How can a type II diabetic gain muscle?

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Fithealthyforlife
Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
This thread got me thinking:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1232017-cure-for-diabetes

There are type II diabetics who are thin, and could use more muscle. In fact, there is evidence in research that gaining muscle can improve insulin sensitivity.

But it's a paradox. Type II diabetics are told to avoid weight gain. They're told to eat less. But to gain muscle, a thin person has to gain weight. So how would someone in that situation gain muscle/weight without putting themselves at additional risk by increasing calories?
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  • ejdp254
    ejdp254 Posts: 342 Member
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    Bump to see if anyone knows
  • TylerAvenger
    TylerAvenger Posts: 83
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    Have you talked to a doctor about it? That would be your safest bet since a medical issue is involved.
  • OhCora
    OhCora Posts: 72 Member
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    Putting on muscle is as simple as doing more weight bearing exercise and eating more protein. The risk you talk about for diabetics is when they put on fat weight, not muscle mass. Eating nutritious foods, with healthy fats, avoiding too much sugar (and of course monitoring that closely) is especially important for a Diabetic.
  • alecno
    alecno Posts: 27 Member
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    Type I diabetic here trying to gain weight - I have to care about my insulin levels and blood sugar MUCH more than any type II. It is all about personal control of your illness. They might have to check their sugar more and supplement with insulin as needed, but nothing is preventing them from gaining healthy mass.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Type I diabetic here trying to gain weight - I have to care about my insulin levels and blood sugar MUCH more than any type II. It is all about personal control of your illness. They might have to check their sugar more and supplement with insulin as needed, but nothing is preventing them from gaining healthy mass.

    Have you run into ill-informed healthcare professionals or nutritionists who have discouraged you from gaining weight with type I?

    Type II is in almost every family. I feel I can prevent it in myself by working out over a lifetime...but I still would like to know *how* people with type II who are underweight and want to bulk up are actually going about it. Not every type II diabetic is fat. But unfortunately, even many of the thinner people with the condition are incorrectly told to lose weight, or at least not to eat much. Healthcare professionals seem to forget that muscle gain in a thin person requires weight gain and increased intake. If you put such a person into a deficit, they will lose more muscle, further hampering the situation.
  • AlwaysInMotion
    AlwaysInMotion Posts: 409 Member
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    Putting on muscle is as simple as doing more weight bearing exercise and eating more protein. The risk you talk about for diabetics is when they put on fat weight, not muscle mass. Eating nutritious foods, with healthy fats, avoiding too much sugar (and of course monitoring that closely) is especially important for a Diabetic.

    ^^^ This x10.
  • GlucernaBrand
    GlucernaBrand Posts: 486
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    You're right that gaining muscle requires strength training and adequate protein intake, and both exercise and increasing muscle mass will help decrease insulin resistance and improve overall blood sugar control. Gaining muscle mass isn't easy, and it can take a few weeks or months to really see progress. As others have said, optimum blood sugar control is also key in gaining muscle, because when blood sugar levels are too high your body isn't utilizing energy efficiently. I really like the book "The Diabetic Athletes Handbook" by Sheri Colberg for more information and ideas for people with both T1 and T2. ~Lynn /Glucerna
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
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    Lil boosie is diabetic and he went to jail and come out jacked.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Anyone with type I might be interested in this:

    http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2008/09/22/5079/scrawny-boy-with-type-1-diabetes-becomes-mr--universe/
  • outofworkpediatrician
    outofworkpediatrician Posts: 43 Member
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    type 2 diabetics can gain weight and build muscles if their blood sugar is well controlled. they are usually asked to loose weight, if they are over weight, if they are thin or normal weight, weight loss is never advised. insulin is an anabolic hormone, when a person's blood sugar is normal and insulin sensitivity is high, their insulin will make use of the substrates (carbohydrates or proteins available) to make muscle as needed. but type 2 diabetics need to make sure they are exercising and eating consistently so as to avoid huge fluctuations in blood sugar. having a tight control of blood sugar is the key for gaining weight with muscles.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    type 2 diabetics can gain weight and build muscles if their blood sugar is well controlled. they are usually asked to loose weight, if they are over weight, if they are thin or normal weight, weight loss is never advised. insulin is an anabolic hormone, when a person's blood sugar is normal and insulin sensitivity is high, their insulin will make use of the substrates (carbohydrates or proteins available) to make muscle as needed. but type 2 diabetics need to make sure they are exercising and eating consistently so as to avoid huge fluctuations in blood sugar. having a tight control of blood sugar is the key for gaining weight with muscles.

    So, what if (I'm assuming you're a medical doctor from your name) you had an adult patient (I know you're a pediatrician, but nonetheless) who was type II, and getting into hardcore lifting...and had to eat at least a 500-calorie surplus to bulk...? How would this person do it in a safe way? Would they just eat more of what they were already eating and keep tracking it carefully?
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    Gaining muscle is not the same as becoming a body builder and trying to bulk and it does not have to involve huge amounts of calories or gaining 100 lbs of muscle. Diabetics are encourage to exercise so I do not understand completely the question. If the question is whether a dr would encourage a diabetic to bulk, as in hardcore body building, tons of protein shakes, high fat diet for bulking etc, honestly I doubt any dr would encourage anyone to do this.
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    What about using fat instead of carbs to hit your calorie goal? No risk of spiking your bgl. I suppose the problem would be reduced energy levels affecting your work outs because of the limited carbs.

