Exercise and Diabetes
Exercise and diabetes are difficult to balance. I'm sure we all have experienced this truism. Sometimes your blood sugar is too high or too low when you want to work out, other times you bottom out in the middle of your routine or have an unexplained high or low after you've finished the exercise.
However, since exercise is SO good for our diabetes control, it's important to find a way to fit it into our diabetes management.
Here is my experience, for what it's worth: Until about a year and a half ago, I was a "runner"- and I use that term loosely :) I ran about 3-5 miles per day/4 days a week. I usually ran after work, around 5:30-6 p.m. I'm on humalog and lantus injections, and I do my lantus at bedtime. I would have to load up on carbs not to get low in the early morning hours after a run. I hated it because I felt like all the calories I'd burnt running were being replaced to keep my blood sugar up! I slowly but surely lost a few pounds, but felt frustrated with the amount of effort it all took.
For the last 6 months, I've had an insane schedule of work and school, so the only time I have to work out is at 5:30 a.m. I got these Tae-bo tapes (there are a ton of different ones!) Each workout is about 45 minutes and it's amazing! The workouts are challenging and it works wonderfully doing it first thing in the morning. I test first, if I low I drink about 4 oz of OJ; if I'm high I do a unit or so of humalog. I don't have to eat more throughout the day to combat lows, I just have a much higher insulin to carb ratio for breakfast on the mornings I workout, like 30:1 and I still have a snack later. It's worked great for me. In fact, even when my schedule opens up, I will always be a morning exerciser from now on; there are so many benefits!
I've been so jazzed about my new workout and been wanting to share my enthusiasm with the O.C. If anyone is interested in Tae-bo, I'd love to tell you about the tapes I've found. There are a lot of different ones, which is great because you can grow with the program. I'm about to start the Tae-bo Bootcamp series which will surely kick my butt! :)
However, since exercise is SO good for our diabetes control, it's important to find a way to fit it into our diabetes management.
Here is my experience, for what it's worth: Until about a year and a half ago, I was a "runner"- and I use that term loosely :) I ran about 3-5 miles per day/4 days a week. I usually ran after work, around 5:30-6 p.m. I'm on humalog and lantus injections, and I do my lantus at bedtime. I would have to load up on carbs not to get low in the early morning hours after a run. I hated it because I felt like all the calories I'd burnt running were being replaced to keep my blood sugar up! I slowly but surely lost a few pounds, but felt frustrated with the amount of effort it all took.
For the last 6 months, I've had an insane schedule of work and school, so the only time I have to work out is at 5:30 a.m. I got these Tae-bo tapes (there are a ton of different ones!) Each workout is about 45 minutes and it's amazing! The workouts are challenging and it works wonderfully doing it first thing in the morning. I test first, if I low I drink about 4 oz of OJ; if I'm high I do a unit or so of humalog. I don't have to eat more throughout the day to combat lows, I just have a much higher insulin to carb ratio for breakfast on the mornings I workout, like 30:1 and I still have a snack later. It's worked great for me. In fact, even when my schedule opens up, I will always be a morning exerciser from now on; there are so many benefits!
I've been so jazzed about my new workout and been wanting to share my enthusiasm with the O.C. If anyone is interested in Tae-bo, I'd love to tell you about the tapes I've found. There are a lot of different ones, which is great because you can grow with the program. I'm about to start the Tae-bo Bootcamp series which will surely kick my butt! :)
posted by Kelsey @ 2:09 PM
3 Comments:
At 8:54 AM,
Andrea said…
Kelsey,
Sounds like you found something really great :). I've tried Tae-Bo tapes before, it's quite a workout. However, my living situation doesn't allow for me to do these workouts- it would shake the whole house and I don't think my landlady would appreciate it :(
I think it's great that you have found something you enjoy and works for you. It's really important to like what you do, otherwise finding the motivation is extremely hard. I can't say I enjoy my workouts, but I feel that they are a necessity, so I grit my teeth and bear it.
Keep up the great attitude and enjoy your time for yourself :)
At 10:13 AM,
Rachel Segall said…
I was going to tell Andrea to read your post, but it seems that she has gotten here first.
That's really great that you've found something that works. Now that I think about it, morning workouts (assuming I wake up in a good range) are better than afternoon workouts. I can much better manage my blood sugar throughout the day and like you said no worry about waking up low (or in some cases not waking up at all).
With that being said, it's so hard to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to workout. Why do you do a higher insulin to carb ratio at breafast on the mornings you workout?
At 1:49 PM,
Kelsey said…
I probably worded that incorrectly, I guess it's a lower insulin to carb ratio. Normally, I'm about 1:20 throughout the day, but on the mornings I workout, I do 1:30 or even less insulin. So, my insulin needs are a lot lower on the days I workout.
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