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Thread: Blood Sugar Target Training

  1. #11
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    My second "zoom" meal.

    This has been my typical breakfast for a few years - 6oz of mixed berries and some greek yogurt.

    My predicted results were:
    Quote Originally Posted by alevine
    — 1) A rapid blood sugar increase, peaking about 45-55 minutes after the meal, up to about 120-140.
    — 2) My surprisingly strong phase 1 insulin response kicks in, and rapidly knocks it down to about 65-85 about an hour in. I think my phase 1 response tends to overcompensate.
    — 3) A slow raise to around 110. Not sure why it goes up like this - my phase 2 insulin response may suck and be unable to keep up with the protein being converted to sugar, or I may be releasing sugar from my liver and muscles.
    The reality:
    - Rapid blood sugar rise happened at 33 minutes in, up to 142! That's the highest I've ever recorded it.
    - Phase 1 insulin response took it down to 72 about 30 muntes later (68 minutes in)
    - Reached normal blood sugar levels of 95ish around 130 minutes in.

    The takeaway is that just like Nathan says, the results of different foods are very individual. Despite being half the carbs of the fried rice, and mostly fructose-based carbs (which is supposed to be slower to process), it jumped my blood sugar faster and higher than the fried rice. I don't think that's typical, but it may be for me. Possible causes:
    - I'm just better at digesting rice than fruit.
    - The fact I walked (active rest intensity) after the rice meal, and was sedentary after the fruit.
    - That the fried rice meal was dinner, while the fruit was breakfast, putting the dawn phenomenon possibly into play.

    BerriesAndYogurt.jpg

  2. #12
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    Default **Lesson Learned: Don't have two high carb meals in short succession**

    **Lesson Learned: Don't have two high carb meals in short succession**

    Unusual blood sugar day yesterday. I think I learned things as a result.
    - Morning blood sugar was FANTASTIC - Best morning/fasting blood sugar I have ever recorded, and stayed low all morning except for a blip after exercise (off day - not training).
    - Four hour drive, so naturally, a fast food cheat meal. I assumed that would spike my blood sugar. IT DIDN'T. Blood sugar stayed amazingly row (80s) the rest of the morning and afternoon. t was looking to be the best glucose day ever recorded.
    - Had a normal-for-me dinner, high carb because of volume deadlift the next day, but still lower than the cheat meal. (Homemade chicken tikka masala with rice)
    - Dinner made my blood glucose go nuts and the rest of the evening was high. Bad enough to screw up the statistics for the day and week.

    What I suspect happened:
    - The day before was a low-carb day (off day and no trainng the next day).
    - Body didn't need much insulin the day before, so it stored it, charging up my phase 1 insulin response.
    - The cheat meal "spent" my phase 1 insulin response - using the stored insulin.
    - By the time dinner came around, I had to rely on the slower phase 2 insulin response, accounting for the spike and slow recovery of blood sugar after dinner.

    Yesterday's glucose graph:
    10-20Graph.jpg

  3. #13
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    Jun 2020
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    These posts are making me think that I need to watch my carb intake a bit more closely.

  4. #14
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    Mar 2021
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Levine View Post

    Items to be tested in the future (I am open to suggestions here):
    - Effect of high fat/protein meals such as salmon/steak/chicken thighs.
    - Effect of Keto-grain products, like keto buns and low-carb tortillas.
    - Determining how much glucose/carbs my phase 1 insulin response can handle.
    - Effect of CPAP usage.
    - Test effectiveness of Berberine, Chromium and Cinnamon.
    - Effect of slow/complex carb meals like beans and steel-cut oats.
    - Effect of fasting and high protien pre-workout meals.
    I did a combo of keto and intermittent fasting. Seems to work well.
    Both of those things will really limit insulin spikes, and reduce blood sugar.

    You are on insulin or meds right? I think? So consult with a doctor.

