What Works For You?

Colorful12

Hi Everyone,

If you are a T1d and have managed to lose more than 10 pounds, can you please be very detailed and tell us what you did differently and what changes you made in regards to your diabetes management? I'm curious about your experiences with planning for exercise and dealing with low blood sugar and would love to hear any information about types of food you find helpful and ones you find make you nuts. Thank you so much for your help!

PS. Have you ever heard the term "diabulimia?" It is an eating disorder in which a diabetic binge eats and then purposely lets her sugar run high so as not to gain weight.

kathyguminski

Hi there, Yep I've heard the term before, along with "diarexic". I used this method for 20+ years to maintain my weight. It worked beautifully, however I do not recommend it at all. I was diagnosed at age 20 and by age 42 I've had open-heart, triple bypass, a viterectomy, diabetic retinopothy, neuropothy in my hands and feet, dibetic gastric parisis, Charcot's joint in my right foot and a host of other things to complain about. It does a lot of silent damage.

My best friend (since we were 10) was diagnosed a year before me and she too used this method to control her weight and she passed away last April. I miss her terribly and at first I couldn't wait to follow in her wake. Something just woke me up and I decided to actually try the right way and here I am.

I promise if I run across any helpful tips that work I will pass them on. There are quite a few T1D's on here that have successfully lost weight. One thing I've found that is helpful to do is record on here your BS's, units of insulin and the foods that directly affect your body the for the worse. Someone on here told me that Insulin is a "fat-storing" hormone, so the more you use, the more you store. Makes sense that the less you use while maintaining normal BS's the better off you'll be. So I have been choosing lower carb foods in order to lower my insulin doses.

I'm brand new here so I am learning too, but feel free to FR me if you want to.

Kathy

Canderson58054

Hello I am type 1 and I use an insulin pump. Food wise- I eat a balanced diet. I usually don't eat more the 45 g of carbs per meal. My snacks I have are usually not much more then 30g at a time. Sometimes if i make a fruit protein smoothie/shake I go a lil over that 30g rule tho As far as excercising. I have to eat larger meal before I go and not bolus. Case in point- the other night I had a high carb supper- around 85 g worth. I went to the gym for about 45 minnutes and when i was done I checked my blood sugar and it was 117, which I found was crazy, but anyway- saved myself from having to bolus.

AMBlass

Exercising and changing your eating habits will change the amount of insulin you require, so right now, as I lose weight, I'm constantly having to make adjustments and lower my insulin. I definitely try to eat lower-carb because it prevents spikes. It also keeps me from indulging in things.

It just takes practice to know how your body responds to exercise. It's very individual and a detailed account of what I do may or may not help you. For instance, I found that it helps for me to eat before exercising, take a partial bolus, and then take the rest of the bolus after I exercise. If I don't then I spike a couple hours after exercising. But that's just me.

I definitely recommend the book Your Diabetes Science Experiment by Ginger Vieira. She has a lot of "experiements" you can do and things to track and log so that you can start learning more about what your body needs. She's also a great personal health coach and she has type 1 diabetes and is a certified personal trainer.