Hello Every One,
I am 29 and 5’ 9’’ tall. I weigh only 125 pounds. I am on shots for the last 17 years. Except for a couple of years i have maintained a decent control of my diabetes. My worst A1c has been 8.0 and my best has been around 5.5. Though through 2008 i have had trouble taking care of my diabetes largely because of not being able to maintain a routine. In 2008 i was towards the end of my PhD in Computer science and hence had to stay up all night and hard to take meals at the right time.
Any way my question can anyone suggest any ideas to increase my body weight. I would be very happy i can put on an extra 50 pounds. I couldn’t find any protein powder or drink for diabetics? can anyone recommend any brand for diabetics?
My doctor says my low body weight could be due to high body metabolism or he avoid the discussion by saying that it is more important to control my sugars than to worry about my weight.
I’ve been struggling to gain weight also. Increasing protein is the best way to do this. Slowly add more protein to each meal. If you’re eating really low carb, just be aware that 50-58% of protein will turn to glucose in the absence of sufficient carbs. And of course, protein digests much more slowly than carbs.
Several good protein powders for diabetics. Whey isolate protein (not hydrolyzed) is good. NOW brand makes one without flavoring or sweetening. It’s about 3 carbs per scoop & mixes really easily. You can add flavoring. I use unsweetened almond milk, unsweetened cocoa powder & stevia, or cold decaf coffee, but you can add anything.
NOW also makes a pea protein. Though unflavored, it does have a slight pea flavor. Need a lot more flavoring for this. I also add this to soup to thicken it.
have you tried lifting weights? muscle mass will increase your weight a bit and it wont be fat weight. Pilates is a great way to build and tone muscle without getting bulky and its not really a high intensity workout either, so you dont need to worry about losing more weight.
Hello Sarah,
I don’t really loose weight.
I have been underweight even before i was diagnosed. I was diagnosed on Nov 13th, 1992 and i remember having all the diabetic symptoms for at least 3 months before the diagnosis. My weight in summer 1992 was about 87 pounds. But on the day of diagnosis i weighed about 59 pounds. My current weight is about 123 pounds so my growth has been extremely slow. The best has been last May (2008) when it reached an all time high of 128 pounds. But the funny thing is that from Jan to May, i had a lot trouble balancing my sugars (my A1C shot up to 7.9…The daily sugars were swinging from 40 to about 450 in a single day) and in spite of this i am very surprised to gain about 6 pounds. During the times when my A1C is between 5-6, i do not actually gain any weight. I always thought one way to increase weight is to keep sugars under control.
This is story of my body weight.
Regarding weight i am afraid that i might hit low sugars. Right now i exercise about 30 min every day. I mean i play ping-pong or tennis or go for long walks (like 3 miles etc.)
I did get my thyroid levels checked last year and the doctor said it was normal. Thanks a lot for sharing information about the Whey protein for diabetics. I will start taking it immediately.
First of all I would like to say that I wish I had your problem…its very hard for me to lose weight. I think many of us would love to have a naturally high metabolism like yours.
I’m assuming you’d like to put on muscle mass rather than fat, so as Gerri said, up the proteins…but you must give the protein a “reason” to build muscle…so as Sarah said, you have to implement a regular resistance training program. And I don’t mean a few push ups a week…I mean working your muscles into utter exhaustion at least three times a week and then feeding them with quality food sources.
A good whey protein supplement is a great way to build muscle while weight training. I use ON Gold Standard Whey, very little sugar. Also, eat a lot of nuts like almonds throughout the day. They are high in “good” fats, protein and fiber…very nutritionally dense and an easy way to increase your caloric intake. You can try mixing peanut butter or almond butter into your protein shake for some serious calories. If your cholesterol is normal, then eat eggs too whenever you can. Eat often, eat quality…bottom line is you need to increase your daily caloric intake.
I recently lost alot of weight by lowering my daily carbohydrate intake and thus lowering my long lasting insulin (Lantus) by about 50-60%. Perhaps you should consider doing the opposite…slowly increasing your dose and supplementing it with more carbohydrates. Of course, use your discretion, as you don’t want to just add fat or increase the frequency of hypos either.
Good suggestion from Dino about adding peanut butter or almond butter to shakes. I eat a lot of peanut butter–high in calories, low in carbs.
I’ve stayed away from soy protein powder because I have thyroid problems & also because soy isn’t quite the wonder food it’s been marketed as.
Really high BG without accompanying insulin does cause weight loss because basically the body is in a starvation state (food going in, but no way to utilize it). But keeping BG in a more normal range doesn’t mean weight gain for those of us with higher metabolism. I’ve been slender my whole life, but doing low carb has me really thin. It’s pretty much the carbs that put on the pounds. I eat a fairly high fat, high calorie diet & still need to gain weight. Insulin is the hormone that stores fat, so higher carb=more insulin=more fat.
Doing some reasonable weight training shouldn’t send you low, if you eat something before & keep testing to see how you’re doing. I can’t do strenuous exercie any more because it sends me way high, so I stick to some weights, lots of walking & moderate exercise. Toned muscles help lower insulin resistance.
Head over to www.proteinfactory.com. I have used them for years. You can build your own protein powders with ingredients and artificial sweeteners of your own choosing. I prefer the whey isolate because it has no carbs or fats or cholesterol, but you may want to look into the egg proteins or use some other combination that gets you to about +300 calories daily over what you need to maintain your present body weight.
As others have mentioned, you need to combine this with a resistance/weight training program. I recommend 4 days a week, about 40-60 minutes per day of weights. The only cardio work you should do is high intensity interval training (google HIIT for more information).
It will take time and dedication to eating and training but this should put some quality muscle on you…
