Woohoo! Today was my first successful day at the gym with NO LOW! Sure its not super amazing but its the small things that count right?
2 hours before the gym I had some scrambled eggs with cheese, piece of toast and an orange (alright more like a lunch). I didn't give the full recommended amount of insulin and by the time I got to the gym I tested and was at 9.3 and reduced my basal to -75%, after 20 minutes of intense cardio I retested and was at 5.5. I worked out mainly on the machines after this and by the time I was finished my work out I was at 6.4 yahoo!
Congrats on finding a meal that kept your BG up appropriately. I'm still struggling with finding a pre-cardio snack that will enable me to exercise, go to the grocery and get home to a good meal without going low.
I have found that long slow steady cardio drops my blood sugar. Intense stuff (particularly weight lifting) raises my blood sugar. I do like to have something in my stomach as a buffer when going to the gym, I'll often have a protein shake with a cup of milk. Everyone reacts differently, but it sure makes a difference when you can go exercise and not worry about hypos. I found the work by Sheri Colberg really helpful. Beyond her site, she has a book "The Diabetics Athletes's Handbook" which is really good.
It'll probably also help to lower your basal earlier -- an hour is ideal, but I'm not that together. I usually lower it when I'm changing my clothes at home, maybe 20-30 minutes before exercising.
Im finding that an extra 30 grams of carbs for 30-60 min of cardio seems to take care of it. Since I am trying to lose weight i thought this was counterproductive, but it seems the extra carbs prevent the lows, which saves me extra eating in the end...and I make muscle which helps speed my metabolism rate. I havent got it down consistently but I have less fear about exercise than I did.
Ruth
@Ruth thanks for your comment. I, too, am trying to lose weight but am having trouble with lows after cardio. 30g of carbs sounds like something for me to try.
Lows "after" exercise may be what is called Post Exercise Late Hypoglycemia (PEL). It can set in up to 24 hours after exercise. I can have dramatic lows about two hours after exercise, not some drifting thing, but a sharp drop. One notable low required 90g to treat. I found that eating a meal within two hours after exercise has almost totally stopped the onset of these lows.
@bsc, today i must of had what you call Post Exercise Late Hypoglycemia (PEL). While at the gym and for awhile after my blood sugar was fine, but and hour and a half after my blood sugar just DROPPED and took FOREVER to get it back up. I had around 7 table spoons of honey (110g ish) 2 big glasses of juice, and that barely got it up to 4.2 (76) And the crazy thing is the last bolus i gave myself was 2 hours BEFORE the gym. I ended turning off my basal for 3 hours and now my blood sugar is at 5.0 (90) I've never experienced something like this before! I will try having a meal two hours after exercise like you mention next time, but im definitely going to bring this up to my endo next appointment, thanks so much.