quote:
Given my diet restrictions, and my unwillingness to try and eat more, my primary objective was to get bigger, not stronger (granted, wanted to get stronger up to a point where my strength was porportional to my caloric intake); hence, the more hypertrophic workout of lighter weight, more reps.
To get bigger, it's low rep high, weight to force the size to get the strength for burst. You are training for endurance with high rep, low weight. Also you need more calories, especially protein to feed the growth.
As mentioned above, FORM FORM FORM, did I mention FORM?
Start with the bar and be 100% focused on FORM on all of them but especially squats. My rule is if the form is not spot on, then I don't count the rep. If you want to know the perfect form for a squat, look at this link:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_thirdworld_squat
From your posts, I suspect you are not getting your hip joint below parallel, if you are not your squat will not go up as fast and you are at more risk of injury.
As for the calorie issue, I'm no doc, you are probably going to have to find a way to get the calories up, maybe when you plateau on the squats, then add calories as you deload so you are only adding calories when you need to burn them. As I understand diabetes, the issue is carbs, you need the carbs for instant energy in the workout, you need the protein to add muscle, and if you have the carbs managed, the fat is a wash.
I emphasize form, because I'm coming off a 3 month recovery from an elbow injury in the program. How did it hurt it, BAD FORM!
So in short, I'd clean up the form and see how far that takes you before you start messing with diet since it is an issue for you.
Hope that helps.