Murphyorky
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I can't advise from personal experience, but I am struggling with this myself and came across the following, with some useful info. on the value of brief post-meal exercise: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...d-about/Sports-nutrition-and-Type-2-diabetes/ I was pleased to see that just 10 minutes after meals can do great things. I have been trying to do 20 minutes after meals, but since I also exercise for longer periods at other times of most days I am finding this very time-consuming and tiring. 10 minutes x 3 times a day seems to me a lot more sustainable.Hello, I'm fairly new to these forums but was diagnosed with pre-diabetes some years ago. I've been inspired by the advice here and have recently adjusted my diet towards lower carbs. So far I haven't seen any reduction in my HBA1c level, but this may be because I need to take the carbs even lower, or do it for longer. (My BMI is normal and always has been. I've lost a couple of stone since the diagnosis but after an initial reduction in my HBA1c to 41, it is now back up again to 44.)
I'm keen to do more exercise, and wonder if there is any advice about whether exercise pre or post-meals is more beneficial for glucose levels? I am assuming that all exercise is good, but wonder if I can target better the effort I am putting in. I am also wondering if certain types of exercise are more useful than others. I do some brisk walking 5 times a week 9 (to and from work) and go running a couple of times a week. I've heard good things about resistance training and wondering if I should be doing some of that. Any advice on how others have used exercise to improve glucose levels would be very welcome - thank you!
I can't advise from personal experience, but I am struggling with this myself and came across the following, with some useful info. on the value of brief post-meal exercise: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...d-about/Sports-nutrition-and-Type-2-diabetes/ I was pleased to see that just 10 minutes after meals can do great things. I have been trying to do 20 minutes after meals, but since I also exercise for longer periods at other times of most days I am finding this very time-consuming and tiring. 10 minutes x 3 times a day seems to me a lot more sustainable.
As regards weight training, I do this and have read that it is good, but not as good as aerobic training for diabetics. However I have a diabetic friend at my gym who only trains with weights and refuses most aerobic activity. His GP is wowed by his results. (He also has developed a terrific body!) However, he also seems to eat practically nothing except tinned mackerel and kale!!!
I tell you what I have noticed. If I have been moving around say just walking to another room and then take my BG level, my level has gone up. When I sit for 10 mins and take the test again, my BG goes down quite a bit..Happens every time. Same thing happens with my husband.
Lots to read here as soon as I can give it my attention after doing some exercise! Thanks for taking the time to write all this thoughtful and useful stuff. My caveat - as for everything around diabetes, not everyone rreacts in the same way. I have tried fasting exercise and it just led to my feeling very shaky and uncomfortable without seeing any lowering of BG.Hi @Murphyorky the article @Alexandra100 provided covered I believed most angles, I just disagree with the fuelling before / using gels, in the mornings I would train fasted if maximally just on Metformin or no drugs.
The psychology of training I think is the hardest part. Whilst the doing something you enjoy can be important, I think habit forming and sèeing results that encourage is more important, for me this will trump enjoyment and breed a cycle of participation and eventually lead to enjoyment, e.g, I don't enjoy brushing my teeth, but I do it through habit and minimising cavities and oral hygene is the incentive.
Pre Routine
I would start with baseline measurements (to get the progressive results to drive adoption), so if possible get some body composition scales, I recommend Tanita as these are relatively cheap at circa £35,00 from Argos and measure aspects such as obviously weight, visceral fat muscle mass etc (others also use Omron). An authorisation from your medical professional, maybe a stress test.
Morning
Drink some water or black filter coffee (burns more calories througout the day). I would do some fasted walking after taking blood readings first thing, starting off at a comfortable pace and hitting maximal pace after a few minutes and bringing back down a couple of minutes before finishing for around 15 minutes. This will increase blood flow and prepare you for some resistance.
(Stick the TV, radio or music on) With no rest straight into either body weight or dumb bell compound exercises. This can be simple such as 3 sets of 10 push ups, 10 squats, 10 crunches, 10 back extensions, 10 trick dips - 30 seconds to 1 minute of rest and repeat a further 2 times. It is important to maintain form, so if you can do on 5 quality push ups, this is better than 10. Watch youtube and cross reference to ensure your form is perfect, I.e. pull in your core (tummy) and try to keep this under tension whilst breathing / breathing out at the top of the exercise (this is technically harder than it sounds). If you've got a dog, he she will appreciate the change of pace and it makes the routine easier. An alternative is cycling, either road or cycling, or maybe swimming.
For dumb bells I would suggest compound exercises all the way, this will send oxygenated blood to the muscles in use. You could start with something like 5 kg (go into a sports shop and see what you are comfortable with) and do a simple compound routine such as 10 squat to bicep curl to should press, 30 second rest and repeat routine 3 times. Again the same applies as for the non weighted exercises with breathing, form and core tension. Once this is comfortable double up, I.e. 2 squats, 2 bicep curls, 2 shoulder presses (do not use body momentum, remember form and quality). An alternative is to get some resistance bands, go for the ones with 3 different types and an exercise plan.