    Regarding "slow/complex carbs" I think that's all bullshit.
    As no one really eats fast carbs by themselves, unless you are an idiot (40 oz. sugary soda).

  5. #15
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    Mar 2021
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    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Levine View Post
    Additional thought:

    It seems that activity affects blood sugar in somewhat unpredictable ways. My incline treadmill walks seem to consistently increase blood sugar, while shorter less intense walks with my kid usually (but not always) reduces it. Strength training also probably has an effect, but it's hard to separate that effect from breakfast given that I train first thing in the morning. A point for further testing.
    Yeah, I've been monitoring my blood sugar (NOT w/ continuous blood glucose monitor) for about the past 3 months.
    It will drive you crazy:
    - Glucose will go UP after a workout for me too.
    - Dawn-effect is a thing.
    - Makes no sense at times.

  6. #16
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    Jul 2018
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    Default Week Ending 10-23-21

    Week Ending 10-23-21

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred J View Post
    These posts are making me think that I need to watch my carb intake a bit more closely.
    Results of food to blood sugar are very individual, but yes, figuring out what foods work for you is supposedly the way to go. For example, I found out just a couple posts ago that I shouldn't have frozen berries for breakfast.

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmer View Post
    I did a combo of keto and intermittent fasting. Seems to work well.
    Both of those things will really limit insulin spikes, and reduce blood sugar.

    You are on insulin or meds right? I think? So consult with a doctor.

    Regarding "slow/complex carbs" I think that's all bullshit.
    As no one really eats fast carbs by themselves, unless you are an idiot (40 oz. sugary soda).
    I'm not diabetic, on insulin or meds. I was T2 and on Metformin, but the doc won't give it to me anymore, which sucks, because I think some Metformin ER could really help with dawn effect. He only sees my A1C, not the morning spike.
    IF isn't for me. I'd like to go partial-keto, knowing my metabolism well enough that I can go out of keto and have carbs for training when my body is capable of handling it well, and going low-carb when that energy isn't needed. Also agree slow/complex carbs at least partially are bullshit. Complex carbs are still more than fast enough to spike blood sugar.

    Quote Originally Posted by Farmer View Post
    Yeah, I've been monitoring my blood sugar (NOT w/ continuous blood glucose monitor) for about the past 3 months.
    It will drive you crazy:
    - Glucose will go UP after a workout for me too.
    - Dawn-effect is a thing.
    - Makes no sense at times.
    I'm not using CGM either - my fingertips are suffering for it. Although there are exceptions, I'm starting to see general trends. Active rest will usually lower blood sugar, while more intense training (even LISS if hard enough) increases it.

    Activity (Not logging active rest)
    Sunday/Intensity Squat Day
    -- Squat: 225x1 (second rep didn't hit depth, didn't count)
    -- Barbell Row: 160x11,9,8 (11 Rep PR!)
    -- Standard Grip Chins: Bodyweightx6,4,4,3,3,3
    Monday/Volume Press Day
    -- Steep Incline Bench: 5x5x125 (5 rep and 5x5 PRs)
    -- 45 Incline DB Press: 45x6 (cut off by kid waking up)
    Tuesday/Cardio
    -- Skipped Cardio
    Wednesday/Cardio
    -- Treadmill 10deg/3MPH/55Min/Peak HR 151/Avg HR 131
    Thursday/Volume Deadlift Day
    -- Deadlift: 5x5x265
    -- Romanian Deadlift: 205x9 (9 Rep PR, also a ROM PR, tapping floor on every rep)
    Friday/Intensity Bench Day
    -- Bench: 235x1 (failed second rep, cut off session early)
    Saturday/Cardio
    -- Treadmill: 10deg/3MPH/55min/Peak HR 151, Avg HR 131

    PRs Set This Week
    PRs are becoming hard to come by because of the diet - I've lost some top end strength, not recovering as well, DOMS lasting longer... Higher rep ranges seem to be less affected.
    - Steep Incline Bench: 5x5 volume and 5 rep PR
    - Romanian Deadlift: 9 rep PR

    Nutrition and Body Composition
    Presentation.jpg

    Glucose Graph and raw data for week
    The red line is average blood daily glucose relative to time an event (such as morning/fasting, or two hours after breakfast). Thin lines are daily numbers and can be used to show variance from the mean. Vertical yellow highlights are meals.

