Exercising with Diabetes (any advice???)

[Dray_F96]

Hi Diabetes family,

I am quite a new diabetic at around 6 months since being first diagnosed, I've put my weight back on, currently my normal weight before being struck with diabetes and my b/g levels have been great with my Hba1c dropping from a 146 to a 46 from October to January.

Now, I want to challenge myself to get back active and exercising again, since I feel much better and have adjusted properly to the insulin I'm taking.

I've always enjoyed sport and keeping fit so I just challenged myself to go to the gym today and had a very good light session, which I enjoyed but wanted to know any tips from you guys about how to exercise whilst keeping my diabetes well managed.

Any tips, feel free to drop any advice as it would be much appreciated and helpful!

Regards

Dray_F96

 

[miahara]

Get a bike - the scenery is much more interesting than that in a gym. The air's fresher too.

 

[Bluey1]

Slowly increase your exercise. You will most probably decrease your insulin intake dramatically once you get everything stable. My Basal halves when I'm able to ride to and from work (40Km) a day, along with big reductions with bolus. I assume at 6 months you are on MDI and not a pump. A pump is much easier as the Basal has 5hr duration at the max and normally about 3hrs whereas MDI 12 - 24hr pending on your insulin. Once you start exercising and start getting near or having Hypos, reduce your Basal until you get a new balance. It normally takes a few days of exercise until you need to start reducing our insulin and it will take a few weeks before you have everything stable again assuming you increase gradually. You then need to keep up the exercise (you can have the weekend and odd day off) or your BGL will start to go really high.

 

[Freema]

1 hour uphill on the treadmill 3 times a week with your favourite music in your ears , on as high a level as you can manage and still maintain your effort for an hour

And doing resistance training like weights and maschines

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi there @Dray_F96 - You might find this thread interesting: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/managing-exercise-and-insulin.127691/

 

[Diakat]

Websites: runsweet and onebloodydrop

 

[Wurst]

Cycling is by far the best exercise for me. I cycle every day to to work ,~ 30km round trip, and weekends do 70 - 80 km rides, if the weather is nice :-0

My HBA1C results are down to cycling.

Other exercises I do :-
Running, but it can really hurt. Old injuries flare up if I do it more than twice per week.
Rowing, but bores me silly!

 

[**shell**]

Hi @Dray_F96
You may not need this advice but... the best advice I was given was eat something like a banana before exercising but, if you count carbs, DON'T cover it with insulin. I used to see my blood sugars rise with intense exercise then drop later on. The banana has helped me stabilise my sugars during workouts.

Also down forget the affects of exercise can be seen in your blood levels into the next day especially if you do resistance training. X

 

[Deleted Account]

Which exercise to do is down to you.
Choose something you enjoy. For example, if you enjoy being outside, going hiking; if you want something social, join a dance class; if you want to switch off from the world, go to the gym; if you want a goal, sign up for a half marathon, if you want something completely different, try the latest class; if you want to incorporate it into your normal day, cycle to work, ....
I have not come across any exercise we cannot do with type 1 diabetes. I cycle, swim, run, hike, climb, gym. I have been canoeing, sailing and even tried the flying trapeze.

The way exercise affects us us very personal and depends on the type of exercise, the length of exercise, the time of day you exercise, how much insulin you have in your blood (insulin on board - IOB) when you exercise, how fir you are at that type of exercise.
The usual rule of thumb is that cardio will decrease your BG and short sharp exercises like weights (and HIIT) will increase your BG. And the affect could last up to 48 hours. But we are all different so it's down to trial and error.

As others have suggested, start easy and keep your hypo treatment close at hand.

 

[NoKindOfSusie]

the options seem to be

1 Eat lots of carbs, take huge risks with the future, maybe able to run now, die at 35 of complications

2 Eat very few carbs, have better blood sugar but die at 35 of heart failure due to total lack of exercise.

 

[Circuspony]

The lots of carbs isn't a risk if your body is using them. I was at 8.5 earlier tonight sorting out the horses, had a snickers bar with no insulin an hour in and still had to jelly baby to drive home as I was 4.5. That's 3 hours of moderate exercise. My last HBa1C was 48, which is fine for T1

 

[KK123]

the options seem to be

1 Eat lots of carbs, take huge risks with the future, maybe able to run now, die at 35 of complications

2 Eat very few carbs, have better blood sugar but die at 35 of heart failure due to total lack of exercise.

You know what, this is getting ridiculous. If that was the case how come most of us are way past 35?

 

[therower]

the options seem to be

1 Eat lots of carbs, take huge risks with the future, maybe able to run now, die at 35 of complications

2 Eat very few carbs, have better blood sugar but die at 35 of heart failure due to total lack of exercise.

Trite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dray_F96]

Thanks for the responses guys on the advice they've really helped me. On the insulin intake, my diabetic nurse has told me she will assist me into how much insulin to take when necessary exercising as she encourages me to never feel i can't do anything due to diabetes.

Thank you all!

Dray_F96

 

[Deleted Account]

the options seem to be

1 Eat lots of carbs, take huge risks with the future, maybe able to run now, die at 35 of complications

2 Eat very few carbs, have better blood sugar but die at 35 of heart failure due to total lack of exercise.

I exercise regularly, eat neither “a lot” nor “very few” carbs, I have type 1diabetes, I am older than 35, I am alive and enjoying life.

 

[NoKindOfSusie]

You know what, this is getting ridiculous. If that was the case how come most of us are way past 35?

45? 55?

It's not exactly good any way you look at it.

 

[Guzzler]

45? 55?

It's not exactly good any way you look at it.

Dr. Bernstein who has Type 1 Diabetes is in his late eighties early nineties as far as I recall.
There is a difference between having a sense of one's own mortality and being the Daughter of Doom.

 

[NoKindOfSusie]

Dr. Bernstein who has Type 1 Diabetes is in his late eighties early nineties as far as I recall.
There is a difference between having a sense of one's own mortality and being the Daughter of Doom.

And for every 90 year old how many dead people are there.

The last thing I need is anyone lecturing me about a sense of mortality.

 

[Guzzler]

And for every 90 year old how many dead people are there.

The last thing I need is anyone lecturing me about a sense of mortality.

My mother, dead at 55, non Diabetic. My older sister, dead at 59, non Diabetic. My maternal grandmother dead at 92 with a Mills and Boon in her hand and a half cup of tea at her side, non Diabetic. To dwell on things like this is not good for one's mental well being.

 

[EllieM]

45? 55?

That just happens to be the age of perfectly healthy T1s who post on these boards. The ones who are 70, 80,90 tend not to be so computer literate and so don't post on boards.

My T1 mother died at 78 and yes her health was poor for last 8 years (she had a heart bypass at age 70) and she was in a wheelchair for last 6 months. The main reason her health was poor (and the reason she's not still alive) was that she smoked until she was 70 and she messed up her lungs (they wanted to do a quadruple bypass but couldn't because of her lungs). As regards the T1, her first 30 years of diabetes (and pregnancies) was spent without glucometers, let alone insulin pumps, cgms, human insulin or even disposable syringes. And during her last 8 years she still enjoyed a very busy life, winning awards for her photographic hobby that she took up in retirement.

Everyone dies eventually, diabetic or non diabetic. If you start searching google for illnesses, whether diabetic or not, you'll come up with a myriad of illnesses that you might have now or might get in a few years.