I've worked really hard the past few months to lose some weight. I've been eating better (cutting out fast food, "extras" like dinner rolls or second servings, and leaving the snacks on the snack aisle at the grocery store). On top of that, I'm working out about three times a week either at the gym or on the treadmill at home. And I'm proud to say that I've lost six pounds and several inches.
But the past week has thrown a major kink in my progress. I'm too scared to even step on the scale to see how these low and "lower" blood sugars are affecting me. I know my calorie intake has increased between the cokes, snacks, and extra carbs I'm consuming to offset these things.
Right now, I'm sitting at 102 from a 117 an hour ago. Normally, I'd absolutely LOVE these numbers. But the problem is that I'm about to walk ten minutes in the torrential heat of Texas to go take a test then walk another ten minutes in that same heat. So I need to start out above range in order to avoid a crash during my test. So here I am, hitting snacks and drinking juice...trying to pump up that blood sugar without pumping my weight back up.
I've decreased my insulin slowly, although I'm only seeing minimal improvement. I'm having less 40's and more 70's. So I think another drop in the insulin is necessary...probably for both Humalog and Lantus. Because the after meal lows are becoming the major problem (and Humalog is one thing that I don't usually touch). So I guess I need to sit down today and look at what's doing what.
If not, I'll just pack the pounds back on and be kicking myself that a week or two of lows destroyed my hopes of getting back in my skinny jeans. Or worse.
**By the way, after speculation it seems the Texas heat is the cause of these sudden drops. We've had a surge in temperature that leaves everything warmer than normal, making my body work extra hard to keep itself cool...leaving my blood sugars on the floor. So until the heat wave passes (God, please send rain!), I'll have to keep my insulin lower than normal. Anyone else have "heat lows" out there?**
When I went to Fort Lauderdale in May (I'm from PA) I didn't even need to take any fast acting insulin when I ate. I normally eat lower carb and only take 1-2 units but with the heat, I was able to not have to anything. Amazing! I was still taking my Lantus but for it was nice for a little while to not rush off to shoot up after dinner. Sometimes I think about moving down there to reduce my insulin use!!
Yes, I can vouch for heat lows!! You are doing the right thing by lowering your insulin...it's just such a guess sometimes! I comfort myself in thinking that using glucose tabs for lows might not pack the pounds on so fast, I hope. I try to do that and not do food, but it doesn't always work. Also, the food I use to treat lows I deduct from my daily allotment of 130 grams of carb. Seems to work, but I'm not losing much weight. Sigh.
Please take care!!
Your online Mama Mousie....trying to get rid of a low right now which I obtained by running around Lowes in the heat way after supper was due....my fault!
Hi Lindsey,
Thought, turn to the New York Times online and view the paper for Tuesday, June 30th. Go to the Science Section. This is a Tuesday only section. There is an article about the Type 1 Diabetes bicycle team. The article discusses the challenges to exercising and the challenges of warm weather. Hope this helps and as always, have a great day.
D2