    On the raw data chart, colored cells contain extreme values - either under the 5th percentile or above the 95th percentile.
    WeekOf10-23Large.jpg
    WeekOf10-23RawData.jpg

    What I learned/suspect this week:
    - My body does not metabolize frozen berries well - big blood sugar spike.
    - My body does not handle multiple high carb meals in short succession well.
    - My body does handle high-carb meals in the form of fried rice and fast food well if conditions are correct (I.E. Phase 1 insulin response is charged and ready to respond)
    - Foods that have fat seem to be better metabolized than those without fat. Two data points antecdotally point to this:
    ---- I seem to metabolize Fried Rice better than Chicken Tikka Masala. Both are similar - rice, veggies, poultry, but Fried Rice is higher in fat.
    ---- I seem to metabolize a salmon burrito better than a chicken breast burrito. The tortillas are identical, but the salmon is higher in fat.

    Probable cause/effect relationships:
    - Walking in the park with my son at no incline and about 3MPH appears to lower blood sugar significantly, although this is not consistent.
    - My body rapidly compensates for high blood sugar levels (>115ish), resulting in results below the mean one hour later. This behavior is not totally consistent, but occurs about 75% of the time.
    - Taking a blood sugar measurement 50 minutes after a meal is HUGELY different than 70 minutes after a meal. I think I screwed up some measurements due to this effect, which I was unaware of.
    - My blood sugar hates me sitting at my desk - even a little activity seems to help a lot. It seems to be the difference between blood sugar of 105-115 vs. 90-100ish. I'm not talking about exercise, just walking around. Unfortunately, I'm a tech writer, so hours at my desk are a thing.
    - R-ALA and EPO supplementation appears to have no effect. I didn't see any noticable change after using it for two weeks.

    Established/Proven cause/effect relationships:
    - None.

    Disproven cause/effect relationships
    - Taking 600mg/day of R-ALA and 1500mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar. However, fasting blood sugar was slightly lower, but that may not be a cause/effect relationship.
    - Taking 1800mg/day of R-ALA and 3000mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar.

    What I am going to try next week:
    - Changing my standard breakfast (frozen berries and yogurt) to eggs and cheese. This serves two purposes.
    ---- Getting off the weight loss train. I've lost 10lb in a month and have lost some top-end strength. I can't afford to lose more weight and would like to bulk. The eggs and cheese are 300 calories more than the berries and yogurt.
    ---- Combating Dawn Effect. I think the combination of dawn effect, early morning intense training, and the berries/yogurt were basically a triple-effect increasing blood sugar. I can't eliminate the dawn effect, and early morning is the only chance I

    Items to be tested in the future (I am open to suggestions here):
    - Effect of high fat/protein meals such as salmon/steak/chicken thighs.
    - Effect of Keto-grain products, like keto buns and low-carb tortillas.
    - Determining how much glucose/carbs my phase 1 insulin response can handle.
    - Effect of CPAP usage.
    - Test effectiveness of Berberine, Chromium and Cinnamon.
    - Effect of slow/complex carb meals like beans and steel-cut oats.
    - Effect of fasting and high protien pre-workout meals.
    - Effect of replacing standard breakfast of blueberries and yogurt with something low-carb
    - Does fat and carbs affect blood sugar differently than pure carbs?
    - Effect of fiber supplementation
    - Different brand of R-ALA
    - Effect of active rest type activities
    - Effect of foods with fat vs. simiar foods without fat

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    Carmel, IN
    Posts
    558

