exercise

[shine]

I was diagnosed 4 years ago and have been on Metformin and trying my best to stick to a low carb diet, I was not given a testing meter because the nurse assured me that it was not really needed and that as I was managing to keep my numbers lowish. But having read up more about type 2 I now know how important it is to be in control and find out what foods are not good for me. I managed to get a free meter form Bayer and have started testing and was worried to see that my blood sugars rise after I've done exercise I normally try and go for a very brisk walk about an hour after my dinner in the evening. I always though that exrcise would burn the sugar off and give a low reading. What am I doing wrong, is this normal ?

 

[wellwell1212]

Shine, exercise is important of course but, you may not be a aware of the relatively recent Bristol Uni study on exercise and T2. Basically they discovered, short high rev bursts of less than a minute burning the big muscles in the legs, causes the hight rate of glucose burn off. I have been using this technique combined with my general gym and pool session (1hr max) x3 times a week until i got the flu ...grump. Anyway, its made a bigger difference than anything else for the past 10+ years since diag. Getting ~5 readings on the meter an hour or two after a session.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Dont know about the Bristol Uni study but light to moderate exercise will bring down bg levels, a gentle but long walk is good I have found but high level exercise will cause a liver dump which will increase glucose levels it is that simple.

Your muscles will first use the glucose stored in them so gentle exercise will use that up but any strenuous exercise will require more glucose to fuel the energy needed and so the liver dumps its store of glucose and up go your levels. If you want to take strenuous exercise eat some carbs before hand to give your muscles the energy they require this will or should stop a liver dump :thumbup:

 

[wellwell1212]

Sid, the strenuous exercise is only for 40 secs x3 times a weeks according to Bristol Uni Study. On my own account, I couple this with a cardio bias gym session followed by a swin out, x3 times a week. I have got to say that it has benefited me.

 

[borofergie]

I find that although I get a liver dump after intense anaerobic exercise (a 5k race) that can put my BG up to 8 or 9 mmol/l (despite not having eaten), afterwards my BG will usually stay low for the rest of the day. My tolerance to carbohydrates is also greatly increased. I can scoff one of those small trifles without even a blip.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Sid, the strenuous exercise is only for 40 secs x3 times a weeks according to Bristol Uni Study. On my own account, I couple this with a cardio bias gym session followed by a swin out, x3 times a week. I have got to say that it has benefited me.

Im not suggesting that you dont do any strenuous exercise wellwell, just that it is a good idea to eat some carbs before you start to give yourself the energy to burn rather than risk a liver dump that will raise your bg levels up

 

[wellwell1212]

Sid, the strenuous exercise is only for 40 secs x3 times a weeks according to Bristol Uni Study. On my own account, I couple this with a cardio bias gym session followed by a swin out, x3 times a week. I have got to say that it has benefited me.

Im not suggesting that you dont do any strenuous exercise wellwell, just that it is a good idea to eat some carbs before you start to give yourself the energy to burn rather than risk a liver dump that will raise your bg levels up

Ah I see Sid, cheers for that.

 

[shine]

Thanks, just goes to show how important testing is as i've been doing my walks since being diagnosed and thought I was doing the right thing. I also thought that going out about an hour after my evening meal would be ok and not cause any liver dump. I've tested about and hour after I get back in and getting readings of 8-9 and once was 11

I will look into 40 secs x3 times a week exercise routine although not that keen on going to gyms.

Had my HbA1c test last Friday and will get results through next week they said on the letter only need to see the Nurse if high readings. My last reading 6 months ago was 7.2

Thanks once again, am finding this forum really helpful

Happy New Year to all

 

[wellwell1212]

Thanks, just goes to show how important testing is as i've been doing my walks since being diagnosed and thought I was doing the right thing. I also thought that going out about an hour after my evening meal would be ok and not cause any liver dump. I've tested about and hour after I get back in and getting readings of 8-9 and once was 11

I will look into 40 secs x3 times a week exercise routine although not that keen on going to gyms.

