I am 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighed about 126 before being diagnosed with LADA in April of this year. I now weigh 113 pounds. I have been trying to gain weight for months. Is there anyone out there who can help me? I take two Metformin pills in the morning and two at night. I take 5 units of insulin before bedtime. My blood sugars are 90 to 120 mostly in the morning and 110 to 120 at night.
Thanks for any wisdom you might be able to impart.
Go to a wholesale club like BJâs, Costco, etc and buy their 3-4lb bags of chopped walnuts and/or whole almonds.
- Once in the morning and once in the afternoon, eat 4 oz of nuts. Best measure that out like in a ramekin or other dish so you can adjust as needed. You should start gaining weight within a couple of days.
or
- Take a small handful of chopped walnuts and throw them into a jar of peanut butter. Shake jar or bang on counter so nuts inbed in the top pb layer. Apply some redi whip on top of that. Scrape and eat that top layer.
or
- Make fat bombs - Just Google and you will see tons of recipes. One I really like and make with Almond or Peanut Butter:
I am 5 ft 9 inches and maintain my weight between 125 - 127 lbs. so have the same issue you have and we share pretty much the same BMI
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Consider asking your doctor if you can go off of the metformin and use insulin only to control your blood sugar. You might need to increase your insulin a bit, but that should help you gain a little weight. Metformin can be used as a weight loss drug, and it doesnât sound like you have any insulin resistance problems, so not clear why youâd be on it anyway, as someone with LADA and not T2. T1s/LADA only tend to need metformin if they are developing insulin resistance.
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Thank you. I am so glad I have joined the forum. I feel so ignorant but want to increase my knowledge and itâs people like you who are so very helpful.
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Wow! That gives me hope. I am sick of looking like a scarecrow. I eat at least a cup of walnuts a day but by the time I eat three meals (most of the food I hate) I donât have room for more nuts.
Why are you eating food you hate? There is so much awesome food you can eat as a diabetic, what food restrictions do you have? And, what are your favorite foods you are missing out on?
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Maybe make some protein shake with the protein powder.(weight on type)
Work with a nutrition and eat more of what u like
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Also remember that metformin does not do nice things to your GI tract and the chemical reactions that need to take place.
Think about eating more natural sources of probiotics, etc. Getting your guts to function correctly can make a difference here. It can help your body actually USE the nutrients you are giving it, instead of processing it and passing it along.
I was on metformin for a while, and it took a long time to get my guts back in working order after that âexperienceâ.
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I have always eaten food that appealed to me without regard to what the carb or calorie count was. Now I try to take in as many calories as I can without overdoing the carbs. For example, my breakfast every day before diagnosis was steel cut oats, milk, two or three cups of whatever fruit was in season and a smattering of walnuts and almonds. Then I did not eat again till dinner. Now I eat the oatmeal with a half cup of 2% milk, a half cup of berries and a cup of walnuts. Itâs hard for me to eat because there is not enough fruit and way too many nuts. Then I am faced with eating lunch three or four hours later and I am not hungry at all. As a result I find myself mostly forcing food down. I then try to eat a half cup of pistachios during the afternoon in order to add to the dayâs calorie count and the not-being-hungry for dinner problem rears its ugly head.
My endocrinologist has ordered a C Peptide blood test in order to determine how much insulin my pancreas is producing. If all goes well with that I will certainly ask her why I need the Metformin. Thanks for the suggestion.
I described a typical breakfast before and after diagnosis in a prior post. I am not sure how this site works as I am pretty much of a dope computer-wise. I like good bread, corn on the cob, pizza, large amounts of quinoa with lots of vegetables and varieties of dressings, pasta, sweet potatoes. Not much of a fan of fish, meat, butter, mashed potatoes. . .
I am going to look into the protein powder. Thanks for the suggestion. I have an appointment with a nutritionist in a few weeks and am hoping to get some answers.
I feel as if I am almost always on the edge of nausea. I didnât think of the Metformin as a contributor but you make a good point. I had a terrible time ingesting it in the beginning because it was so large a pill (I cut it in half) but it is something I would love to do without. Thanks.
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Your breakfast is similar to what I used to eat but did my BGâs in due to too many carbs. I have a sinfully delicious occasional breakfast, but eat it no more than once a week, that can pack on up to 700+ calories with almost no carbs. The following recipe has understated calories but you can modify Hollandaise Sauce with extra butter and add a little extra meat to quickly build up the calories in this Eggs Benedict recipe. I usually donât particularly care for butter, but go overboard when making this. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to make if you have a stick blender and Instant Pot, but then 20 minutes to clean up.
Other than that I make avocado Chocolate mousse or Cheesecake for other days, again high in Calories and low in Carbs. In these I add 1 Tablespoon of Chia seeds per serving to keep the internal plumbing functioning well.
Lots of fun, great tasting high calorie, low carb breakfast foods available
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So if youâre not producing much or enough insulin, thatâs when metformin doesnât make sense as the answer, because what you need is insulin. If you donât have enough insulin in your system, you will lose weight, and T1s tend to only combine metformin with insulin if they are trying to reduce their doses and lose weight. Metformin would probably only make sense if you are producing plenty of insulin on your own, and therefore your difficulties with blood sugar regulation are due to insulin resistance and not insulin production.
Metformin slows stomach emptying and suppresses appetite. Itâs great for T2 and insulin resistant T1s. This doesnât sound like you. I would ask about discontinuing it.
The weight loss could just be the further onset of LADA. What are your mealtime numbers. If you are watching your carbs, you have to add fats for energy, enough calories. Weight gain will be with protein. You may need to add a mealtime insulin at some point.
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