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    Week Ending 10-30-21

    Activity (Not logging active rest)
    Sunday/Off Day
    -- Planned as intensity deadlift day, delayed
    Monday/Intensity Deadlift Day
    -- Originally planned as Volume Bench
    -- Deadlift 355x1
    -- Neutral Grip Chin: BWx7,4,4,3,3,3
    -- RDL: 170x20,10,10
    Tuesday/Volume Bench
    -- Originally an off day
    -- Bench 190x5x5
    -- Close Grip Bench: 155x9,150x8,145x8
    Wednesday/Off
    -- Nothing
    Thursday/Volume Squat Day
    -- High Bar Squat: 177.5x5x5, 157.5x10
    Friday/Intensity Press Day
    -- High Incline Bench: 155x1
    -- Dips: BW+40x9, BW+30x11, BW+20x10
    -- Dead Stop LTEs: 50x11, 45x12, 40x16

    PRs Set This Week
    - RDL: 10-20 rep PR
    - Close Grip Bench: 9 rep PR
    - Dead Stop LTEs: 14-16 rep PR
    - High Bar Squat: 5x5 volume PR

    Nutrition and Body Composition
    Presentation.jpg

    Glucose Graph and raw data for week
    The red line is average blood daily glucose relative to time an event (such as morning/fasting, or two hours after breakfast). Thin lines are daily numbers and can be used to show variance from the mean. Vertical yellow highlights are meals.

    On the raw data chart, colored cells contain extreme values - either under the 5th percentile or above the 95th percentile.
    GraphWeekOf10-29.jpg
    WeekOf10-23RawData.jpg

    What I learned/suspect this week:
    - Blood sugar spike from protein based meals exists, but is less than a carb meal.
    - There is a large blood sugar spike after strength training and a high-protein omelette. The spike is mostly caused by the training, and the size of it is in relation to the intensiveness of the workout. Example data:
    --- 123 Blood sugar 45 minutes after consuming an omelette - no training without training. 107 an hour after meal (comparable in timeframe to other numbers below)
    --- 163 Blood sugar after a killer intensity deadlift day (including a set of 20 RDLs)
    --- 141 Blood sugar after volume squat day (hard, but no novel sets of 20)
    --- 120 Blood sugar after volume bench day (bench is less intensive than squat)
    --- 103 Blood sugar after intensity press day (easiest workout in template - all accessory lifts)

    Probable cause/effect relationships:
    - Walking in the park with my son at no incline and about 3MPH appears to lower blood sugar significantly, although this is not consistent.
    - My body rapidly compensates for high blood sugar levels (>115ish), resulting in results below the mean one hour later. This behavior is not totally consistent, but occurs about 75% of the time.
    - Taking a blood sugar measurement 50 minutes after a meal is HUGELY different than 70 minutes after a meal. I think I screwed up some measurements due to this effect, which I was unaware of.
    - My blood sugar hates me sitting at my desk - even a little activity seems to help a lot. It seems to be the difference between blood sugar of 105-115 vs. 90-100ish. I'm not talking about exercise, just walking around. Unfortunately, I'm a tech writer, so hours at my desk are a thing.
    - My body does not metabolize frozen berries well - big blood sugar spike.
    - My body does not handle multiple high carb meals in short succession well.
    - My body does handle high-carb meals in the form of fried rice and fast food well if conditions are correct (I.E. Phase 1 insulin response is charged and ready to respond)
    - Foods that have fat seem to be better metabolized than those without fat.

    Established/Proven cause/effect relationships:
    - None.

    Disproven cause/effect relationships
    - Taking 600mg/day of R-ALA and 1500mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar. However, fasting blood sugar was slightly lower, but that may not be a cause/effect relationship.
    - Taking 1800mg/day of R-ALA and 3000mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar.

