More Progress

Last Thursday (6/30/11) I saw my family doctor for a routine diabetes check.  On his scales I'd lost more than 35 pounds since March.  I was off Actos, using a quarter of the blood pressure medicine I was in March and half the cholesterol medicine, and my total cholesterol was 125.  All of my numbers looked good.  He agreed I should cut back on metformin and suggested reducing my dosage from 1000 mg twice per day to 500 mg twice per day.  We also discussed getting off medicines and fasting (a topic for a post of its own).

For the past 8 weeks my weekly average fasting blood sugar had been in the 120's for 6 of the 8 weeks.  One week it was 115 and that was when I quit Actos and the following week it was 131.  To me it seemed like I had stalled in my progress on dropping my blood sugar.  I had been dropping 6 points per week and then nada.  Last week I hit 120 and this week it looks like I'll beat that.  So what's different besides I'm taking less medicine?

I "accidentally" discovered a couple of things.  One discovery is exercising briefly (20 min) in the morning and again in the afternoon or evening has a noticeable affect on lowering blood sugar throughout the day.  I can't be positive but it seemed like it also reduced the impact of starchy foods a bit.

The other discovery is mostly an answer to a question I had.  What, if any, are the benefits of anaerobic exercise on blood sugar?  It is well documented, and easy to measure personally, the beneficial effect of aerobic exercise on blood sugar levels.  There's nothing like 30 minutes of walking or time on the Nordic Track to lower blood sugar after a meal.  Gardening and yard work are more practical ways to experience both better blood sugar and a nicer yard.  I have not found much on anaerobic exercise and it's effect on blood sugar.

Coincidentally a Bowflex came up for sale on Craigslist for $150 and I bought it.  After two workouts, its a bit early to say much with certainty but my fasting blood sugar is clearly dropping.  Not only that but this morning it was 101 mg/dl; 19 points better than it averaged last week.  It could be a fluke reading.  Or, it could be that anaerobic exercise is building muscle, perhaps less insulin resistant muscle,  and the added muscle is burning a little more sugar overnight.  This is the basis for the idea that exercise will raise your metabolism.  For a diabetic, a higher metabolism means lower blood sugar if everything else stays the same.

One thing I'm not sure of if how long it takes the body to build new muscle and how energy intensive the process is.  The lower blood sugar could be a result of the temporary responses to exercise and not new muscle mass.  Either way, lower blood sugar is good and I'll keep working out on the Bowflex to see how far I can take this.  A nearly 20 point reduction in blood sugar in just a few days is huge and holds a lot of promise.

My goal for my fasting blood sugar is to get it under 89 mg/dl.  This goal now seems to be in reach.  I have 40 or so pounds of fat to lose, the possibility of adding an unknown amount of muscle, and making other changes that will affect what genes are active and which ones are passive.  Any one of these could take me to my goal.  All of them together make the goal seem like it is not just achievable but also, not too far off.