    I'm T2 and bulking can be challenging. To control my T2 I dramatically changed my diet (lowering carbs). I've done strength training on regular basis for the past year. I've have seen changes, but progress has been very slow. Given my metal barriers to having a large calorie surplus, I'm more likely recomping or simply maintaining rather than bulking.

    I'm OK with slow and steady progress, I'm a patient person. The most important thing is that my bgl is in check.
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
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    Easy: Eat a whole foods, plant based diet, with minimal fats so that you don't have intramyocellupar lipid preventing your insulin from getting energy into your muscle cells. Exercise. Recover. Repeat. Eat enough greens, beans, lentils, and fruit to repair your muscles.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Easy: Eat a whole foods, plant based diet, with minimal fats so that you don't have intramyocellupar lipid preventing your insulin from getting energy into your muscle cells. Exercise. Recover. Repeat. Eat enough greens, beans, lentils, and fruit to repair your muscles.

    Wow, finally another person who has heard of intramyocellular lipids! I read about this when I did a research report for a class last year. It really is one of the leys to solving the type II diabetes puzzle.

    However...Many people are not fully seeing the question...

    The question is specifically about a person who has type II and is building mass. There was one response from someone in that position, which was pretty useful.

    But now we're going down the road of "bulking is probably unhealthy for everyone". That wasn't the intent here. If someone is going to gain weight, they're going to need a lot of calories.

    In my case, there is some type II in my family. So I figure it's best to gain my mass as soon as possible while I'm still young so I'm not subjecting my body to tons of metabolic strain later when it might have difficulty handling that. I'm sure there are many people in this situation. But in order to gain weight, I have to eat over 3000 calories net.

    If I were already diabetic though, how on earth would I do that without hurting myself? I'm sure there are actually people in that situation.

    Also, I would hope that eating this much to gain weight now won't increase my chance of developing the disorder later. It's a paradox...people who are prone to it need to gain muscle. But to gain muscle, you have to eat a lot...a behavior which supposedly promotes diabetes due to metabolic strain.

    It seems no one has the answer. That's very unfortunate for people who are in the situation.
  • Makhai_
    Makhai_ Posts: 146 Member
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    In for answers....... Great question!
  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
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    Is it common for a doctor to tell a person who is of normal weight or below with type two diabetes to watch their weight? Also, when gaining muscle, isn't a five pound muscle gain pretty huge and impressive over a year? I'm not sure of the answers. I do know that when I was 29 years old and 180 pounds (pregnant) with gestational diabetes, my diabetic nurse told me that if I don't keep my weight down I will definitely have type two diabetes by the time I reach 40. I didn't do much research, but I did heed her advice, and kept my weight about ten pounds or less over my BMI. I guess I interpreted "keep your weight down" as within a certain range:tongue:

    Btw, I also made sure I ate protein at every meal. Also, as a side note and off topic, (sorry), this nurse was morbidly obese and had type two diabetes herself, but she was very influential in my life and I am grateful that she had the guts to march into my hospital room after my baby was born and wag her finger at me:)
  • EchoDelta1013
    EchoDelta1013 Posts: 93 Member
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    Saved for later
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    I think you are mistaken that a surplus to bulk has to be at least 500 calories. Also, you keep saying weight when you should be saying fat. There are several powerlifters I know who have type II. They monitor their levels closely.

    One sets national and world records. He hit 512 pounds for bench press at the Utah State Powerlifting Championship and will be competing at the WPC World Cup this year. This is what he has to say about how he gains mass with type II:
    I focused on pre-hab, more protein intake, more sets using heavier weight, incorporated deadlifting and using less insulin to control my diabetes. Although I believe I look soft and in general do not like my appearance, it doesn't matter, I was stronger and less diabetic complications.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    I think you are mistaken that a surplus to bulk has to be at least 500 calories. Also, you keep saying weight when you should be saying fat. There are several powerlifters I know who have type II. They monitor their levels closely.

    One sets national and world records. He hit 512 pounds for bench press at the Utah State Powerlifting Championship and will be competing at the WPC World Cup this year. This is what he has to say about how he gains mass with type II:
    I focused on pre-hab, more protein intake, more sets using heavier weight, incorporated deadlifting and using less insulin to control my diabetes. Although I believe I look soft and in general do not like my appearance, it doesn't matter, I was stronger and less diabetic complications.

    Well, I'm going by my own experience. I'm trying to find an optimal surplus, and it's north of 500 cal to gain half a pound a week. If I were diabetic, wouldn't that be dangerous?

    But you're right. I said "weight". And I should have said "fat". But you know what? everyone uses the word "weight". In fact, muscle gain that is also weight gain is often discouraged...just because it's weight gain. Our society is obsessed with "weight" just as much as it is with "fat"...at least that is how I see it. We use BMI too much, when we should be using a combination of BMI and FFMI.

    And thanks for the quote, too. That's a great tidbit there. I hope other people in a similar situation to him can learn a bit from his perspective.

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