Hello all, new to the form and looking for some help. I found out I was a type 2 diabetic about 5 months ago, after following the doctors orders of 1800 cals a day and working out like crazy I found I was losing weight that I would rather turn into muscle.
I went from 216 and 22 bf to 190 and 13 bf. I run 30 min in the morning three times a week and lift 6 days a week(push pull legs push pull legs). My lifts have gone up a substantial amount but I can’t gain weight now without my bs going nuts. I’m happy with how I look after only five months in the gym but if I have to be there to keep my diabetes under control I might as well try to get as big as I can. I go as heavy as I can for 5+5 all the time. Any help would be great
Bench 245 5Ã?5
Squat 275 5Ã?5
Dead lift 330 5Ã?5
6’2 190 37yrs old
What do you mean when you say ‘I can’t gain weight w/o my sugars going nuts’?
Also, are you on PO diabetes meds, or insulin?
Its doesn’t seem like I can eat enough diabetic safe food to gain. I have been in the 200g of protein but only 80 ish on the complex carbs. I’m on metformin 500 mg twice a day.
80 g carbs might be enough…How are you timing your carbs (ie, when do you eat them)?
15 in the am after I run, 20 at lunch, 10 before I lift at 3, 10 when I get home at 5ish, 20 at dinner and 5 or so before bed. All ballpark figures but I’m close.
If you don’t mind my asking, which BS reading ‘goes crazy’ on a diet schedule such as this? Also, do you know your A1c?
yurdun4,
Read this will ya please.
Then go find another doctor.
I ain’t much of a “Menshealth” reader but this is one of the few things that is priceless.
Let me ask you something? Do you think alcoholism is a “disease”?
I don’t.
I believe its a choice.
Type 2 diabetes is a choice as well.
Tell me you have Type 1 and you have my complete attention, prayers and money for research. Tell me you have Type 2 and i’ll simply say why would you want to do that to yourself?
Fix it, don’t medicate it. Once you get past 40 it will go hill like a run away train.
you can do it.
LB
Why are you eating any carbs at all? You’re diabetic. Carbs serve only to provide energy in the form of sugar. You can get that from fats and protein instead without spiking insulin (certainly not as much as carbs, even low GI carbs.)
Plus, of course you are not “gaining”. At 6’ 2" you are barely eating enough protein to maintain.
Try 300-400g of protein, high fat diet. Start at 3000 calories and work up to 4000 per day. No, not pizza. Healthy fats. Check out the logs here on the Metabolic Diet or similar high fat diets (even Keto will work). These are based on diets specifically/originally designed for diabetics.
You don’t come from Mars so your body will work like everyone else. Eat right, train hard and sleep 8-9 hours per night. Bingo.
When I first found out my a1c was 10.1 and after 3 months I was able to get it down to 6.3. The diet that I’m on now is easy to keep my bs in check but when I try to eat to gain it seems to spike a bit(160) or so and takes a bit longer to come down. I guess what I’m trying to do is gonna be difficult, but what the hell, whats not? I would like to get back to 210 but stay at 13 or less bf.
1 Like
[quote]yurdun4 wrote:
When I first found out my a1c was 10.1 and after 3 months I was able to get it down to 6.3. The diet that I’m on now is easy to keep my bs in check but when I try to eat to gain it seems to spike a bit(160) or so and takes a bit longer to come down. I guess what I’m trying to do is gonna be difficult, but what the hell, whats not? I would like to get back to 210 but stay at 13 or less bf.[/quote]
6.3 is excellent! (Although I’ll bet your doc would like it to be <6.) Especially considering you were at 10.1 only 3 months earlier. That indicates you managed to tighten things up really well–you must have a lot of self-discipline. Are you managing your DM with a general practitioner, or an endocrinologist?
As for gaining 20# of muscle (ie, going from 190–>210 with the same BF%) at age 37 without benefit of ‘supplements’–if you average close to .5#/month muscle gain (a phenomenal result for a natty lifter), it would take you 3.5 - 4 years to get there. My point is, this is a long-term goal, and a tough one at that (which is not to say it can’t be done, of course).
Yurdun4,
Any idea what free and total test levels are. “Diet” this or that ain’t gonna matter if they’re off the table.
And its a four letter word “diet”. Its like something you HAVE to do and hopefully you can get off it ASAP. That’s a terrible way to look at what you eat. Loss the word “diet”.
I like to use the McDonald’s test. If you can go into McD’s and eat a meal and not have your body shit it out in less than 60 minutes you got problems cause your body has actually gotten use to crap being put into it. If you shit in less than 30 minutes i’d say your eating good.
LB
Lb
Great reading and the McDonalds thing is funny as hell( I can’t even make it out the door ). I’m gonna try dropping a good portion of the carbs and start hitting the protein and fat a bit harder.
Eye
You put it in perspective for me. I was wanting to gain a pound a month and not get fluffy.
Yurdun4,
Good luck.
Listen, i’m very serious, Type 2 diabetes is one of the medical communities biggest scams(and i work in the medical field).
OK sure, if you have no self will and desire to learn and or change your behavior then the standard “Metaformin For Life” is certainly better than doing nothing.
