glucose level. So will follow up further.

Adding to my original post. I was initially put on metformin and blood pressure medication when diagnosed. Happy to say I am off both and managing glucose perfectly well on my diet alone.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Look away if vegetarian.

One thing that just struck me (had steak and salad for lunch).

For BBQ I tend to look for a nice sirloin steak which is well marbled, that is with fat running through the muscle so that when it cooks the fat melts and keeps the lean meat nice and moist.

Now think about the muscle in your arms and legs.

The marbling (fat) doesn't increase the strength of the muscles, it just increases the bulk.

As you lean up you might well have just as many muscle fibres and be just as strong but be losing the fat (marbling) built into your muscles which is making them look bigger. So you think that you are losing muscle mass. However you are just losing fat.

Distance runners and rock climbers tend to be frighteningly strong in their main muscles but also lean as a hungry whippet.

So IMHO there is nothing wrong with having apparently smaller muscles when you lose weight. Fitness is the key, not bicep measurements.

 

[ringi]

The classic advice is to eat streak and eggs while doing lots of resistance training. The body by science book has a method that works well for many people.

 

[Safi]

Hi Safi,

Thanks for the response. Made me think more on diet. I think I have been very much ketogenic rather just low carb. Just didn't consider myself that. Doing a bit of reading up on Keto diets last night, I think I need to increase my fat intake in order to have enough fuel for muscle protection and growth. At moment I am just about holding weight steady, but had to pull back on excursive to achieve that. I want to be able to get fitter as well as just manage glucose level. So will follow up further.

Adding to my original post. I was initially put on metformin and blood pressure medication when diagnosed. Happy to say I am off both and managing glucose perfectly well on my diet alone.

Thanks for the advice.

Well you're off to a flying start then @Russuk 2 - Weight, blood pressure and blood glucose all in control I've no doubt you'll sort out the muscle stuff!

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi Safi,

Thanks for the response. Made me think more on diet. I think I have been very much ketogenic rather just low carb. Just didn't consider myself that. Doing a bit of reading up on Keto diets last night, I think I need to increase my fat intake in order to have enough fuel for muscle protection and growth. At moment I am just about holding weight steady, but had to pull back on excursive to achieve that. I want to be able to get fitter as well as just manage glucose level. So will follow up further.

Adding to my original post. I was initially put on metformin and blood pressure medication when diagnosed. Happy to say I am off both and managing glucose perfectly well on my diet alone.

Thanks for the advice.

Maybe have a look at the ketogains Facebook page. They are a high protein fitness group for keto eaters.. bit extreme for me but I’m not trying for the body beautiful...

 

[Russuk 2]

I should add. I have the Nokia scales that measure Fat, Muscle and Water and then give your BMI. So what I was noticing was that the Muscle volume was going down as well as the fat volume as I lost weight. I sort of expected the muscle to be retained as I was going to the gym and doing weights. But it could be that there was a lot of fat in the muscle as mentioned above.

Have upped fat intake a bit and will try doing weights again and see if can build a bit of muscle overtime. Dont want to be super muscly. But just want to be fitter so can do sporty activities etc.