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Cycling for a newly diagnosed Type 2

S

SquarePants

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi all,

A bit of background
As a recently diagnosed T2 (November 2022) I'm trying to find some information about how to combine it in a healthy way with cycling. I'm 57 and had an over 50s medical at my doctors and everything came back ok...except my Hba1c which was 72. They retested and it was confirmed. They initially suspected T1 because of my height/weight and amount of exercise but various antibody tests and a pancreas scan all came back normal. So now I am on metformin and reducing my carbs and having another test after 3 months. The trouble is I have lost a lot of weight, dropping from 75kg to 70kg over a couple of months, weight which I don't think i need to lose (at 6ft I think I now look too thin) TBH I think I have overreacted to reducing the carbs and maybe should have done it more slowly or reduced my exercise at the same time/pace. That's the benefit of hindsight
My wife is a T1 and so I became obsessed with using her finger prick machine to monitor myself. She's confiscated off me now
In terms of exercise - I have cycled for many years, both commuting and as a hobby with friends (4,000 - 5,000 miles a year). A bit of walking and sit at a desk all day Mon-Fri

So I guess I have a couple of questions :-
What is the best way to fuel 2 - 4 hour bike rides both pre and during
What is the best way to put on a little bit of the weight I have lost...so far I seem to have only stopped the loss but can't seem to put any back on with the reduced carbs

Thanks in advance
 
Hi SP

Sorry I cannot help ! I'm also 57 recently T2 . Not on any medication as wanted some time to see if can improve by diet and exercise. I'm also 6ft but difference I'm at 105 kgs :-( . Anyway cycling seems a great way to exercise . I live on the coast so lot of cycle way on seafront. 90 kgs is my target. Looks like low carb seems to be the best option , all new to me but this site so far has been great. Hopefully someone with some experience can help

Good luck
 
I found that I lost my weight within 6 months, stated stable for a year. Since then its been gradually increasing. Only half a stone but enough to worry me, although I've lost the scrawny look.
I think it was just a gradual increase in the amounts I eat. I haven't consciously increased carbs but either have I been so strict in saying No.
I've made a determined effort the past 2 weeks, going back to monitoring food via an app and cutting out cheese, nuts and alcohol.
There's a school of thought that fats is your lever, raise them to go up, lower them to come down.
Certainly that seems to working for me...

So maybe use cheese for pre and during exercise?
 
Couple of points -

- you can be type 1 with negative antibody tests. It’s only conclusive if it’s positive. If that is the only reason they’ve ruled it out I’d ask a few more questions and keep an open mind. Have they measure insulin or cpeptide? They really should have. If you struggle to control numbers in the coming few years despite low carb/exercise etc then this could be your pancreas finally stopping insulin production as a type 1 And would warrant a retest of insulin /cpeptide. It can take a while in adults sometimes.

- when you cut carbs you need to replace them with something else for fuel - proteins to protect lean muscle and naturally occurring fats.

- volek and phinney have done a lot of work on fuelling endurance type exercise “the art and science of low carb performance“

my OH is a keen cyclist too possible even more miles. He’s a million miles from low carb but does do daily and 100k rides fasted and has ketones on his return despite carb loading every evening so he’s metabolically flexible for ketosis and fuelling on fats and doesn’t bonk often as a result.
 
Hi @SquarePants welcome to the forum.
if you go low carb you need to replace the calories with protein and fat otherwise you are bound to lose weight. Don't you feel hungry? If yes, then you need to adapt your diet anyway, as this is not sustanainable.

I cycle quite a bit, but not as much as you, so can't really help.
When I asked the same question as you (in a thread that I cannot find anymore) I learned that endurance athletes can switch to fat burning. A quick search shows this paper, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6863116/. You might also not need to go to as low carb as you are doing, so that you can preload with a meal including carbs.
 
SquarePants said:
My wife is a T1 and so I became obsessed with using her finger prick machine to monitor myself.
Click to expand...
We always recommend testing. But it does need to be done in a way that provides beneficial information. For a type 2 it’s usually before and 2hrs after meals that helps most. It shows you if you had a reasonable response to the carbs in the meal or they were more than you can cope with. You want to be as close to possible to the premeal reading at 2hrs and certainly within 2mmol and ideally under 7.8mmol at that point too. Once you’ve tested that meal a few times no need to test it regularly, just occasionally to check nothing has changed
 
Hi @SquarePants, I'm in a slightly different position as I'm on multiple daily injections and I also have a Libre monitor, but when I'm going to get out for a run (usually about 20 hilly miles) I load carbs before the ride and skip the insulin. Loading carbs will usually be in the form of a couple of slices of seeded bread with cheese and marmite. To ward off any approaching lows that my Libre warns me of I carry jelly babies and when the alarm goes I eat 3 or four and they give me a boost of about 15 to 20 gms of glucose. I often find that even if I managed to keep blood glucose reasoably well controlled during a ride I get hit with a low and hour or so after getting back home.
 
The main difference is that you'll still have your basal insulin, unlike @SquarePants .
So hypos are not a consideration they have to make, there is no need to 'carb up' if you're not on insulin.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Lots of very useful info for me to have a think about. I saw that Libre Sense were offering a 14 day free trial for one of their sensors so I am about 4 days into using that which is providing a lot of useful feedback about carb intake and exercise
 
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