I suffer from a bad case of reactive hypoglycemia and lately I have focused on finding a solution to this problem experimenting a lot with different nutrition. From my posts on the general low-carb section of the forum you can see I have been very frustrated by this disfuncton and its effects.

I have also stopped exercising and have lived a very sedentary life for at least 10 month (just 10 minutes of running were enough to bring my blood sugar to 42)

I don't think we can be healthy and strong without some physical activity.
I'm not gaining weight and I still have a BMI of 19-20. Yet I feel less conditioned, less functionally strong, my abdominals are getting relaxed and my muscles aches, also the posture is worse than when I was more physically active.

Since I have been extremely sedentary for months fighting with blood sugar dropping to 40's and 30's at least 15 times a day, I don't want to start with a crazy exercise program and burn myself out.

I'm looking for a way to start to little little exercise and slowly increase it but still to a final level which is way less intense and regular than what other people without hypo can tolerate.

The problem is: outside is raining and there's mostly cars and the nearest gym is 30 miles.

What can I do?
In my case I think even at-desk exercise would do.

What's your opinion?

(11-21-2009 09:07 PM)Niklas Wrote:  I'm looking for a way to start to little little exercise and slowly increase it but still to a final level which is way less intense and regular than what other people without hypo can tolerate.

The problem is: outside is raining and there's mostly cars and the nearest gym is 30 miles.

What can I do?

Hi Niklas!

You can do Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method. When that starts feeling good, throw in a few sets of bodyweight squats. Stop early. Build up over time to tolerance.

Keep it short and sweet. All you really need for general conditioning are squats, deadlifts and presses. You can knock out two or three sets of those and be done in under ten minutes before it smacks your blood sugar silly.

Go slow. Build up patiently. Keep the faith!

I don't have the same blood issues, but I have found that just slow walking has a lot of benifits. You get exercise, burn calories/fat and it reduces stress.

(11-25-2009 05:32 PM)ecocarnivore Wrote:  I don't have the same blood issues, but I have found that just slow walking has a lot of benifits. You get exercise, burn calories/fat and it reduces stress.

True, but walking doesn't do much to improve mitochondrial function like strength training does.

See:
Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle by Melov et al

Also, with dangerously low blood sugar episodes like this, the risk of losing consciousness during prolonged exercise is very real. Better to do a few bodyweight squats using a comfy chair next to a phone in case a bad reactive episode starts... as opposed to being out somewhere walking in nature where you could get dizzy from low blood sugar, fall and crack your head and be dead before anyone finds you.

ecocarnivore Wrote:I don't have the same blood issues, but I have found that just slow walking has a lot of benifits. You get exercise, burn calories/fat and it reduces stress.

That's nice but lately has been rainng every day for like a month and its cold and foggy. How do you keep walking when outside if stormy mess?

(11-25-2009 05:41 AM)Ben Fury Wrote:  

(11-21-2009 09:07 PM)Niklas Wrote:  I'm looking for a way to start to little little exercise and slowly increase it but still to a final level which is way less intense and regular than what other people without hypo can tolerate.

The problem is: outside is raining and there's mostly cars and the nearest gym is 30 miles.

What can I do?

Hi Niklas!

You can do Active Isolated Stretching: The Mattes Method. When that starts feeling good, throw in a few sets of bodyweight squats. Stop early. Build up over time to tolerance.

Keep it short and sweet. All you really need for general conditioning are squats, deadlifts and presses. You can knock out two or three sets of those and be done in under ten minutes before it smacks your blood sugar silly.

Go slow. Build up patiently. Keep the faith!

This sounds really manageable and fun too!
Do you mean every day or just few times a week?
I forgot about stretching but I think it's important, among what I fear the most in having been too sedentary is lack of flexibility. I like to be flexible and agile. Being big and overly muscular never resonated with me like being flexible and elastic like a child

Further informations on that sense are very appreciated.
I hope between healthy LC eating, positive attitude and some small exercising I can maintain a functional healthy body without excessive physical activity.

(11-26-2009 01:51 AM)Niklas Wrote:  This sounds really manageable and fun too!
Do you mean every day or just few times a week?
I forgot about stretching but I think it's important, among what I fear the most in having been too sedentary is lack of flexibility. I like to be flexible and agile. Being big and overly muscular never resonated with me like being flexible and elastic like a child

Daily for very short time periods is probably your best bet with your glycemic difficulties. Monitor your BG and carefully raise your intensity and duration over time. Intensity is much more important than duration.

Active Isolated Stretching (AIS) is way more effective than any of the other stretching methods out there with PNF being a distant second. Don't settle for less. Learn AIS stretching! Then when that's going well, learn AIS strengthening. Then add in squats, deadlifts and presses when the AIS stretching and strengthening are dialed in. Slow and steady should win the day!

I ordered the book, not I will take like 4-5 weeks to be delivered.
Do you have any tip or online resource on how to get started on Active Isolated Stretching in the meantime?

(11-27-2009 08:26 AM)Niklas Wrote:  I ordered the book, not I will take like 4-5 weeks to be delivered.
Do you have any tip or online resource on how to get started on Active Isolated Stretching in the meantime?

Excellent! I PM'ed you a 10 exercise basic program to get you started.

Great advice Ben! Do you know why blood sugar would drop like that? Shouldn't there be enough stored in the muscle cells for a good bit of exercise? Does exercise spike insulin?

(12-04-2009 12:41 PM)Mackay Wrote:  Great advice Ben! Do you know why blood sugar would drop like that? Shouldn't there be enough stored in the muscle cells for a good bit of exercise? Does exercise spike insulin?

I'm a Well-Being Counselor, not a doctor. Those are very good questions for Niklas to pursue with his endocrinologist. The experience of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics is wildly divergent when it comes to exercise and its effects on BG, which shows us how individual our bodies are. The insulin conservation strategies that work well for one would send the next to the hospital. Very tricky stuff. That's why I recommend the most modest form of exercise with gentle AIS stretching to start, proceeding to still modest AIS strengthening, and then finally after some weeks or months of adaptation... VERY brief strength training bouts.

Long slow distance work would likely be dangerous to Niklas no matter how long he works up to it. He needs to keep looking for a solution to his blood glucose swings with his endo while EXTREMELY cautiously building a very abbreviated workout that won't crash his blood sugar.

While we all would love to be in fantastic shape, for some it is more important to just craft a workout that will keep them in decent shape without courting danger. Exercise can be very risky business for some people, so it's best to get the most conditioning for the least risk.

By the way: I found out that I have no problems with anaerobic weight training (as long as it's not excessively intense) and what my sugar metabolism doesn't tolerate is cardio of any kind.

(12-14-2009 03:02 AM)Niklas Wrote:  By the way: I found out that I have no problems with anaerobic weight training (as long as it's not excessively intense) and what my sugar metabolism doesn't tolerate is cardio of any kind.

I often say that Kronik Kardio Kills... so be careful!

It's good that you tolerate anaerobic weight training as it is the most critical for lifelong functionality. As long as you do some quality stretching and strengthening, I see no need for additional cardio work, especially since it has such a drastic negative effect on your BG.