    What I am going to try next week:
    - Going full keto, shooting for <30g carbs per day, but keeping protein very high. I actually did that half this week and it antecdotally improved blood sugar.
    - Total calories going up significantly, but I'm focusing more on what I'm eating than counting calories. Calories are an after effect specific things, like mayonnaise and fatty beef.
    - Removing nearly all bread products, adding mayo to snacks, more meat at meals and fibrous vegetables.
    - Altering training schedule a bit. Adding backoff sets on intensity days and reordering some workouts. I was worried about intensity days not having enough stress and having two squat or deadlift days too close together, followed by too long a pause.
    - Dropping my estimated 1rep Max by 5% across all lifts, for use in the program template. Low carb plus weight loss has really hit my strength, and the maxes I set two months ago are clearly no longer accurate.
    - Cutting back on conditioning from 3x/week to 1x. It was mainly for weight loss, which is no longer a goal, and was interfering with recovery.

    Items to be tested in the future (I am open to suggestions here):
    - Effect of high fat/protein meals such as salmon/steak/chicken thighs.
    - Effect of Keto-grain products, like keto buns and low-carb tortillas.
    - Determining how much glucose/carbs my phase 1 insulin response can handle.
    - Effect of CPAP usage.
    - Test effectiveness of Berberine, Chromium and Cinnamon.
    - Effect of slow/complex carb meals like beans and steel-cut oats.
    - Effect of fasting and high protien pre-workout meals.
    - Effect of replacing standard breakfast of blueberries and yogurt with something low-carb
    - Does fat and carbs affect blood sugar differently than pure carbs?
    - Effect of fiber supplementation
    - Different brand of R-ALA
    - Effect of active rest type activities
    - Effect of foods with fat vs. simiar foods without fat

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    Carmel, IN
    Posts
    558

    Default

    Week Ending 11-6-21

    Activity (Not logging active rest)
    Sunday/Off Day
    Monday/Volume Deadlift Day
    -- Deadlift 260x5x5
    -- RDL 205x10
    Tuesday/Intensity Bench
    -- Bench 235x1, 215x2, 190x5
    -- Barbell Curl 62.5x8, 60x8, 57.5x7
    Wednesday/Off
    Thursday/Intensity Squat Day
    -- High Bar Squat: 215x1, 195x2, 175x6
    -- Barbell Row: 165x10,9,8
    Friday/Volume Press Day
    -- High Incline Bench: 120x5x5, 105x9, 100x8, 95x8
    Saturday/Cardio
    10 degrees, 3.1 MPH, 55 minutes
    Peak heart rate 154
    Average heart rate 137

    PRs Set This Week
    - RDL: 10 rep PR
    - Barbell Row: 10 rep PR

    Nutrition and Body Composition
    Presentation.jpg

    Glucose Graph and raw data for week
    The red line is average blood daily glucose relative to time an event (such as morning/fasting, or two hours after breakfast). Thin lines are daily numbers and can be used to show variance from the mean. Vertical yellow highlights are meals.

    On the raw data chart, colored cells contain extreme values - either under the 5th percentile or above the 95th percentile.
    GraphWeekOf11-5.jpg
    WeekOf10-23RawData.jpg

    What I learned/suspect this week:
    - Keto works for weight loss. A nearly 2lb weight loss on 2,300 calories and less cardio is inconceivable, but happened. Unfortunately, I don't want to lose weight.
    - Keto appears to harm strength. Getting weaker.

    Probable cause/effect relationships:
    - Blood sugar spike from protein based meals exists, but is less than a carb meal.
    - There is a large blood sugar spike after strength training and a high-protein omelette, mostly caused by training.
    - Walking in the park with my son at no incline and about 3MPH appears to lower blood sugar significantly, although this is not consistent.
    - My body rapidly compensates for high blood sugar levels (>115ish), resulting in results below the mean one hour later. This behavior is not totally consistent, but occurs about 75% of the time.
    - Taking a blood sugar measurement 50 minutes after a meal is HUGELY different than 70 minutes after a meal. I think I screwed up some measurements due to this effect, which I was unaware of.
    - My blood sugar hates me sitting at my desk - even a little activity seems to help a lot. It seems to be the difference between blood sugar of 105-115 vs. 90-100ish. I'm not talking about exercise, just walking around. Unfortunately, I'm a tech writer, so hours at my desk are a thing.
    - My body does not metabolize frozen berries well - big blood sugar spike.
    - My body does not handle multiple high carb meals in short succession well.
    - My body does handle high-carb meals in the form of fried rice and fast food well if conditions are correct (I.E. Phase 1 insulin response is charged and ready to respond)
    - Foods that have fat seem to be better metabolized than those without fat.

