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Does Muscle Growth Increase Basal Requirements?

Muneeb

Well-Known Member
Messages
428
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi All,

So may be a bit of a strange question, I've had a search but can't really find an answer. A bit of background:

About a year ago I got back into fitness, wanting to lose weight initially as I had put on a bit whilst working away (I was probably borderline overweight on BMI scale). At the time my basal requirement was ~26 units, I went on a weight cut in which I lost around 12kg within 3 months, with diet control and exercise. Over the three month period I dropped my lantus to a steady 14 units. Then I got back into muscle building but keeping rather lean, and over the past 6-9 months my basal requirement has been slowly increasing again, I'm currently at ~18 units.

I wanted to know if anyone had experience of this and if muscle building increases basal requirements for some reason.

May ask on FB group as well to see if people are aware of any reasons.

Thanks
 
Hi @Muneeb Have you increased your weight as a result of building muscle ?

Changes in weight will affect your basal requirements and although your staying lean any increase as a result of increasing muscle mass will also affect your basal dose.
 
Juicyj said:
Hi @Muneeb Have you increased your weight as a result of building muscle ?

Changes in weight will affect your basal requirements and although your staying lean any increase as a result of increasing muscle mass will also affect your basal dose.
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Yes that's a good point, I have probably put 5kg or so on. Never really thought of it like that. Not sure what the science behind it is, and the effect of weight gain with muscle compared to fat.
 
Muneeb said:
I wanted to know if anyone had experience of this and if muscle building increases basal requirements for some reason.
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You might find T1 Dr Runyan's blog informative. Every month he goes into great detail about his insulin doses and readings.
PS I forgot to say that Dr R is a competitive body builder.
 
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Alexandra100 said:
You might find T1 Dr Runyan's blog informative. Every month he goes into great detail about his insulin doses and readings.
PS I forgot to say that Dr R is a competitive body builder.
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Thought I would have a read as I like powerlifting. Anyway maybe this is for quick reference what you were referring to:

https://ketogenicdiabeticathlete.wordpress.com/
Glycemic Results For August 2019

The table below shows my mean blood glucose (BG), standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), calculated HbA1c, body weight, and mean insulin dose totals for August 2019. You can see I am close to achieving both normal mean (average) blood sugar and variability of blood sugar (standard deviation). Now that I am at goal body weight, I might be able to achieve my blood sugar goals in September. If not, perhaps changing Lantus to Tresiba, which is scheduled to begin in November, will do the trick. Also note the increase in insulin dose that accompanies a larger body weight even when calculated as IU/kg/day. A higher body weight requires more daily food intake and more tissue that requires insulin. Still, this is a relatively low daily insulin requirement as most with T1DM require about 0.80 IU/kg/day which was my insulin requirement prior to starting regular exercise and a low carbohydrate diet.
 
Alexandra100 said:
Does what Dr R says chime with your experience?
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I am not on insulin, so can't contribute to the thrust of the question. I can say that my increase in muscle mass has enabled me to drive down blood glucose numbers into the 3's for fasting blood glucose the next morning on demand via a heavy lifting session(but strangely no improvement in HbA1c).
 
I might be on the wrong lines here but as a T1 for 22 years who has been slowly increasing weight (both muscle and general, more muscle though) for the past 5 years I have noticed myself that my insulin needs have increased as I have gained said weight. Not drastically but enough for me to notice and alter my routines round food and exercise etc. I train pretty intensely 6 days a week and remain active on day 7, this is a mixture of freeweights, hiit, interval training, CrossFit and machine weights. Xx
 
I also cycle hard up t0 130 mile at peak i reduce my basal rate by 40.% it works for any weight increase or decrease will affect basal rate as will temp and how long hard you exercise as a rule of thumb i alter basal rate approx 30 mons before start of exercise or warm up and keep at that rate for approx 60 mins and only when will i shower due to change in body temp and sweat.
 
in laymans terms, the more you weigh the more insulin you need. it doesn't really matter if its fat weight or muscle weight (ideally muscle as that burns a lot more calories than fat) you will need more insulin. I have trained with weights since my diagnosis (24yrs) and my weight has generally gone up, a by product of training so heavy, and my insulin requirements went up. The only time my requirements went down was when I retired from strength competitions and dropped a lot of weight, my insulin requirements went down, weight goes up so does your insulin needs. It also has a lot to do with type of training and any extra supplements that you may want to take. But the general rule is weight goes up, insulin increases more demands on the body for fuel, weight goes down, less need for insulin less demand on the body. that's my experience of it anyway.
 
Kudos to all who train so hard despite being lumbered with this burdensome health problem. I very recently discovered the Juicebox podcasts where juggling insulin and life / exercise is often discussed in a way that I find both interesting and accessible. Though I struggle to put up with the rather insistent advertising for Dexcom, Omnipod etc.
http://www.ardensday.com/juicebox-podcast
 

.. Yet the actual isulin dependants among us may just find these sponsoring companies products a bit of a "game changer" in BG management.

Thanks for the link.
 
Jaylee said:
Yet the actual isulin dependants among us may just find these sponsoring companies products a bit of a "game changer" in BG management.
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It's my impression that in the UK Dexcom CGMs are not available on the NHS, and patients have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a pump of any kind. I'd be delighted to be told I'm mistaken.
 
Alexandra100 said:
It's my impression that in the UK Dexcom CGMs are not available on the NHS, and patients have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a pump of any kind. I'd be delighted to be told I'm mistaken.
Click to expand...

That is a topic for another thread. This one regards exogenous insulin & muscle mass.. I'm not a body builder. Are you ID?
 
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