I'm just starting to exercise again and I'm having a tough time measuring and calculating how many carbs I burn during different sports. I think I have sorted out that I would need an extra 40 g of carbs (or lower my insulin to adjust) for an hour of basketball but as for the rest I've been all over the place. Any advice?
Exercise affects my daughter for almost 24 hours. I'm not sure you will be able to just adjust your boluses or carb intake. It might affect your basal too.
It's a hard balancing act that's for sure. I was diagnosed a little over a month ago and I'm 43.
When I was diagnosed I thought I was not going to be able to workout like I used to. I wish I could run like I did when I was a youngster but I have been walking 3-6 miles every morning at a very brisk pace and ever since I started that I have been eating about double the carbs at breakfast than I used to eat like 3 weeks ago and been taking less insulin. I have also just started training for a 100 mile bike tour and I'm eating like 3 times the carbs at dinner time. So I'm just loving the fact that I am enjoying my 2 of favorite things eating and working out.
The thing I have to watch is that my sugars don't get too low. Since I've been working out I've had a few readings around 70, but I can eat something :)
I'm not sure if that helped ya or not. I know I'm new to type 1 and I'm kind of like the blind leading people that can see LOL!!
Hey Patrick,
I don't play basketball due to my embarrassing lack of coordination & competitiveness, but when I run for about 40 minutes, I think it's sometimes better to eat small amounts of fast-acting (simple) carbs every 15 minutes or so..I usually check about every 15 minutes. I'm not sure how much you check during basketball, but I imagine it's less. I've heard that eating 30 grams of complex carbs such as oatmeal, whole wheat bread w/a little peanut butter, or a fat-free yogurt & some crackers about an hour before is supposed to help--however, my schedule is so hectic and my workouts are different times every day that I rarely can plan for that. :/
Hope that helps!--Hayley
Get Sheri Colberg's book "The Diabetic Athlete." She gives recommendations for adjusting insulin and food for many different sports. Colberg is an exercise physiologist and long-time type 1, so she knows what she's talking about.
Gary Scheiner, author of "Think Like a Pancreas" also has $30 online classes on managing blood sugar and exercise. www.type1university.com
One thing I've been trying is for every hour I ride my bike I eat about 20 extra carbs and taking 2 less units of insulin with each meal. So far It's worked pretty good. My bs has been 80 to 120 after my rides and the whole day it's been about the same. In the past week I only had 1 instance when I dropped to 70 and felt very shaky but after having a glucose tablet I felt better and luckily dinner was almost ready.
Patrick,
Where the exercise itself is concerned, I have to throw a paleo-plug into the mix - The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance - which is both D friendly and helps with both sugar stability and overall exercise performance. From a personal perspective, I'll add that sometimes turning the pump off for a period of time can be as or more helpful than chewing through and exercise with a carbie-treat...
As far as keeping things stable around the exercise routine, I think the paleo approach (see The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf) has made my life easier than anything else dealing with life variables and activity in general.
We all find tools and resources that work for us and I get the frustration (BELIEVE ME) - keep us posted and when you find what works, definitely let us know :)
Cheers!
A-D