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I stopped taking insulin

A

abealti

Member
Hey, so I stopped taking insulin, completely and I only take the long term one (levemir). What happens when I stop taking insulin while keeping my blood sugar levels stable, how does it effect my fat burning? And I also wonder what happens When I eat carbs but don’t take insulin and instead do some cardio? Where does all the sugar in my blood disappear? For instance yesterday I eat like a bunch of carbs, but I went to the gym and stabilized my blood sugar with out taking insulin. How does this effect my fat burning? So to clarify, I only eat carbs before my training, but for the rest of the day I eat foods that’s very low in carbs, thus making me free from injections???
 
Muscle tissue sucks up glucose like a sponge and does not require insulin in order to do so. What you’re describing sounds plausible on the face of it, but I’m definitely not offering advice or opinions to someone who uses insulin
 
But insulin itself is a fat storing hormone, so technically if I stopped using it and kept my blood sugar under control I would still be losing fat, and you mentioned muscle tissue, how does that effect me, like I am a guy who is trying to build muscle and shred fat. How does that effect my body?
 

Yes. If insulin is baseline then you’ll be burning body fat. Regarding muscle tissue, the workout activity will be what is helping you stabilise your blood glucose without resorting to insulin. Additionally it will improve your insulin sensitivity if you’re T2.

You can also still build muscle mass even in ketosis, but this is where my knowledge of that subject ends, and I don’t like putting ideas into the heads of people who use exogenous insulin
 

Thank you for the answer!
 

Abealti - Could you please confirm you are a T1 diabetic, treated with insulin? When were you diagnosed, where are your numbers running usually - on training and non-training days, and what are you trying to achieve with this strategy you have adopted?

If you are newly, or relatively newly diagnosed you may still be in your honeymoon period, but not taking insulin, if your bloods are elevated.

Missing insulin isn't a great idea.

I wonder if any of our T1 members could drop in and have a chat with you? @Juicyj , @helensaramay are both into exercise and training. I'm not sure where @Scott-C is on the exercise front, but he has been a T1 a very long time, so has some great knowledge and experience.
 

We only take fast acting insulin when we need it. If you can eat carbs and control your blood glucose rise with exercise then all well and good. I am thinking that your body must still be producing some of its own insulin but I don't know how much carbohydrate you're eating so it's difficult to say.

Are you actually a T1 or an insulin dependant T2?
 
@abealti I think it would help understand better if you gave us a bit of background - what type of diabetes do you have, how long have you had diabetes, how many carbs do you eat, what are your typical BG levels?

I assume you have type 1 diabetes based on your insulin regime (you mention that you stopped taking insulin with meals but continue with your long acting insulin), so if you have not had diabetes for long, you could be in the honeymoon phase whilst your body is still creating some insulin. For many people with type 1, the honeymoon phases can be unpredictable - we may need no insulin one week and suddenly our pancreas goes on strike the next week.

Whilst you are eating carbs, if you are eating a small amount of low GI carbs, your background insulin may be able to cover your insulin needs whilst exercising.

When you exercise, your body does two diabetes related things - your liver will release extra glucose to give you energy and your body becomes more efficient at using insulin. Depending on the type of exercise, your fitness and the length of exercise and your BG before you start exercising one of these may dominate so your BG may go up or down.

For example, when I climb (short, strength, resistance training) my BG goes up whereas when I go to a spin class my BG goes down. If my BG starts too high, I struggle to exercise (I have less energy, my legs feel like lead) and the stress increases my BG.

I cannot comment on fat burning as my body weight has always been stable. However, when I do more resistance training, I certainly build more muscle. This has nothing to do with diabetes or insulin intake as this happened before I had diabetes.

If you are maintaining good BG, and are able to maintain the level of exercise needed to do this, I think (but I am not a doctor) this is ok. However, as you get fitter, the impact on your BG may reduce so you will either have to exercise more or take some insulin.

Whatever you do, do not stop taking your long acting insulin and do not stop monitoring your BG.
 

So I got diagnosed with T1D April 11th 2016, it was a long time ago and I don’t really think I’m still in my honeymoon. So last month I tried the Keto diet, and well it worked, I ate less carbs and I stopped taking insulin completely because I did not need it, so I stopped taking Nova rapid (the fast acting insulin) but I did not stop with Levemir. However I realized because of this diet I couldn’t include cardio training during my workouts because otherwise my blood sugar would drop, so I stuck to weight training only. Fast forward to yesterday I got this idea; the Keto diets main goal is for my body to stop using insulin and glucose as a source of energy, which in that case worked, I stopped injecting my self and I stopped eating a lot of carbs however I thought for my self what if I could eat carbs and incorporate cardio exercises into my workouts to stabilize my blood sugar instead of injecting my self. And well, it worked. Yesterday I had like a mini carb feast before training, I had a chocolate cupcake and a donut, after like 10 mins I started training and I tested my blood sugar and it was normal, about 5,6 mmol. So the question is will I still achieve my goal, shred fat, build muscle while eating carbs while avoiding insulin?
 

hey Helen

Please read my latest answer
 
I think your Levemir may be too high, as working out should not give a hypo if you are not taking any fast acting inslin. But if you reduce Levemir, then you may need to take inslin with your meals and do corrective doses. (As a low carb diet seem to extend the honeymoon you may still be in honeymoon.)

@Mel dCP has greatly reduced both her fact acting and slow acting inslin on a low carb deit, hopefully she will give you some pointers. Also clearly talk to your consultant.
 

That’s what I’m trying to solve but I thought if I eat some carbs before my workout but do not inject myself, I would technically still be in ketosis and my BG would still be stable or am I wrong?
 
abealti said:
That’s what I’m trying to solve but I thought if I eat some carbs before my workout but do not inject myself, I would technically still be in ketosis and my BG would still be stable or am I wrong?
Click to expand...

Do you test your bloods for ketones at all, and particularly around your exercising?

Edited to add, you might find the first graphic on this page to be useful:

https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/lchf/Ketosis-Measuring-Ketones
 
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