I’m about to turn 30 now and have had diabetes sense I was born.
I’m 5’9 and weight 128 pounds.
I seriously need some help gaining weight safely. I’m wanting to go the route of protein shakes or protein drinks but have no clue whats safe for someone with T1D. In time Ill also start more exercising than what I already do but cant at this time due to an injury.
What was your last A1C? Have your BG’s been pretty stable? I ask because if they have been elevated a lot, that may be why you’re unable to keep weight on. If that’s the case, work with your doctor or diabetes educator to look at your insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios to make sure you’re getting enough insulin at different times of day. If your BG’s have been OK, you’ll want to meet with a registered dietitian to work out some options to bulk up, or your doctor can probably help.
A1C is now down to 8.2, and as for educators here, well they are worthless, they always want to teach same old stuff and never want to help me with what I want.
I asked for recommendations on safe protein drink mix’s for diabetics.
Colby,
I use Muscle Milk for a supplement. I like it for two reasons, its cheaper if you get the 4lb bag at Costco, its only 18g of carbs for 2 scoops per 16 ounces of water.
Basically if you want to gain some weight, you need to look at it the same way you would if you wanted to lose weight. Slow and steady wins the day. Adding extra healthy calories per day is the the only way you’ll gain anything. Add a little extra to your portions at meals, not much, just a little. Spread it out over all meals, not just eating a huge extra portion at dinner, etc.
Muscle Milk or other protein supplements are useful in that you’ll add an extra 250-350 calories to your diet along with getting some extra fluids to boot.
If you don’t add some exercise in along with the weight gain, you may see that you can’t maintain it. Shoot for the long run, not just a quick fix.
I’m in the same boat. I’m 5’9", under 140 pounds, Type 1 for 41 years. I’m trying to gain weight but nothing seems to work. My last A1C was 7.2.
Thanks KevinH, I’ll look into it. I already exercise, nothing hard core but I get it most days.
At this time my diet is more steady.
a fruit and toast with a little butter for breakfast, sandwich and crackers or soup for lunch and a hardy dinner, most the time my dinner is a healthy meat with a carbs like rice or noodles, and usually 3 to 5 servings of veggies.
My meal times are 9am, 2pm, and 7pm, same as my testing times as I can only afford to test 3 times a day.
It seems the easiest means of gaining weight would be eating carbs and basically whatever you want to have the calories and “cover” with insulin.
Low carb and restricted carb folks can often lose weight, or have difficulty putting on weight. So it makes sense to me that doing the opposite and covering with more insulin would cause weight gain.