Diabetes and trainning help.

[synonymous]

I know that nobody on here is able to give medical advice...unfortunately, the medical advice I've been given (Or lack of advice) has made things difficult. The WBB community has knowledge/experience that I trust to guide me in the right direction.

2011 for a variety of reasons I had blood tests every other month, all good and healthy. Then in July I had cellulitis and another blood check, HbA1c was 5.3 (They checked for diabetes because I'm overweight). In Nov/Dec it spiked to 6.3. Then today I had another test and it spiked to 7.4.

I've been at the gym 3 days a week for almost a year (Except when sick). I've been jogging up my 10 flights of stairs almost every day since the 6.3 score (Not long, but I needed to get off my ass during long days at the computer).

Including today's doctor, I've see 3 about this spike. The general consensus is 'eat 1800 calories over 3 meals per day' They came to the 1800 calorie conclusion based on my height. Since I felt I had some form of hypoglycemia (As another doctor had told me I may have had since other tests showed no other reason for my dizziness) I started to eat more on stressful workdays and since then I have not felt dizzy in anyway, I feel normal. The 3 doctors had no answer as to how I should handle this. 1 suggested I might eat one way 5 days a week and then shift to another way (Allowing for more carbs, meals) 2 days a week. But from what I've read, your meals should be consistent if you have diabetes.

Today's doctor wasn't alarmed by how high the number was, just by how fast it got there. I can't think of anything in my diet that would have contributed to this. I eat the same food almost every day. 3500 calories over the course of 5-6 meals.

So...long story short, doctor says I need to cut the calories in half and eat at the same time everyday for most days of the week. Exercise is something I already do but he said I should focus more on cardio. I don't know if this is true but he pulled a page of the internet out, translated it as such:

Aerobic exercise, such as running or walking, can lower your blood sugar levels when you expend energy. Anaerobic exercise may have the opposite effect, temporarily raising blood sugar levels due to a delayed release of glucose.

True/Untrue...I don't know the science behind it as well as some on here.

So, how would a person who is diabetic train/eat in order to lower the HbA1c while trying to lower weight and keep from falling asleep due to lack of energy? My doctor said "Listen to your body." Which is what I do, but as I'm reading about diabetes I see that eating before/after is more important than for those who aren't diabetic. And this is going against the advice of the doctors who say 'eat 3 meals a day'.

Any advice?

[Daniel Roberts]

Quick couple of questions and apologies if my reading comprehension is off, but have you actually been diagnosed as diabetic?

Is dietary advice the only medical intervention?

[synonymous]

The doctor has said that right now medicine is not something to consider. Diet and exercise and another test in 3 months to see where I'm at will determine whether or not I need medicine to help control it. I don't live in the West, I'm in Japan. Diabetes isn't as big a problem. He didn't say "You are diabetic." He said "Your score is in the medium range of diabetes."

[djpc]

I would suggest you look into one of the dietary regimens that focus on the affects of glycemic load/insulin control. A fairly well-known one is "The Zone". There are others out there too. On balance it's probably not optimal for a powerlifter/bodybuilder doing heavy resistance training, but it is effective for blunting some of the negative side effects of excessive insulin response. And it can be adapted reasonably well to support lifestyles that include intense exercise.

[Daniel Roberts]

Ok, so eating 3500 kcal per day of the same food have you lost/been losing any weight?

Before drastically reducing food intake, are you able to give us a sample of your diet?

Weight training/aerobic training aside, simply losing body fat is going to reduce the risk of diabetes, so let's not panic yet, so far your condition is reversible -if you were a lean distance runner with those values I'd be concerned, happily you're not.

[K-R-M]

First, I don't understand how you can be both hypoglycemic and diabetic, unless you're taking oral medication. Both are opposite end spectrum diseases. You don't have both and from my previous interactions with you, this is a self diagnosis that none of your doctors accepted but maybe 1 and that happens almost spontaneously during stress (do you have overexcretion of stress hormones? Maybe, doubtfull).

What was your blood test as well? Fasting glucose? Glucose tolerance? Your A1C was boderline, but fine in July. If this is fasting glucose, you have the diagnostic criteria for diabetes.


It might be tough to accept, but you need to focus on your health for a while. Lift weights: start one of the programs from WBB and do some cardio. Build a relatively low calorie diet based around protein (dead animals, not peanuts), good fats and low GI carbs: lose the extra weight. From the speed at which your glucose got up (assuming a fasted glucose test), you need to do something now, it's a classical sign of diabetes. And if you tend to be hypoglycemic during stress, I can't imagine how you'd feel once they start you on metformin.

[synonymous]

Ok, so eating 3500 kcal per day of the same food have you lost/been losing any weight?

Before drastically reducing food intake, are you able to give us a sample of your diet?

Weight training/aerobic training aside, simply losing body fat is going to reduce the risk of diabetes, so let's not panic yet, so far your condition is reversible -if you were a lean distance runner with those values I'd be concerned, happily you're not.

I've been losing weight slowly.

Sample diet (Breakfast):
200 grams chicken breast (non skin or bone)
150 grams brown rice
2 raw eggs (Goes on the rice)
Salad (Lettuce, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, onions)
Broccoli (Expensive in Japan)
Asparagus
200 grams avocado
3 tbsp olive oil

I very much want to reverse this and will adjust my diet to reduce carbs. I admit, I've snacked on chips and chocolate when seriously stressed or over-compensated on work days with carbs like brown rice and avocado mixed together where I think I'm going to be hypoglycemic.


First, I don't understand how you can be both hypoglycemic and diabetic, unless you're taking oral medication. Both are opposite end spectrum diseases. You don't have both and from my previous interactions with you, this is a self diagnosis that none of your doctors accepted but maybe 1 and that happens almost spontaneously during stress (do you have overexcretion of stress hormones? Maybe, doubtfull).

What was your blood test as well? Fasting glucose? Glucose tolerance? Your A1C was boderline, but fine in July. If this is fasting glucose, you have the diagnostic criteria for diabetes.


It might be tough to accept, but you need to focus on your health for a while. Lift weights: start one of the programs from WBB and do some cardio. Build a relatively low calorie diet based around protein (dead animals, not peanuts), good fats and low GI carbs: lose the extra weight. From the speed at which your glucose got up (assuming a fasted glucose test), you need to do something now, it's a classical sign of diabetes. And if you tend to be hypoglycemic during stress, I can't imagine how you'd feel once they start you on metformin.

Yes, only 1 of the 3 doctors thinks my episodes were hypoglycemia. I never thought about hypoglycemia until that 1 doctor mentioned it. I thought that hypoglycemia and diabetes went hand in hand with high blood sugar levels and low levels. Since then, if I eat before hand I don't get dizzy. I can't explain why and none of my doctors have any advice on this. They ask "Do you drink coffee, do you smoke, do you drink alcohol daily?" All no. "Ah, then it's difficult to say what you should do." is the answer I get.

As of yesterday I've decided to go as you've said K-R-M: Low calorie diet based around protein (Mostly chicken in my case, since it's cheap.) along with all the veggies and only 1 serving of rice at breakfast. My veggie bill is going to go up being in Japan...3 dollars for a stalk of broccoli. But that's fine, so long as I can get the fat off and those numbers down. The doctor said it wasn't time to get on meds, but I don't want to be on meds. Maybe this is a kick in the ass I've needed...

Thanks for the support guys...

ETA: I had a 13 hour fast before the latest blood test.

[fpr]

I don't really have anything much to offer other than I suggest you look into consulting a nutritionist. That diet looks like you're starving yourself and you hardly have any protein intake, or is that only your breakfast?

[synonymous]

That's only my breakfast.