Yesterday I went for a little 50 mile bike ride. However, for the past few days I have been running BGs from 60-95 or so. When I woke up in the morning I was at 70, and after eating a small breakfast, still under 100 a few hours later. Suiting up for my ride, my numbers continued lower to around 60 — so I started consuming: 26g via soda, 30g glass of chocolate milk, 20g candy, 40g bread and cheese. I did not bolus for any of that food. During a few mile warm up I remained in the 60s, so continued drinking Gatorade and downed 1 GU (20g). So I’ve consumed well over 100g of carbs — and finally start getting my BG to 100. And that’s where it stayed for the entire ride (where I added a bag of chips, 20g and a sandwich, 35g). I bolused nothing, zilch from 10am till 6pm when I got home and feared having a huge amount of Carbs-on-Board (COB) and took a few units of Novolog since I was at 180.
Why did this happen and work in my favor? I’m taking too much Lantus — and this is partly my purpose. I am doing something known as feeding the basal. I only slightly reduced my Lantus dose for riding, not nearly enough to require adding fast-acting insulin to the mix.
Feeding the Basal – A Follow Up…..
Wow – was it kind of scary eating so much and not having your BG go up much, especially mid-workout?
That’s actually kind of the point. When you feed the basal, and then put a ton of exercise in (several hours worth), the body works through so many of the carbs without needing much insulin. And the insulin it does use is supercharged!
Wow – was it kind of scary eating so much and not having your BG go up much, especially mid-workout?