    Established/Proven cause/effect relationships:
    - None.

    Disproven cause/effect relationships
    - Taking 600mg/day of R-ALA and 1500mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar. However, fasting blood sugar was slightly lower, but that may not be a cause/effect relationship.
    - Taking 1800mg/day of R-ALA and 3000mg/day of EPO appears to have no effect on average blood sugar.

    What I am going to try next week:
    - Trying 24g of Dextrose, in the form of Smarties, pre-workout. My logic is that the large blood sugar spike caused by training is my body telling me it needs sugar. If I give it dietary sugar, maybe it won't scrounge it from elsewhere and mute the spike.
    - Adding 90 calories/12tsp per day of Benefiber.
    - Adding 100 calories of protein and fat on non-training days.
    - Those two items are 48g of carbs per day, greatly increasing my carbohydrate and calorie intake.
    - Discontinuing Berberine supplementation. I forgot to take it a few days, and it didn't seem to affect glucose, so I don't see a reason to start again. I may test it's usage again in the future.

    Items to be tested in the future (I am open to suggestions here):
    - Effect of high fat/protein meals such as salmon/steak/chicken thighs.
    - Effect of Keto-grain products, like keto buns and low-carb tortillas.
    - Determining how much glucose/carbs my phase 1 insulin response can handle.
    - Effect of CPAP usage.
    - Test effectiveness of Berberine, Chromium and Cinnamon.
    - Effect of slow/complex carb meals like beans and steel-cut oats.
    - Effect of fasting and high protien pre-workout meals.
    - Does fat and carbs affect blood sugar differently than pure carbs?
    - Effect of fiber supplementation
    - Different brand of R-ALA
    - Effect of foods with fat vs. similar foods without fat![WeekOf11-5Data|690x417]

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2018
    Location
    Carmel, IN
    Posts
    558

    Default

    starting strength coach development program
    Midweek update due to stuff I've learned...

    - Smarties pre-workout to mute the blood sugar spike was a stupid idea. Done it three times, and the spike is larger than ever, peaking at 206 on intensity deadlift day. I'm doing it for the rest of the week, but am unlikely to continue this.
    - Fiber anecdotally appears to help blood sugar, as I have had some of my best blood sugar days using it. The extra carbs certainly do not hit my blood sugar. I've been taking 12tsp of Benefiber, sipped throughout the day.
    - Got my blood labs in, and used it to test my blood sugar.
    --- My a1c is basically unchanged at 5.1 (it was 5.0 last year).
    --- This indicates an average blood sugar of 100. My average reading was 98, indicating that my glucometer may read a couple points low.
    --- My spot glucose was 96. I used this opportunity to test my glucometers (I have three of them).
    --- The Bayer Contour glucometer might as well be a random number generator, producing answers from 68-109, with an average of 83. This glucometer is worthless.
    --- The Ascensia Contour Next glucometer (which I use for all my readings) did better. It gave answers between 85 and 99, with an average of 91. I've been using this one for all my charts. However, like the a1c, this indicates that it reads about five points low on average.
    --- I also tested a super-cheap diathrive glucometer because the test strips are less than half the price (16c/strip). It did well with the tightest range/best consistency, from 83-92 with and average reading of 87. Although it was more consistent, it's average reading was 8 points lower than the lab reading.

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