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Need to gain weight - Type 1

JAT1

Well-Known Member
Messages
585
Location
Canada
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I am really struggling with trying to keep weight on. I am very skinny. I eat about 100 to 150 carbs a day. I cut out all starch because my BG went out of control, so I do not want to increase carbs. I'd rather look like a skeleton but have in range BG as I was suffering complications before I was diagnosed type 1 on July 31 such as vision problems etc but they have since abated. This is the only reference I have found so far on this topic from Dr. Bernstein:
He says to up protein. But it's about what to do when you have lost all the weight you want. I read a thread just the other day from someone with this same problem but have not been able to find it again. Being new to the forum I'm still having problems navigating.
My weight was staying the same for a few weeks and then this morning it dropped 3 pounds. I eat tons of cheese and everyday eat to the point of being uncomfortably stuffed and wish I could just maintain this weight at least so I can give my gut a rest. I don't want to die of starvation !
 

DO you drink your fats too, @JAT1 ? I'm thinking of cream in coffee and so on? Some people have also been known to eat slices of cheese, spread with butter, although I have't heard anyone comment on that for a while.

It took me an age to stop losing weight when I tried. It's an incremental thing getting it right.

Your 3lbs down could well be a blip, based on hydration/dehydration, small room activities, or plain on eating less (in terms of weight consumed) yesterday. If, for example, you usually eat a pile of veg, then didn't one day, your weight could well drop simply due to less fuel "onboard", if you know what I mean.

.
 
Thank you for your reply with the supportive advice. I've never had butter on cheese - something to try. I usually drink 3.25% milk (the fatest you can get here) also for the vitamin D that's added, but I do also drink cream. Hopefully it is a blip. I will be more patient knowing that you had to struggle with this problem for a long time before it was resolved.
 

Our friend @Bluetit1802 was also the same, in taking a little while to stabilise. It'snot too uncommon, and on that basis I usually suggest for those targeting weight loss that they don't wait until they reach their target weight before planning and deploying how they will stabilise.

Just as an aside, I'll use double/heavy cream to enrich soups and sauces often too.
 
Hello!
I've gained about 7kg (15lb?) on low carb diet. It's all about getting more calories from fat and protein. Snacking on cheese and dark chocolate with high % cacao helped for me. Also eating home made low carb cheese cake daily helped .. yummy
 
Sounds yummy - I assume neither the chocolate or the low carb cheese cake have sugar ? Thanks for you encouraging reply.
 
JAT1 said:
Sounds yummy - I assume neither the chocolate or the low carb cheese cake have sugar ? Thanks for you encouraging reply.
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I don't eat sugar unless I have a hypo. I can tolerate 85% (or higher) cacao chocolate (you can buy at supermarkets) without affecting my bs much and you can make low carb high fat dessert by substituting sugar with sugar substitute (stevia etc). I also struggled with losing weight so just wanted to let you know that it's possible to gain weight while lowcarbing.
 
Use Elmea double cream in your cereal instead of milk, its same carbs as milk but you'll gain more weight using it.
 
If you want to gain weight you need to have a caloric surplus. Aim for an extra 200-400 calories per day. There are many apps to keep track of this.
 
Alexandra100 said:
Surely much better to use real double cream, with less carbs and no suspect vegetable oils.
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Well whichever cream, was just a suggestion. He's type 1 so he can adjust for the carbs if he wanted too. I can't really comment on the vegetable oils part as many people here eat high fatty foods, including me occasionally.
 
JAT1 said:
I assume neither the chocolate or the low carb cheese cake have sugar ?
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I think all chocolate that is less than 100% cocoa will have some added sugar. Montezuma Absolute Black 100% chocolate has only 8g carbs per 100g (of which naturally occurring sugars <0.5g). Hotel Chocolat 100% chocolate drops have 10.4g carbs per 100g (of which naturally occurring sugars 2.7g). I notice that the carb content of dark chocolate rises steeply, so that Lindt 90% has 14g carbs per 100 and Waitrose Dominican Republic 15.

Is the sugar / carb distinction important to you?
 
Dixon1995 said:
Well whichever cream, was just a suggestion. He's type 1 so he can adjust for the carbs if he wanted too. I can't really comment on the vegetable oils part as many people here eat high fatty foods, including me occasionally.
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The problem is not the fat. Many people here consider seed oils to be harmful. I am agnostic abut that, but I would not want to eat Elmlea cream after reading the recipe: "BUTTERMILK (86%), palm oil (13%) stabilisers (E412, E410, E407), BUTTERMILK powder, emulsifier (E475), colour (E160a)".
 

Having checked the ingredients, you're right, as that is the only double cream I have heard of or ever used in my life, it was the reason I gave my suggestion... thanks for the heads up
 

I know you mean well but this person wants to gain weight. So lets be logical here: OP is not going to gain weight by fussing over ingredient labels. The way OP gains weight is simple: a caloric surplus. How and what that looks like diet wise will have to be up to him/her. But at the end of the day it's that simple: consume more calories.

On a low carb diet that would typically mean eat more of whatever it is he/she includes in their low carb diet. The ingredients list / what goes into food products does not matter and is a separate issue. It has no bearing on the need for a caloric surplus.
 
Dixon1995 said:
Having checked the ingredients, you're right, as that is the only double cream I have heard of or ever used in my life, it was the reason I gave my suggestion... thanks for the heads up
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I think it is wicked the way Elmlea is displayed in supermarkets right next to the dairy cream as if they were the same thing. I once nearly bought some, but luckily took a look at the ingredients on the pot. Thank heaven for British labelling (or I suppose at present it's EU labelling - let's hope it won't deteriorate after B****t).
 
JoeCo said:
If you want to gain weight you need to have a caloric surplus. Aim for an extra 200-400 calories per day.
Click to expand...
Define surplus. I eat less than my Basic Metabolic Rate (a deficit?) and can still gain weight, so maybe rather than a caloric surplus we should be talking about "more than our body uses". Calculating your BMR is easy enough using something like the Harris Benedict Formula, you just hope that it's right. It's more of a guideline for some people, certainly not an exact science.
Keeping a food diary is probably a good start and weighing absolutely everything, us humans are notoriously bad at estimating the weight of food and that's true if you want to lose or gain weight. At least then you can see exactly what you are eating in terms of calories and nutrients, then you can start adding.
 
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