Hi guys, once again I am down for the count. I know some of you have some good tips on weight loss and the struggles we face with eating to compensate low bs. It seems like every time I work out I have to stop and eat. Most of the time I replace the calories I’ve burned with low bs treatments. I feel like I’m beating my head against a brick wall. I’ve tried giving less insulin before meals and snacking before a workout. I also take my pump off each time. I know it would probably help to plan out my meals to make sure I don’t go over my calorie limit but I find that so hard to do! Any advice is appreciated, blessings!
I’ve been trying to figure it out for years as well. I’ve found some juice boxes will get me over the lies pretty quickly.
I'd like to join that frustration club, my best H1ac happened when I was'nt working out and I lost weight the best when my H1ac were a bit on the higher side. Good luck!
Hi Elyssia. Im a type 1 and play college soccer and I find that high intensity workouts tend to raise my blood sugar. So if you’re in the middle of a workout and start to go low (I have a deaxcom so it gives me a warning well in advance) I would, if you’re at the gym, hop on a treadmill and do a few interval sprints or something to get your heart rate up and that usually will raise my sugars. However, after a workout my blood sugar will drop pretty significantly so what I do is eat a low carb meal right afterwards and don’t cover it with any insulin. This helps me maintain a healthy weight because I am eating a small number of carbs and taking less insulin. Hope this helps in any way! Good luck exercising!
This is the hardest for me, my entire life! Exercise! Once I took off my pump an hour and a half before I went skydiving and I ate a sausage and egg mcmuffin. I ate all day like a normal person and tested my blood sugar before and after each jump. I made 6 jumps from 9 to 6 pm and my blood sugar was in the normal range all day. Next weekend, I do the same thing, took off my pump and did a jump and tested. Wow, my blood sugar was over 300 and rising. When I go to the gym I turn it off 1 1/2 hors before and keep it off until 1 1/2 hrs after. That has worked well for me! That is 5 hrs no insulin. 1 1/2 before, durning ( 2 hrs) 1 1/2 after. Hope this helps, good luck!
Hi there! A good read is "Diabetic Athlete's Handbook" by Sheri Colberg-you can buy it on amazon.com. Are you able to get a CGM, like the G4 by Dexcom? That really helps! Also, how long are your workouts and how intense are they? In speaking with the staff at Diabetic Teaching Center in SF, I learned some good tips. 1) you have to make sure you have insulin on board, so when you disconnect the pump, carb load before your gym and under dose your bolus. If I'm doing .5 mile run and 20 mins abs and a chest/back weight-lifting set (approx. 45 mins), I under dose about 0.5 units. If I'm doing .5 mi run, 20min abs and a legs weight-set, I'll under bolus about 0.6-0.75 depending on what my BG reading is, since legs are bigger muscles than chest/back. 2) being off insulin for more than 4 hours is risky-you will quickly start to produce keytones. 3) keep carbs with you, like Clif Bar Shot Bloks that you can easily measure your carb intake. In my experience, working out on an empty stomach almost always raises my BG afterwards, so having digestable carbs in my system always lowers my BG. Lastly, keep a workout log book so you can record trends--it really helps! Good luck!
Wow that sounds like a great plan. It seems like not eating a high carb meal after a workout low might prevent a low correction high from coming on?! I’ll definately try this thanks sweetie.
Wow Dennis you must do some intense workouts to keep it off that long. I would love to get a little glimpse of your work out plan! I usually eat dinner before I work out so sometimes giving half the ammount of insulin works.
I haven’t had a juice box since I was 12 but think I need to revert back to my old ways! I might just get a low pick me up and a glimpse back into my childhood.
Hi Michael, I actually have the CGM that goes with my Medtronic pump. It has most definitely helped but still takes a long time to notify me of a low bs. I might have to tweak it a bit. My workouts tend to vary with intensity. I usually don’t go over an hour but have noticed on higher intensity workouts I have more trouble with lows. I will sometimes take half the amount of unsulin I need or no insulin at all if I have a light carb meal before a work out. The intensity is what really determines if this strategy is effective for me. I take a lot of aerobic classes so unfortunately I can’t always predict the intensity of the work out. I really need to make a work out log! That sounds genius. Oh and shot blocks are little gifts from heaven, I once swam a tri with those in my spy belt! Saved the day.