Exercise / Workout thread

[rocky]

Great progress Wally & BSG.
Excellent idea skb. I will be waiting to hear the results of your experiment.

[skb]

Yesterday, I walked 10 kms during the day, at the rate of 1 km every hour. In between, I had breakfast & lunch with one drink of vodka (30 ml) and 3 cups of tea sweetened with sucralose along with a cookie each time (homemade with stevia & almond flour with crushed nuts).

The objective of the experiment was to determine (my) BG behaviour if physical activity was intermittent & spread throughout the day, as must have been when we were hunter-gatherers or even farmers. The timing of the experiment was very bad considering the fact that I had a weeks vacation in Europe and a number of short trips thereafter where I've been eating very badly.

My morning numbers have been all over the place lately with a couple of them in the mid 140s. I haven't been even reasonably controlled the past few months and this exercise helped me in realising my glycogen status and the urgency of strict control that I need to bring back in my lifestyle.

I have a lot of data on the type and intensity of the exercise etc, but I will not bore anyone with  those details. Suffice it to say that I was completely disappointed with my number even after considering the fact that my meter is 10% higher on the normal ranges and 15% higher when BG exceeds 135-140.

I started with a morning fasting reading of 116 and shot up to 165 after the first 1 km. This number gradually came down with each km and having two meals in between only helped to move the BG upwards slightly. The hourly readings after that were, 156, 142, 136, 121, 128, 119, 116, 114, 102

I normally consume 50 calories walking on a level surface at my regular pace. Yesterday, my total calorie consumption was equivalent to 14 kms of walking. The lesson learnt was that my liver is full of glycogen and I hope that I was able to reduce the store by a significant amount. This will be confirmed (if true) in the next few days. I will repeat this at a later date when I have a better glycogen status to see the effect of repeated exercise on BG behaviour.     

[bigskygal]

8,344 steps yesterday.

[rocky]

skb, some of those numbers are rather high. Are you sure that it is the liver stockpile that causes this ? I mean, I'm not expressing any doubts about your knowledge, but just for my information, could this be attributed to other things like higher level of exercise ?

[walkerwally1]

4423 steps yesterday.  After I manage 4+K steps in a day I need to take it easy for the next 1-2 days.  That's OK but I will feel like I have really improved when I can make over 4K each day.  @SKB, that's pretty ambitious.  My best day ever was 20K steps and I figured your plan would net me 16K steps for the day. 
The interesting thing is that no matter how much I walked I have really not seen much effect on my bg readings.  I admit I never tested that much, like each hour, but before and after meals.  It may make a difference also on how fast you are walking.  I walked at a fair pace, 106-108 steps/ min, but not that fast.

[bigskygal]

7,951 steps yesterday.     some days he just wants to cuddle.

[Shanny]

And we who have these old cuddly cats really can't withhold the cuddles. Waylon is 19 years old now & has CKD, so while we give him the best care we know how & he's maintaining quite well, he also has free rein to walk all over me during the nights - curl up on my head or behind my knees or on top of my feet - any and all of which prevent me from moving a muscle. And if I'm asleep on the sofa, he's allowed to come & go multiple times during my naps although every time he does, I have to wake up to help him get back up since his hind legs don't have enough 'spring' to propel him unless he digs in his front claws - sometimes right into my arm! He has unlimited hours to park in BH's lap, whether or not my good husband has anything else on his agenda. There isn't anything restricted for that cat these days. In the days when we would still board him (I can't bring myself to leave him now when he's old and sick), I once asked a friend from the vet's office what Waylon does when he's boarding . . . she said 'Waylon can do whatever he darn pleases!'

[skb]

skb, could this be attributed to other things like higher level of exercise ?

Glycogen is stored in muscle but it is only for local use and cannot be pumped back into the blood stream. It is only from the liver stores that glycogen can be dumped while exercising. This brings up an interesting question. How much glycogen can be stocked within the muscles ? In my case, obviously enough to do the 10k walk during the day as I have not seen any lowering impact on my BG.

It is said that the liver stores about 2000 cal worth of glycogen. On Sunday, I have consumed about 700 extra with the walks + everything else for the rest of the day's activities. Assuming that I ingested and contributed about 2000 cal, I would have used up only approximately 300-400 out of those 2000. This definitely needs more study.

The interesting thing is that no matter how much I walked I have really not seen much effect on my bg readings.  I admit I never tested that much, like each hour, but before and after meals.  It may make a difference also on how fast you are walking.  I walked at a fair pace, 106-108 steps/ min, but not that fast.

In the past I have used rapid walks to bring down my BG after eating, say a piece of cake. So that would only mean that I was operating on an 'empty' liver. In contrast, this time I'm completely 'full' and could not see any significant impact. I will continue to monitor closely & keep a close watch on what goes in my mouth, for a few weeks. I have a planned trip to Oman in end March, and will need to be extra vigilant.

Walking slow / fast or jogging / running will definitely make a difference as you are adding to the 'degree of difficulty'. With any aerobic activity the VO² (Volume of Oxygen) factor comes into play. Yes, that would impact the BG significantly.

[rocky]

skb, thanks for the detailed explanation. Much of this is beyond me for the time being. I may need need to read this a couple of times before I ask any further questions 

[bigskygal]

8,208 steps yesterday.

My Boo will be 11 in July.  He is actually still in pretty good health.  Since I took him off grains last year he hasn't had a reoccurrence of his autoimmune disease and I hope it stays that way.

[Shanny]

I think more and more people are realizing that grains are not good for cats! Cats really must have meat to survive. It's good to hear Boo is doing well!

[Grammabear]

When those of you who walk a lot of steps first started out, did you experience any aching with your joints, as maybe your knees or hips complained?  My diabetes educator highly recommends walking as a way to include more movement into my day, so I bought a step counter in addition to the app I have on my phone.

Some days or I should say nights, my knee pain keeps me from sleeping soundly.  I don't have nearly the step count that all of you have as yet, but I am moving more.

[walkerwally1]

My answer is yes !  When I retired I kind of became a real slug.  While working I walker at least 5 miles a day as normal activity but for about two years after I retired I did mostly nothing.  When I decided to become more active walking was my choice and then I discovered that I had osteoarthritis in both of my knees.  I suffered a lot with knee pain until I was treated with cortisone injections and that really seems to solve the problem.  I don't know if you are having the same problem but it may help to see an orthopedic specialist.  The injections are working for about 6 months for me, YMMV, and then I get another injection.  The one problem with cortisone is that some people see a large blood sugar surge.  I have been fortunate that my bg does not go up much at all.   

[bigskygal]

9,465 steps yesterday.

I have a bad lower back and knees, so yes, sometimes I have to back off a little to rest them.

[skb]

I have a Multi-Gym machine at home. I lift about 45-60 lbs with my legs. If I don't exercise these muscles for 3-4 days I start to get a mild ache in my knees while climbing stairs. Otherwise, so far, there is no pain.