Hey guys, I'm curious to see if this affects anyone else.. I used to be really really active, there wasn't a day when I wasn't doing something active. So I was really fit and lean. Because of two serious back to back injuries in haven't been able to exercise the same in the last two years. Unfortunately this cost me my fitness and I'm certainly not lean like I used to be.
I've been strictly dieting and exercising to lose a bit of weight and get back in shape. I've found that while exercising I've begun to feel nauseous and have actually vomited numerous times. I've worked out to the point of vomiting a couple of times before but this is different. When I was 12 I had ketonacidosis. The nausea I'm feeling when I workout feels very much the same as when I was sick with ketones.
After Looking into it myself, and discussions with a GP I'm confident its that the fat I'm wanting to burn is creating ketones as it breaks down. I'm wanting to know if anyone else is affected like this or something similar and if they have any good tricks. My BGLs are fine as these times, and I've been told to just take it easy and burn the fats slowly. But I'm pretty keen to just hit it hard.
I've never puked while running although many races, even 5K, I'll see people throwing up. Last year I ran a p/r in a Turkey Trot, kind of hung with this group of kids who I was sort of chasing, what, like 12-13 or something, just under 23 minute pace (7:24 or so...). The kid beat me but hoarked his chocolate cereal all over the finish corral, in front of the crowds, photographers, etc. I've perhaps burnt quite a bit of fat but never perceive any type of GI problem when I've gone out and run for a couple of hours or lifted weights. I was heavier when I did Tae Kwon Do and had some 1 1/2 hour classes where I'd drop 5 lbs, pretty much in sweat but no GI problems. I would think it would be something else.
Are you fueling these workouts? I'm three weeks into P90X3 which is, while 1/2 hour, all sorts of weights and aerobics compined, plyo pushups and other types of anaerobic activities that will get my BG up a bit. I generally work out 1st thing in the AM and don't eat, although I have 2-3 cups of coffee, or I work out after work, also pretty much on an empty stomach. Maybe eat an apple around 3:00 and work out at 5:30 or so. When I've run marathons, I run with a group and there's some range in GI issues but there's always a few people who are running into trouble with various gels or fuel options and seem to have to watch their input to avoid output hassles.
I do cardio in the morning before eating to burn stores rather than fuels I've just consumed. Eating before touching weights though. The exercise I'm doing is the same as I used to when I had a very low body fat % and I never felt like this. The only reason I followed up this theory was the association of the feeling from when I was a little kid with ketones. My BGL themselves are fine. The normal minor spike from adrenaline which drops back to normal. But I'm used to that.
Any theory as to what it could be?
It is natural to burn fat during exercise. In fact, many people exercise with the express purpose of burning fat. And when you burn fat, you generate ketones. Most people will likely find that if they test for ketones after exercise they have them. But that is different than DKA which is having a very high blood sugar and generating ketones. If your blood sugar was fine during exercise almost certainly you simply were burning fat. I am not aware of ketones themselves causing nausea.
It is possible that you nausea and vomiting is simply a result of your body not being used to the surge in activity. Often, extreme physical exertion will cause a huge surge in hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. It isn't uncommon for people trying to squat a heavy weight to vomit. It is actually a joke among weightlifters that you should squat until you blow chunks. This may simply be what is happening to you.
Ok thanks Brian. During DKA you break down muscle to produce ketones that fuel your heart and brain, combined with high BGLs it feels like crap! With my workouts my bbl is fine. Do you know if theres a point where you're producing to many ketones? I believe they can mess with insulin can't they?
Ive pushed myself to vomiting a few times before, it doesn't feel the same. But I suppose it has been years and my fitness is a long way from what it used to be..
Ketones are produced by everyone every day. Eight hours of sleep (and fasting) will produce some ketones. There's an order of magnitude difference from nutritional ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis. DKA is an extreme condition; ketosis is a mild, almost everyday event.
While your memory of ketoacidosis connects vomiting with ketones, I don't think that the small level of ketones produced by burning fat during a workout has any connection with vomiting. There's an association of these two factors but it is probably not causal.
if it was DKA ketones, your blood sugars would be sky high, you can check for ketones via a urine test. True what Terry stated, just fasting overnight can cause ketones, but they're different from DKA ketones. are you dehydrated? do you wear a CGM and can see what's happening with your blood sugars when you're working out? Sometimes exercising can push BG's up?
have you tested for ketones when you feel this way? I was under the assumption that some diabetics can run low level ketones in the am even if their blood sugar was fine. my thought would be to definitely test for ketones and perhaps get up a bit earlier so you can have a small amount of food on board with a bit of insulin maybe half of what you would normally take for that food. sometimes running on empty diabetic or not just feels bad. also get in as much fluid as you can slowly of course so you do not feel sick because of to much water in your belly. let us know how you are doing.
Hey AR, P90 X X got to love tony! I was working out with 'him' the other day, my husband is so annoying he always has to pipe in with the 'tony talk' great work out, good motivator. I'm sure you are looking Xcellant! couldn't resist! hope you are well, amy
I eat after weights too. I usually have some sort of protein, quite a bit of it lately, but generally I'm a fan of eggs or egg beaters for breakfast and just eat some of that w/ spinach, broccoli and ham. My BG seems to get nudged up from anaerobic stuff so I don't usually bother eating first, since it's gonna go up anyway. Sometimes, if it takes off a lot, I'll start bolusing 1/2 way through the workout, to get a head start.
Actually during DKA your body screams for energy and you metabolize muscle into glucose (feeding high blood sugars) and fat into ketones, both which provide energy to our bodies. Unfortunately, without insulin we can take up glucose or ketones and with DKA the cycle runs out of control. You can't really produce too many ketones from exercise, if there are excess you just excrete the extra out in your urine.
I'm just saying that the feelings you had during DKA may well be related to in some way to the hormone surge you can feel during strenuous exercise. After all adrenaline and cortisol occur in both.
I like the workouts a lot. I sort of still like Shaun T a bit more because he strikes me as a bit more positive whereas Tony's stream of jokes sometimes makes me go "?????". But the workouts are great and seem to be working pretty well as I can measure incremental progress as I've gotten into it.
Never realised we had ketones that often. Ive always associated them as a bad thing. Its definitely not DKA when I'm exercising as my sugar levels are fine, they might elevate slightly from the adrenaline but not enough to be an issue.
So you don't think its the ketones masking me feel sick terry?
Any idea what it could be? Once I vomit I continue to feel sick for a good time after. It feels like I have high BG but I don't.
To be honest no I rarely carry ketones strips with me. I should definitely do this. I'm well hydrated so I don't think that would be it. The exercising on an empty stomach is deliberate, after fasting when you exercise you haven't consumed any fuels, the only fuels you can burn are the ones you have stored. Theory to burn fat faster. Can feel a bit unpleasant. But its not often during the cardio I have these issues. Its more during weights
