Counterweight diet thoughts

Deborah 85 said:

Thank you for clearing this up for me, I didn’t even think about how the meter would be set up for people that are T1!
Yeah I remember my nurse saying I can’t drive if I’m under 5, but I’m not on meds anymore so I’m assuming this is still the case?

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You can drive at all times when not on meds, unless you don't feel well or have been drinking. In terms of the DVLA you're nothing different from a non diabetic.

Hi Deborah,

don't worry!
It isn’t a matter of right or wrong.
Its just that there are different guidelines for people with different types of diabetes, and different medications.

since you are not currently taking Gliclazide or insulin, then you do not have to have your blood glucose above 5 for anything. Not driving, or sleeping, or exercise. the only reason we are told those rules is because the meds push blood glucose too low sometimes. If you aren’t on the medications, then the problem won’t happen.

as for hypos, it is very unlikely that an unmedicated t2 will have a hypo. Rare, but not impossible. So unless you have a history of unmedicated hypos, then you can probably set that worry to one side.

Regarding blood glucose levels, there are many, many non diabetics running around with blood glucose levels in the 3s and 4s, 5s and 6s. If their bg dips a bit lower than usual, they haven‘t a clue, because they don’t have a bg testing kit. Their body just releases a bit of glucose (from storage in the liver), or they feel peckish and have a snack.

Hi Deborah,
I have Type II diabetes and I've never been on meds. I was referred by my GP practice to an Exercise on Prescription programme at the local Leisure Centre. When I finally had my induction meeting I happened to mention in conversation with the trainer that my fasting bgl was 4.9. He sent me home saying I couldn't train if my number was below 5. Given the contradictory dietary advice I'd got the day before at a Desmond course that was a baffling week for me. There are lots of times when I'm mystified, Don't worry xx

I do think people can easily get confused between the two, I am type 2 and have started doing allot of exercise. I was warned off at the gym with bloods being low because they didn’t understand the difference.


Your bloods rise a bit when you exercise hard - thats your body giving you the energy you need and is a good thing. With me, they come down pretty quickly and if they are down in a few hours i wouldn't worry about it (Think of it like eating a meal but you’re eating your internal sorts of energy). There is a limit to how much energy your body can convert quickly which is why the below applies.


I’m not going to talk in terms of "hypos" because that is something to do with diebetics on medication and has already been covered. I will however talk about normal function during exercise while on that diet.


If you don’t have enough fuel in your body, because you have not taken enough calories this can cause issues for other reasons not really to do with diabetes. It depends on your intensity of exercise; you can get away with low to medium intensity exercise on a low amount of calories.


If you take 220, minus your age and about 30 - 50% of that is low to moderate exercise (if you measure your heat rate).


70% + of that number is high intensity.


So for me, 220 – 34 = 186 bpm. 70% of this is 130bmp – so if my heart gets that high its considered higher intensity exercise.


In simple terms, if I train hard in the high intensity zone, without eating before I dont perform as well, feel weak towards the end and can also get a bit nauseous. This is normal and is caused by a lack of fuel – for me I lose less weight on low calorie because I need the fuel to exercise which gives and overall better weight loss for me.


I can however do plenty of moderate exercise without fuel – just keeping my heart rate in the lower range at <100bpm.


Your not going to “hypo” org et very ill, but if you don’t take on enough calories and do allot of exercise you will more far more likely to tire easy, perhaps feel sick. I now eat something before I train because I need the energy as my intensity is increasing as my fitness increases.


If your keen on the exercise and will keep it up, I would go for a lower calorie but not crazy low calorie diet until you loose the weight. My aim was to lose to healthy weight range normally, then hit something like the 800 calorie diet if I cant drop my bloods. As it happens losing 4 stone has (at least for now) fixed my bloods given my current varied and not specially low carb diet. This was aided by intensive exercise.

You don’t need to monitor your heart rate, that’s a new one for me to be honest recently - but its more to point out that if you plan to work out hard, you will find it very difficult on a low cal diet, if you work moderately - you may well find you can cope. You will not however "hypo" you will just totally suck at what ever your doing and maybe feel sick if you don’t have enough energy - that’s normal and totally different from a drug endused lack of glucose.

Deborah 85 said:

Thanks, I just don’t think I have been doing it right and following the way I should have, I have just thought and assumed that you would have a hypo, medication or not if you went below 5 as my testing kit always flashed hypo when I was below 5, I guess I just need to re-educate myself on this.

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the clinical defintion for a hypo is a blood glucose level of 3.9 mmol/l or less. Now your meter has an allowable error of +/- 0.5 mmol/l so to allow for that I regard a level below 4.4 as being a potential hypo. The DVLA applies a similar rule but they advise that it may be unsafe to drive with a reading below 5 mmol.l at the start of a journey to be sure in case it drops further while driving.

Your meter has a setting that defines what it will bleep at for a hypo. On most meters it is possible to adjust this setting but it is only a warning and is not making any clinical judgement. It is similar to an alarmclock telling you it is time to do something. What you do when it sounds is up to you. For me, I smile since it is acknowledging I am achieving low sugar levels which is fine by me.

....shakes and soups for three months and then slowly having food again - That sounds good to me I am much better able to deal with that than messing around with diets, even the LCHF doesn't do anything for my weight. It's not as if it's forever and by returning slowly to food afterwards seems quite a lifestyle plan. When I get back to the UK I will ask about that, perhaps it may help. We are all different so if it works that would be great. Good luck.