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Fellow liver dumpers, what are your exercise hacks?

Glink

Well-Known Member
I take metformin 500mg TID and eat a moderately lowish carb (100g/day) diet. I can't eat too much fat or it upsets my digestion. With this I can keep my general BG readings in the "prediabetes" range. My nemesis has always been fasting glucose and after exercise. I'm really frustrated with the exercise highs, and hoping some of you can share management tips. I'm moderately active, these days although I have a desk job I either run or hike + yoga every day; at other times of year bicycle commute. But exercise always sends my sugars up. Today after just a regular 30 min before-lunch run my hands were shaking so much I could barely test afterwards. I'm not dangerously high, just high enough to have symptoms (I get shaky, blurry vision, excessive thirst/urination, swelling hands/feet).

Others who get exercise highs, what do you do? Do you eat something before running, and if so what kind of thing? Are there times of day that are best (tricky in winter, I know, when it's dark before/after work)? Something else? I'd really like to exercise without feeling like garbage afterwards. And right now the only tool in my toolbox is to just chill out and fast until my BG is back to normal. A nap always helps but I can't always just stop and nap! Thanks in advance.
 
I drink plenty of water after exercise. I don't really know if it's helping or not as I don't know what would happen if I stayed dry. My post exercise highs don't last long though and I suspect it's the water.
 
I've only found out in the last couple of weeks that sugar free drinks are spiking my blood sugar , it's just a thought but are you drinking these while you exercise ?
 
Agree with @bulkbiker. It’s not generally necessary to go out pounding the pavements in order to improve type 2 diabetes (or pre). Removing the source of the problem as best you can and some brisk walking is enough to keep in reasonable shape while hopefully improving glucose control at the same time. You might find you can cut some more carbs and replace them with protein. Some are affected by extra protein and some aren’t, but it seems worth a try rather than smashing yourself up running around and feeling sick. That isn’t going to do you much good. The sands of diabetes shift with time so you can always come back to the running at a later time and give it another go.
 
What are your fasting and post exercise numbers?
 
I just drink water, or after a run or ride sometimes I drink a litre of water with an electrolyte powder packet in it, but those don't seem to spike me (they do have a few g glucose in them). Fake sugars don't really agree with my tummy so I avoid them.

I don't like the idea of cutting back on exercise/stopping all aerobic exercise just because I'm diabetic. This isn't unusually strenuous activity; it's just the kind of thing I've done for years. I'm not trying to lose weight or anything, just have a regular somewhat active life.

My #s aren't terrible, but I am pretty sensitive to highs--like I get grumpy, hands shaky, blurry vision, and fall right asleep! I was actually first diagnosed b/c I was having symptoms (excessive thirst/urination, and then sudden weight gain, as well as these others) and eventually they tested my blood sugar even though I didn't seem to have any other diabetes risk factors, and lo and behold that was it.

These days my fasting is around 6 and after a 30 mi run it's 7, which is around the point when I start to get shaky and ill. The post-exercise highs don't last long as long--as I rest and don't eat anything they resolve, but that does leave me hungry & grumpy sometimes as I wait for things to settle down. I'd rather figure out how to prevent the rise so I can get right back to things after a mid-day jog!

I used to eat lower carb, but my GI rebelled against fat and my endo suggested trying more carbs now, so I'm now just moderate (~100g/day) carb, and the change hasn't seemed to affect my BG #s.
 

I wouldn’t really count a 1 mmol ‘rise’ as signficant and I wouldn’t have thought that it would cause dizziness/shakiness (7 isn’t that high in the scheme of things). Could it be something else - blood pressure swings ? - that the exercise is triggering? I’d say that’s worth looking into.

On the electrolyte front, if you want to eliminate the possibility that they’re contributing to increased blood sugars, this stuff is good and is just the minerals: https://www.bulk.com/uk/electrolyte-powder.html

In my own experience, over time exercise that did cause spikes caused less of them as I got fitter, and some types of exercise reliably lower my BG - swimming and Pilates being two examples.
 
Yeah, I'm lucky that my sugars never get THAT high. I've never measured them above 11, I don't think. But I get symptomatic at uncommonly low levels. However, I've been building tolerance over the years--I used to get symptoms (like polydipsia/polyuria, blurred vision, swelling hands/feet, fatigue) in the high 5's! Now (7y post-diagnosis, which was originally pre-d and got worse despite immediate low carb diet) I'm fine up to about 7. I guess my body was just really used to low BG for the first ~35y and the higher #s take adjustment.

Anyway, it warmed up enough here that I'm back to biking, at least. That seems less bad than running unless it's very hot or very long.
 
We’re all different & different things work for us
On gym days (go before work) I have a mug of tea & 5 or 6 Brazil nuts as soon as I get up, then have black coffee & coconut oil at the gym & a protein shake with unsweetened almond milk as soon as I finish
I also have a protein shake with unsweetened almond milk at bedtime, which has mostly reduced my FBG’s into the 5’s
 
Very interesting. I get high BG if I go for a fast bike ride - anything up to 15 briefly. I'm going to try your method.
 
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