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Low Carb & Exercise

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Fletch

Active Member
Messages
31
Hello,

I am a 38 year old Type 1 following a low carb diet. -Actually back to following a low carb diet as I fell of the wagon - however I am determined to make this a way of life and so have been back to low carbing - under 50g per day - for the last 2 weeks.

My question relates to exercise whilst following a restricted carb diet. I weight train about 3 times per week and have noticed in the past that my BG levels increase post workout - i usually train for about 30-45 minutes with low repetitions - reasonably heavy lifting. I know that this is not an unusual reaction and is the bodies natural response whilst being placed under stress. However I was wondering how you fellow low carbers deal with this - do you inject any fast acting insulin pre exercise - if so do you eat any carbs to cover this. I would ideally like to avoid any excess carbs before/after exercise if at all possible.

I know alot will come down to trial and error but I am interested in how others cope with this reaction to exercise.

Thanks in advance.

Fletch.
 
Bernstein writes about weight lifting. An as you know, he's the guru of low carb.
I'm T2 and don't use insulin, Neither do I lift weights( not surprising since I'm a 62 year old Granny.) However, I do exercise regularly and use resistance bands for my muscles. I don't add anything, food or medication. I used to check BG, but since I fund my own strips, I only do it rarely now. I used to find it goes up a little. then just sometimes drops. Just when i get over confident.
 
Hi Fletch,

I'm also T1 and try to exercise reasonably intensively most days (running / road biking).
I try to schedule my exercise so that I do it fairly soon after a meal. That way the increased sensitivity to the insulin prevents any rise in blood sugar due to stress hormones. Sometimes I'll use a little less insulin, or a little more food, but the net result is a bg post exercise pretty close to bg before exercise.
As you say, it takes a bit of fine tuning at first, but quickly becomes instinctive.

All the best,

fergus
 
Thank you both for your replies, I have a question for Fergus.

You mention that you sometimes eat a little more before you exercise - would that be in the form of a little more carbohydrate or do you stick with the low carb options - eg. more protein or veggies etc. What type of insulin do you take if you dont mind me asking - at the moment I am on Levemir 50/50 split - and Humulin S - which I find covers the protein very well - I was previously on NovoRapid but found that it got ahead of itself before the Protein had time to convert to glugose.

Amazing how effective reducing carbs is...as mentioned in previous post I have been back reducing the carbs for the last couple of weeks - my BG levels have quickly fallen into the 5's - sometimes see the occasional 7 but still fine tuning. My daily Insulin has decreased from 24 units of Levemir(split 12/12) and around 24 units of NovoRapid to 16 units of Levemir and around 6 units of Humulin S...weight has dropped from 202 pounds to 195 pounds - all in a fortnight.

I decided to go back to low carbing after attending a DAFNE course - whilst I found the week very intresting and the ideas good - in practice and despite my best efforts I just can't get my BG into Non-Diabetic Ranges whilst eating high Carb - my blood pressure is a little high also - another reason to try carb reduction rather than reaching for more medication.

Thanks again.

Fletch.
 
Hi Fletch,

In answer to your questions-

You mention that you sometimes eat a little more before you exercise - would that be in the form of a little more carbohydrate or do you stick with the low carb options - eg. more protein or veggies etc
Click to expand...
Always a little more low carb. I'm certain my metabolism works more efficiently on minimal carbs so that it uses free fatty acids and ketones as fuel rather than glucose. I certainly have more stamina because my fuel reserves don't seem to run out, unlike the body's very limited glucose stores.

What type of insulin do you take if you dont mind me asking
Click to expand...

I use Levemir basal, having switched from Lantus this year.
Humalog at breakfast and lunch. Humulin S at dinner. I agree totally that it better matches low carb diets and doesn't get ahead of itself as rapid acting would for larger meals/doses.
My doses are 8 units Levemir in a 50/50 split, 3, 2.5 and 7 units for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I'm 6'4" and 175 lbs.

Feel free to PM me for star sign and inside leg measurement details! :lol:

fergus
 
Interested to hear about your boluses fergus, what are the relative merits of humalog and humalog s? What's the difference between them? I have stopped bolusing at the moment as I'm on less than 15g cho per meal but if I increase this in the future I don't want to have to go back on novorapid as I always yo yo'd terribly on it, and am seeing the consultant next month so need to tell him what to give me!

Also interested to hear why you switched from lantus to levemir?
Thanks
AC
 
Hi AC,

Humalog is very fast (10-15 minutes to start acting), has a slightly higher peak in its activity and a shorter half life. It works well when time is short, which is why I use it for breakfast and lunch, but can overtake the body's ability to make glucose from protein. The effect seems to be amplified with larger doses.
Humulin S is slower acting (30-40 mins to start) but has a lower peak and lasts longer in the system.
It matches low carb meals very well, so I use it for dinner, my largest meal of the day.
I didn't know whether Lantus was the best basal for me because I hadn't tried the alternative (Levemir). I changed in January to see if there was any difference in dose, my weight, my hypo awareness etc. In short, my weight has fallen slightly but may have nothing to do with the basal change. My dose is unchanged. My hypo awareness has improved slightly.

All the best,

fergus
 
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