hey gina
I read somewhere that if you're weightlifting and putting muscle on, it's gonna effct your blood sugars bcause more muscle means you need less insulin...is that true?
charlie
weight lifting will affect blood sugar like any exercise will. the more you make your cells hungry, the easier the sugar will go in. your bs will drop if you don't reduce your basal insulin injection or turn down your pump if ya got one.
sometimes real intense exercise will cause your sugar to rise - it happens to some people. it's becasue your liver can dump sugar.
If you build muscle mass, and exercise regularly, you will need a bit less insulin daily. A cardio workout can affect insulin requirements for ~12 hours.
since everyone is different, you should probably test more during and after workouts. I always have my glucose around, plus a regular gatorade, plus something with protien and fat like a sticky granola bar or a snickers bar. keep in mind it sucks getting behind and going low and then staying low even after 20 grams of glucose. I turn down my pump about 30 mins before a workout, I drop to 50% if I am screwing around, and down to 20% if I am seriously working out, like a brutal bike ride. I try to never work out with insulin on board (2-3 hours after a meal where I bolus) but if I am starving I only bolus half.
check with your doc too but they tend to be conservative =) hang in there charlie
I don't know the textbook answer to your question, but I do know this:
- Strength training is anaerobic exercise which actually has the tendency to elevate blood sugar because of the release of adrenaline. Certain anaerobic exercises can have the opposite effect of say a 1 mile run so you have to see how your body responds in those conditions.
- Improving your physical fitness by increasing lean muscle mass and trimming fat causes your body to expend more energy naturally on a day-to-day basis. Your metabolism will increase and burn more energy to sustain your body's increased muscle mass. Thus you might find that as a result of that your blood sugars might drop a bit and your insulin requirements to drop.
I don't think it's a direct relationship where RIPPED MUSCULAR DUDE = NEEDS NO INSULIN, but if that idea will convince you to start weight training and exercising I say go ahead! haha
Start working out more and just monitor your bg's and guage your own body's response. Everyone's different.
huh. well i was an olympic weightlifter for 4 years before i was diagnosed and two years after. I never had many problems with bloodsugars. it was just the same as any other sport i've played and i've played a crap load.
emma
I do weight lifting everyday and like all exercises it meant my average units of insulin I take everyday were lowered. The only thing I have ever read about muscle and diabetes is that when you build muscle you have a higher metabolism and a higher metabolism means that your insulin will be more affective (your body utilizes a higher percentage of the insulin you give). I personally haven't noticed this, although it may be such a small change that it would be unnoticeable.
Take all of this with a grain of salt . . . I have cut my basal down by 25 units (lantus) and bolus down by about 5-8 (humalog) at meals. In fact some meals with about 35 to 45 g's of carbs I use 1 unit. Granted, I'm sure I am still in the honeymoon phase but this is the trend I saw. Let me give you a little background . . .
Before Dx, I was weight-training intensely. Toward the end of last year, about September and October, I began losing weight; first any fat on my body, then my muscle (extremely typical of DKA, right?). So, hospitalized, recovered, yada yada yada. Anyway, after about two weeks of not getting to the gym b/c I was still a little groggy (and putting on fat . . .), I began training again. I was on 5 units of humalog w/ the sliding scale (add 2, and so forth) and 40 units of lantus. Not only have I gained back all of my weight (about 40, yes forty, pounds in two months), I don't think I have ever been stronger. I'm not sure what's going on, except for the fact that insulin is the most anabolic substance in one's body (yes, more than testosterone).
Again, I am in the honeymoon phase. I have, though, just completed a treatment with Teplizumab, backed by Ely-Lilly. This drug is said to preserve one's insulin producing beta cells, located in the Islet of Langerhans in the pancreas. One test subject has even shown some restoration of pancreatic function. Not to get off topic, but has anyone heard of this? I should really post another thread about this; in fact, I think I might.
Anyway, this sort of turned into a rant of mindless utterings, but hopefully someone will read this and gain a perspective on the benefits of strength training. As always, consult your physician, not a rambling twenty something who has as much experience being diabetic as Queen Elizabeth had driving racecars (strange analogy, but it works).