When I run, I need to eat about 4 grams of carbohydrate every 10 minutes if i'm running at moderate pace. With swimming, it's right about the same, maybe a little bit less depending on intensity.
Running, I eat starburst. Sounds ridiculous but it's one of the cheapest, most convenient sugars I have found. For swimming I measure out 20 g of gatorade dry mix into a water bottle and fill it halfway for a supersweet sport drink that I can sip from at the edge of the pool.
Anyone else?
I'm curious about this as I've never heard of consuming carbs during exercise. Is that because your glucose tends to decrease rather than become elevated?
9x - 7i > 9x - 21u
Pat I'm curious about this as I've never heard of consuming carbs during exercise. Is that because your glucose tends to decrease rather than become elevated?
If I'm just training, running or swimming, then yep my BG will slowly drop. But if I'm playing competitive sports, especially team sports, then it goes up from the adrenaline and other stress hormones, and I dose extra insulin.
BP
I don't eat when I exercise. I just turn down the basal rate on my pump or take it off all together (when I swim). I always have carbs near by though just incase, only needed them a few times though.
Rosemary I don't eat when I exercise. I just turn down the basal rate on my pump or take it off all together (when I swim). I always have carbs near by though just incase, only needed them a few times though.
I can't bring myself to eat anything before or during exercise...makes me feel sick
I had raised this before, but I just disconnect whenever I do physical activity (running, rugby, etc.) because the pump doesn't like to stay on during. I can't bolus beforehand because my doc said that my body absorbs insulin faster during exercise so I don't want to crash. Sometimes I get lucky and my BG only goes up a little bit...other times like after rugby my glucose is in the 400's...but since it's adrenaline/stress related, I only bolus half the normal amount and it is back to normal in about 2 hrs.
I hate eating while exercising or drinking sweet drinks like gatorade while working out. I just want water and that's it.
I have this problem that when I exercise, I am trying to burn the calories. While trying to do this, I always end up having to eat so much just to keep up my blood sugar for a short 30 minute cardio workout. I feel like I have tried everything. I usually take my pump off about an hour before exercise, and check 20 minutes before beginning. If I am below 200 still, I eat at least 30g of carbs. I usualy start exercising at about 250, but within 30 minutes I am right back down and low! This is really frustrating. I want to burn calories, not eat more!
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Wow that's surprising to me that you can burn through 30g of carbs in just 30 minutes of cardio, I'm not sure I could do that even at my highest intensity level!
When do you go low? While you're still exercising (during that 30 min)? Or do you go low after the workout? Have you thought about stopping your basal earlier, maybe 1.5 hours before you start exercising? and then maybe also lowering your basal rate for a while afterward?
Melissa,
I see what you mean because i deal with that a LOT when im working out... a few guidelines to help you... If you're low and you need to eat the 30g of carbs to get you up, then you need EXTRA to last you threw the workout, and then you need a few more to restore the glycogen you're burning off while you work out. Another thing to look at is WHAT KIND of Carbs are you eating.. high glycemic or low glycemic? I'd have a mixture of both with what you are doing.... you need high glycemic to get ur blood sugar up quickly then low glycemic to keep it from dropppin cuz it'll bring ur sugar up over a period of time... and then put a little protein in it too... protein will keep it from dropping... and REMEMBER... good carbs are GOOD and will help you burn body fat calories... if you dont restore ur glycogen then your body will eat itself (muscle mass) and never burn the fat... hence why you restore ur glycogen like putting gas in a car to keep it running. If you ask any other fitness professional other than myself, they will ALLLLL tell you that eating smaller meals more frequently will keep ur metabolism UP and you will lose bodyfat much quicker. Happy Training!
Jeremy Williamson www.Jmiah.com "2nd Place Winner of MODEL UNIVERSE 07 and 08" "3rd Place Winner of MODEL AMERICA 07
What I usually do is keep my bloodsugar up between 150 and 200 before I work out, so I usually just eat 15 to 30g of carbs before what ever I do, because I know things are going to be burned, the one thing I stay away from is insulin before I work out because muscles use up sugar, especially during exercise. I hardly go low during a work out, unless I am normal or kind of low before I start and dont take in any carbs. Im interested about this eating constantly while you work out, I know its not a lot, but I have never heard of anyone doing this. How did you find out you needed to?
Andrew Im interested about this eating constantly while you work out, I know its not a lot, but I have never heard of anyone doing this. How did you find out you needed to?
Im interested about this eating constantly while you work out, I know its not a lot, but I have never heard of anyone doing this. How did you find out you needed to?
For me, I found out that I go low during "training" exercise (i.e., not competing/playing in a game) just by testing myself a lot. After I was diagnosed I started running with a meter kit, and would stop every 15 min to check. Since I am still in honeymoon it's a bit easier for me to manage my BG more aggressively, and I don't like to spike it up right before exercise. I'd rather start with by BG in my normal target range, and then eat a little bit of carbs as I go. At first I really didn't like eating/drinking sweet stuff while I worked out, but I got used to it really quickly. I eat starburst when I run, and gatorade when I swim.
Now, I've noticed that as my training changes and my fitness level changes, my glucose needs during exercise change. Whereas before when I started running I would need 4g carb per 10 min., now it's more like 2g per 10 min. And of course it all depends on the intensity level of what I'm doing.
Thats really interesting actually, I guess I never really thought about appraoching it that way. If im playing basketball I usually have a G2 with me just to keep it up, since thats when I usually have tendencies to go low. I guess some of my problem is that I kinda worry about going low during a work out and its some what of a fear? haha Im not sure if thats legit but hey, i hope it doesnt affect me too much.
Thats really good that you have gotten that intouch with everything though, glad to see someone else who exercises and watches themselvs.