You lazy, fat diabetics . I’d like to state for the record for those of you who’ve not met Aaron that he is a very slender guy and I find it very hard to believe that he is carrying an extra 10kg. When he and I hang out we are a bit like Patsy and Eddy (him being the blonde, slim one, not because he’s in womens’ clothing I hasten to add).

Anyway – my own personal experience is similar (although I def can’t blame it all the diabetes that’s for sure, food and I are pretty fond of each other). For my wedding I was determined to lose weight and be ultra slim but at times in my six month lead-up it felt like two steps forward, one step back because with all the extra exercise I was feeling pretty good, but often undoing all the work I’d done at the gym in the morning with eating my way out of mid morning hypos. Frustrating, and hard to fine tune really.

I feel your anguish! Over the last year I’ve worked really hard to get my HBA1C down to a reasonable level and am proud to say it’s now at 6.5%. But all the extra insulin (MDI) and corresponding hypos has seen my weight creep up and up. It’s incredibly frustrating having to stop halfway through an exercise class to gobble some food, misjudging your insulin needs and going low shortly after having a meal and having to stuff your face when you’re already full, or needing an extra snack just before bed when you know you have no chance of burning off the extra calories

What you are experiencing is common to T2’s on insulin also. As such, being on insulin does make weight control a major issue. I see it with many (but not all) of my T1 friends and T2 friends that are on insulin (myself included). We need to work harder to maintain weight and reduce our weight.

So rest assured that we hear what you are saying and can empathize with you.

Best of luck, Bob

And insulin is actually a growth hormone, too, hence the big babies of diabetic women who have poor control of their BG’s during pregnancy

Hi Bob,

That’s really interesting. To be totally honest, I hadn’t thought about that side of things as I don’t know any T2s on insulin. Of course it would be the same though wouldn’t it.

I’m actually very lucky weight wise (good genes) as Nic mentioned but it did still strike me in relation to my twin and our comparative weights so I thought I would post it knowing that there would be plenty of us in the same boat.

What also sucks about being on insulin is that I have no idea what my true appetite is – it is entirely governed by how much insulin there is sloshing around inside me. So if I’m low I’m hungry, and of course it’s good to be lowish. I hate the way I have to be intellectual about what I eat and not rely on my instincts – my instincts have been completely done over. I have always been a bit fatter than my non-diabetic sister and it’s driven me crazy! My mother told me I had to go on a diet when I was 11 but of course it was the hypos that that gave me that extra bit of tummy. It’s all too hard – it’s a wonder we don’t all have terrible eating disorders – or maybe we do!

I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’d never made the connection. Until now. It makes perfect sense. But WHY don’t they point it out as part of the ‘T1 101′ boot camp so you know?

So many revelations! I think that we overlook a lot of things like this as diabetics because what is the point in dwelling anway right? It’s not like we can do much about it so we just get on with getting on.

Go us.

I just heard a radio advert for Celebrity Slim which got me thinking about this thread. I know they’re probably not the best answer for anyone (diabetic or not) but just wondered if any of you had tried/investigated using meal replacement products or any other specific diet plans in the quest to control weight

I’ve never tried anything except reducing my fat content and light exercise like walking over a period of time. I don’t trust diets at all when really, the best option is just to reduce you portion size, eat less fat and get some activity in there.

I’ve also heard bad things about diets where you lose lots of fat because when body fat breaks down (I don’t know if this is actually true) acetone is created and if too much fat goes too fast then the body can’t cope with it. Acetone is the primary ingredient in nail polish remover and is what causes ketoacidosis from my understanding. When the glucose can’t get into the cells to be used your body breaks down your body fat to use instead – same process right? Not good news for your kidneys and as a consequence, I don’t diet.

Great stuff here folks, sorry to be so late in seeing it.

Ali, if you would care to comment, I am interested in what your GP or medical team say about your 6.5 Ac1 level, 7 is recommend?

I understand that the female of the species will using insulin, gain on average, 5 kg (11 lbs), due to a hormone thing, how much the fact you have to eat as well adds to this I don’t know.

Struggled to understand the ketoacidosis thing for ever Aaron, still get muddled up with it, been there a few times along the journey. I don’t know about about the Acetone, other than that is what shows on the breath, but if there is no insulin in blood stream to unlock the body cells to let the glucose in, then the body as you say uses fat for energy and it does not take long to reach this fat burning zone.
Ketones can start to appear in the urine from 13mm/l but by 17mm/l will be gathering for a coma party, especially if it stays up there too long and more so if the the BG is increasing. Familiar territory in some ways, aye? Never seems like death’s door step even with the high end hangover, or does it?

Hi Roy,

Comments are welcome whenever you like – no worries there!

I’ve been very lucky to have never been admitted to hospital for ketoacidosis and so far as I know, haven’t ever had a really bad bout of it but there were periods that I didn’t test for quite some time so that may not be true at all! I start get feel pretty crook around 13mmol/L now but hopefully won’t ever have too many issues in the future – the acetone absolutely destroys your kidneys so I’m planning to stay well clear!

Comments welcome whenever is cool Aaron, I have a few on pumps, but I haven’t finished looking at all the old posts on these, but I will be surprised if my questions have not been covered.

None of my hospital long stay diabetes visits have been for ketoacidosis, at least in the coma stage. How close to that I was, I wouldn’t like to know now.

I didn’t know that Acetone and the kidneys had such a destructive relationship. I did noticed looking back at some early hospital records I have that there was always a trace of Acetone with a brown urine test, not sure where in the range this was now. I’ll chance somewhere in the middle, but there was never any showing at the orange, upper limit (err! 15mm/l or there abouts), of the range, which could mean the brown was one off the top colour of red and ketoacidosis territory.
I have been more concerned with protean loss from the kidneys, this tends to occur with long service and I have no doubt, one’s control over that service period. Know some that had it showing after fifty or more years and some that have it showing a long way short of fifty or more years, but I will continue do an Aaron Acetone runner and stay away for as long as possible.

I’m 45 and have been T1 for 8 years now. I decided to get properly fit this year and do some multi-sport events. I started off just helping some mates train and ended up doing both the iconic Speights Coast to Coast and the 3 day Goldrush event in Central Otago.

In talking to non diabetic athletes, I found they all eat every 30 minutes during exercise and refuel with protein at the end of training and events. If they didn’t eat during training etc, they would have ‘low patches of no energy where they couldn’t function’ – very similar to lows like we have.

By adjusting my exercise patterns to include eating every 20-30 minutes and drinking via a camel pack, I hardly had any lows during exercise and eventually built up to 4-5 hours at a time. I ran the Coast to Coast main devide run over the Southern Alps in 5 hours and 5 minutes, without a low.

It did take a while to find out what food worked for me etc, but now I’m pretty sorted. I also found if you are doing 2+ hours training a day over the weekends and 1-2 hours a couple of times during the week, you can eat as much as you like, look gret, feel good, refind muscle balance and lose weight. Hypo’s actually became less common the fitter I became.

These multisport events have given me a lot of confidence that as an older T1, I can still be fit, competitive and athletic. We just need to prepare ourselves properly.

Hi Chris. Great run and time for anyone on that event, let alone someone with T1 and in their middle years.
If you would care to comment, I would like to know if you pump or MDI and what you target your BG at when running. If I read your blog correctly, your food intake covers your glucose intake and its fluctuations okay and you do not need to test while on the journey. This would require some extra sensory perception to detecting the low and the high? Lastly, would you disclose your weight and height to do this mighty tough activity?
Interesting point on the hypos reducing being this fit. Thanks.