I joined this group a while ago but havent been around much lately as i continue to research and read!
I was NOT DX’d as diabetic this past October when my fasting glucose test showed 95. But I’d switched to High Fat, Low Carb eating about 5 wks prior and had brought my BS down (I’d started out at 129, self-testing).
About that same time, I switched from doing ‘regular’ strength training to the “Body by Science” routine, where you work out once every 7-10 days.
An injury, however, stopped that after about 6 wks and i took 6 wks off. Two weeks ago, I started lifting again.
Now I’m all ‘wonky’ with my eats and blood sugars.
This is what a typical day’s eats would look like for me:
Protein - 60g
Fat - 160g
carbs - 40-50g
I felt the need to change that at the first of the year to drop some weight gained over the Holidays and then thought i might raise my protein intake, too.
so my protein became ~20% of calories, Carbs under 20g/5% of calories and Fat @ 75% of calories; caloric intake was 1500-1600.
But now i’m struggling with hunger, sleepiness, and high(er) BS readings and not having a clue how to eat anymore!
The last two days, i’ve tried to get my protein intake to around 80g and my BS has been “high” (over 100 when i’ve been seeing under 90s lately).
I’d like to know how you all eat when you are weight training (and even tho i’m a “grrrl”, i don’t lift “pink” weights). I train 4 times/wk.
Maybe I’m just trying to make too many changes at once. Maybe I’m expecting too much from my body at once.
Love to hear your input and ideas. Thanks!
I’ve weight trained over the last few years and followed a high protein low carb diet. I obviously eat lots of fat, perhaps not as much as you. I try to get 1-1.5 g of protein for each lb of bodyweight, which for me is 200-250g protein. Clearly a lot more than you have been getting. You do need to realize that on a high protein diet, excess protein will be converted to blood sugar over time and you may blunted blood sugar readings like this. But stilll, if you fast for 6-8 hours it should come to down to a normal fasting level.
You must also realize that you a still a newbie. As you are now abundantly aware, weight training can have a huge impact on your metabolism. You get a surge of hormones (like cortisol) and particularly when you start, you are unprepared for this. Sometimes if you work out intensely you may feel like you are burning up, not be able to sleep and things like that. These same things can also raise your blood sugar. You need to remember that you don’t get strong lifting weights, you get strong recovering from lifting weights. I require “at least a full day” to recover from a weight lifting session, sometimes more. Exercise too frequently and you won’t recover, actually losing strength and regressing. 4 times is actually a little much, alternate days at most. You can do light aerobics (walking) on off days. I have found that the techniques liky BOS (which I categorize as High Intensity Training (HIT)) are particularly taxing as they dig deeply into your reserves and require demand more recovery. In the extreme, Mike Mentzer and Ellington Darden advocated a week or longer between training. If you really want to hang out with the HIT crowd, check out (http://www.drdarden.com/).
Good for you for taking control! Docs often wait until people’s numbers are out of control.
Sorry, can’t answer your question about weight training, though I use weights as part of other exercise. But, it could be that you added too much protein too quickly. Protein is necessary with serious weight training, but 80 grams may more than you need. Too much protein will also slow weight loss.
I eat low carb also & have seen BG increase when I increased protein. About 58% of protein turns to glucose, though at much slower rate than carbs.
In case it helps, here’s a protein calculator from Jenny’s site: http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/19058429.php
Yowza. Fred Hahn, Slow Burn. You are my kinda gal. Pretty soon you will be doing negatives, rest pause, drop sets and a whole half hour time under tension.
Look. I have my views on things. If you ask my opinion, I won’t necessarily agree with any of these other authors. Personally, I don’t like to lift fasted. You are not exercising to burn calories. You are going to lose weight by increasing your lean body mass and revving up your metabolism. If you lift fasted, you won’t have as much energy and you won’t be as productive.
Your body can typically utilize like 25 grams of protein at a time, and that protein is used to replenish the amino acid needs of your body. It is an important part of fueling the recovery and growth from exercise. On the other hand, eating extra protein will make it available to be converted to blood sugar. And if you eat 50g of protein at a sitting and you are a diabetic (like me), you will see your blood sugar raised over time from that protein. Protein is digested slower than carbs and the effect is often a blunted (not very high) response over four hours or so. If you follow the common advice and eat 6 times a day and you follow a high protein diet, guess what, you walk around with protein constantly fueling glucose in your system. But I really don’t think that is going to be a problem for you.
I would suggest you just not worry about it at all. Up your protein a bit, perhaps 100 g/day and you will be fine. My bet is that if you work with more time for recovery, then you will sleep better and you blood sugar will end up being fine.
I don’t think 100g or protein distributed throughout the day will have much of an effect on your blood sugar . I would suggest that you fuel your workouts. I like to take a protein shake with 1 c milk, 25g protein 12g carbs. For most people, having some source of fuel during your workout can help, but since you are only at it for half an hour, I would not worry to much. After exercise, you are more insulin sensitive and it is good to have some protein and some carbs. I have another protein shake and can handle 20-30g carbs. Your body will be somewhat depleted after exercise, and a modest insulin spike will help your body take up thse carbs and protein and that will aid recovery. The meal you describe is fine.
I’m glad you slept better.
Sorry, that really is a tough one. You probably do need to eat something if you feel this way. Know that gnawing stomach feeling afterward. Body is crying out for food.
I find exercise difficult as a T1. Any real work out sends me really high & then a crash later. It’s the adrenaline. Can’t correct the high with insulin because then the low will be worse. Eating before &/or doing doesn’t help much. More moderate exercise isn’t as problematic.
Well, the answer is complicated (it always is). I have in the last couple weeks reverted to very low carb like that advocate by Dr. Bernstein. I’m at about 50-75g/day. I had previously been at about 100-150g/day. I weigh about 205 and probably eat about 3000-3500 calories a day. I’ve been at the low carb thing for a couple years and basically don’t worry about macronutrients anymore. I strictly control carbs, try to get as much protein as possible and consider fat as “free”
Again, I told you I try to get 200g/day protein and so for me a couple protein shakes here and there still leaves me a lot of room for that big ole steak. You may want to be a bit more limiting on your protein levels.
Remember, you don’t necessarily do yourself any favors by not eating. After your workout is a “magic time.” The things that you eat them are very efficiently utilized. That night when you are on the couch watching Seinfeld, that is when eating is “not so magic.”
Makes me not want to want exercise much because it’s a pain dealing with the after-effects.