Finding my feet

I am sure there is a list or group on the internet where athletes train on low carb high fat diets and report to each other on how they manage.
Although not competitive I used to annoy people at the end of a long day's walk or caving trip by running ahead to get the dinner on, but I started to eat low carb a long time ago. The stamina it gives is pretty phenomenal when compared to high carb options.

Hi Jeff,

There's a website called Runsweet which was set-up for people who have type 1 and enjoy sports like running, here is a link if you want to take a look:

http://www.runsweet.com/

My experience is probably slighter different to yours, as my diabetic daughter is only 6 so her exercise isn't terribly high intensity! However, she swims and does gymnastics twice weekly, and my theory is less carbs=less insulin=less risk of hypos. She gets her energy from healthy fats and plenty of protein, and generally her blood sugars remain stable throughout exercise.
Best of luck!

First of all, what I'm about to say is not advice. It is my personal experience and how I choose to approach my situation which is very similar to yours. I was diagnosed with type 1 at 27 years old last year. I've been an athlete all my life aside from the 2-3 years prior to my diagnosis where I had allowed my career to be my main priority.

I approached my diagnosis very similar to how some people approach a type 2 diagnosis: I immediately made a habit of going to the gym (again), started running short distances (~3 miles), and restricted my carb intake pretty significantly (<50g) while I learned how to manage insulin and adjust to the new changes. Long story short, it worked VERY effectively.

Now, one of the side-effects to that approach is my numbers are (what most consider) extremely good. In fact, they are so good that my fasting levels are often around 4.5 mmol/l and can be as low as 3.8 mmol/l.

Out of context, those numbers could be very scary for a type 1. In fact, I'd technically be going against the driving guidelines about 75% of the time if I lived in the UK (I live in the USA). However, to put my situation into context, my Dexcom (continuous glucose monitor) says that I haven't gone above 5.6 mmol/l or below 4.3 mmol/l in 12 hours. With that in mind, I'd say it's pretty safe for me to drive.

Why do I say this?
I say it because most athletes with type 1 are going to deal with similar situations. Personally, I worry less about what my number says and more about if my numbers are trending higher, lower, and how fast. I'd much rather go for a 6-8 mile run when my blood sugar starts at 5 mmol/l AND I haven't taken any insulin in 4 hours than if I started a run at 10 mmol/l and had just given myself a bolus (fast-acting) injection an hour prior.

I say all of this not to suggest that you replicate what I do, but to say that you're going to have to develop your own guidelines and figure out what works best for you. Yes, there are official guidelines that deserve to be respected and considered, but they're not always realistic for everyone.

To answer your question: Yes, I am (or was) in the same boat. I ultimately decided to try to simplify things as much as possible. I wasn't going to remove exercise from my routine, and I obviously couldn't remove insulin. The obvious answer was to alter my diet to something more conducive to being a very active Type 1.

Jeff_uk said:

I've found I need my bloods to be around 12-14 to get out for 30 minutes (3.5 mile) jog, when I get back I'm somewhere between 3.5-5. What I'm struggling with is fueling, I'm running to try lose some of my podge I've put on since my diagnosis, I'm having to have big hits of sugar to extend my run, is this not going against what I am running for? Anyone been in the same boat?

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Running when bloods are up in double figures is a pretty horrific experience for me. My legs turn to lead. It's what the phrase running through treacle was invented for! I'd much rather start somewhere between 6-8, have some uncovered carbs in, no active insulin on board and trickle in carbs as I go.

But you don't want to take on carbs as you exercise because you're trying to loose weight? Is it really lodge you have put on since diagnosis or could it be that some of you previous weight loss was you starving to death with undiagnosed and type 1? A bottle of pucks are has 140 calories, a half hour run burns off over 250, so you are still 100 calories down.

Have a look at run sweet. Have a look at time between lunchtime bolus and exercise - consider reducing your lunchtime bolus pre exercise. What basal are you on? Levemir is quite flexible to be reduced on exercise days but not sure about other insulins.