CAN I PLEASE ASK HOW EXERCISE EFFECTS PEOPLE'S BS

I find intense exercise, such as HIIT, spikes me quite badly, but a couple of hours later I get lovely low readings. But spiking is quite natural as your liver wants to give you some extra energy, so the more intense the exercise, the higher the spike.

However, brisk walking, swimming and working with a TRX gives me lower spikes and I still get good low readings a couple of hours later.

The good thing about LCHF is that you find you have more energy. The recent chilly, wet weather has kept me in more than I'd like (didn't even feel like going swimming and I packed in my gym membership some time ago), so I'm really looking forward to walking again.

Do whatever you enjoy best, even if you do get a spike as it will go down again.

I find walking just great exercise and a bit of me time for thinking this over, plus the benefits of low level exercise. I try to go twice a day for about 20 mins each. My knees, ACL's, make vigorous exercise problematic. For me diet is number one and exercise number two. I'm looking into yoga and breathing exercises to keep the joints flexible...

Hi @Debandez the first time I tackled my diabetes via the low fat, calories in calories out method I exercised at a crazy rate and did get my hbaca1 down and lost weight but it all started creeping up again when I couldn’t keep up that level of exercise and diet. So when I made decision to do keto and intermittent fasting to tackle my weight and blood sugars I decided that whatever I did it had to be achievable and sustainable or if I stopped it would go downhill again. Hence my way of eating not a diet and manageable exercise that I can keep up for hopefully many years to come! I take as many opportunities as I can to incorporate walking into my day and preferably to include steps and slopes if possible! I love long hikes time to think have a break from caring if possible and get out there especially in good weather. I do a weekly Pilates class This is a life saver for me a bit of time for me and has helped my core muscles which I think helps. Plus I have an exercise bike on which I do the 3 x 20 seconds flat out pedalling as suggested by dr Moseley about 3 Times a week and a few resistance Pilates exercises. These all take little time and I think are sustainable and enjoyable.
You need to find something you enjoy and that dosent stress the body too much. For me Pilates @nd walking seem to have most positive impact on my bgs and I enjoy them so will keep them going!

Debandez said:

Since dx 8/12 I've lost 36lbs of weight and reduced my hba1c from 62 to 42 where it seems to be stuck. Ive introduced IF and have tried walking more but it's been such a cold spell since I started on this new healthy living I've not felt like going out for many walks. I would love to get my hba1c down to non diabetic levels which is only 1 number down! Really this is mainly to show my DN how successful a LCHF diet can be as she wanted to put me straight on meds and gave me the silky nhs guidelines for eating. My appointment is in May.

I'm just wondering what effects on BS exercise has. When is the best time to do it. What length of time exercising works the best for BS. What type of exercise you find the most beneficial. The nicer weather is coming so I'm getting out my sunglasses, beach bag, flip flops and bikini!!! Not that I'm going to be power walking along the promenade in that attire! I haven't worn a bikini since....well possibly since I was a baby!!! Got a holiday abroad booked in May and I'm going for it. Thanks for your help. Much appreciated as always. People are always there to help. What a great community this is. Definitely the biggest plus from being T2.

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I think there's long-term and short-term effects of exercise on blood sugar.

Building a bit of muscle seems to be a sensible idea for the long-term effect of increasing your metabolism, and it gives you more material in your body to use up glucose even when you aren't exercising. I've been doing this, but I have no idea if it helps or how much because I can't measure that.

Shorter term, pretty much my only form of exercise is walking. The only thing I've monitored regularly is my morning, fasting bs. I've noticed things like:

1) The best results I get are when I regularly do about an hour's fast walking in the evening, after the last food I eat. This walk is fast, aiming for constantly being slightly out of breath, often involves a moderately heavy rucksack, is mostly flat but has 3 steep climbs in it, each taking about 2 minutes (so I guess it's sort of interval training in a way!).

2) I've had poor results in the last month or so after I started doing huge walks at the weekends and stopped calorie counting. After say 7 hours walking in the mountains, I can have a reasonably okay bs in the morning. But in the following days I seem to eat too much and my bs has generally been worse in the last two months since I started 'big exercise' at weekends. So don't think I can exercise enough to allow me to get complacent about diet - that needs to come first and I need to monitor and control it. I'll be trying to get this right this weekend, and train my mind to realise that I don't get the reward of extra food after a weekend in the hills!

3) My bs never bottoms out during or after exercise in the way it does after fasting. I presume that the liver is constantly putting glucose into my bloodstream whenever my bs gets anywhere near its lowest point while exercising and so bs never gets a chance to bottom out?

