Kettlebell Impaired glucose tolerance

[Pinkninja]

Hi everyone,
I am hoping you can give me a bit of advice for my teenage son who is inactive and overweight. He has always been at a healthy weight and always active until the age of about 14 and now he is 17. He spends all of his time after school and on weekends playing on his computer and once a week on a Sunday I convince him to get out and come for a bushwalk with me (usually takes about 30 minutes). I have been using a blood glucose monitor for the last three days and his glucose levels are sometimes in the pre diabetes range and sometimes normal. I am sticking to taking it after he has fasted (which seems healthy range) but 2 hours after eating sometimes goes high but not too high. It makes me think he might be heading down the path to type 2 diabetes which his grandfather has.
Anyway, thats some information that I will take to the doctor.
For now though I am hoping you can share with me whether you have or are going through a life with diabetes or high blood sugar and what exercises you do to maintain a healthy sugar level and also healthy weight?
As he is 17, I dont know how to approach the idea of him having to lose weight - and I dont know what type of exercise to suggest that a guy that age would enjoy. I personally like running, lifting weights and going bushwalking but when I ask what kind of exercise he would like to do he just says 'Dunno'.
Do you think lifting weights for about 20 minutes a day would be a reasonably good exercise? He does have about 10kg of excess weight to shift as well. I think for him it needs to be quick exercise that he could do around home and not too complicated or technical. But, as Im not a teenage boy I dont really know where to start.
Please, if there is anything helpful that you could pass on, I would be absolutely grateful.

 

[Dasho]

I feel that the main concerns, that of your son being overweight with blood sugar issues, would point to diet being more important than exercise. Do you have the option of removing 'bad' food from the household? Exercise is great, of course, but you can't out-exercise bad eating habits.

 

[Gravytrain]

Additional muscle will lower his blood sugar. A good barbell program would work great. Wendler, Westside, Stating Strength, Power to the people, or other Pavel plans ( a custom Plan strong plan would be fantastic).

As noted above, diet is critical.

Does he like martial arts? MMA or Bjj keeps people engaged if they enjoy that type of thing.

 

[Pinkninja]

I feel that the main concerns, that of your son being overweight with blood sugar issues, would point to diet being more important than exercise. Do you have the option of removing 'bad' food from the household? Exercise is great, of course, but you can't out-exercise bad eating habits.

Thank you Dasho. Yes I agree that diet plays an important role here. He uses a large cup and drinks cordial and chocolate milk in it which I feel is excessive. Perhaps I will make a small start by swapping his large cup (about 750ml) for a 300ml cup. Also, use cordial only at meals to start and water the rest of the day. At the same time, (I guess I am a bit of a softie) I dont want to completely control and hover over every thing he eats... and please correct me if I am talking nonsense when I say that lol! But you know what I mean hopefully. I read up a lot on prediabetes and the risk factors are sedentary lifestyle, sugary diet and genetics and he has all those. Exercise was always noted to be very important for managing the sugar levels and I guess thats why I came straight to Strongfirst. I thank you so much for giving me inspiration

 

[Pinkninja]

Additional muscle will lower his blood sugar. A good barbell program would work great. Wendler, Westside, Stating Strength, Power to the people, or other Pavel plans ( a custom Plan strong plan would be fantastic).

As noted above, diet is critical.

Does he like martial arts? MMA or Bjj keeps people engaged if they enjoy that type of thing.

We all did martail arts for a number of years until my sons and I got our black belts. My husband kept going after that but we stopped as it was getting expensive and my sons felt that they had achieved their goal (although my husband reminds me often that the black belt is only the start ;-) ). We have asked my son a few times about trying wrestling or something but I will try to push the conversation a bit more now as I think this issue of inactivity is getting serious and impacting his future. He is a big guy. About 6 foot 2 and broad so perhaps hed be good at wrestling?? I will also try your suggestion of barbell training at our gym. Hes a complex case my son. Hes incredibly shy and probably stubborn and I dont know if he just doesnt want me making suggestions but often he doesnt like what I tell him he should do...is that a guy thing or a teenage thing I dont know. I really appreciate you reaching out and helping me..

 

[vegpedlr]

S&S, the DMPM, or another daily dose sort of program. Daily efforts will yield great benefits for blood sugar. On the diet front, learn the principles of Calorie Density and lower the calorie density of his diet. This will both help with losing weight as well as maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

 

[offwidth]

Diabetes is a medical condition. My counsel would be to seek a medical opinion from a healthcare professional first.