I would suggest up to 2 - 3 minutes of focused stretching at the end of your routine. This isnaround 30 minutes and will rev up your metabolism.
Evening
As soon as you feel comfortable go for a walk after dinner. If you can at any stage do what I call a finisher, something like squats to exhaustion rest, push ups to exhaustion. If you do this you can get increased insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism, should take only seconds.
So my advice is both pre and post meal exercise, building up to what fits your lifestyle and your goals, which can and will shift, try a rope in others if you can. Exercise is fantastic, as it can be team based, dancing or incidental, I have just found at the gym the benefit of high inclination, slower treadmill walking to mix things up. Once the habit is formed this is a good addiction to have. It is not necessary to go too heavy, this should be done under guidance especially if you have eye or hypertension concerns. To get more gains without too much hassle perform the exercises slower, e.g. try 15 push ups with a slow decent and equally slow accent, the same with squats etc either weighted or not. For either bigger gains get professional advice a sports scientist, level 3 or 4 personal trainer or a program such as Athlean X.
Finally you can't out run a bad diet, if you look at every top commercial exercise program such as P90x, Insanity, T25 etc, they also up front and centre spell out that results are dependant on dietary intake (I would add sleep).
I think the shaking might be your body reacting to a place it is not used to. I used to get shaky and light headed when I would go from 8's to 4's after hard static cycling, now if I get a late 3 I feel nothing and 4's are completely comfortable even weight training hard through from this point. Your right to be cautious about different reactions, so it is a learned experience. I do go into detail as hopefully this will provide route 1 information of options to try for anyone interested.Lots to read here as soon as I can give it my attention after doing some exercise! Thanks for taking the time to write all this thoughtful and useful stuff. My caveat - as for everything around diabetes, not everyone rreacts in the same way. I have tried fasting exercise and it just led to my feeling very shaky and uncomfortable without seeing any lowering of BG.
Sadly, this argument won't work, as when I am feeling wobbly my BG is not low.I think the shaking might be your body reacting to a place it is not used to. I used to get shaky and light headed when I would go from 8's to 4's after hard static cycling, now if I get a late 3 I feel nothing and 4's are completely comfortable even weight training hard through from this point. Your right to be cautious about different reactions, so it is a learned experience. I do go into detail as hopefully this will provide route 1 information of options to try for anyone interested.
The rise after exercise is normal for many, you get the benefit either later or cumulatively. Some lower the intensity and increase the length if this is a concern.Thanks @AloeSvea and I'm really getting the picture in terms of how personally tailored exercise has to be.
By the way, my new forays into testing alarmed me this morning, as I did a test on getting up (6.0) and then again after a short brisk walk to work, (still before eating anything) and found that my reading had actually gone up to 6.6. I know that this exercise probably wasn't enough to effect any positive change, but was nevertheless alarmed by it.
I've just come across this article about how exercise can sometimes initially cause readings to go up:
https://mysugr.com/high-blood-sugar-after-exercise/
But the important message is still clearly that exercise is the right way to go.
Sleep is also a priority for me. I am having bad problems with insomnia at the moment and can almost literally feel the cortisol skittering around me. I had a particularly bad night last night and so tried testing myself first thing to see what effect that would have. This is the first fasting test that I have done and I am really hoping that the reading will go down if I repeat it after a decent night.
Like you, I absolutely have to eat before exercising. I see from Wikepedia that IFG = impaired fasting glucose and I'm wondering if this is something I suffer from. I've no idea if my sugars rise if I exercise fasting, but I definitely feel awful. I'm still trying to work out how to fuel my exercise sessions without over-doing the carbs. What have you tried?I agree with the advice to treat exercise as another variable that affects your blood sugar, like food, and test by trial and error to see what will work for you. Many people find a bit of exercise after eating helps lower sugars, but some see a rise. For me, and some others, the time of day matters a lot as well (I, for example, have trouble with IFG, and have to eat something before morning exercise or my sugars just keep rising and I feel ill). Obviously exercise is better than no exercise, and a mix of aerobic and anaerobic is ideal, but beyond that there's a lot of trial and error to find one's best routine.
I have 2 low carb chicken/turkey sausages (1-3g carb total depending on which flavour) and coffee every morning before I bike to work. That seems to do the trick. If I'm out of sausage I scramble up a couple eggs instead. Eating something seems to halt my morning rise and a couple eggs/sausages are enough to get me through no problem (until my "10:30 nuts" snack!). I have just given in and eat the same thing nearly every day. Boring, but fairly effective.Like you, I absolutely have to eat before exercising. I see from Wikepedia that IFG = impaired fasting glucose and I'm wondering if this is something I suffer from. I've no idea if my sugars rise if I exercise fasting, but I definitely feel awful. I'm still trying to work out how to fuel my exercise sessions without over-doing the carbs. What have you tried?
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