Sometimes I have to relearn things over and over again before it sinks in. This week, it was the fact that exercise really does help lower your glucose levels. I took a break from doing gym over the holidays and also, although I know it’s a dumb thing to do, took a break from diabetes for a couple of weeks. I didn’t monitor my glucose and ate lots of nice food. I only gained a kilo, so I didn’t go too overboard. But of course, when I started monitoring my levels again, it’s no surprise they were high, and they stayed up until I started back in the gym yesterday and today.

My before dinner and morning fasting glucose levels have been consistently around 8.0 (145) for the past two weeks – and these are my before meal readings! Yesterday I spent some time doing weight training and riding my exercise bike. Today I just rode the bike. I try to do strength work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and just cardio work on the days in between.

My first indication that I was getting back on track was my before dinner blood sugar reading was 5.3 (95) Tonight’s was 5.2. My fasting reading this morning was a very reasonable 6.6 (120). That’s the cool thing about exercise and diabetes. Its effects last far longer than the time spent sweating. I spent only about 20 minutes on the bike today but it was definitely worth it.

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