 

[offwidth]

often he doesnt like what I tell him he should do

That's just a human thing...

 

[Dasho]

I dont want to completely control and hover over every thing he eats... and please correct me if I am talking nonsense when I say that lol!

As a father, I understand what you mean...if you control everything, it won't give them the CHANCE to make a good decision.

Another idea for exercise may be to find something that "meets him halfway." For instance, I spent a lot of my youth with video games and wasn't terribly active. It was hard for me to find a way to work out that I enjoyed. I ended up discovering Geocaching, which, if you're not familiar with it, is a sort of GPS treasure hunt where you find caches hidden among trails, fields, parks, and the like. It helped me get out more while still keeping those 'gaming' and 'technology' aspects that were the focus of most of my hobbies.

If it's fun, he'll be more likely to make it a habit. I wish you luck.

 

[Matts]

@Pinkninja Good luck! doing most things with a teenager can be a challenge. I'd encourage you to stick with it and don't give up- keep trying everything. Who knows what might work?

I respect @offwidth 's advice, and if he does already have full blown diabetes, he does need medical help. Be careful it's not the type that just wants to medicate and keep his diet, etc. the same. Try to get a holistic doctor who can treat him but try to get him as healthy as possible.

If he's still pre-diabetic, just keep loving him and trying as hard as you can to get him active any way you can and to improve his nutrition! You never know what sport or activity might click, or what nutritious foods he might develop a taste for.

It's tough growing up in these times when there are so many sedentary activities competing for their time. When I was young during vacation, my mom had a rule that we weren't allowed in the house during the daytime- she'd give us breakfast, and hope to see us at dinner time. If we came home for lunch, we ate at a picnic table in the back yard! Sounds harsh, but we played ball, hiked in canyons, rode bikes, etc all day and loved it. Of course, if we had internet and computer games back then, we probably would have spent the days sitting...

 

[Pinkninja]

S&S, the DMPM, or another daily dose sort of program. Daily efforts will yield great benefits for blood sugar. On the diet front, learn the principles of Calorie Density and lower the calorie density of his diet. This will both help with losing weight as well as maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.

thank you - yes we have started with a few changes today. Just halving quantities at first.
I appreciate your advice..

 

[Pinkninja]

Diabetes is a medical condition. My counsel would be to seek a medical opinion from a healthcare professional first.

Thanks offwidth. Yes we are currently seeking medical advice which is why I am monitoring my sons blood sugar levels for the next two days. We see the doctor next Tuesday. He has asked me to write down his results over a week and has already had blood tests. The last time we went to see him, his advice was lose weight and eat well. So the step for us now is to put that in to action and its not as easy as it sounds when you are dealing with a person who has to exercise and diet unwillingly. Its very different when you are at a point where you are prepared for changes, youre motivated and keen..

 

[Pinkninja]

As a father, I understand what you mean...if you control everything, it won't give them the CHANCE to make a good decision.

Another idea for exercise may be to find something that "meets him halfway." For instance, I spent a lot of my youth with video games and wasn't terribly active. It was hard for me to find a way to work out that I enjoyed. I ended up discovering Geocaching, which, if you're not familiar with it, is a sort of GPS treasure hunt where you find caches hidden among trails, fields, parks, and the like. It helped me get out more while still keeping those 'gaming' and 'technology' aspects that were the focus of most of my hobbies.

If it's fun, he'll be more likely to make it a habit. I wish you luck.

Thats sounds like a perfect idea for him. I will have to try and find out a bit about geocaching. Thanks for your understanding of the difficulties we have as parents. I am trying to do the best I can without doing everything for him and making all the choices for him. I want this to become a daily habit and something he will eventually appreciate and continue even when he leaves home. I dont want him to look back at this as a punishment or develop any kind of negative body issues so I am getting as much info as possible. Again, thank you.

 

[Pinkninja]

@Pinkninja Good luck! doing most things with a teenager can be a challenge. I'd encourage you to stick with it and don't give up- keep trying everything. Who knows what might work?

I respect @offwidth 's advice, and if he does already have full blown diabetes, he does need medical help. Be careful it's not the type that just wants to medicate and keep his diet, etc. the same. Try to get a holistic doctor who can treat him but try to get him as healthy as possible.

