Exercise

[Charly1]

Hi I am interested on the effect of exercise on readings especially is it better to exercise before eating or after? Especially in the morning. I understand the morning phenomenon but would it help to bring the morning readings 6.8 - 6.2 down lower if i did 30 mins to 1 hour cycling or 3 HIT sessions before breakfast? I am no gym bunny although 15 years ago i used to do 3 x 3 hour sessions a week. Boredom and work pushed me away. Slowly bringing in exercise with low carbs and seeing a reduction with weight and readings ( only a 1.5 mile power walk at lunchtime). Next milestone is to reduce calories (too much alcohol) and increase exercise.

 

[rom35]

Hi I am interested on the effect of exercise on readings especially is it better to exercise before eating or after? Especially in the morning. I understand the morning phenomenon but would it help to bring the morning readings 6.8 - 6.2 down lower if i did 30 mins to 1 hour cycling or 3 HIT sessions before breakfast? I am no gym bunny although 15 years ago i used to do 3 x 3 hour sessions a week. Boredom and work pushed me away. Slowly bringing in exercise with low carbs and seeing a reduction with weight and readings ( only a 1.5 mile power walk at lunchtime). Next milestone is to reduce calories (too much alcohol) and increase exercise.

I ecercise in the morning after eating. I manage to start 45m after eating to limit the spike of BG.

For diabetes it is not so clever to do HIT as it has negative impact on BG.

I am at gym each working day (so weekend for body recovery) and do 3 days of cardio and 2 days of weight lifting one week and the opposite second week.

Cardio is 40m of quick walking (6.5 km per hour).
Weight lifting is 6 sessions: squats, bench press, backs, shoulders, biceps, belly.

Each gym I end with stretching.

Through the day I walk for 30m just 30m after eating to control the spike.

The weight lifting sometimes elevate my BG, but after some time it goes down quickly.

 

[Tophat1900]

I have a feeling exercise will elevate your morning levels if done before eating, but once you eat they may well fall. I experience that myself if I have not eaten for some length of time like 5 or 6 hrs, but I don't exercise before breakfast.

To avoid boredom, try to find a form of exercise you can enjoy doing and look forward to it.

 

[Brunneria]

Yes, like @Tophat1900 I find that exercise in the mornings, on an empty stomach just drives my blood glucose up and up.

Exercise later in the day then lowers my blood glucose.

There seems to be a lot of variation between people about how exercise affects them. And the type of exercise makes a huge difference. The intensity and duration cause different effects.
For instance, for me, a dog walk at lunchtime, medium pace, will reliably and comfortably drop my bg by 1mmol/l for an hour or two.
A run to the bus on the way to work will raise my bg by 3-5mmol and keep it up for hours (stress, physical exertion, glucose produced to deal with the stress... )
A strenuous hill walk will drop my bg like a stone (but not cause a hypo), and keep it low until I next eat carbs.

All of those happen to me when I am on a very low carb diet, definitely fat adapted, probably in keto.
All would have different reactions if I was running on carbs.

So really... you need to test for yourself, since I can pretty much guarantee that your reactions to those things will be different from mine!

Re HIIT: It is regularly recommended for type 2 diabetics as a superb way to build muscle and reduce insulin resistance. If you are interested in it, I suggest you test your blood glucose extensively to find out your personal reaction, and then choose a time, or a snack, that allows you to enjoy it, and the benefits.