BigTex
Well-Known Member
My wife has been on a keto diet most of her life but she has always had some cravings for cabs and her appetite is very high. She is now trying a low carb diet with metformin and kind of likes being able to eat a few carbs. The strange thing is, carbohydrates always made her more hungry, with the Metformin she has a very low appetite and no craving for carbs. Here is what I suspect, Metformin increases GDF15 secretion, which reduces appetite and caloric intake. It also decreases glucose production in the liver, thus blood glucose levels drop and insulin sensitivity increases.
I got her started doing this by doing a cyclical ketogenic diet instead of just straight keto and then taking metformin to help get back in ketosis on Monday. The metformin made ketosis happen quickly and took away the huge cravings for carbs after the weekend. So now she is going to just go low carb/low GI (30%) and take the Metformin.
There is some recent scientific evidence as well as lots of anecdotal experience in the bodybuilding world that taking Metformin increases muscle cell insulin sensitivity, thus you are able to pump much more nutrients into the muscle when you train combined with carbs, thus increasing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Of course this is very beneficial with a higher carb diet to get this effect combined with Metformin. The other benefit is Metformin de-sensitizes fat cells to the effects of insulin which helps avoid the spill over effect and fat being deposited while eating higher carb diets. I know a lot of bodybuilders who do this during the bulking part of their protocol and even towards the cutting part.
Ok, side effects....it can lower your natural production of testosterone, so for those of us on TRT and even women on HRT, this should be no issue. You natural production is most likely shut down already. It also reduces B12 levels (13.4% after 12 wks; 17.7% after 40 wks) so it is important to supplement B12.
Some of us like myself are very sensitive to any medication. So when I take Metformin I loose weight very rapidly. I can drop 20lbs in a few weeks. So I am thinking about using it 2-3 times a week, EOD. There is evidence that you will still benefit from an increased level of AMP-activated protein kinase activity in skeletal muscle, which will increase the translocation of GLUT-4 transporters to skeletal muscle, increasing glucose uptake. AMP-activated protein kinase will also increase fatty acid oxidation by inactivating acetyl-CoA-carboxylase. By regulating acetyl- CoA-carboxylase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT-1) is not blocked and able to transport fatty acids into the mitochondria for oxidation. So I am hoping the drastic effect of weight loss on my part is not so drastic but still effective in oxidizing fat at high carbohydrate/calorie intakes. We will see. If it doesn't work, I have wasted $1000 on food in the past few months getting back up to 250lbs.
This is kind of a simplified list as to why bodybuilders use metformin during the bulk cycle:
Reasons Bodybuilders use Metformin
I got her started doing this by doing a cyclical ketogenic diet instead of just straight keto and then taking metformin to help get back in ketosis on Monday. The metformin made ketosis happen quickly and took away the huge cravings for carbs after the weekend. So now she is going to just go low carb/low GI (30%) and take the Metformin.
There is some recent scientific evidence as well as lots of anecdotal experience in the bodybuilding world that taking Metformin increases muscle cell insulin sensitivity, thus you are able to pump much more nutrients into the muscle when you train combined with carbs, thus increasing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Of course this is very beneficial with a higher carb diet to get this effect combined with Metformin. The other benefit is Metformin de-sensitizes fat cells to the effects of insulin which helps avoid the spill over effect and fat being deposited while eating higher carb diets. I know a lot of bodybuilders who do this during the bulking part of their protocol and even towards the cutting part.
Ok, side effects....it can lower your natural production of testosterone, so for those of us on TRT and even women on HRT, this should be no issue. You natural production is most likely shut down already. It also reduces B12 levels (13.4% after 12 wks; 17.7% after 40 wks) so it is important to supplement B12.
Some of us like myself are very sensitive to any medication. So when I take Metformin I loose weight very rapidly. I can drop 20lbs in a few weeks. So I am thinking about using it 2-3 times a week, EOD. There is evidence that you will still benefit from an increased level of AMP-activated protein kinase activity in skeletal muscle, which will increase the translocation of GLUT-4 transporters to skeletal muscle, increasing glucose uptake. AMP-activated protein kinase will also increase fatty acid oxidation by inactivating acetyl-CoA-carboxylase. By regulating acetyl- CoA-carboxylase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT-1) is not blocked and able to transport fatty acids into the mitochondria for oxidation. So I am hoping the drastic effect of weight loss on my part is not so drastic but still effective in oxidizing fat at high carbohydrate/calorie intakes. We will see. If it doesn't work, I have wasted $1000 on food in the past few months getting back up to 250lbs.
This is kind of a simplified list as to why bodybuilders use metformin during the bulk cycle:
Reasons Bodybuilders use Metformin
- Fuller muscles & better pumps: Muscles will grow fuller when metformin is used with high carbohydrate diets. Plus, better and harder pumps in the gym
- Lack of fat storage: Metformin helps prevent fat from being deposited, so you get full benefits from carbohydrate heavy meals, without worrying to end up storing fat. This is why diabetics say they 'lean out' on this drug.
- Insulin receptors: Metformin helps keep muscle cells sensitized for insulin that the body produces.
- Appetite suppression: This drug will limit hunger, so it's perfect for those doing a ketogenic diet. Furthermore, on re-feed days it makes a perfect addition to your carbohydrate heavy cheat day.
Last edited:
