The Edge

Sometime it's hard to know what blood sugar is the 'perfect' blood sugar.  The running joke is that a 5.5 is perfect... and the reason I say joke is because everyone including myself takes a photo of their meter with a nice 5.5, but most likely finds themselves dipping below that in as little to an hour.   It's hard to stay stable and especially if you're about to walk into a fitness class or go out for the evening.

I have been watching my blood sugars like a hawk lately - still taking the vitamin D religiously and I even tried coconut oil in tea today - let me tell you that it was odd and I didn't finish my cup that contained 2 tablespoons of it.  I have also  been keeping up with going to the gym and making better food choices; however, I find it hard to stay stable when doing all of these things at once.

My blood sugars have been MUCH better than ever before, of course I get the odd whacky number, but really, I haven't noticed too much swinging from highs and lows.  Today, I went into the gym with a 5.6 and I was nervous about it, because I knew that working out was going to lower it, and as a snack before the gym I just had two boiled eggs.  I brought some sugar tablets just in case - and I ended up snacking on them (just four of them...) while working out because unexpectedly I decided after already being at the gym for 40 minutes that I was going to do a step class.

I wasn't sure how hardcore this workout was going to be, but I didn't feel symptoms of a  low so I walked in feeling O.K about where my blood sugars were.  However, as the hour class went on, I felt like I was either going to drop into a low real fast at any moment or after we stopped to breathe.  Luckily, I talked myself into believing I was O.K.  I did a quick check, I wasn't shaking, I wasn't disoriented, I wasn't feeling completely weak....therefore I must be O.K. To be honest, I wanted to give up so bad, like so bad! I hated the class because I couldn't keep up, follow direction and I was bored of it - but I pushed through to complete it.

It was a good workout, however, I doubt I will do it again - at least not at the Y. I did do step at Western's Gym and it wasn't as bad as this - not that the teachers were bad, it was just a little too fast paced for me.     Either way, by the time I got home from the gym my blood sugar was 4.6 which wasn't too bad.  I also had decreased my basal 50% for a two hour duration - so I think had I not done that it would have been much lower.

I returned home to have about 10 apples slices with yogurt dip and hopefully I can stay afloat (above 5.0) for the rest of the night.  I am hoping to decrease my basal rate over time, to cut down on insulin usage.  I am really taking my health into a major makeover - not expecting to become a skinny 10 units a day diabetic - but a healthy one with good endurance, positive energy and a great smile!

Kayla