Body building - weight training - type 1 WITHOUT weight/fat loss goals

I am 47 diagnosed last year and the gym seems to work as well as it ever did. I actually gained weight, I always had a thin body type and I am now up 10 lbs all muscle.

When the doctor in the hospital told me I had diabetes and started explaining things I thought getting results and looking/feeling good from the gym was over. Though everything was over actually was half blind and all screwed up.

I searched for old threads on body building but none really fit.

I would like for this thread to be for us skinny body types, type 1 and body building cause so many threads online in web search results seem to lean towards ā€œburning fatā€. I have no interest in that. I am already injecting into my butt cause thatā€™s the only spot I got any fat.

My diet I pretty much avoid carbs unless I need them, I get low daily then correct. I want t do better at this, I do Lantus but I never learned to take the humalog in advance to avoid high sugar again I just avoid carbs to prevent it, not keto I just skip carbohydrate unless needed, kind of winging it. I have some with every most meals and before the gym half to a whole banana maybe.

I donā€™t usually count repetitions, anywhere from 5-15 I do as I mess with the amount of weight. I know to try and push to failure. All the stuff non diabetics do applies.

I want to do better at the eating - insulin part of this. Too often I donā€™t eat when hungry cause I donā€™t want to raise BG.

I donā€™t have much to say about the exercise portion of your post because I usually need to lose some weight although gaining some muscle would be helpful, but as for controlling bgā€™s the best thing I have found is adequately prebolusing so that the insulin is working at full force before eating so the food has less opportunity to spike you. This in theory might sound simple enough but in practice can be hard to stick too. Even harder for me is refraining from eating when my BG is above my target but Iā€™m hungry. Now chances are that Iā€™m not really hungry but the combination of high BG and it being ā€œtimeā€ to eat foil me frequently.

Do you have a CGM (continuous glucose monitor)? They can make all the difference when learning how your insulin works in your body and how different foods affect you.

I know, my whole life I believed the myth that the reason you get hungry cause blood sugar is low. What a crock that is.

I am going to have to learn to take the Humalog before eating. I can just do the Lantus and eat around that but I am sick of it. Needles are no big deal anymore and I learned to do it the way I do when it needle stick was still a tragedy.

No , I am so thin not sure it would work. I never go to the doctor as I still have the refills from the hospital insulin Rx.

I donā€™t go doctors , police state America got my driving licence those people would not care if I dropped dead tomorrow. People at DMV routinely destroy lives for money.

Low blood sugar will make you angry (see above) I just tested 51.

Before the Gym today I did something I almost never do, Mc Donalds.

2 filet o fish sandwiches, then the gym, then I discover I am at blood sugar 267 higher then I ever go so I take 2 units of the humalog and it was down to 65 so I ate a banana but now its 51 so I ate another one.

Scared to go to bed. This sucks. I looked up the sandwiches I had 38g carbohydrate each. My screw up. Thought it was OK I was at 72 going to the gym why not eat that trash for a treat ? Now I know why.

2 units and 267 to 65 quick.

All I know is the gym and low carbohydrate works maybe I should leave it alone and not mess around. I do as well as anyone else in the gym my age diabetes or not.

They use cgmā€™s on babies so I donā€™t think that would be an issue. Iā€™ve also seen people who are very low body fat and extremely muscular use them. The Libre is an affordable option especially if you arenā€™t sure it will work for you and if you canā€™t easily see your doctor then they can be purchased on ebay.

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Really on babies, interesting. That should work on me I can pinch up a little on the stomach area.

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Welcome to the glucose rollercoaster my friend. You fell into the trap that most of us do at some point or another. ā€œOh Iā€™m low so Iā€™ll have that thing I wouldnā€™t normally eat and not bolus for it until itā€™s too lateā€. When Iā€™m low glucose tabs are my friend, they work within minutes and since I donā€™t actually like them that much I wonā€™t over do it.

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I have eaten 100s of glucose tabs since this started. Thatā€™s how I do it too. They are predictable.

I am thinking about it and some food just does it to the sugar level, I bought breaded fish fillets a wile back from the super market and the same thing and I did not eat them with a bun. Weird.

I eat meat veggies and glucose tabs.

Breaded knocked your BG out of the park as it does mine.

Several years ago a friend of mine was talking about body builders and their use of insulin. I was surprised how much body builders knew about glucose uptake and was not aware of their use of different types of insulin.

