Well, officially been seven days since I started doing low carb. I'm sticking to it very well—the most carbs I ate in one day was 96g but 40g of that was treating lows! The other days it's mostly been around 50g +/- 5g or so.
I have lost about a pound, hoping that continues and/or even speeds up a bit, would be nice!
The past two days my insulin doses have dropped insanely. Before when I was eating about 120g of carbs a day I was taking about 60u of insulin a day ... That dropped to 40u once I cut out the carbs ... yesterday dropped to 35u and today it will be just over 30u and I am still having lows. Crazy! My I:C ratio is up to 1:9 (was 1:6) and my basal is 23u (was 27u) but I may have to lower those even more ...
I have had 11 lows in the past 6 days so really need to sort them out. Not good when I test at 3.0 (54 mg/dl) and have zero symptoms whatsoever, as happened yesterday, and today I was 3.2 (57 mg/dl) at lunch and had no symptoms at all. I don't have a CGM so lows are hard to avoid when I'm not feeling them.
I am still having highs after breakfast and also some before or after exercise, but by "highs" I mean like 9-11 (160-200 mg/dl). So that is pretty freakin' awesome! According to my software:
62% of my readings are between 4-7 (70-125 mg/dl) 21% are between 7-11 (125-199 mg/dl)
AND ONLY 1% ARE ABOVE 11 (200 mg/dl)!
And 16% are below 4 (70 mg/dl)
And my average is 6.3 (113 mg/dl).
In addition to eating low carb I am also exercising 30 minutes every day, actually now 35 minutes every day, slowly upping it to 45 minutes a day. Might even do 60 a day, we'll see if I still feel like upping it at 45!
Overall I am on a roll and definitely plan to keep it up!
I went low carb last summer after a friend of mine decided that he should go without bread. It was a good decision. I haven't lost a lot of weight, but my energy levels are so much higher, it is easier to exercise, work and stand. I generally eat about 70-80 carbs per day, devided between three meals and snacks. My insulin usage each day has gone down considerably, and I about 70 percent of my insulin is basil and 30 percent insulin is bolus. My endo would like to see a 50-50 ratio, but my CDE isn't too crazy about changing things because I sit in the low hundred numbers, (blood sugar levels of 90-127) in a 24 hour day. My kidney function is stable, where it wasn't before. I am happy with that.
Keep up the good work on this. Progress seems slow, but the rewards are great.
Sounds like you should consider tapering down slowly rather than making changes so fast. Maybe have a 20% reduction in carbs, over the period of two weeks, giving you ample time to bring down your insulin dose without so many lows. The lows can be very dangerous, especially when you are unaware of them.
@Nel: Sun Run training isn't happening at the moment due to rain, rain, and more rain!!! As soon as it stops raining almost every day I will start, though!
@Emmy: I haven't had any severe lows (lowest was 3.0 or 54) because I am checking like crazy (like right now in the middle of the night!), so I don't think it's too dangerous. Low symptoms will disappear for me if I have 2-3 lows within a 48-hour period, which is sometimes hard to avoid ... Hopefully I have taken care of them for now, but I'm sure there will be other periods of lows if I lose weight like I'd like to!
I agree that I wouldn't think that 11 lows in 3 weeks would be super dangerous if you are keeping an eye on it. I probably have 11 lows/ week and don't worry about them that much unless I'm running or whatever?
Re the training, we got to try these jackets at the running group I run with (infrequently during the winter, I agree winter running isn't as much fun, I still run but I can't seem to keep the mileage where I would prefer it to be...). Very waterproof! http://www.trivillage.com/brooks-essential-running-jacket-womens-browru6420-11.html. I admit that I'm a running paraphenalia geek but sometimes it can be a motivator too? "I have Yak Trax so I'm going to run in crappy conditions..."
Way to go Jen. I really don't know that lowering carbs is the key to your control. I think only time can tell. But it really sounds like things are going well, I'm happy for you.
I don't know if it is the key, either, although I am doing it as much to lose weight as for control ... I figure it can't do any harm, and I don't have anything to lose by giving it a try for at least a few months, especially since so many people with diabetes swear by it.
Yes. You are doing an excellent job. I had some low lows when I was riding a bike too long. Sometimes I went as low as 50-60 while riding. Kept peanut butter crackers with me. Exercise can cause lows. You really have to be careful while doing it. Thirty minutes sounds l ike a lot to me.
Acid mentioned Yak Trax..bad memories for me, while wearing them start of winter 6 years ago ..walking after supper , fresh snow covering icy patches , clumps of snow accumulated around my boots and metal ...I slipped , broke wrist in 3 places.Never wore YT again , neither does Hubby .We are blessed with having a hockey rink available ; once around is 200 meters ...I trained for a full and 1/2 M in here( lots of rounds )...the runs/walk being early in Jan .And learned a bit more about the hockey game .Some folks use our malls to get their walks in ...believe me : our malls small in comparison to Vancouver's Pacific Center. And you get more rain than we do at 500 km to the East.
