My Goal to Regain Weight that I Didn't Mean to Lose

Type 1 & LADA
21

It depends on a lot of things. What is my BG, which way is it going, am I going to eat more soon, did I just finish exercising, do I want to add more carbs soon, what’s for dinner, how much have I been eating, how active have I been.

It’s hard to say compared to a meal, because I have those shakes often, but they are usually right after exercise. And I usually eat dinner soon after too, so part of the bolus is for dinner too.

Maybe it would be useful to consider your circumstances, like if you are drinking it after exercise or if you are eating soon too.

3 Likes
22

Sorry, I know it’s complicated. Say mid afternoon, like 4 pm, dinner at 7 pm, no exercise. Just a way to add calories with no appetite. Do you bolus relatively more for something that’s liquid with sugar? Or high sugar? And do you do a longer or shorter pre-bolus?

2 Likes
23

13 posts were split to a new topic: Weight Gain using Commercial or Homemade Shakes

24

A few things on this. These are just some generalized topics. We can get into specifics later if you want.

Weight gain or loss is “generally” dependent on simply 2 things - the amount of calories you consume and the amount of energy you expend.

(Yes you can modify your metabolism a little bit with what you are eating and how often you eat and what you eat, and how much activity you get. And there are some ways to do all of that, but for the most part it’s simply this - calories in versus calories burnt.)

Only considering weight gain or loss (not health or nutrition), it does not matter a whole lot what you eat to make up the calories. Like 2,000 calories that is 50% carbs versus 2,000 calories that is 35% carbs won’t make much of a difference for weight. Only a small factor.

So for weight, the primary concerns are eating the right number of calories, and making sure you provide your body with the right amount of the macronutrients - carbs, protein, and fat to be healthy. (This is not counting nutrients like vitamins and vegetables and such. That is a different topic.)

For muscle gain, you need to work your muscles and you need the right amount of protein (for repair) and carbs for muscle glycogen (stored carbs for energy). There is not really a diet that builds muscle by itself without also working the muscles.

For calories, every gram of carbs or protein has 4 calories. Every gram of fat has 9 calories. More than twice as much. And for the most part, fat is easier to manage for BG than carbs.

Fat give you more bang for the buck in terms of calories. So the easiest way to gain weight is to increase your fat intake though healthy fats (unsaturated fats instead of saturated fats).

The easiest way to remember “good” versus “bad” fat (unsaturated fat versus saturated fat) is that fats from plants are generally the “good” kind of fat, except for 2 things - palm or palm kernel oil and coconut oil. Most every other plant fat is fine.

And fat from animals are generally the “bad” kind of fat, except for fish, which are good. (Like pork is bad, tuna is good, etc.)

That is not a completely full list, but that is a fairly easy way to remember it and simplify it. (Totally oversimplified, but just easy. I can eat more of this animal, not this one. I can eat these plants but not these 2, etc. :grinning:)

But the last thing is that you need to keep in mind is that you still need the proper amount of everything. You still need a sufficient amount of carbs and protein too. Like even if you only eat healthy fats, you still need the other macronutrients too. As well as the right amount of vitamins and minerals and water and fiber, etc.

Does that stuff make sense? Questions?

2 Likes
25

@Chris
I saw you split threads, just put this in whichever thread makes the most sense and flag @Jan for her to see it.

2 Likes
26

@Jan, I’m sorry you’re dealing with all of this! I sure hope something starts to get easier sooner rather than later! Fingers crossed!

3 Likes
27

Yes, you explained it well. Actually I’m a nutritionist, but not human nutrition, rather ruminant nutrition. Ruminants do run on glucose, but not so much dietary glucose (depends on diet). Most of their glucose comes from gluconeogenesis, result of propionate (short-chain volatile fatty acid from fermentation) and excess amino acids. So I’m more familiar with ruminant metabolism. Actually, even their metabolic pathways and enzymes are different. So thanks for the clear human explanation. :cow:

So, does that mean without exercise, that most of the weight I’ll gain will be fat? And that the only way to replace muscle is by muscle training or strength exercises?

5 Likes
28

Oh, yeah then you already know a lot of this stuff, so my explanation was certainly oversimplified. :grinning:

Yes, for the most part (I am actually tempted to say “all”), muscle growth and adaptations occur from outside stimulation.

That does not mean you need to go to the gym though. Walking up stairs or going to the mailbox is still exercise. Any activity can contribute and can help maintain your muscle.

Basically anything that uses your muscles counts. But the more intense and harder, the greater the gains.

But there really is no magic shortcut to just eating in order to gain muscle. And while it is not true that 100% of your weight gain would be only from fat gain (fat also holds some water, so some of the weight gained would be water), without exercise more of the weight gain would be from fat than muscle.

3 Likes
29

Thanks, it has been and continues to be a struggle. One of the main problems is I’m struggling with major anxiety, and don’t have much of an appetite. :worried:

2 Likes
30

In cattle, body composition gains are dependant on stage of growth. I guess I should have guessed that was true in humans too.
Interestingly, in cattle the farther along the growth curve and the higher the body condition (more fat to begin with regardless of stage of growth) the more “expensive” it is to gain weight. A thin cow requires fewer calories per pound not only to maintain herself, but also to gain weight.

2 Likes
31

Oh yeah, good clarification! I was mainly referencing humans in the “steady-state”, not like a child’s growth and such. Obviously you can grow muscle without much exercise when you are a youngster who is still growing.

2 Likes