Here are a couple of examples Newest and Best Insulin for Bodybuilding - YouTube and INSULIN RESISTANCE VS. LACK OF INSULIN! - YouTube

How are you calculating your Humalog dose? Is it a sliding scale dose based on your blood glucose reading at the moment or calculated based on the amount of carbs you are going to consume? Do you know what your correction factor dose is?

^ Figuring this out may help you find a way forward. Calculating Insulin Dose :: Diabetes Education Online

  1. Find total daily insulin dose based on your weight.
  2. Basal (Lantus for you) should be 40%-50% of the total daily insulin dose and bolus will be the balance.
  3. Calculate your carb coverage ratio. This is how many units of insulin will need for X grams of carbs.
  4. Calculate your high blood sugar correction factor. This is how many units of insulin you need to correct high blood sugar to your target goal.

Try to eat at least an hour before working out to avoid a low, you might try skipping a bolus insulin dose for that meal or take a 25%-50% dose. Test your blood sugar right after a workout, 30 minutes and 60 minutes later so you can figure out how low you go and if you get a rebound high.

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Yes,

I just do Lantus. I learned if I eat Low carb and exercise I am usually below 120 at mealtime. If its high I just donā€™t eat carbs. I donā€™t know what the correction factor is.

I am really starting to get lazy and think I can just guess it and donā€™t check at all and just eat skipping carbohydrate.

I am going to check out the link, thank you. Its hard to stay motivated cause as we know you canā€™t feel unhealthy blood sugars. Bad effects happen years from now and ā€˜whats one bad day going to doā€™

I have to keep it in my head that doing this right means better gym results. Thatā€™s a right now motivator. I am good with the diet, I donā€™t give a crap if I go the rest of my life without an ice cream Sunday I really donā€™t.

Ok 2 good days at the Gym and I got bananas to eat for morning lows instead of glucose tablets.

Ok trying to stay motivated !

!!! This stuff keeps me motivated

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Great. I had a few good days running as well.

Iā€™ve recently started lifting weights on a regular basis. I work out every second day and mostly do upper body strength training. I also walk 2-4 miles every day.

Most of the calories that we burn every day are due to the basic metabolic rate. An increase in body muscle increases the basic metabolic rate. If you strength train regularly, you body burns more calories all day long. Your sensitivity to insulin increases, too.

Good management of glucose takes time and determination to learn. Some of us even took decades to figure it out. Itā€™s not easy. Some people never become adept at managing glucose well.

While working out and lifting weights is definitely part of the solution, the best return on your effort will come from investing in your ā€œhuman software.ā€ By this, I mean learning about how people with diabetes successfully manage their glucose. There are many books that target this topic but I donā€™t want to overwhelm you. One book that I think delivers a lot of bang for the buck is Adam Brownā€™s Bright Spots and Landmines. Adam has used his experience with type 1 diabetes and has distilled and articulated essential tactics to control glucose.

Think about it. Whatever you learn about managing glucose will serve you for the rest of your life! I have reaped many rewards in the form of better quality of life with less effort from this strategy.

Many people have gone down your path before you. Listening to people who are successfully managing diabetes is a shortcut to solving your personal diabetes puzzle. You will still need to do your own diabetes experiments to see what works best for your metabolism. There are definitely variations across our diabetes population but beneath that variation lies some essential common factors. Learn those factors and how your body works and your future self will thank you.

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Getting motivated to go to the gym !!

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I havenā€™t figured this out, either. Iā€™m a T1 in the same boat as IgotT1 and having trouble making any meaningful gains. Havenā€™t seen my endocrinologist yet, but wondering if I just need to start eating more carbs and taking more insulin to cover the extra carbs/calories. I do 1-2 protein shakes a day to supplement but Iā€™m not seeing much in terms of gains after about 6 months of heavy lifting. I finally gained 4 or 5 pounds in the last month or two, so I might finally be on the right track, but itā€™s slow going.

I started with Stronglifts, hit a plateau on that, and am now doing my own version of Stronglifts with some additional arm/kettlebell work. Itā€™s pretty frustrating since I put in hard work at the gym without much to show for it (sure, Iā€™m lean but not as big as I would hope).

I should add that Iā€™m somewhat tall at 6ā€™3, so that probably has something to do with it.

You may not want to hear my advice, but Iā€™d sort your T1 out before heavy work. It only adds another variable, it can really mess up your BG. Have a google: exercise and BG and the issues

first do a miss a meal basal test.

then this will help with bolus

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