Type1 - Andrew/Ginger

Hey Phil

Don't let having diabetes lead you to believe that you can't gain mass and lose fat like a normal person. It will defintly be harder, take a lot more trial and error, but it can be done. Ginger has gained at least 15 pounds of muscle, while losing fat and virtually cut her insulin in half over the last year.

With that being said, the first thing you should do is start eating "clean" foods if you aren't already. By "clean" foods, I'm talking about things that are not man made. Whole protein sources like chicken and steak, whole grains, oatmeal, brown rice, vegetables and healthy fats like olive oil and the omega 3's. You should also start eating on a regular schedule. 4 -6 small meals a day at regular intervals. As far as exercise goes, you should start to exercise at the same time every day, mixing it up with free weights followed by cardio.

As far as checking your blood sugar goes as a new diabetic, you should err on the side of checking too much. You should check first thing in the morning, before each meal, about 20-30 minutes after a meal, before and after exercise and before bed. If your training sessions are particularly long, check at a midpoint as well. I can remember a lot of times when Ginger would go to her blood glucose monitor after a hard set just to check. I would also keep a log of when you do check your blood sugar to see the paterns that may arise. When your following the same schedule every day you should start to see patern.

Also,

What is your training level/experience. Are you on a weight training program currently. Give me some of your stats and I can make more specific dietary sugestions.

Andrew

Hey Phil,

In addition to Andrew's response: yeah, there's no reason why diabetes would keep us from putting on muscle. I've gained muscle more easily over the pasy year and a half than many people, diabetes or not, because I train really hard with Andrew, and have made good nutrition a serious focus of my life.

With the diabetes, it's definitely true that if your blood sugars are out of control, you're going to struggle simply in terms of maintaining quality energy, let alone building muscle. That's why I'd written this article a while ago: Other reaons to aim for good blood sugars.

Just like anything, hard work pays off! Consistency and keeping your priorities straight.

If the basics of weightlifting are still foreign to you, like if I said, "Try your deadlifts sumo-stance instead of conventional," and you didn't know what I meant, then it may be worth it to work with a trainer at your gym or contact someone like Andrew to help you design a good program. Because the other HUGE reason I've made so much progress, was that I didn't waste a couple years doing things partially correct or majorly incorrectly on my own!

-Ginger