Diabetic Recipes
Old Navy Bikinis
Spring Break is coming up in three weeks. I'm heading out to the tropics. My wardrobe: swimsuits, shorts, tank tops and short skirts. Of course, I'm thinking about how my body is going to look in a bikini and hip-hugging shorts. I decided I need to lose the extra pounds I put on in the last few weeks (amazing how fast it jumps up without you even noticing).
So this week I started really watching my diet and revving up my exercise (actually...umm...restarting my routine after my super long "break"). I cut out all the unnecessary food: fattening pizza, high carb meals, cookies, extra juice and soda, chocolate milk. I started running and strength training again. As a "normal" human being, this would just be a diet and added exercise. As a diabetic, this is hell on earth. Immediately after my first real run, I went spiraling into lows. This means more calories and so long to my diet! All the calories I burned with my run just went right back in! This really defeats the purpose of dieting and exercising!
Plus, I've never really exercised on the pump so I really have no idea where to begin with any of it. I cut down my boluses by certain percentages at each meal. That seems to be helping, but I'm still ending up low. I'm afraid to change my basals a lot because my routine is never very stable between school and friends. Some days I run, some days I just do sit-ups, some days I hit the weight room. All at different times of the day. Maybe I need to just do temporary basals on the days I do vigorous workouts. I'd have no idea where to start with temporary basals though (and the three week deadline is approaching fast!)
I'm really hating my decision to go on the pump because as much "freedom" as they promised, I feel so confined. With my old MDI's, I could go running and just cut my Lantus back by about 10 units and wake up with perfect blood sugars for the next three days. I didn't need to have a set daily schedule (how am I supposed to do that as a college student?!?) Maybe I just need to get over this initial bump in the road. Either that or I'm going back to Lantus for the next three weeks until I drop the weight. I'd much rather say goodbye to the pump than to my diet (no offense to avid pump lovers out there). We'll see which wins at the end of my three weeks.
Hi Lindsey,
I can definitely identify. I went on the pump when I was 19 and I thought about going back on Lantus many times in the first couple years. It's a tough adjustment period. Plus, it sounds like you had the workout routine down when you were on MDIs (while I definitely did not!) so it must be doubly frustrating to start from square one.
I can tell you that the pump has made exercise much easier for me (but it did take a lot of figuring out!).
If you decide to stay connected for the next few weeks I'm sure you will quickly figure out what works for you. A lot of people drop their basals before, during and after exercise - have you tried that yet? I usually do about 50-75% of normal when I drop 'em - but I have found that as my fitness increases, exercise doesn't make me drop as much.
Best of luck to you!
thanks sara! i tried dropping my basals but it didn't work. so far adjusting my boluses seems to be working. i just have to get the timing right as to how long before and after i should lower them. i'm hoping it'll get easier with time!