Tracyplum said:
My other half had just bought us bikes. It must be 25 years since I last rode. I am 47 and T2 (jan13) on a diet only plan, very wobbly at the moment on the bike but I'm sure the knack will come back to me. My exercise at the moment consists of walking the dogs and spurts of movement at work with the rest sat behind a desk. Anyway we have a good cycle track nearby that we are planning to ride on a regular basis but since I am new to this exercise stuff can anyone give me any advice on how to approach this and how it will affect my levels?
Cycling is a very good low impact exercise, that is, it is kinder to the ankle joints, knee joints etc than most other forms of exercise. The thing to remember is, you have got to get back to your starting pont, so don't over do it.
I started to get a bit fitter by using a rower but I also dug out an old bike and got it into running order. However, I felt too wobbly and needed to get used to it. I bought myself one of those stationary exercisers:
Exercise will have a more beneficial effect on your body fats than a direct effect on your BG levels. In other words, because your BG levels are up and down all the time, you may not notice the effect that exercise has. In fact, It may even go up sometimes, but that is because the body is breaking down fat stored to provide you with extra energy.
If you were to put a smaple of your blood into a test tube after a meal and then centrifuge it, the fats float to the top. If you have the same meal and then do some exercise and then centrifuge the blood, the fat at the top may be reduced by as much as one half. This is what Roy Taylor means where he says:
"The role of physical activity must be considered. Increased levels of daily activity bring about decreases in liver fat stores, and a single bout of exercise substantially decreases both de novo lipogenesis and plasma VLDL."
Over time, the reduction in liver fat stores will result in improvements in BG levels, but you have to combine the exercise with a reduction in calories too.
The effect of exercise is that it releases several hormones which in turn trigger the release of various digestive enzymes. These only stay in the blood for about 24 hours so regular exercise is necessary. I exercise twice per day for 15 mins per day, each time after a meal. However, if you're out on a bike, you probably only want to do it once per day. About an huor after a meal is normally best but it would be just as good between lunch and dinner. As long as it is regular and daily though, won't matter too much.
