# Exercise and BG



## Emma Lowery (Feb 7, 2019)

Morning everyone,

So this week i have finally got my butt in gear and joined the gym again. Hooray!

I am however having problems with my blood sugars. Basically after going to the gym on monday my blood sugatrs were 5.4. I woke in the middle of the night to a 2.4 which was very difficult to shake. The following day I had another two hypos - one at 5pm of 3.4 and one at 8pm of 2.6. 

I went to the gym again yesterday and again the same problem so I had something extra to eat (boiled eggs and a slice of toast) before bed. This seems to have worked however I am trying to lose weight so really don't want an extra meal every time I go to the gym!!

Does anyone have any tips?


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## HOBIE (Feb 8, 2019)

I have been T1 all my life & that is exactly what happens to a T1. Well done for being active at Gym. A good walk might be better for you  Being active Will benefit you in later life. Good luck


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## SB2015 (Feb 8, 2019)

Emma Lowery said:


> Morning everyone,
> 
> So this week i have finally got my butt in gear and joined the gym again. Hooray!
> 
> ...


Hi Emma

Managing exercise can be difficult at first, but it is well worth diong and a question of trial and improvement.  It is not uncommon to go low a while after completing exercise (but then sometimes a type of exercise surprises me and makes my BG go up!!  Trial and improvement again and records for reference on the next occasion.

I have used a variety of strategies depending on the intensity of the exercise.  I can’t remember what you use to manage your diabetes, but I think it is Multiple Daily Injections, so will go with that.  Come back to us if you are on a pump.

Some options that you have, depending on when your exercise
- if you exercise just after a meal - You could reduce the Bolus insulin that you would have taken at that meal 
- You may need to reduce your basal/background insulin overnight (one advantage of have a split basal injection)
- if you are exercising before a meal you may need to take on som extra carbs beforehand with reduced Bolus
- you may need to top up with carbs during your exercise.  I find it useful taking very diluted fruit juice to drink during a badminton session.  I find I can use this to keep levels topped up.

I find what is needed really depends on the intensity of exercise.

If you are concerned about taking on extra carbs after exercise, it may be best to time it to take place soon after a meal, and reducing the Bolus.


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## Emma Lowery (Feb 8, 2019)

Thanks @SB2015 that's really helpful.

I have been going late evenings so I usually eat my dinner wait an hour and go. I will try reducing my bolus with my dinner and see if that helps.

I am on lantus at the moment and only take once in the evening. I thought about reducing this on the days I go to the gym but I believe it takes like 3 days for this to take effect? Please correct me if I am wrong.


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## SB2015 (Feb 8, 2019)

Emma Lowery said:


> Thanks @SB2015 that's really helpful.
> 
> I have been going late evenings so I usually eat my dinner wait an hour and go. I will try reducing my bolus with my dinner and see if that helps.
> 
> I am on lantus at the moment and only take once in the evening. I thought about reducing this on the days I go to the gym but I believe it takes like 3 days for this to take effect? Please correct me if I am wrong.



As you are exercising within an hour of your meal, the reduction in the Bolus insulin should work well.  I don’t know by how much but you may have been given advice on this by your DSN. As always we can only make suggestions but you may need to check with them for where to start with the reduction. I think I had a chart to follow when on MDI.  I will check in my older log books and see if I can find it there.

If you are on one jab of Basal it is more difficult to adjust as it will impact the whole of the following day.  That was a reason for me switching to Levemir, which I was then able to split, and do the reduction just on the evening dose, with a normal dose in the morning.  If  you are startlng to do more exercise, which no doubt the DSNs will support, it may be asking about the switch to Levemir.  It only leads to one extra jab a day, but definitely makes life a lot more flexible.


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## Kratos31 (Mar 6, 2019)

hi I am on lantus as well. on the days I go to the gym I reduce my dose from 28 down to about 20. I take that at 6pm and I go to the gym between 8pm and 9pm
I will also generally need less novorapid the day after as I am more sensitive to insulin. Theres a bit of trial and error till you find what works for you.

Some exercise increases your BG, anything with bursts of intensity so squash is different to jogging. Important not to over correct these as its kind of an artificial high and will come down anyway


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## Pmstewart (Mar 18, 2019)

Hi I was hoping someone can help me, I'm 50 and have had type 1 for 48 years, I have always trained and played hockey. I now go to the gym 5 times a week do weights, cardio and spin. Over last 6 months I've been putting on weight and I'm desperate to loose it. I watch what I eat but I do take alot of Lucozade to treat low bloods. Recently have started PT sessions and have noticed bloods are going high during the night. Does anyone have any advice to help me drop weight. I don't go by scales as I'm weight training. Thank you for reading this.


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## Kratos31 (Mar 18, 2019)

im sure you are aware of the requirement to be calorie deficient to lose weight, so you would have to look there. If you are having low blood sugars you may need to look at adjusting your insulin dose to try and stop that and see how your control over night goes.


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