Had my HbA1c test last Friday and will get results through next week they said on the letter only need to see the Nurse if high readings. My last reading 6 months ago was 7.2

Thanks once again, am finding this forum really helpful

Happy New Year to all

Yes I can empathise on the Gym thing, does make a person feel old (this one anyway :lol: ), just got to bite the bullet wink: There are all sorts, ages and sizes in Gyms these days and you can try one on a trial basis quite easily and then chop and change till you find one you are comfortable with. Failing that, may I suggest the old Indian pace, where you walk a bit and run (or brisk walk for 40s) a bit. Whatever, best of luck in 2012 getting your count down

 

[shine]

Dont know about the Bristol Uni study but light to moderate exercise will bring down bg levels, a gentle but long walk is good I have found but high level exercise will cause a liver dump which will increase glucose levels it is that simple.

Your muscles will first use the glucose stored in them so gentle exercise will use that up but any strenuous exercise will require more glucose to fuel the energy needed and so the liver dumps its store of glucose and up go your levels. If you want to take strenuous exercise eat some carbs before hand to give your muscles the energy they require this will or should stop a liver dump :thumbup:

Thanks for this information Sid, I'ts just that I thought that havings eaten an hour before I would have had enough energy. I usually go out for about 40 mins walk and get mildly out of breath nothing to strenuous though.

 

[Sindri]

Having been diagnosed with type 2 and being overweight and a middle aged mum I decided to not only completely change my diet but also to start exercising. I have never enjoyed exercising and have never voluntarily done any not even as a child so this was a huge thing.

Having seen all this information on this thread about exercising I am now a bit concerned that I'm not doing the exercise in the right way. I have been doing 3 sessions a week of approximately 30 mins and 2 sessions of approximately an hour. This includes a WII fit session, an upper body, a lower body, a core session and a treadmill session. I did do a couple of 2 hour sessions after which I didn't feel so good, especially when I did the 7 mile walk so I cut it back to an hour.

The WII fit session is generally a mixture of some cardio, balance fun stuff, some yoga and some muscle. The upper body is mainly done with a resistance band, the lower body exercises mainly done on the floor and both sessions start with a cardio warmup of about 2 mins. The core session starts with a warmup and then is mainly done on the exercise ball. My treadmill session is normally 1 minute at around 3.2mph and then a minute at 3.8mph alternating for 30 mins.

Is this a good routine?

 

[Grazer]

Thanks for this information Sid, I'ts just that I thought that havings eaten an hour before I would have had enough energy. I usually go out for about 40 mins walk and get mildly out of breath nothing to strenuous though.

Whilst not disagreeing with the above comments, I think your routine could be fine. I don't think Sid was suggesting that if you go for a walk after eating you should have a Mars bar first; I think his was a general comment about what might happen if you exercise strenuously without eating. You might not be getting a liver dump at all. You say that you have your meal, then exercise, then test; you get high readings. What you don't know is wether or not your readings would have been even higher if you DIDN'T exercise. In other words your exercise could be succesful in bringing your BG down from even higher levels. To find out, you would need to run a few tests, having the same meal with and without exercise and testing after the same period. You can't rely on a one-off test though; we differ from day to day. Also, you would need to know what your reading was before eating so you can see if the RISE in readings is more or less with/without your walk.
Even if you do get a liver dump, I think the benefits of the exercise overall more than outweigh a temporary rise in BG. In my case, on diet only, and I think the same would apply with metformin, I can go really low after exercise (I've recorded 3.8) without getting a liver dump. I think that perhaps, although I have no proof of this, liver dumps don't occur as frequently as we might think on reasonable exercise levels, unless perhaps you are on potentially hypo sugar-reducing drugs (NOT metformin). Maybe some people test and see a high sugar level and deduce a "liver dump" when they were high anyway. Liver dumps occur normally when BG goes too low, and our problem most of the time is the reverse. Again, I stress that I'm NOT referring to people on BG lowering drugs, and that metformin is not a BG lowering drug as such.

 

[didie]

I'm also a middle-aged mum and was over 13.5 stone when diagnosed in July and decided to go it alone without medication which my doctor agreed with. I had a good read of all the good advice here and the most valuable for me was someone who said that they exercise 45 minutes - one hour after eating. That's what I have done religiously and my weight is now down to 9 st 10 lbs. I tend to go for a 3-mile walk after my breakfast and that brings down my levels to almost the same or sometimes lower than my fasting levels. At lunchtime (unless I am working) I tend to do a 2.5 mile walk or use the Wii. In the evenings I do an hour of boxercise or Latin American dancing using the Wii. I've found that if I am doing more vigorous exercises such as boxercise or Latin American dancing that my levels sometimes don't fall as much as they do after a walk, but they are still nice and low.

