Exercise

[donnarob]

Hi Guys,

Getting into a early morning routine of doing 12kms on the exercise bike. I usually average this in about 25-30mins depending on how fast I pedal.

My question is this:-

Is it better to eat breakfast before or after exercising as it sometimes takes a while for my bg's to come down. Having said that, my recording last night before dinner was 5.8 which I was pleased about. It does seem to have a knock on effect for lowering bg's but later on in the day?

Still trying to improve my diet as well.

Donna x🙂

 

[Northerner]

Hi Donna, my situation is different to yours as I inject insulin, but I try to eat breakfast around 60-90 mins before exercising. This gives the food time to start digesting and to fuel the activity. The exercise increases sensitivity to insulin (both your own and injected) so you do generally see a beneficial effect on your blood sugar levels for many hours afterwards - possibly up to 40 hours, so it is well worth the effort! Well done on sticking to your regime 🙂

 

[DeusXM]

It depends what you're exercising for.

If it's purely to maintain good blood sugar levels, I'd do it after breakfast. If, however, you're looking to lose weight, you'll want to do it before breakfast.

I don't know what medication (if any) you're on, but if you're not on a medication that can result in low blood sugar, you shouldn't need carbs to get you through the exercise. Your blood sugar should remain fairly constant throughout and your body will metabolise body fat in preference to the glucose in your blood (assuming your BG is normal). You'll still also get all the benefits of reduced insulin resistance, which will mean you can eat a wider range of things without upsetting your BG.