Questions about using insulin

[keninishna]

I know that body builders on a bulking diet eat post workout shakes high in carbs to cause an insulin spike to help store the protien they just consumed. Bbers who use insulin HAVE to take carbs directly after injecting to avoid hypoglycemia along with some protien. If your a non diabetic why the **** would you want take insulin when your body makes it for you?? The ONLY reason I could see a body builder wanting to inject insulin is if they were on a rediculous bulking diet of like 7k+ calories a day and didn't want to overstress thier pancreas to produce insulin with the surplus of carbs and calories they are taking and prevent them from becoming a type 2 diabetic. Maybe I'm just not understanding something like a bodybuilder who takes in like 50 grams of carbs and 60 grams of protien will get less of an insulin spike than if a bodybuilder who ate the same but took 5 ui of insulin right before he consumed the shake? I'm a type 1 diabetic and I've noticed that protien helps out in controlling my glucose levels so maybe I can inject more insulin without going hypoglycemic if I'm eating 1g protien per pound of bodywieght a day? I've read about diabetic body builders using steroids and they say thier glucose levels pretty much double while on cycle and therefore they have to use twice as much insulin just to keep thier levels in check. Same thing with teenage diabetics have trouble keeping thier glucose controlled because of thier hormone levels. One of the reasons test is probly so anabolic because your insulin output gets doubled while your carb intake can stay the same. So are the excess glucose levels coming from fat turning into glucose(?) and then later getting shuttled into muscle by insulin? I should have picked up a book on endocrinology before asking these questions but I'm sure theres a bored soul out there who can satisfy my curiosity.

 

[ironviking]

I've asked the same question a couple of times to a few bodybuilders: can they tell me that using exogenous insulin actually helped them? Only about 3 said they could actually tell a difference and one was an idiot who was mixing it in his protein shake yes actually drinking it.
I'm not saying injecting insulin doesn't work but right now I'm on Bobo's plan and I'm eating way more carbs than ever and due to timing and type of carb Im taking a lot less insulin than in previous months.(about 30% less) and I'm making some decent gains.

BTW when Im on cycle my BG levels usually are easier to keep in check maybe using a little more insulin but definitely not double.

 

[keninishna]

Hmm.. I usually keep my carbs even with the amount of protien I take in. I'ma try rearranging my diet so I take in 1/3rd more carbs post workout than protien and maybe even 50% more if I dont see anything different. So like protien shake with 50g whey and something like 80g carbs postworkout and of course I'll be taking 10-12 ui humalog with it. Bobo's training program sounds pretty good I'm tempted to cough up the money to see what he recomends for me.

 

[ironviking]

Protein does stimulate glucagon so sometimes you may need to take more insulin when increasing protein. I use a sliding scale type of therapy which has me taking 6-7 shots a day and I think that is why Bobo's plan works so well for me. I just had my HBA1c checked and it is 5.9 that is better than it has been in close to a year.

I still cant say that taking extra insulin would help in bodybuilding endeavors but I look at the health aspects more these days.