When I was diagnosed back in 2014 I had lost a lot of weight. One of the symptoms or signs of diabetes is unexpected weight loss. I did a previous post on the symptoms of diabetes. You can read it here: Diabetes Symptoms.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a doctor, I’m not going to tell you what to eat or what to do, this is just a guide of the lifestyle I follow. This is what has been working for me. Anybody with diabetes or any chronic illness should be under the care and supervision of a doctor and expert in the subject i.e. endocrinologist, primary care physician, nutritionist. I’m not that person, I’m someone who has been living with type 1 diabetes for 8 years, I’m someone who wakes up and goes to sleep with this… every single day.

I’ve been asked a few times how to gain weight as a type 1 diabetic. In this post I will explain what I’ve learned and how I have been able to gain weight in a healthy way. Specifically lean muscle mass.

Many people lose a lot of weight before their diagnosis. This is a common and normal symptom since your body has been starving itself and not getting the proper nutrients inside the bloodstream because of high blood glucose levels.

After being diagnosed I was able to start treatment and got my glucose levels under control and back in range. Then, I was able to start gaining back the weight I had lost.

When we talk about weight gain; we are talking about gaining weight in a healthy way. I’m going to explain how I did this and what has worked for me. If you have any other illness or health issue you need to consult with your doctor or nutritionist about what’s the best way for you to gain weight. They will help you with a special meal plan according to your specific situation.

How to gain weight ?

When gaining weight we need to make sure we are consuming more calories than we are burning. This is called a caloric surplus. But we need to track and add those calories from healthy and whole foods. We also need to do this in a smart way. I will explain shortly.

The first thing we need to do is know what our current weight is and what our desired weight goal is. We can do this using apps like Mike’s Macros or Myfitness pal. These apps will help you determine how many calories you need to eat in order to achieve your goal.

The way I have gained muscle and lean body weight is through 3 steps. First, we need to determine and track our calories intake. Second, we need to have a meal plan and third we need to work out (resistance training).

Track Calories Intake:

In this first step we are figuring out how many calories we need to eat in order to gain weight. The apps mentioned above will help you start because they will provide your macronutrient targets depending on your physical activity. You need to input your age, sex, weight goal, and the app will help you determine how many protein, carbs and fats in grams you will need to eat daily. You will also be asked about your activity level. This depends on whether you exercise 2-3 days per week or 6-7 days per week.

Here’s the thing with diabetes, we need to make sure those carbs are healthy and we need to eat foods with a low glycemic index in order to prevent sugar spikes. We still need to inject insulin and apply the right bolus depending on how much food we will eat. You need to learn what is your insulin to carb ratio and know how to count carbs in your foods so you can calculate the right amount of insulin and avoid high glucose levels or low blood sugars.

These apps make it easy because you will log what you eat and it will tell you how much more food you will need depending on your calorie target but you need to be as precise as possible when entering the serving amount in oz or grams that you eat of each food.

Here’s my example: I eat three extra large eggs for breakfast with cheese and half a bagel. I will input this information on the app and then the app will let me know how much protein, carbs and fats I’ve eaten and how much more I will have to eat during the day. By the end of the day I will have a total of calories eaten and my daily target for each macronutrient.

These apps will help you gain weight or lose weight (depending on your goal) if you use them consistently. The only way to add healthy weight is by tracking what you eat. There’s no other way to do this because otherwise you are just eating and guessing. This is not how it works. If you eat too much you will gain a lot of weight and end up with more fat. If you don’t eat enough you will not gain weight and will not see any changes in your body.

This is why foods have a label where you can see the amount of calories per serving where you can track protein, carbs and fats in grams.

There are many resources and great apps online that can help you. Take the time to do some research and try one.

Once you have found one you need to follow step 2 which is the meal plan.

Meal Plan:

There are many options online when it comes to meal planning. This depends on your food preferences.

In my case I eat 3 full meals per day and I add 2 – 3 snacks.

Here’s an example of what I eat in one day:

Breakfast: 3 extra large scrambled eggs with cheese and half a bagel.

Snack # 1:  1 cup cottage cheese.

Lunch: -Protein: (ground beef or salmon or chicken or any other protein choice) Carbs: (1 cup brown rice) and fats: (1 avocado)

Snack # 2:   ¼ cup of mixed nuts, 12 ounces pre workout (whey protein) shake, 1 apple.

Dinner: choice of protein, 1 cup of carbs( brown rice or wheat pasta) 1 avocado.

Snack # 3: 1 cup low fat greek yogurt or 1 cup cottage cheese.

This is just an example of what my meals look like, this will be different for you because your macronutrient targets might be different. This is to give you an idea that I split my daily calorie intake into several meals so it is easier for me to eat them. If you want to eat 3 large meals and get all your calories from those 3 meals that’s ok too. Remember as long as you are meeting your daily calorie intake it doesn’t matter if you eat 2 big meals or 6 smaller meals.

Here’s what’s important: the quality of your calories. You might think about getting your 800 calories meal from McDonalds or getting the same meal with 800 calories from Chipotle. Which one do you think is better for your body ? Yes, chipotle. Chicken, rice, beans, cheese, lettuce and guacamole are better for you than a big mac with fries. They do have the same calories but which one has better nutrients ? This is an example by the way, I’m not sure of the amount of calories in those foods, I’m using them as reference.

If you want a complete list of healthy food options check out my previous blog posts: What I eat as a type 1 diabetic ? and The Glycemic Index of Foods.

Now that you have the app to track your calories and a meal plan you need the third step which is the workout or exercise part.

Resistance Training:

What happens if you just eat and don’t do any physical activity ? Yes, you might start gaining weight. But I think we want to gain weight and do something with it right ? We don’t want to accumulate weight as just belly fat. By lifting weights or doing resistance training you are sculpting your body and shaping the body so the weight you are gaining is turning into lean muscle mass.

I did a full post on the benefits of weight training for diabetics where I explain all the reasons why if you are diabetic you should be lifting weights, here’s the link: Weight training benefits for diabetics. Please read it.

You don’t know where to start ? There are literally thousands of apps that you can get on your phone or purchase online that will have workout routines for everyday of the week. Do some research and try one.

So there you have it, how to gain weight ? You need to be in caloric surplus, you need to track your calories intake, you need to plan your meals and you need to workout.

Oh, I forgot to say that gaining weight takes time, and building lean muscle mass also takes time. I’m 32 years old today and I weigh 180 Lbs. Back in 2014 I was probably 160 Lbs before being diagnosed.

You know what else I forgot to say ? That all of this is way harder because you need to check your glucose levels and inject insulin depending on how much food you eat. Diabetes by itself is hard and everything has to be calculated.

My suggestion, start slow, don’t compare yourself to anybody, that’s a waste of time. I realized that those big guys at the gym that look muscular and big have completely normal bodies and they don’t have to worry about measuring and checking glucose levels. I’m not taking away the credit that some people who build a great physique have, no. That’s a lot of hard work. For us diabetics it is possible but it might be a bit harder.

This takes discipline, consistency and action… and remember your goal while adding weight is to maintain normal, in range glucose levels.

@dieabeast