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How to gain weight?

MyNameIsAlex

MyNameIsAlex

Active Member
Messages
37
Location
Brasov, Romania
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I've always been a skinny person but since I've been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I've lost about 8-10 kilograms. What can I do to gain some weight, I don't like how I look now. I am way too skinny for my age (25) and my height (185).
 
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Hi @MyNameIsAlex :)

What are your blood sugar test results like? Can you give us an example of a day's meals for you?

To put on weight, I increase the amount of carbs I eat. If you do that, you will need to adjust your insulin. If you're not confident doing that, you should get advice from a doctor or nurse.
 
Me too lost a lot of weight. Since diagnoses 3 stone. Have been avoiding high carbs as was told to. But how do we put on weight then!!!


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My blood sugar levels are pretty good.. I have moments when my blood sugar goes high, like 170-180 mg/dl but that's probably my fault because I eat sweets. In the last 2 months the highest BG was 220 mg/dl. I am injecting myself 4 units of Lantus in the morning, before breakfast, 8 units of Novorapid before launch and dinner (4 units for each meal). Last week I took only 4 units of Lantus a day because I had very low blood sugar levels ( the lowest was 48) so I took a break from injecting novorapid. I don't eat very much carbs because I am afraid of high BG.
 
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I enjoy eating boiled potatoes (natúr), rice, pasta, beans, chickpeas, in small quantities but I've run out of ideas. I am sick of eating same food every day.
 
If you will do good control on your blood sugar level then you will start to gain the weight. I had also lost weight 15 kg, but after taking insulin injection i gained 10 kg with in 2 months. You will gain the weight slowly.
 
Type 2 but why not try LCHF , keep your carbs lowish (trial and error) but try starting at 100g a day but pack in the high quality fats..

Check out my sig for a keto calculator and just eat a few hundred cals above BMR...
 
For a Type 1, insulin plus carbs is the ideal way to gain weight because it has a great muscle-building potential. There is an excellent article about this (posted by PseudoBob77) in another thread called Factors in Long term Survival for Type 1 Ds. It talks about the ideal diet and exercise for gaining muscle and not fat. You don't want to just gain fat now or you risk ending up with 'double diabetes'. The good news is that Type 1s actually have an advantage over 'normies' when it comes to gaining muscle.


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MyNameIsAlex said:
I enjoy eating boiled potatoes (natúr), rice, pasta, beans, chickpeas, in small quantities but I've run out of ideas. I am sick of eating same food every day.
Click to expand...

Other carbs could be noodles (Chinesse style), fruit. oatcakes, bread, etc

Try varying your accompanying proteins and fats and vegetables to get variety.

As @RuthW says carbs plus insulin are a good way to gain weight. If you're worried about high sugars after meals, try doing your fast acting injection more in advance of your meals. That can work wonders.
 
MyNameIsAlex said:
My blood sugar levels are pretty good.. I have moments when my blood sugar goes high, like 170-180 mg/dl but that's probably my fault because I eat sweets....Last week I took only 4 units of Lantus a day because I had very low blood sugar levels ( the lowest was 48) so I took a break from injecting novorapid. I don't eat very much carbs because I am afraid of high BG.
Click to expand...

Were you diagnosed recently? It sounds like you may be in your 'honeymoon period' - still producing some insulin sometimes.

If so, you may find people on the LADA board helpful because they are in the same situation.

But if you are still producing insulin sometimes, you still may be able to put on a but if muscle by eating carbs and exercising. It's important, in fact, because when T1s lose weight before diagnosis, it's often through muscle wastage as well as fat loss.


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guzzle down pints of real ale, eat lots of bread and butter pudding, bread, cakes, cheese, lots of butter, chocolate, plenty of sat fat, sugar in your drinks, etc... you may have over active thyroids, that'll keep you skinny no matter how much **** you eat welcome to the party
 
cjj said:
guzzle down pints of real ale, eat lots of bread and butter pudding, bread, cakes, cheese, lots of butter, chocolate, plenty of sat fat, sugar in your drinks, etc... you may have over active thyroids, that'll keep you skinny no matter how much **** you eat welcome to the party
Click to expand...

Weren't you the one that just told another T1 not to eat any sugar at all ever?

Your advice is pretty inconsistent, to put it mildly.


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I ate 5 slices of pizza, now my BG is 165 (after 2 hours). I have injected 4 units of novorapid. I don't know how to do the correct calculation.. for x grams of carbs, how many units of insulin do I have to inject?
 
It will depend what your ratio is @MyNameIsAlex We all have our own ratios for insulin to carbs.

Do you count carbs? Can you ask your diabetes nurse what your ratio is?

Having said that, pizza is quite carby anyway, so is hard to bolus correctly for. I don't know how big your slices were, but I find that I have a maximum amount of carbs that I can eat in one meal and still be able to get my blood sugar in range afterwards. If your meal was very high carb, you may need to watch your blood sugar for some hours afterwards. Be careful not to over correct and go too low.
 
MyNameIsAlex said:
I ate 5 slices of pizza, now my BG is 165 (after 2 hours). I have injected 4 units of novorapid. I don't know how to do the correct calculation.. for x grams of carbs, how many units of insulin do I have to inject?
Click to expand...

I think you might benefit from an online carb counting course like this one:
http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/
Then maybe get a copy of Think Like A Pancreas. He tells you how to work out ratios, correction doses, etc.
4 units would be far too big a correction dose for me there. My blood sugar drops by 75mm per unit of insulin. Some people drop by half that, and presumably some people by more.
But pizza is a bit more complex because of the fat in it, so 4 might work for you.


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