I waitress on the side to earn extra money, and the rapid sprints and running around tend to make me go low. I’ve learned to consume some carbs during this period but on days where I don’t waitress I’d like to exercise to lose weight- Lantus has caught up with me. A couple months ago I weighed 13 lbs less and I would like to lose this belly weight.
Are there any exercises that give you less risk of going hypoglycemic than others? I am scared to do anything too drastic for fear of going low (I’ve walked my dog a few times and didn’t have any glucose tablets on me and that has scarred me- I almost didn’t make it home!). And the walking didn’t seem to do anything for me in terms of burning anything off. Let me know what you do to keep off the weight but stay in a good range!
That may be asking for a shoe that is big on the inside and small on the outside. Joking aside I find that really strenous exercise actually raises my BG because of the stress hormones but beware this might not be true at all for you. See how you react and be ready for a low.
I have been gaining 10 lb a year on insulin and have 10 lb left to gain before death. The more so this last week because of cataract operations I cannot do my weight lifting for another 2 weeks. I was thinking of just using the basal insulin and the hell with bolus and corrections. BG will skyrocket but this is an emergency.
You don’t want to do this. This is asking for serious trouble. You are partially correct. You must cover your basal insulin. You can reduce your bolus insulin only by going low carb or, if you know how much certain exercise drops you for certain amounts of time without going low, you could eat, reduce your bolus and exercise immediately after eating. That is tricky, though, hard to manage. Reducing carbs would be easiest.
I see that you are getting ready to start pumping which is a very good thing. Lantus is a good insulin but it is very unstable when it comes to exercise. This is why pumps use fast acting insulin because it is very stable, does its job and then that’s it. When you have Lantus in your system and you start exercising it more rapidly absorbs into your body sending you low. The same will happen with short acting insulin but you can control it by doing a temp basal a couple of hours before you are going to be active and this will keep you from going low and having to eat.
I do a temp basal at 25%, two hours before I am going to be active and the length of the temp basal is for the approximate amount of time that I will be active. The amount of the temp basal and the duration will be different for everybody, you will just have to see what works for you.
Before May 7th, buy the “Pumping Insulin” book by John Walsh if you have not done so already. This will give you so much good info you will be a pro pumper before you know it.
I’m on Lantus/Novolog. Have never had issues with exercise & Lantus.
As far as exercises that won’t send you low - for me, the more difficult the exercise, the higher I go. For example, while a walk will make my blood sugars decrease, a run makes them increase. In fact, it’s so bad that I pretty much run only when I have some rapid-acting in my system. Last time I ran without any Novo in me I went from about 120 pre-run to a little over 200 post-run.
But if you’re having problems, why not adjust your bolus to account for exercise? For example, if you want to take a walk after lunch, adjust your lunch bolus down by a half a point or so. If you’re still low, next time adjust it down a point. You’ll figure out the balance soon enough.
Hey Marina - I know you are going to be (are?) on the pod soon? You can decrease your basal delivery by a percentage you choose while you exercise. eg. you can set your basal to deliver 50% of normal amount 30 minutes before you do aerobic exercises and last for 1 and 1/2 hours - or to deliver 65% while doing weight lifting for a certain amout of time etc. Then test often after you excercise to see how it affects you BS (does it initially go up then drops or …). All the numbers/timing I gave are just examples - u probably need to figure out how you react or what you need. Trial and error process (Im still figuring it out) but I think I’m figuring it out pretty good. Another thing I do is drink diluted Gatorade or G2 while I work out/ride my bike and it has been keeping me steady. GL!
I usually have the same problem with exercise and blood sugar. My doctor even made me stop going to the gym because it wasn’t safe for me.
I started doing yoga a few months ago and am loving it. I’ve dropped about 12lbs since starting and have only once got low after. I also bring a bottle of vitamin water with me and sip a little throughout and have some crackers in my yoga bag just in case.
I did the same thing - walked the dog up a steep area of the park - half way around realised I was going low, but there was no one around, no body, no nothing…I had visions of collapsing in the park…but made it out OK…I had some juice in the car and my BG plummeted so bad it took me for ever to get it back up again. I have the CGM and started out at 168 and dropped so quickly to 50 it was awful. You would think by now I should know better (55 years as type 1). By the way, the dog was having a great time !! I am going to try and set a temporary basal next time. I agree it is so difficult to try and lose weight. I think when I was younger I was constantly in ketoacidosis…but managed to stay skinny. You don’t want to go that route. So I just eat a few extra carbs and try not to let my BG drop so rapidly…its the rate that it drops…thats important.
Sheila
hmm… yoga- I never thought of that! I have scoliosis too and the chiropractor recommended it but I tried it in the past and it always hurt my back- maybe I should try again and see how it goes.
Yes I will be on the pod soon- that will be nice being able to adjust your basal while exercising. I guess you have to adjust a while before and a while after?
this goes to prove that everyone is different…for me the harder and more intense the exercise the quicker i drop even without any fast acting in my system. i can eat around 30 carbs, not take any fast acting insulin and go for a run and be near low when i return. with the same scenerio only walking instead of running i will be above 200 when i return. if i only walk i need to take fast acting. maybe weight lifting would be good for you. toning exercises will burn the fat and build muscle but wont get your cardio up too high to make you drop…but i’m no expert.
I do do that currently when I waitress- after a shift I usually eat and I cut down my shot in half- I will be able to be a little more precise once I get on the pump. It seems to me there is a pattern with people that more strenuous quick exercise raises blood sugar while slower, longer exercise lowers it?
What I was told by the exercise physiologist at Joslin Diabetes Center was that low to moderate intensity exercise tends to lower blood sugars, whereas moderate to high intensity exercise tends to raise it. I’ve found that’s true for me - the harder I go, the higher my sugars are.
I’m not on the pump (but like you, hope to be soon) and am managing things well. I just carry a meter and jelly beans with me whenever I exercise and test if I feel at all low. I also test before & after I exercise, just to make sure.
If I know I’m doing something that will drive me low, I try to time it so that I do it right after eating or having a snack, so I’ve got some extra carbs in me.
The joslin guy may have something what I found was that moderate mountain biking a distance of less than 10 miles would ALWAYS raise my BG a bit more than that and it would go down.
I think it depends how much the exercise stresses your body and all exercise does when you start and then as you relax BG goes down.
I never went low with exercise that was equal or less than 2000 calories worth; more than that I never tried and probably cannot do in any case.
