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Advice needed please

S

SJW63

Member
Messages
13
Hi

I've been in denial over my T2 for a while but having now been put on insulin I'm keen to get my act together and sort myself out! The biggest thing I think is to sort out my weight with dieting and exercising. I'm currently classed as morbidly obese. I enjoy swimming so will do that but I have also joined a women's only gym where I can fit a workout into a lunch break and be monitored at the same time.

I'm always wary of dietary advice from the medical profession having originally been told to base meals around carbs and to eat porridge for breakfast - I now know I don't cope well on porridge on two counts - high BS after and I get damned hungry as I seem to need protein at breakfast. Anyway - I hope to swim in the mornings before work and asked what I should do re food. I've been advised to eat a banana before going for a swim (would be around 730 swim) then to eat breakfast when I get home. Is that good advice?

With reference to the gym, that would be in a late lunch break, around 230pm. What would you advise regarding that. Lunch when? Reading posts on here people seem to mention eating after exercise, I was just told no need.....

Off to the gym for the first time this afernoon!

Sue
 
Hi Sue welcome.
I think your answer lies in going on to a Low Carb diet, as included with exercise should help with the weight and blood glucose control.
Watch fruit, it usually contains a fair amount of sugar, stick to berries they are better.
I suggest you look at the Low Carb and Diet forums, as you will pick up a load of advice., but come back with your queries someone will always answer
Good Luck
 
Sue,
I wouldn't recommend a banana. They are carb and sugar heavy and, in my book, to be avoided. Just porridge, hiding in a yellow skin. Here is a link, which will tell you rather more than you ever thought you would want or need to know about bananas:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1846/2
I usually just have a quick cup of tea before my morning swim, though have been known to have a small bite of cheese. I swim about a mile, moderately quickly, so I'm not going faint for lack of food. Afterwards, we both have a protein based breakfast.

I suggest you establish a reduced carb diet, but with care - it's great for weight loss - but do take advice with regards to insulin as this has to be carefully balanced against carbs and we don't want you having a hypo in the deep end! Exercise may affect this balance. Hopefully someone with insulin experience will be along soon to advise further.

Sally
 
do you routinely take any insulin before your swim?

If not then I would suggest trying to swim fasted, which will have you more easily using fat rather than carb metabolism, adn using stored rather than just ingested energy.

Depending on how long you are swimming for, you might want to retest mid way thorugh after 30 mins or so.

Also, if exercising at the gym, consider reducing any lunchtime bolus before hand, again that will reduce the need for you to fuel it, and work more from stored reserves. Again, test frequently, it's all a bit trial and error. I'm speaking as a T1 insulin dependent, and assuming that also works for an insulin using T2.

Dave
 

Hi there Sue,
I hope you got on okay with your gym session.
May I ask - what is your insulin regime? Without knowing how you and when you're injecting it's hard to offer much guidance.
Low carb is definitely a safer option - fewer carbs means less insulin, and therefore less chance of error. Also, injected insulin and exercise really don't mix, as the insulin circulating in your bloodstream can cause your blood sugar levels to fall quite rapidly.
Another question would be around the sort of exercise you're doing. High intensity exercise can actually cause a rise in BG levels, whereas more moderate intensity will generally cause a gradual fall.
Make sure you test your bloods regularly before, during and after exercise, and take notes if you can too, in order to see how your body behaves. The insulin in your body will have a significant impact on what happens, so well worth noting what you ate/injected up to 4 hrs previous.
It can sound quite daunting, but actually it will all start making sense before long, so stick with it!
 
The other thing you can do is the atkins induction diet, easy to Google free meal plan and recipes
 
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