But i have a sister in-law who is “Type-2” she doesn’t eat anything that doesn’t come from a fast food joint or out of a microwave. She goes to Walmart and uses one of those motorized carts (and there is nothing wrong with her legs). She will pig out and then pop out her med’s and say:
“my doctor told me if i indulge to just take extra metaformin”
The only thing more disgusting then she is…is her f’n doctor.
You don’t have a disease that you have no control over.
You are not a 5-year old with lymphoma.
You can fix this all by yourself.
LB
Lb
Thankyou for the encouraging words. Five years ago I was 265 or better and started eating better. I was down to 216 when they said I had type 2 5 months ago. I then began lifting my ass off trying to get my bf down. Just from looking at pics from other people I was thinking I was 22 at the start and 13 or so now but I guess not. After my first post on here I decided to check it using the navy calculater suggested online and omg…it says I’m 30%…ouch.
I got up the guts to post a pic on rate my photo on here to see what other people think. I’m waiting for people to say 30 on a good day. I know that staying lean and eating the best I can will help me be here for my kids. I don’t believe in second place for me so I won’t for them. That being said, i wanna get big. Thankyou to all that have posted( good lookin out ).
[quote]LBramble wrote:
Yurdun4,
Good luck.
Listen, i’m very serious, Type 2 diabetes is one of the medical communities biggest scams(and i work in the medical field).
OK sure, if you have no self will and desire to learn and or change your behavior then the standard “Metaformin For Life” is certainly better than doing nothing.
But i have a sister in-law who is “Type-2” she doesn’t eat anything that doesn’t come from a fast food joint or out of a microwave. She goes to Walmart and uses one of those motorized carts (and there is nothing wrong with her legs). She will pig out and then pop out her med’s and say:
“my doctor told me if i indulge to just take extra metaformin”
The only thing more disgusting then she is…is her f’n doctor.
You don’t have a disease that you have no control over.
You are not a 5-year old with lymphoma.
You can fix this all by yourself.
LB[/quote]
Wow. Since you want to expound on this as a “person in the medical field” please inform us all what your degree is in?
And please learn to spell the meds correctly
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
[quote]yurdun4 wrote:
When I first found out my a1c was 10.1 and after 3 months I was able to get it down to 6.3. The diet that I’m on now is easy to keep my bs in check but when I try to eat to gain it seems to spike a bit(160) or so and takes a bit longer to come down. I guess what I’m trying to do is gonna be difficult, but what the hell, whats not? I would like to get back to 210 but stay at 13 or less bf.[/quote]
6.3 is excellent! (Although I’ll bet your doc would like it to be <6.) Especially considering you were at 10.1 only 3 months earlier. That indicates you managed to tighten things up really well–you must have a lot of self-discipline. Are you managing your DM with a general practitioner, or an endocrinologist?
As for gaining 20# of muscle (ie, going from 190–>210 with the same BF%) at age 37 without benefit of ‘supplements’–if you average close to .5#/month muscle gain (a phenomenal result for a natty lifter), it would take you 3.5 - 4 years to get there. My point is, this is a long-term goal, and a tough one at that (which is not to say it can’t be done, of course).[/quote]
Agreed, about the discipline, dropping from 10.1 to 6.3 in three months is awesome work. If you keep this up you will be below 6 for sure in a few months.
My advice for now is to continue to tweek your diet with the BS checks, where you know what foods are not for YOU, which workouts do what to YOU and how you feel.
This is a marathon not a sprint.
[quote]yurdun4 wrote:
Lb
Great reading and the McDonalds thing is funny as hell( I can’t even make it out the door ). I’m gonna try dropping a good portion of the carbs and start hitting the protein and fat a bit harder.
[/quote]
Do you have bouts of low blood sugar, where you get shaky, sweating and some mental confusion?
If so you may want to have some high glycemic cards readily available so you don’t faint.
You can eat a good portion of carbs before work outs and especially afterwards. Life is rough without good carbs.
[quote]yurdun4 wrote:
Lb
Thankyou for the encouraging words. Five years ago I was 265 or better and started eating better. I was down to 216 when they said I had type 2 5 months ago. I then began lifting my ass off trying to get my bf down. Just from looking at pics from other people I was thinking I was 22 at the start and 13 or so now but I guess not. After my first post on here I decided to check it using the navy calculater suggested online and omg…it says I’m 30%…ouch.
I got up the guts to post a pic on rate my photo on here to see what other people think. I’m waiting for people to say 30 on a good day. I know that staying lean and eating the best I can will help me be here for my kids. I don’t believe in second place for me so I won’t for them. That being said, i wanna get big. Thankyou to all that have posted( good lookin out ).[/quote]
I saw your pic on the other sub-forum…I put you at 12%. I have no idea what a “navy calculator” is, but either it’s WAY off, or you made a math error somewhere along the way. So put thoughts of 30% out of your head–that was the old you, and you’re never going to let that happen again (right?).
I’m in to win my life…I want to die racing or getting smashed by the bar trying to Bench 450 at 200lbs not some crap I brought on by getting fat for a while.
[quote]yurdun4 wrote:
I’m in to win my life…I want to die racing or getting smashed by the bar trying to Bench 450 at 200lbs not some crap I brought on by getting fat for a while.[/quote]
Anybody else diabetic in your family? Father, mother, grandparents etc?
