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Need to gain weight

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Rick1318

Active Member
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29
Contrary to a lot of diabetics and weight loss advice given, I need to do the opposite and gain weight. I'm currently 5'10-5'11 and only weigh 140lbs. I want to get to 160-165. But diabetes makes things complicated as I need to follow LCHF diet and no junk food/sugar. I hear eating nuts for the healthy fat and calories help and I'm definitely doing that now. What else can I be doing? I go to the gym for strength training as well so hopefully the weight gain will be muscle. Thanks
 

Hi Rick - One comment I will make is that, for me, in any case, when I needed to gain back a few kilos, it took a few months for that to happen.

Clearly upping the carbs, whilst still eating plenty of fat will often add weight, but it depends how you would handle the carbs. Alternatively, I upped the portions of everything I ate. It did often mean adding a dessert when normally I wouldn't. The dessert would have been some berries with cream usually.

For me, the issue was being consistent over a period of weeks.

Good luck with it all.
 
My Husband is 5'10 and dropped to just under 9 stone when we started all this from just under 12. He is now (2 years on) at just under 10. He eats loads of cheese, eggs, reduced fat houmus by the tubfull and has numerous snacks. Oh, and he now makes 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies with xylitol.
 

@Rick1318 You mentioned you might be Type 1 before - have you got any further information about that? Or had any tests?

If you're an adult-onset Type 1 - and there are far more of them about than you'd think - then getting specialist advice might help your weight gain.
 
Gosh someone like me, I would like a BMI of about 21.5 but I am currently 20.2, I know some feel BMI is daft but I feel as I have gone down from 21.2 due to exercise and perhaps dehydration, It will be hard work to consume enough calories to achieve that.

My HBA1c is well controlled on 500mg Metformin twice a day, plenty of exercise and little or no Junk food.

I think the Sun on the 16 mile walk last Sunday is to blame.

Good luck getting your own weight on.
 
Avocado,full fat yoghurt, Jersey double cream ,cheese and nuts all help
CAROL
 

I haven't done any tests to see if I have antibodies but my doc seems confident that I'm type 2 based on the results of dieting (bringing sugars down from 17 to 8ish after one month) and exercise further bringing down sugars to 4-5 so he's saying I'm obviously still producing insulin. And my family has no type 1 history. If I were to go on insulin, I'd welcome to weight gain effects though.
For now I'll stick to upping my cals through nuts cheese and avocados and see what happens.
 
I had no family history of Type 1 either @Rick1318 Adult onset Type 1 can come on slowly and is often misdiagnosed.

Just keep it in mind and push for specialist input if you need it.
 
azure said:
I had no family history of Type 1 either @Rick1318 Adult onset Type 1 can come on slowly and is often misdiagnosed.

Just keep it in mind and push for specialist input if you need it.
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Thanks I will. This disease is so weird. I'm sure I've had this for at least 2-3 years before being diagnosed, but before the diagnoses, I had just blurry vision and increased urge to pee which I overlooked. Was shocked by the dx of 13 A1c. When I switched to LCHF and started on metformin, my vision has been literally all over the place...some days amazing, other days ****. I also started to get tingling and twitching in my feet and hands, something that hasn't happened before. The twitching was the worst in my first couple nights of cutting out carbs I couldn't even sleep. It seems better now but still getting twitches and the pain/needles feeling sometimes. All of this happening while my BS dropped to the single digits and is now staying closer to the 5-7 mmol/l range throughout the day after 5 weeks. I have no clue whats going on with my body or if I already have some complications...but it's weird that I'm getting these AFTER my BS started to go down.
 
That does sound strange that you should have those symptoms now your blood sugar is lower. Maybe it's because you had a diagnosis? When I was diagnosed, I felt it had come out of the blue but, having thought about it, I realised I'd been having symptoms of various types for some time as my pancreas sputtered and failed.
 
Thanks @carty I really enjoy walnuts and Greek Yoghurt, recipe dates from Student days when it included a bit of brown sugar needless to say, that was dropped long ago.

Joint choice with 25g Aldi Peruvian 64% Chocolate, as a full signal if I crave carbs and have had enough to compensate for the excercise.
 
Hi @Rick1318 - I was told many years ago by my then Practise Diabetic Nurse that when someone is diagnosed with Diabetes they have had it for a least 5 years = undiagnosed.
 
Hello

My suggestion is slowly, eat lots of protein so you build muscle and lots of exercise to make the muscle build across your entire frame. Eating alone can tend to increase visceral fat which is bad for anyone.

Have fun experimenting and remember to spice it up, life is too short for dull food
 
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