Q. Age

 

28

 

Q. Where are you from?

 

Belfast

 

 

Q. What do you do with your time? (Job, Pastimes, Family life etc.)

 

I work as a heating engineer for Carillon energy services, working on gas, oil and plumbing jobs and have done for 12 years

 

 

Q. Tell us about your diagnosis? How did you know something was wrong?

 

I knew something was wrong when, whether I was alone or working, my heart would be beating very fast, I became very anxious and would go into a cold sweat. I went to my local doctors to see what was wrong, they said it was anxiety and gave me anxiety tablets. I went back a week later with the symptoms even worse, they just upped the dosage without further tests, again one week went on and it had gotten worse, I was drinking loads of water, (although that wasn’t unusual for me), I became extremely weak and was unable to work, because I felt weak/tired; I would then buy sugary energy drinks as I thought they would help…little did I know! So it then came to the stage where my vision was extremely blurry so I rang in sick to work and was going to go to hospital but went to see my mum first, when she just happened to be in my granny’s, who had only been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a few weeks. When I described how I was feeling it all clicked together and my granda told me to use the blood glucose tester and there, lo and behold, it came up a code. When I referred to it in the book it explained that I needed to go to hospital asap! My bloods were low 40s and said I was close to going into diabetic coma.

 

 

Q. Pens or Pump? Any preference?

 

Pens I use are mainly Novorapid and Lantus at night, so not yet trying any other forms of insulin as I’m happy with how I get on with these pens

 

  

Q. How often do you check your blood glucose?

 

Quite often! Probably between 10-15 times daily

 

 

Q. Recent A1C?

 

Recent A1C was 7.1

 

 

Q. How often do you train?

 

I train 5-6 times per week.

 

 

Q. What is your daily calorie and macro breakdown? Outline a typical day’s diet for us?

 

Typical day of eating would work out between 3000-3300 calories, in and around 190 protein, 400-500 carbs and 60-70 fat

Breakfast typically try to have something small and fast as long as I can, so would have a protein/oats bar

Lunch would typically be low calorie bread (Brennan’s be good) with hard and low fat cheese, 8 rounds of bread, probably my biggest meal of the day

Dinner would be packet of basmati rice, tuna in brine and red sauce

Then I would snack a lot as I find it easier to control my bloods, snacks would include a second protein bar, weetos, weetabix, cheerios or coco pops cereal with unsweetened almond milk, chocolate or other flavoured rice cakes and oats

 

 

Q. What food do you love, but messes with your blood sugar the most?

 

Foods I love which mess with my blood sugars the most would be sugary cereal in large amounts, pizza and ice cream as it can take quite a while for the carbs to kick in.

 

 

Q. Current workout split?

 

Current workout split is Monday – legs, Tuesday – chest, Wednesday – back, Thursday – rest or just some cardio – Friday shoulders – Saturday arms, Thursday or Friday can switch between which day is restday.

 

 

Q. Have you any body composition or performance goals over the next 12 months?

 

Body goals for the next 12 months is going to be focused or wider shoulders and wider back! I feel my chest is my strong point and need to work on shoulders and back to enhance the v taper look

 

 

Q. 3 Things diabetes has taught you in life?

 

3 things having type 1 diabetes has taught me would be to love the life you have, no matter what condition you have or situation you’re in, as no one person is the same but lots of people can have the same attitude towards enjoying life

Second thing would be to track your foods and for me, to maintain a diet/lifestyle that can be a routine which helps maintain good sugar levels and to not be too restrictive in what you can eat and to just focus more on timing of certain foods, which you know will affect your sugars the most

Last thing would be that it has actually taught me to be more open to people that I let into my life as it is crucial that people close to me understand my condition and what to do if I’m ever in a situation where I’m hyperglycaemic or hypoglycaemic

 

 

Q. Top 3 tips for managing diabetes?

 

Top 3 tips for managing diabetes would be to track your food, i.e. Myfitnesspal

Have a routine in food and in life

Try to always have a positive mindset, nothing worse than if you aren’t motivated or don’t feel positive, than eating your way into high blood sugars causing you to constantly feel bad and down.

 

 

Q. Biggest fitness myth dispelled?

 

Biggest fitness myth would be meal timing and having to eat 6 small meals per day

Basically consistency is key, each person is different but if each person is consistent, results will come

 

 

Q. What is the single best piece of mind-set advice you could give someone who’s been newly diagnosed with diabetes?

 

Advice to someone newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes would be to stay calm, learn about food, and in particular carbs!, as once you start to learn this, every day it will gradually get easier and easier.