Insulin Sensitivity + Medication

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hey, guys.

I was wondering about insulin sensitivity in regards to a certain drug that I take (prescribed). I’ve read several studies and it has the very real potential to lead to insulin resistance and, with most people who take it, weight gain.

The reason I ask is because I was wondering if this would affect my progress and goals in regards to building mass and lifting heavy shit. Should I test my insulin resistance? How would I know if it’s affecting my ability to build muscle? Is weight gain the only sign?

I was reading that insulin resistance in muscle will inhibit glucose uptake and local glucose storage which is why I was concerned as I had been feeling low on energy for the past month-ish during my workouts (my squats have been destroying me) and have even seen a steep drop (and reversal) in progress (medicine has stayed the same for the past year). For example; I repped 250 x 9 for squats on week 3 of 531 cycle 2, and on week 1 of cycle 4, I struggled to rep 245 x 5. The week after that I repped 260 x 1. It’s this significant drop in energy that really has me worried. Cycle 4 is this most recent month of December. I dropped back down in weight for week 3 and squatted 250 x 4.

I’m not overweight in the slightest (current pic is about how lean i am right now), which is why I think it might be something else (lack of food, perhaps), but it’s a definite concern of mine.

For reference, I consume ~6000 calories/day and swing between 205-210 lbs.

Thanks for reading in addition to any input you guys may have.

3

Good point. I assumed my height was going to impact my caloric intake needs drastically (i’m 6’ 9"), but if 3000 should definitely be maintenance then I might very well have been over-doing it. I think I’ll give ~4000 calories a day a shot and see where that gets me (assuming my height shouldn’t be a factor).

I do have a relatively hectic life with school. I’m studying Chemical Engineering with the goal of progressing into medicine and in order to maintain my goal GPA I have to put in quite a few hours in the library each day/night. Not sure how that would impact things. I tend to get enough sleep, though. ~8 hours each night. Sometimes less, but not often.

Thanks for the input.

Thoughts?

5

You get 8 hours of sleep a night.

You do NOT have a hectic life.

LOTS of time to prepare food in advance.

6

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Well in order to fill out your frame, you will nedd significantly more actual muscle than someone shorter and yes, you’ll need lots of cals to get there, but if you’re not gaining on 6000cals/day then there is something wrong, i.e. your body must not be utilising a significant proportion of the ingested energy.

I would run some quality probiotics to help things along in that respect.

Can you please provide a rundown of a typical days’ nutrition.

BBB[/quote]

Very interesting. Would quality Greek yogurt with probiotics help in that regard?

If all goes as planned and I can get to the dining halls as often as needed, here’s what my day usually looks like in terms of food during the school semester:

Meal 1: 16 oz greek yogurt, cup of oats
Meal 2: 1 pepperoni pizza, 1 plate lettuce + cheese + dressing
Meal 3: .5 pizzas or [2 double cheese burgers] or [2 beef/cheese/etc bean burritos] and assorted fruits
Lift
Meal 4: Post-workout shake
Meal 5: .5 pepperoni pizzas or [2 double cheese burgers] or [2 beef/cheese/etc bean burritos] and a variety of other things (mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, assorted fruits etc)
Meal 6 (80% of the time): can of peaches/pears/pineapples and scoops of peanut butter

However, I can’t always make it to the dining hall when I want to so roughly 4-5 days throughout the months I miss a few meals.

Also, I didn’t have access to greek yogurt for about 2 months (october/november) which is about when my strength levels began decreasing. Do you think something that small could have that much of an impact (in regards to not having probiotics [cause i’m definitely not getting them from the dining hall])?

7

ros1816 just posted in my log

[quote]ros1816 wrote:
Thought you might be interested in this:
My diet
1 can tuna mayo sandwich
3-4* 60-70gcheese n pickle sandwiches
Pasta, can tuna, pesto
4 Eggs, 6-70g cheese, Can of Beans
Training days: 2 shakes of 45g prot, 80g maltodextrin, bcaas, creatine

Total cals 4000-5000
[/quote]

he’s 6’ 9" himself and this diet is working for him. i think i need to give this a try instead of drowning my system in food every day. also going to reincorporate the greek yogurt into my diet when i get back to school.

cheers

9

Zooguido,

6000kcal is a lot - this is about as much I as I was taking when I played college bball (I’m 6’6 for your reference), but that was based solely on the amount of pure exercise I did (~4-6hrs a day).