I used to hate exercise, but now I've found that I love it. I never go anywhere without a camera and am usually out before sunrise, so get some great sunrise pictures. I love the boxercise on the Wii - it is great for getting rid of stresses and the Latin American dancing helps me with my residual balance issues after my stroke.

 

[Grazer]

someone who said that they exercise 45 minutes - one hour after eating. That's what I have done religiously

Wot you mean someone?? That woz me, the Sheep! :wave: Really glad it's working for you! :thumbup:

 

[didie]

I owe you a thousand thank-you's because your advice has really been magic for me

 

[wellwell1212]

Thanks for this information Sid, I'ts just that I thought that havings eaten an hour before I would have had enough energy. I usually go out for about 40 mins walk and get mildly out of breath nothing to strenuous though.

Whilst not disagreeing with the above comments, I think your routine could be fine. I don't think Sid was suggesting that if you go for a walk after eating you should have a Mars bar first; I think his was a general comment about what might happen if you exercise strenuously without eating. You might not be getting a liver dump at all. You say that you have your meal, then exercise, then test; you get high readings. What you don't know is wether or not your readings would have been even higher if you DIDN'T exercise. In other words your exercise could be succesful in bringing your BG down from even higher levels. To find out, you would need to run a few tests, having the same meal with and without exercise and testing after the same period. You can't rely on a one-off test though; we differ from day to day. Also, you would need to know what your reading was before eating so you can see if the RISE in readings is more or less with/without your walk.
Even if you do get a liver dump, I think the benefits of the exercise overall more than outweigh a temporary rise in BG. In my case, on diet only, and I think the same would apply with metformin, I can go really low after exercise (I've recorded 3.8) without getting a liver dump. I think that perhaps, although I have no proof of this, liver dumps don't occur as frequently as we might think on reasonable exercise levels, unless perhaps you are on potentially hypo sugar-reducing drugs (NOT metformin). Maybe some people test and see a high sugar level and deduce a "liver dump" when they were high anyway. Liver dumps occur normally when BG goes too low, and our problem most of the time is the reverse. Again, I stress that I'm NOT referring to people on BG lowering drugs, and that metformin is not a BG lowering drug as such.

Cheers for that Grazer, it puts this new to me concept of the 'Liver_Dump' into some kind of perspective. I am reading that the kind of middle-aged exercise regime I practice, will be unlikely to cause one of these dumps and thus, I intend to carry on with my x3/wk cardio + short 40s sprint sessions as being safe enough.

 

[Sindri]

exercise 45 minutes - one hour after eating.

From the sounds of it you are exercising for 45 mins after every meal, if that is the case then that is dedication :shock: I am struggling managing a single session 5 days in a row :?

 

[Grazer]

From the sounds of it you are exercising for 45 mins after every meal, if that is the case then that is dedication I am struggling managing a single session 5 days in a row

To clarify, although it's great to exercise after every meal, my reccomendation is to exercise 45 mins to an hour after each MAIN meal of the day that contains carbs. It is at that stage on average that your BG peaks, so exercise then brings it down more quickly. Testing (I know that's tricky for you) has shown me it makes a big difference to me at least. It doesn't have to be long. You could do a 30 min brisk walk, but I just do 10 minutes really hard (enough to get my pulse rate up and leave me a bit out of breath) on an exercise machine on the landing. You could do 10 mins running (or jogging) up and down stairs for the same effect. It's a case of putting a demand on the glucose in the blood at that peak time so the muscles use it up. works for me anyway, although I know we're all different.

 

[Sindri]

To clarify, although it's great to exercise after every meal, my reccomendation is to exercise 45 mins to an hour after each MAIN meal of the day that contains carbs.

Phew :clap: thanks for that clarificaiton. My exercise tends to be first thing in the morning when I'm working full time (otherwise I chicken out or find things to do) or I do my session an hour after lunch. I have my main meal with my family in the evening and it does end up being a little late to be doing a session. However I will take this on board and perhaps do a 10 min session at around 9pm just to give it a helping hand to clear those sugars.

 

[Grazer]

I will take this on board and perhaps do a 10 min session at around 9pm just to give it a helping hand to clear those sugars.

Perfect. If you don't, the danger is that if your main meal is in the evening you go to bed with elevated levels which means (in my case at least) you wake up with elevated levels. So that's maybe 8 hours a day affecting your averages.