Author: kathleen

I ended up running a bit of a basal test on the new basal rate, since I was able to go all evening without eating.

It’s good.

And this morning ate breakfast, and the new bolus rate looked good. At least so far, I’m not chasing a high

Glad I changed that basal rate — woke up at 3:00 am with a blood sugar of 108 and again at 5:00 am with a blood sugar of 103.

I’ve decided to go ahead and add the 1/2 hour decrease (by .05 units) in basal tonight, as it looks like I am right where I want to be.

Still seeing some weight loss too.

Since I’ve woken up with fairly low blood sugar three mornings in a row, I’ve decided to drop my midnight to 4:00 am basal rate by 0.05 unit. I’m reduced my basal by a whole .20 units 🙂 Actually every little bit helps reduce the total.

I’ve also been slowly, from midnight back, decreasing my biggest and longest basal rate during the day. I’ve been dropping by .05 unit every half hour, and am now dropping from 9:00 pm on.

It works out pretty well, the basal rates are now
12:00 – 4:00 0.85
4:00 – 8:00 1.10 — this will be the next place I change
and I half it on cardio in the morning days
8:00 – 9:00 1.00 — this is the rate I’ve been decreasing by half
9:00 – 12:00 0.95

So things are going well.

Here’s the really good news, my daily total insulin usage has dropped to 38 – 45 units a day with an occasional excursion to 78. That’s a whole lot better than it was before I started working out regularly.

And I know I’ve lost at least 20 pounds since I discovered my scale wasn’t working.

It isn’t easy, but I know of a Type 2 diabetic who has cut her insulin usage dramatically and has lost lots of weight. I met her on iShape and she’s an insulin pumper too.

Here’s what is working for me:

Regular cardio and resistance training.

I have a treadmill and weights here at the house. I belonged to a gym, but I will say I’ve been more regular since I set up at home.

I also have iShape as a support system. I track my workouts, track my food, and my other progress. I also have people to work with. Right now, we’re doing a two week challenge with partners (that’s a first).

I really think you need a good regular schedule — which iShape provides, and a tracking system — which iShape also provides.

I will say that it is a long hard progress. I’ve got about 4 weeks without any weight changes. At the same time though, I was tracking everything else — during that period I saw a change in insulin usage.
See that, kept me sane.

All of a sudden I’ve seen a drop in weight (about 3 pounds), though I admit to making a change in my definition of “clean eating”. That’s a challenge term. I was making sure I was 600 calories under what the program said I burned, but right now, I’m using their calorie level. Some days it’s 500, some days it 700 under what I burned.

And I’m not feeling deprived. Yesterday I had a Subway sandwich with a small bag of chips. I’ve had gummy bears, and other “treats” through the week.

Oh, and I really think you need to be on a pump. Or at least really really understand what you are doing if you are on insulin. Thursday, and Friday morning, I was fighting low for about 12 hours. If I had been on my own regimen, I would have had to have added even MORE calories than I did with the pump, defeating the whole purpose.

You need to be able to cut your insulin usage to match your decreased needs, or you ARE going to have a hypoglymic episode.

I woke up clammy and feeling funny, and with a blood sugar of 89. I did sleep in a bit and did use my “non-exercise basal”.

I’m going to start changing my evening basal again, since I’m “back” to where I was.

And yesterday insulin use was actually under 40 units.