Insulin sensitivity is very much related to how much fat you carry in your subscapular region (the upper back) and the supra-iliac site (aka your love handles). Quality bodyfat measurements at these areas will give you a good idea of how insulin resistant you are.

Now that I’m done playing ball I’ve learned a few things:
First going that high kcal is detrimental to your insulin sensitivity as are typical “bulking” strategies

An HCL protocol is critical to absorbing everything you eat

It may seem counter-intuitive but my greatest gains came when I leaned out first. Get your body-fat as low as you can, I’m talking sub-10% (many people really are this lean) which improves your insulin sensitivity a lot. This can be achieved by going low carb with strategic cheat meals. Doing such a thing allowed me to gain muscle much, much more easily - because I was better able to use insulin for it’s anabolic effects.

And BBB is correct in that you should get quality probiotics (great for lowering body fat) - but I’ve found organic kefir to be my best value resource for probiotics.

Good luck!

10

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Is that really 6000cals? Doesn’t look like it to me, but I could be wrong.

I’m talking about a capsulated, 8billion micro-organisms per dose, quality probiotic (I use Udos brand), not yoghurt :wink:

BBB [/quote]

assuming i eat 2 pizzas total, that’s 4000 calories
the yogurt is 560 cals on top of that
cup of oats add in ~200, at least
the salad’s probably 400 with the cheese and dressing
shake’s about 140
that puts me just at 5300 without factoring in the macaroni, mashed potatoes, and fruit
then throw in all of that and it should put me around 6000, give or take 2-300 calories.

i don’t drink soda and rarely eat any sweets, for reference.

i do have abs showing (not flexing) and am very lean all around.

this pic was taken a while ago but it’s about where i am leanness-wise right now, just add on 20 lbs of muscle lol

i was mainly worried due to a possible lack of glycogen storage and inhibition, not getting fat.

i will look into the probiotics, though.

offtopic, but BBB, i was reading in the brain performance enhancer thread about nootropics and somebody mentioned you formulated a beginner’s stack for various supplements in this category. i looked further for more information but couldn’t find anything relating to previous posts of yours. where would i find these (or the stack [also, total price])? i’m taking organic chemistry next semester and there’s no way i’m going back on stimulants but i feel like i might need a bit of a boost mentally and these supps might be perfect for me.

thanks much for the input, as usual.

cheers.

11

Maybe you should eat some protein. I heard it helps when youre trying to build muscle.

Just a wild guess though.

12

I do… when I kept a food log, I was averaging 450g protein a day, 6000 calories, and 650g carbs…

But hey! Thanks for the constructive criticism!

14

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:

[quote]Zooguido wrote:

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Is that really 6000cals? Doesn’t look like it to me, but I could be wrong.

I’m talking about a capsulated, 8billion micro-organisms per dose, quality probiotic (I use Udos brand), not yoghurt :wink:

BBB [/quote]

assuming i eat 2 pizzas total, that’s 4000 calories
the yogurt is 560 cals on top of that
cup of oats add in ~200, at least
the salad’s probably 400 with the cheese and dressing
shake’s about 140
that puts me just at 5300 without factoring in the macaroni, mashed potatoes, and fruit
then throw in all of that and it should put me around 6000, give or take 2-300 calories.

i don’t drink soda and rarely eat any sweets, for reference.

i do have abs showing (not flexing) and am very lean all around.

this pic was taken a while ago but it’s about where i am leanness-wise right now, just add on 20 lbs of muscle lol

i was mainly worried due to a possible lack of glycogen storage and inhibition, not getting fat.

i will look into the probiotics, though.

offtopic, but BBB, i was reading in the brain performance enhancer thread about nootropics and somebody mentioned you formulated a beginner’s stack for various supplements in this category. i looked further for more information but couldn’t find anything relating to previous posts of yours. where would i find these (or the stack [also, total price])? i’m taking organic chemistry next semester and there’s no way i’m going back on stimulants but i feel like i might need a bit of a boost mentally and these supps might be perfect for me.

thanks much for the input, as usual.

cheers.[/quote]

It’s called ‘neurostim’ and even though I’m not making any money off it, my posts discussing it sometimers get deleted, especially if I mention the company that makes it.

However, google it, and I think it’s the second link down.

BBB[/quote]

S or M N?

2nd link down for me was pain theories regarding the spine, lol…

16

I appreciate it, sir.