AdamJames said:

1) The best results I get are when I regularly do about an hour's fast walking in the evening, after the last food I eat. This walk is fast, aiming for constantly being slightly out of breath,

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This is what I aim for too. When I exercise at this level I lose weight and experience post-prandial levels only slightly up on pre-prandial. When we had the bad weather and I didn't walk as far or as fast because of the snow and ice, my weight loss stalled.

archersuz said:

This is what I aim for too. When I exercise at this level I lose weight and experience post-prandial levels only slightly up on pre-prandial. When we had the bad weather and I didn't walk as far or as fast because of the snow and ice, my weight loss stalled.

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Yes I love snow and ice but it's a real pain when you just want to do a brisk walk in the evenings! It's getting pretty hard to use my local walk, due to the mud, thanks to the regular rain. There's some quite big stretches now where if I tried to keep up the pace I'd be flat on my backside. It's actually very frustrating to have to move so slowly that I start breathing normally!

It's interesting how big the effect of doing the same exercise differently is, isn't it? I've tried the same walk slowly, especially up the steep bits by necessity because of a crazily heavy rucksack, and extremely quickly carrying nothing, but consistently the best results have been fast and with a moderately heavy rucksack. I think the being out of breath due to moving fast, combined with making my leg muscles work hard getting me and a rucksack up the steep bits, is the perfect combo.

Hi @Debandez

Like @shelley262 I’ve gone down the route of adding in exercise that fits around my life and is sustainable. Mostly this is walking - I get off the train a stop early on the way to work, and return to that station in the morning. Where possible I take a walk in the lunch hour and generally walk where previously I would have taken a tube or bus.

I was doing walking football once a week - and intend to return to it when I eventually recover from the overuse injury caused by over enthusiastic walking!

More recently I’ve started going to the gym to do weights and abs work to try and build muscle mass and shift weight from around my middle.

Intense exercise seems to put my blood sugars up in the short term, but they reduce significantly a few hours later. Rises are more significant when I exercise early in the morning, and much less so in the evening. Morning FBG are definitely lower the next day.

swimming, best all round exercise there is....

AdamJames said:

It's interesting how big the effect of doing the same exercise differently is, isn't it? I've tried the same walk slowly, especially up the steep bits by necessity because of a crazily heavy rucksack, and extremely quickly carrying nothing, but consistently the best results have been fast and with a moderately heavy rucksack. I think the being out of breath due to moving fast, combined with making my leg muscles work hard getting me and a rucksack up the steep bits, is the perfect combo.

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I tried jogging some bits and when I got home my BG was too high! I don't know if it would have come down again quickly or if it was just a one-off but it gave me the perfect excuse not to try it again! My best exercise is with my son as he has longer legs and makes me march it out especially up hills!

archersuz said:

I tried jogging some bits and when I got home my BG was too high! I don't know if it would have come down again quickly or if it was just a one-off but it gave me the perfect excuse not to try it again! My best exercise is with my son as he has longer legs and makes me march it out especially up hills!

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Crikey, never mind blood sugar, if I tried jogging I think I'd need to wear a bra! Actually that could be just the excuse I've been looking for...

Seriously though I think I'm almost "fit" enough to jog short sections these days, but I'm pretty sure it would damage my knees due to the weight. I even sometimes use trekking poles when I'm coming down a steep hill just to take some load off. Anyway, impressive that you are up for jogging. I expect to see you at the next Olympics!

I try and walk around 4 miles each day, and this seems to bring my BG down a bit.
In the summer I cycle a few days a week if the weather is nice for a couple of hours. Again this brings my BG down to normal levels.
I don't think I've seen a spike after exercise but perhaps because I'm out for over an hour at a time I may spike near the start and then level out again.
I would love to run, but my feet and knees aren't up to it at the moment. I have to be careful not to walk too fast and over extend my legs because I start to get knee problems. I was getting up to an average of 4 miles an hour on a 6 mile walk at the start of the year but then had to ease back.

I do a 90 minute Yoga class once a week and should practice between classes but I am a bad person. I find the Yoga very good for working all the muscles, and also for relaxing. Breathing techniques can help you relax almost anywhere. In fact I just looked in the fridge, FOOD! deep breath, breathe out, relax. Sigh and walk away.

AdamJames said:

I expect to see you at the next Olympics!

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I'll be there if you are!

AdamJames said:

Crikey, never mind blood sugar, if I tried jogging I think I'd need to wear a bra! Actually that could be just the excuse I've been looking for...

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Now I've slimmed down, I've got a few you could have ........

My BS plummet after walking .. hugely ... must be lucky in that department. 10 minutes, and often down by 2 even seen a 4

archersuz said:

Now I've slimmed down, I've got a few you could have ........

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PM Sent with my address.

archersuz said:

I'll be there if you are!

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I think I'll be doing beach volleyball. I'm expecting the appropriate attire to be arriving in the post soon.