Just venting here… I had a really busy October as I had my daughter was in from California, and my wife and I remade many of our Halloween displays in which the rebuild took up space in my usual workout area in my basement. And I needed a few of my weights to use as bases for a few ghosty figures.
So, I finally got my workout area back and restarted my regular workout (a strength training program 3x a week) but because I didn’t work out all October I lost 6 lbs. Down to 159 from 164-166 average. Maddening!!! It’s gonna take me another month to gain that back I bet. Anyone else in the lada camp lose weight from not working out?
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Sorry it is so hard for you to keep weight on. That is a lot of weight to lose just from not working out. I suspect there are plenty that would trade problems with you. Good luck on your Hulk building!
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Well, I struggle to keep weight on when I’m super busy and can’t add in as many snacks throughout my day. Not the same problem, but I still understand this side of the weight issue. It’s not a popular one but it is legit nonetheless. I also find it aggravating.
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I know where they are. I will happily ship them back to you.
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Yes, a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, but since muscle is more dense than fat, the assumption is that lifting weights will increase your weight. But in general, less strength training causes people to gain weigh instead of losing it, because muscle increases your metabolism and helps you burn more calories. As your muscle mass decreases, your metabolism slows down after a few weeks.
But in your case, if you have stopped lifting weights and are losing weight, it is probably from another cause. Your total caloric intake might be different than it was.
To start with, I suggest tracking your total calories and looking at calorie recommendations for weight loss, maintenance, and gain for your body size and activity level. And adjust it accordingly for whether you are working out or not, and for whether you want to gain or lose.
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Looking back through October, I made a point to eat more carbs and add more novolog. Still I end up with a net loss of 6lbs. I’m just trying to stay even at 164 or so but to do so I have to continue the strength trainng. I am wondering if there is something else going on or how far i’d drop if I just didn’t do any strength training. I’m not trying to bulk up. I’m trying to keep enough muscle to do heavy work around the yard during the summers/fall.
I’m going to send over a note to my doc and see what they have to say.
Thanks for your suggestions.
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You can still gain weight by eating less carbs, and you can still lose weight by eating more carbs.
There are certainly medical issues or metabolism issues that might be the cause for you.
But in the simplest scenario to explain it, all other things being equal, if you have a calorie deficit, you lose weight. And if you have a calorie surplus, you gain weight.
Calories is what you want to track for weight, not carbs.
(Unless you are doing a keto diet, in which case all kinds of wacky stuff happens to your body’s metabolism, which changes the simplistic formulation I mentioned above.)
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Might want to get your thyroid checked if you haven’t lately, since T1s are elevated risk for thyroid problems, and hyperthyroidism can cause weight loss.
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I’m on a thyroid med and had my blood test recently. Endo didn’t see anything out of range-or at least alarmingly out of range. I just sent a patient portal message today, so I will hear back if there are any medical concerns.
I understand the calorie intake but as I have seen over the years, the only way I could ever get to where I was before this hit me 8 years ago (185lbs) would be to gorge four or five times a day. Maybe. Seems to me most of the calories I consume don’t go where they should. Should it be so hard to simply keep weight on? That’s my main concern.
Is your concern with the amount of muscle you have or how much you weigh?
I personally don’t think a person’s weight matters as much as their body composition.
If you have lean muscle, if you have strength, if you are in shape, if your BMI is not too high, if your cardio fitness is good, if you have strong muscles and strong bones, if you have good flexibility…who cares how much you weigh?
(unless you are an offensive lineman or sumo wrestler, in which case I guess it does matter…)
Strong at 165 is better than weak at 185.
Sorry, I know that does not help you gain weight.
If you’re on thyroid meds and having this issue, might be worth talking about whether they need tweaking even if your levels are technically in range. “In range” is fairly broad, and some people seem to function much better in a more limited section of the normal range. An easy thing to test out at any rate.
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Yea, guess I never thought of it that way. I do like that idea so thanks.
I remember a year after this hit me I was doing heavy yard work and was trying to push a wheelbarrow of mulch up a 8’ hill. Half way up I simply lost steam and it almost came back down on me. The neighbor ran up and saved me by pulling it the rest of the way. I was kinda stupified since that did not happen to me a few years earlier. I had lost about 30lbs and was about 155 back then and still struggling with gaining some back.
Btw, my endo pointed out today that my weight has gone up and down over the years so he is not concerned. Maybe I am being overly concerned but with no health insurance anything that seem off gets me nervous.
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I had a couple more thoughts to go through on some of these things you mentioned…
First, this one:
I don’t know where you are with your BG management, but keep in mind, your body can only process carbs for which it has insulin.
If you have extended high BG after a meal, that means you have glucose that is NOT getting taken out of your blood and used by your cells.
An easy way to illustrate it with an overly-simplified example, If you eat 100 grams of carbs, but only take enough insulin for 25 grams, guess what happens to the other 75 grams? You pee it away. When you have high BG, your kidneys eliminate it through the urine. So you are not processing all the carbs you eat.
