Glycogen stores

[Kristin251]

I need some thoughts...

So I am very keto adapted. I eat VLC, small to moderate amounts of protein and higher fat. Yesterday I went a little crazy with a LOT of delishous LARGE BBQ chicken legs. I took the skin and sauce off but must have ate 4 or 5 which was more protein than I would eat in a day. My bs was 135 before bed. No big deal but much higher than normal. I took an extra unit of lantus as well as an extra 1/2 unit of novolog. Fasting was 125. Again no biggy but much I higher than normal and the insulin didn't budge it. 1/2 unit novolog can drop me 30 without food, sometimes more. An extra unit of lantus shou,d drop me as well.


Here's the question. When this has happened in the past I have always thought I was insulin resistant. I always said one bad meal equals three bad days. However, on my walk this morning it occurred to me that maybe my glycogen stores are just full and there's no where for the bs to go and that any food I eat, other than maybe fat will just all turn to bs. So in order to get back to normal I need to deplete glycogen. So I just took my 1/2 unit and a walk with no food. I think lunch might just be a spoonful of guac or an egg yolk with mayo and do a fat fast today. Does my of this make sense? Maybe that's why some people require large doses of insulin, because their glycogen stores are always full and there's nowhere for bs to go. This makes perfect sense to me as that's why a ketogenic diet lowers bs so much. Maybe it's not always about insulin resistance but maybe more about glycogen stores being full. I am not at large person nor do I have a ton of muscle so it doesn't take much to fill my stores. Perhaps this is also why some type 1's see protein raising them.

Thoughts?

 

[tim2000s]

Hi Kristin, typically if you are ketogenic, your glycogen stores hover around 60-70% of capacity. When you eat a lot of protein, it gets converted to glucose and amino acids by the liver. Any glucose that isn't used by muscles or stored by them or the liver is then converted to fat.

What is likely is that after large protein meals you are producing more glucose than you realised. This will be pushing your bg up and needs to be countered with insulin which will allow it to be absorbed by muscles and either used or stored as glycogen or converted to fat.

Walking typically doesn't deplete glycogen as it is not high enough intensity.


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[Kristin251]

Thanks Tim. I was hoping you'd chime in.
I seem to be very insulin resistant now. I have fasted all day and took 1/2 unit 3 times which normally covers my meals but it barely budged. Any idea ? Saturated fat?