Insulin 101 for newbie’s by RazorRipped

This post is just a simple guide for first time insulin users to follow in a safe, and effective manner.

The type of insulin I’m talking about is Humalog

I urge you to invest in a glucometer. This will give you a close estimation of where your BG(Blood Glucose) levels are (Safe Zone 70-90,but independent upon each individual).You want to take in adequate amounts of carbs, but not too much. As the excess will be stored as fat. And yes, if you aren’t careful, you can add quite a bit of excess body fat. As you’ll see in my dosing example below, we drop carbs slightly as to not to acquire excess BF.

You need to know the signs of hypoglycemia:
The body's biochemical response to hypoglycemia usually starts when sugars are in the high/mid 60's. At this point, the liver releases its stores and the hormones such as glugagon, cortisol, growth hormone and epinephrine, all increase. In many patients, this process occurs without any clinical symptoms.
While there is some degree of variability among people, most will usually develop symptoms suggestive of hypoglycemia when blood glucose levels are lowered to the mid 50's. The first set of symptoms are called neuro-genic (or sympathetic) because they relate to the nervous system's response to hypoglycemia. People may experience any of the following;
• nervousness,
• sweating,
• intense hunger,
• trembling,
• weakness,
• palpitations, and
• often have trouble speaking
To educated yourself further here’s a link http://www.medicinenet.com/hypoglycemia/article.htm

Never go to sleep while slin is active, nor take hot showers, sauna’s, nor tan.


As you already might know. The basic rule is 10g waxy maize to 1 iu of Insulin. Now the trick is to get in tune with your body so to take advantage of the insulin spike, which allows nutrients to be shuttled to the muscle cells rapidly, doing so without taking in excess carbs which equates to body fat.



Below is a 30 day cycle(which is recommended) for Insulin. I don’t use Insulin on off days from the gym. Some like to use Insulin on off days in the morning to fight off the catabolic state we’re in upon awakening. I feel upon awakening in the morning a shake consisting of Whey/ Dextrose would be sufficient, or better yet, SOLID FOOD, to bring you out of this catabolic state from fasting over an 8 hour period while sleeping.


I’ll use the 5 day training split as an example here. That will give you 20 days “on” slin.



Day 1 : 5 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 2 : 5 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 3 : 5 iu slin/50g Dextrose


Congratulations!! You’ve survived thus far. I assume (hope) you’ve been monitoring your BG levels. You probably have noticed that you are in the higher range using 50g of Dextrose PWO. Now it’s time to drop the carbs slightly. Don’t fret. This should be more than ample amounts (of carbs) to get you through to your PWO meal.



Day 4 : 5 iu slin/40g Dextrose

Day 5 : 5 iu slin/40g Dextrose



At this point you should have a good idea of how you react with Insulin in terms of BG levels vs. carb intake .



Let’s up the dose……



Day 6 : 6 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 7 : 6 iu slin/50g Dextrose

By this point in time you should be feeling good( ie; more confident),but still respectful to Insulin. Let’s test the waters for 3 days to give you the feel of things. By that I mean we’ll drop the carb intake slightly so you can find a comfortable ratio in regards to iu’s vs. carbs per gram.



Day 8 : 6 iu slin/40g Dextrose

Day 9 : 6 iu slin/40g Dextrose

Day 10 : 6 iu slin/40g Dextrose


Now, the above ratio’s are safe and effective. You can stop right here and continue on for the next 10 days at the above doses/ratio’s. Or you can move forward slightly.



Day 11 : 7 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 12 : 7 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 13 : 7 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 14 : 7 iu slin/50g Dextrose

Day 15 : & iu slin/50g Dextrose

If you felt confident with the above protocol. You could experiment on days 14-15 and drop your Dextrose to 40g.If you do so, please monitor your BG levels every 15 minutes or so. And have glucose tabs, or another source of quick carbs handy (like orange juice) to stave off any possible signs of hypoglycemia. Don’t panic should this happen, just drink a glass of orange juice, or similar, and in 10 minutes the symptoms will have subsided.



Ok, on to your final week.



Day 16 : 8 iu slin/60g Dextrose

Day 17 : 8 iu slin/60g Dextrose

Day 18 : 8 iu slin/60g Dextrose

Day 19 : 8 iu slin/60g Dextrose

Day 20 : 8 iu slin/60g Dextrose


Congratulations! You just completed your first cycle/experience with Insulin in a safe an effective manner. I stopped at 8 iu’s, Being that is enough to get your feet wet with the drug. You can experiment later on. This was simply a guide.



One last thing. Guys ask “Which way is better?” To take your Whey/ Dextrose in one shake, or Dextrose first, and whey 15 minutes later”?

Bottom line is, it’s just preference. But I do prefer to take my Dextrose first with creatine, BCAA, Luecine, then 15 minutes later have a whey isolate shake.1.5 hrs later have your PWO meal.


~RR

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