How do you put on weight

[Elizabethe]

I was diagnosed three weeks today with LADA, and started using insulin. I was informed that the only side effect was weight gain which I was pleased about. I am 8 stone 10, and 5’7”, so would ideally like to be a bit heavier. I feel like I am eating less to help stabilise my BS but would like advice how to bulk up. thank you

Elizabeth

 

[Leadinglights]

I was diagnosed three weeks today with LADA, and started using insulin. I was informed that the only side effect was weight gain which I was pleased about. I am 8 stone 10, and 5’7”, so would ideally like to be a bit heavier. I feel like I am eating less to help stabilise my BS but would like advice how to bulk up. thank you

Elizabeth

Unless there are any medical reasons not to, then increasing protein and fat in your diet should help so go for full fat versions of dairy as it will keep the carbs low.
But perhaps some of the other LADA folk would be better to advise.

 

[Kaylz]

I snacked on loads of cheese, boiled eggs and salami's etc xx

 

[helli]

Whilst untreated diabetes can lead to weight loss, neither LADA and Type 1 diabetes (nor insulin) cause weight gain.
If you are treating your diabetes with insulin and dosing it according to what you eat, there is no reason to eat a limited diet.
To put on weight when you have Type 1 or LADA, eat what a non-diabetic person would eat to put in weight.

I understand that excess insulin due to insulin resistance (type 2) can cause weight gain but treating LADA and Type 1 with insulin to replicate what a healthy pancreas would do, does not cause weight gain.
This is a very very important message especially for younger people or those concerned by their weight. If they think insulin will make them fat they may not take their insulin and become very ill.
Mental health problems and eating disorders are more common for people with diabetes.

Sorry, I will start to step away form my soap box 🙂
In case it wasn't clear, perpetuating the myth that insulin causes weight gain really makes me angry.

 

[Elizabethe]

Helli, thank you for your response, it was my diabetic nurse who informed me and being very new to this i soak in all the information and believe it to be the truth. I have avoided cakes, biscuits, ice cream, Danish pastries thinking they would spike my BS. I am on a fixed dosage and not yet confident enough to vary them at the moment. I share your views about myths that could lead to other issues.
Elizabeth

 

[rebrascora]

Like @Kaylz, nice cheese, eggs with a teaspoon of full fat mayonnaise whenever I fancied a snack. Peanut butter with a square of dark chocolate, nuts in general. Double cream (real stuff not Elmlea) in my coffee. These will all give you calories without adding too many carbs if you are on fixed insulin doses although nuts can vary in carb content with peanuts and cashews being a bit higher carb but walnuts, brazils and hazelnuts being lower, so a better choice.

 

[Kaylz]

@helli on FB groups I've tried saying that many times and just get shot down and made to feel like an idiot! xx

 

[Inka]

I’ll join @helli on the soapbox. Within reason, there’s no need to limit carbs as a Type 1. You just eat a normal diet and match your fast/meal insulin to cover it. Insulin doesn’t make you fat.

If you’re on fixed doses and you’re having to limit your food and are unable to gain weight, then your fixed mealtime doses need looking at. You should be eating normally. The only thing I was told to avoid was sugary drinks except as hypo treatments.

If it’s a GP diabetes ‘expert’ nurse who’s telling you all this, then they’re more used to dealing with Type 2s. Type 1 and Type 2 are different conditions.

 

[helli]

@Kaylz and @Elizabethe I never have any intention to make you feel like idiots.
I have seen no evidence that people with Type 1 diabetes (and I include LADA) are any heavier than people without diabetes.
As type 2 is the most common type of diabetes, and there does seem to be a strong relationship between weight gain and type 2, I think we are too often lumped together but as @Inka says, Type 1 is a different condition.


(Ooops, I stepped on the soapbox again 🙄 )

 

[Inka]

As for ice cream, last night for dessert I had a mint choc Cornetto. My blood sugar at 1hr was 6,9 and at 2hrs was 5.2. At bedtime it was 4.7. There’s no reason why you can’t eat ice cream- in fact, that was one of the desserts I was given in hospital after diagnosis.

Type 1/LADAs can eat a normal diet pretty much 🙂 Obviously we have to try to eat healthy foods just like anyone else, but Type 1 is not about starving yourself and depriving yourself of carbs.

If insulin made you fat, I’d be enormous as I’ve taken it every day for almost 30 years. I’m not - I’m slim and always have been.

 

[Inka]

Just in case the message got lost in all that - Type 1 is not about limiting your food to control your blood sugar. It’s about using your insulin appropriately to control your blood sugar just as your body would do if it was able. Any ‘bad’ blood sugar result is almost always due to inappropriate use of insulin not what someone ate.

Speak to your nurse about increasing your mealtime doses so you can eat enough to gain weight, and long-term ask about learning to carb count and to adjust your mealtime insulin according to what you’re about to eat.

 

[Ljc]

Hi. The nurse that told you that insulin makes you gain weight was she a DSN or the diabetes nurse at the Gp (DN) .

