Blood glucose testing and exercise

Lizzym911

How long after my workout should I wait to test my BG ? I ride my exercise bike 40-60 minutes every morning but not sure when's the best time after to check it.

LindaLou1397

I always check mine before I exercise, first thing when I get up and rotate through meals two hours after I eat. This is the schedule the doctor wants me on. I hope that helps. :drinker:

hookilau

That depends on what your goals are.

My dx is still new to me (only 6 mo) but from the moment I found out, my goal was to get tight control.
This meant:

FBG <100 mg/dl
1 hr PP < 140 mg/dl
2 hr PP < 120 mg/dl

casual ~ 105-115 mg/dl (or better)

To this end, I tested prior to exercise & just after. In my experience, if my BG was going to drop during cardio, it did so during the exercise and stayed at that number until I did something to change it (eat, more exercise, nothing etc.) It's different for everyone. You get to learn your body's patterned response & as you lose weight (if that's one of your goals) you'll have to adjust every few pounds or so as there seems to be a tipping point.

Again, it's different for everyone. Also, depends a lot on what you're eating and when, medication supplements etc.

Lots of variables to consider.

Oh, and for weight lifting, if I took my BG at the gym or 15 minutes after finishing, it was pretty high (around 180mg/dl or so) but within 1 hour of finishing weight training workout, it would drop like a stone to around 100-105 mg/dl and again, stay there till I did something to change it.

Hope that helps

ETA: I chose exercises according to how effectively it helped me manage my blood sugar (multiple 30 min walks throughout the day worked best btw, good thing I'm a dog walker Also, I've heard if your BG is very high, you should put off strenuous exercise in favor of something that stresses the body less like walking. Sometimes it *does* increase BG, if only temporarily in my experience but everyone's different

bdubya55

Good question bettyboop,

Totally agree with hookilau. I don't believe there's any hard and fast rules. Really depends on what your goals are, and if your doctor has made any recommendations.

Treating my diabetes with insulin, I try to remember to test just before my work outs to prevent unwanted hypo (low blood sugar) episodes, I'll drop 20-25 points from my workouts sometimes, testing 30 minutes afterwards.

On the other side of the coin, test result after my workouts might reveal little to no change, a slight change or sometimes a change
of +/- 20pt. from my pre-workout result depending on intensity. If anythings consistent with diabetes it's inconsistent.

I would be interested to learn what others do and experience too.

Lizzym911

Thanks for the help, I usually workout to help drop my BG if its a little up , but in the mornings I ride 40 minutes then have breakfast, luckily I haven't had any lows afterwards.