Blood sugar level after 45 minutes steady training

This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by cartinmaron 4 years, 7 months ago.

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cartinmaron

12:48 am
20 Feb 19
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Hi everybody. This is my first comment on this post. I have adhered to the 5-2 fast diet about a month ago. My main objective is to reduce my blood sugar level. I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My glucose levels rarely exceeded 7 over the last 6 years. Morning readings generally ranges between 6 and 7.

I have been exercising on the threadmill for many years. As of now, I decided to go for a 45 minutes steady high pace walking (5.7 to 6 km/hr). Today, just out of curiosity, I decided to monitor my blood sugar level 1 hour after exercising. To my surprise, I was amazed to see a reading of 7.8 whereas I was expecting something more in the 5 to 5.5 range.

Can someone provide some explanations for this result?

Thanks!

dykask

1:40 am
20 Feb 19
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@cartinmaron I often saw an increase in blood glucose after exercising when I was monitoring my blood glucose. At least part of the reason is a lot of glucose is stored in muscles. As that glucose is consumed, lactic acid is released, that is the stuff that causes one to feel a muscle burn. The lactic acid is converted back to glucose in the liver and dumped back into the blood, this is known as the Cori cycle. This allows the muscles to keep using glucose for a longer period. At some point there is just too little glucose available to muscles and they that to start taking in oxygen so that fatty acids can be used to produce ATP instead of glucose. This doesn’t produce ATP as quickly as consuming glucose does but it can go on for a much longer period of time. Typically there can be a transition period where the exercise is more difficult and then gets easier, that is often referred to as getting your second wind. This second wind is actually the muscles switching over to mostly using fatty acids for fuel.

Depending on how much insulin is in the blood, the amount of glucose in the blood will vary. A person that is type 2 diabetic probably has more insulin resistance and may see a larger increase in blood glucose. There are many variables so you should expect a lot of variation from day to day. Still is it more common for non-exhaustive exercise to raise blood glucose rather than lower it. Now if you ran a marathon it would be a different story.

The muscles typically store a lot of glucose which is one reason muscle is much heavier than fat. If you don’t use your muscles that glucose just stays in the muscles. However by using the muscles you create a place for the body to store more glucose. So exercise is actually helpful in lowering blood glucose even though it can cause a temporary increase in blood glucose.

cartinmaron

5:27 pm
11 Apr 20
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Thanks a lot dykask for the precise and elaborate answer. It is greatly appreciated. A question that comes to mind when I read your text is whether the same phenomena occurs on a normal person, that is with no prediabetic conditions.

Once again, thanks for the time you took to enlighten me! I keep doing regular exercices (I switched to HIIT) and I am still fast dieting once or twice a week depending on the mood! Best regards!