Managing diabetes and exercise

I also horse ride. When i am away at college and only ride 3 times a week i am fine. However during the holidays, when i work down the yard all day most days, and ride my horse every day i do get tired too. What i find is i need to use my exercise function of halving my insulin with all food that day, but also need snacks in between with no insulin. This gives me the extra boost to keep my sugar levels up. Im 17 and have only been diagnosed for 7 months, and when i first came out of hospital I struggled to ride my horse for just 30 mins. Now i can go on a 2 hour hack happily. It will build up, just keep trying!

Laura112 said:

Trying to get fit again is ridiculous. I've been loaning a horse since January and go up 2-3 times a week to ride and look after them. But recently I've found if I push myself to do that little bit of extra riding, I feel dreadful the day after, have no energy and my blood sugar has a hissy fit and won't settle down.

Anyone else having a similar issue with excersising?

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Hi @Laura112.

Can you elaborate a bit more when you say that your BG has a hissy fit and takes a while to settle down?

Exercise in its own right, typically with pre-diabetics and T2's (who both share traits of insulin resistance) - tends to have more beneficial effects than negative ones. Usually, exercise results in better fasting BG and improved use of available insulin through stimulation of the GLUT4 transporters and receptors. If this not the case with you, can I ask what your diet is like?

Hi Laura,

It is increasingly challenging these days to spend a couple of hours to get up, drive and get to a gym or even do an hour of hard exercise at home consistently. Most people need something effective without negative side effects to help them 1) get up on their feet, 2) feel motivated, 3) shed weight and build real muscle 4) reduce illness and detoxify body 5) improve mood 6) stay fit, 7) while not spending their entire income and time on it. A few minutes of deoxyhemoglobin vasodilator equals hours of exercise and if combined with exercise, the results are even more profound. I have experienced s boost in my Microcirculation as will you-and it is worth looking into.

Laura112 said:

Im currently Pre-diabetic My blood sugar tends to dip massively when I'm excersising, so I take snacks with me. If i've pushed myself too much though I tend to get really high bloodsugar readings the day after, that dont want to come down no matter what I do.

Diet wise, I'm trying to stay fairly low carb and as healthy as I can, nut I'm at uni most days so some times its not always an option. I tend to have an omelette in the morning, then Im at uni so lunch I usually have meat, chips and salad, fruit and yoghurt for a snack while I'm working and then usually some meat and veg for tea and a bowl of cereal for supper.

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Can you kindly give us some BG numbers please?

When you say dip massively, are you having hypos? Because it's quite normal for someone who is "healthy" or a non-medicated diabetic to have BG <4mmol/l and not actually be in a hypoglycemic state.

There is always the possibility that when you've "pushed" yourself hard, that you've just eaten more snacks than normal because you've exercised longer/harder? To be perfectly honest, you shouldn't really need any snacks whilst exercising, seeing as you're not taking medication which can lower BG.

FYI, I'd be attributing the evening bowl of cereal to higher than ideal BG the following day, over any amount of exercise done. I could be entirely wrong though, but it's hard to say without knowing what sort of values and quantities of carbohydrate that you're eating.

Laura112 said:

Thats definitely reassuring to hear! I tend to take snacks down with me, some sugary ones and not so sugary so I can boost my energy a little I can manage about an hours of riding so far, I think the fact the horses Im loaning have gotten fitter might have something to do with it XD

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Yeah, and i regularly monitor my blood sugar while doing exercise. It will build up slowly like it did with me. My horse had a week off while i was in hospital and didn't do too much during the summer before. Since i came out, his fitness has built up meaning i have been able to do more work with him, without becoming as tired.