As atm you are on fixed doses, were you given an amount of carbohydrates to have at each meal ?
I too suggest snacking on some additional protein and good fats, as you need the extra calories to gain weight, with perhaps a bedtime snack .

With LADA once you have learned to carb count and adjust your insulin accordingly you only restrict carbohydrates if you wish too.
Remember LADA is a slow onset T1 , so once you are on a Basal Bolus regime and have learned to adjust your Basal insulin yourself , it is the T1 recommendations you need to follow as that is what we are.
I choose to eat normally and not do LCHF, that is not to say I go overboard on things, I tend to eat like I used to back in the 50s and 60s , though I do have things like sweet and sour chicken with some rice and I do love a meat Dhansak with some rice about once a month .

I tend to think of LADA as not quite sure about what it wants to be when it grows up, lol.

 

[Elizabethe]

@Kaylz and @Elizabethe I never have any intention to make you feel like idiots.
I have seen no evidence that people with Type 1 diabetes (and I include LADA) are any heavier than people without diabetes.
As type 2 is the most common type of diabetes, and there does seem to be a strong relationship between weight gain and type 2, I think we are too often lumped together but as @Inka says, Type 1 is a different condition.


(Ooops, I stepped on the soapbox again 🙄 )

Helli, I absolutely respect your comments, but when a professional person whom you trust is competent informs you of certain information you take it as read. That’s what awesome about this forum you learn so much more from those that matter. So thank you

 

[nonethewiser]

@helli on FB groups I've tried saying that many times and just get shot down and made to feel like an idiot! xx

Only idiots are ones who say otherwise.

 

[Elizabethe]

Hi. The nurse that told you that insulin makes you gain weight was she a DSN or the diabetes nurse at the Gp (DN) .

As atm you are on fixed doses, were you given an amount of carbohydrates to have at each meal ?
I too suggest snacking on some additional protein and good fats, as you need the extra calories to gain weight, with perhaps a bedtime snack .

With LADA once you have learned to carb count and adjust your insulin accordingly you only restrict carbohydrates if you wish too.
Remember LADA is a slow onset T1 , so once you are on a Basal Bolus regime and have learned to adjust your Basal insulin yourself , it is the T1 recommendations you need to follow as that is what we are.
I choose to eat normally and not do LCHF, that is not to say I go overboard on things, I tend to eat like I used to back in the 50s and 60s , though I do have things like sweet and sour chicken with some rice and I do love a meat Dhansak with some rice about once a month .

I tend to think of LADA as not quite sure about what it wants to be when it grows up, lol.

It was the team lead at the diabetic clinic at the hospital

 

[Kaylz]

Only idiots are ones who say otherwise.

You get but I've put on weight since I started on insulin and you say it's what you eat alongside the insulin that puts the weight on and they just dismiss it and tell you your wrong xx

 

[helli]

It was the team lead at the diabetic clinic at the hospital

I wonder if the comment was related to putting on weight because you lost some when you were undiagnosed?
When our body does not have insulin, it breaks down fat and muscle to get some energy. As a result, weight loss is a common symptom of untreated diabetes and, especially, Type 1 diabetes.
Once you get the insulin onboard, the body will stop that fat and muscle breakdown because the body can get the energy it needs from the usual route. This often results in people finding themselves regain the weight they lost.

Unfortunately, some people with Type 1 may exploit this and deliberately not take their insulin in order to lose weight. This is known as diabulimia and can be fatal.

Apologies for driving this thread down the "insulin does not cause weight gain" route (which is still true).

 

[nonethewiser]

You get but I've put on weight since I started on insulin and you say it's what you eat alongside the insulin that puts the weight on and they just dismiss it and tell you your wrong xx

Eat more than body needs you put on weight, just like anyone without diabetes, guess those idiots need to go back to school.

 

[DaveB]

Just in case the message got lost in all that - Type 1 is not about limiting your food to control your blood sugar. It’s about using your insulin appropriately to control your blood sugar just as your body would do if it was able. Any ‘bad’ blood sugar result is almost always due to inappropriate use of insulin not what someone ate.

Speak to your nurse about increasing your mealtime doses so you can eat enough to gain weight, and long-term ask about learning to carb count and to adjust your mealtime insulin according to what you’re about to eat.

Ink. whilst many T1s can have carbs fairly freely as long as they maintain a good weight, there are some like me who just can't do that. If I have too many carbs my BS goes exponential and can take many hours to get back and doing correcting does has no effect. I have no idea why I have this problem but those T1s who can eat the carbs they want are lucky.

 

[Inka]

Diabetic or not, I think we all have slightly different needs and tolerances @DaveB Even something simple like the differences between sexes or ages. If you weren’t Type 1, I assume something similar might have been the case for you - that you needed to watch carbs?

The phrase “a normal diet” might be too simplistic or general, but nobody with Type 1 should be limiting their food to such an extent that they can’t gain weight.

Interestingly, if you’re saying that you have some degree of insulin resistance, my consultant would call you “Type 1 and a half” - that is, Type 1 with Type 2 traits (I don’t remember exactly how she phrased it). I do think there are more sub-types of diabetes than we currently label.