So even if you are eating those 100 gram meals, your body is only getting the equivalent of a 25 gram meal.
That can be one reason (of many) that a diabetic might lose weight.
So the simple point of this example, is just to say - make sure your BG is properly maintained.
If you were having to gorge 4-5 times per day to maintain that weight pre-diabetes, consider that maybe your body frame, genetic makeup, and metabolism is simply not meant for you to be at 185.
Maybe you were able to hit 185 and keep it there with a lot of effort. But now with diabetes, it is harder because as mentioned above, you need to have perfect BG to be able to process all those carbs.
I’ve been kicked out of more all-you-can-eat restaurants than I can count. One time they checked my coat pockets because they thought I was stashing the food and not really eating it. Nope, nothing in my pockets. 
Then they told me I was not allowed to have anymore. I complained, “But it’s all-you-can-eat!” They told me, “And that’s all you can eat. Get out.”
No matter what I do, I am never going to be 185. That’s just how it is for me.
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Not a very good place, apparently. But I am working on it everyday. My A1c is not very good. 7.5 or 8. As you rightly point out, my goal is to make sure I have enough novolog onboard to cover - am not great at figuring out how much is just right so I have many highs or lows. Also get way too focused at my computer for hours without moving (graphic/web designer) which will raise my bg even if I had enough novolog.
On a good note I am up to 160lb. My first two days of workout were tuesday and thursday along with protein/yogurt supplement. Sore as if I never worked out but that’ll pass…
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Might be a sign that increasing your basal would help? I think for the many of us who want to lose weight, we are careful about not having basal up too high, because we don’t want to risk needing to eat to feed it, but if you want to gain weight, seems like something worth experimenting with.
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Well, Touejo sticks in my system for over 24hours which means the time between 10pm and 8am is a complete emptying of my stomach as well as glucose in my blood from the steady drip of the basal insulin.
I don’t like waking at 4am to a low, so if I take more basal that will happen. I’ve tried it many times. At my current 18 units, I need to be around 150 before bed to not worry about waking with a low. There’s a handfull of Smartees and a Sprite sitting on my dresser at all times…
Hmm, if you’re finding yourself drifting upward during the day but not at night, I wonder if a basal where you could adjust the levels differently might work better. I’m on MDI as well, on Tresiba, and I would probably use Levemir if I could for that reason, but my body has a weird reaction to it. But I also get it if you don’t want to deal with that, especially if you can actually get 24 hours out of Touejo (for a lot folks like me, Lantus, which is basically the same thing, only lasts 20 hours, and at that point blood sugars rise steadily).
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A few thoughts:
For the basal, have you split dosed before? I’ve had much better control and fewer night lows this way. Plus, you can use different size doses for morning and night if it helps. I did this with Lantus and now Levemir, which has worked best of all for me.
On the strength training and desire for weight gain: I understand - strength is important, especially for middle aged and older folks. I’ve always been pretty skinny. For years as an adult, I weighed about 165-170 at 6-1 (ignoring the brief foray down to 150# at diagnosis). I started doing strength training in 2013 in order to get “exercise” which I knew I needed but never found time to do, and also to gain strength and weight. I do basic compound lifts: low bar back squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, also some chins (Starting Strength program). It has been very good, but most effective at strength gain when eating commensurate with the program (see below).
I tried doing the above regimen by just eating as normal (mostly high fat low carb) and adding more protein. This didn’t work very well: lifts stalling, not recovering well from the workouts, etc. I found out the hard way: protein and carbs, and overall calorie consumption are super important to strength training. When I quit HFLC and increased protein, carbs, and calories, my lifts went up and I gained bodyweight. I’m now at about 195#, which is pretty comfortable for me. I haven’t lifted for 3 months, due to general busyness and crowded workout space in garage, but I will get back into it this winter.
Eric is right, the best way is to track everything you eat. If I don’t track it, I tend to undershoot protein, and overshoot fat, because that’s very easy to do. I use “Fat Secret” calorie counter app in my phone to make sure I’m on track for macro consumption. It really works well.
Good luck in your quest!
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Mike,
Sorry for the delay and thanks for the thoughts. Never thought of split dosing. It may be complicated for me to try and find the balance, but I’ll ask endo next time I see him. I have two times during the day that I take meds. Once in the morn around 9am and then again at around 11pm. It aint clockwork and I’d hate to have an overlap of basal floating around before bed on those days I stay up later. But I get the idea. Glad it works for you.
I was surprised you shot up to 195lbs. But then you have 6" on me so that seems about normal for someone 6’1". Good on ya! As of yesterday, I was at 162. I had to increase my protein intake with a whey supplement morn and night till I got back above the 160 mark. Also had to restart my workouts.
Winter is really hard to find the will to workout. It’s generally dark, cold and my basement workout area hovers around 58•f. However the idea of shrinking down to 155 keeps me motivated enough to push through.
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