Exercise makes the blood glucose of most people with diabetes go low.

I always go high during exercise or physical activity, then low 4-6 hours later, for several hours. I was an exercise-hypo virgin… until today.

Today I did 2 lots of increased activity – major cleaning in the morning and gardening in the afternoon. First time ever I had a hypo during activity – the afternoon one. I was so excited! What a sight! Raking leaves, eating carbs and no bolus!

I’d suspected the opposite would happen, but couldn’t be sure, I didn’t raise my bolus like I usually would for increased activity. I thought the second lot of exercise would still raise my blood glucose, but maybe not as much as usual. Totally wrong about that. When I checked, I was 3.3 mmol/L. And I’m pretty much hypo-unaware, so didn’t feel a thing except my eyes went strange – my only occasional hint these days that I’m going hypo.

So, I get a delayed “cure”, I guess – hours later! And with two lots of more-than-usual activity in a day, I can say (only on those days) that I go low during exercise. Gosh I almost feel normal!

Only other “cure” that I know of  is red wine with dinner. Very rare, but when I partake, the only problem is that I get tipsy on half a glass, so I can never drink enough for a really effective “cure” for the next few hours.  Pity!

What’s the answer? Exercise more and drink more red wine?

I thought I knew a lot until I started the preparation for going on an insulin pump earlier this year. Since then, I can’t tell you how much more my poor brain has been filled with extra information. Every week it seems I learn something new. Whether it’s about managing the disease, research, reading other people’s experiences, it’s still learning.

My averages had been creeping up over the last couple of weeks. I can put it down to a number of things including another kilo on my already overweight frame (I still manage to just scrape in to the ‘overweight’ category with Body Mass Index (BMI)).

We had visitors and were eating out a lot, in places where whatever was on my plate was sometimes difficult to carb-guess. And the kicker was the extra exercise. Like some, I’m not textbook when it comes to exercise. I don’t do enough of it (knee needing replacement) so I go high during exercise – contrary to text book advice – and have to bolus more. More bolus = more insulin = more weight for me. Going high during all the walking we did meant extra insulin.

So, whatever the reason or combination of reasons for my averages going up, I felt I had to break the cycle. Three days last week, I did very-low-carb. This week, I’m doing lower-carb. It’s done the trick. Don’t take this as advice – it’s just my experience.

Under no circumstances did I want to increase my TDD of insulin, which would put on more weight. What I did, worked nicely for me. I’m back to carb-watch-eating and my numbers are way better. In the process, I also shed a couple of pounds, for which I’m very grateful. The extra weight seems to be super-glued to me, and getting it off is a battle.

In passing, my endo, a few weeks ago, told me not to worry about the extra weight, considering how well I’ve done since I went on an insulin pump. I didn’t think much of it at the time. My thoughts were of fashion and vanity.

In a twist of fate, I subsequently read about some latest studies which suggest that BMIs under 18 and over 30 are associated with a greater risk of death. What was apparently surprising to the researchers was that the overweight category BMI: 25 to 30, was NOT associated with any significant greater risk. And the most surprising was that the underweight category BMI <18, was.

We all thought that calorie restriction was the way to go. Apparently not. From what I’m reading, going into the twilight years with a little extra padding, isn’t all that bad. What is vitally important, is your fitness. If you are normal weight and not fit, you do worse than someone overweight and fit.

If you have the time, watch the video below. It outlines some of the latest research.

Obesity: Ten Things You Thought You Knew

So maybe my endo had seen these same studies.

That still doesn’t let me off the hook as far as off-the-hook fashion goes. And yeah, I’m not all that fit. I hope to change that.