If he's still pre-diabetic, just keep loving him and trying as hard as you can to get him active any way you can and to improve his nutrition! You never know what sport or activity might click, or what nutritious foods he might develop a taste for.

It's tough growing up in these times when there are so many sedentary activities competing for their time. When I was young during vacation, my mom had a rule that we weren't allowed in the house during the daytime- she'd give us breakfast, and hope to see us at dinner time. If we came home for lunch, we ate at a picnic table in the back yard! Sounds harsh, but we played ball, hiked in canyons, rode bikes, etc all day and loved it. Of course, if we had internet and computer games back then, we probably would have spent the days sitting...

My Mum was like that too.

 

[Im out]

he doesnt like what I tell him he should do...is that a guy thing or a teenage thing I dont know.

That is a human thing. Not a teenage thing

Have you tried listing all the foods he could no longer eat as a diabetic ? People tend to get emotional over that one.

Maybe a side-job. Earning a few bucks after school and on saturday, plus more interaction with other people, and less playtime on the computer.......

S&S seems a nice option but he might get bored. Calisthenics, also easy to do at home. Maybe you could persuade him to try out a gym and lift heavy weights... with a friend.

 

[Pinkninja]

That is a human thing. Not a teenage thing

Have you tried listing all the foods he could no longer eat as a diabetic ? People tend to get emotional over that one.

Maybe a side-job. Earning a few bucks after school and on saturday, plus more interaction with other people, and less playtime on the computer.......

S&S seems a nice option but he might get bored. Calisthenics, also easy to do at home. Maybe you could persuade him to try out a gym and lift heavy weights... with a friend.

I havent gone through what he can and cant eat yet. 2 hours after each meal or after eating, we are taking a measure of his blood sugar with a little blood glucometer. The glucometer reading pretty much gives me a chance to talk to him about how the food he ate at lunch or morning tea or after dinner and whether the particular food made his blood sugar reading high or normal. So, he is starting to see for him self that if he has a chocolate drink or biscuits, 2 hours later when we measure, the blood sugar level comes out high which shocks him a bit. And today when he had a wholemeal sandwich with cheese and a drink of plain milk, his sugar level was within the healthy range. So, rather than go through a list of forbidden things, I am just letting it sink in for him to see that highly refined sugars can make him feel no good and are what he needs to avoid. Once he is convinced after seeing how it affects his levels, we can start looking at the sorts of things that fall into the categories of useful and eat often and not to eat too much of. I dont want to forbid anything just allow small amounts of them.
Great idea about getting a job - perhaps even pushing trolleys. He really is a very unmotivated, extremely people shy guy. And that is challenging at his age. He doesnt have a lot of close friends - I dont think he has much in common with most of the boys in his class. However I am hoping that once he gets a bit more active, he will gain some confidence and also spend a little less time in the virtual world.
You can probably see he is a bit of a complex case! Lol...
Ive spent a bit of time today looking at gyms - I personally use my own equipment at home but its quite rudimentary and spartan. I also run trails so no real gym equipment. I found a gym nearby that does boxing classes (kinda like circuit with some punching moves - partnered) which he may like and perhaps he might also develop a liking for the weights. I am just going to take him along to a quiet one and test the waters.
I really appreciate your tips and youve encouraged me to really think about how to go about this. Thank you. Your words are more helpful than you could know

 

[CraigW]

Read the Vertical Diet pdf by Stan Efferding.
Watch his Seminar on the Vertical Diet.
Listen to his Rants and Ten Talks on his Youtube channel.
Here are a few tips from the book;
1. Take brisk 10-min walks after meals.
2. Sleep 8-10 hours a day, include a nap if sleep was disturbed.
3. Add resistance training at least twice per week. - I'd suggest Deadlifting, Daily Dose Deadlift Plan | StrongFirst

 

[Sergej]

@Pinkninja :
for this age, good role models are very important. if he would witness an adult doing "cool" bodyweight/street workout things, he might be motivated to start training.

another option: GTG (remember the story about maxwells son doing rope climbs between playing computer games?)

another option: force him to exercise and forbid computer games. yes, sounds harsh. but his life may depend on it!!!

 

[North Coast Miller]

He really is a very unmotivated, extremely people shy guy. And that is challenging at his age. He doesnt have a lot of close friends - I dont think he has much in common with most of the boys in his class. However I am hoping that once he gets a bit more active, he will gain some confidence and also spend a little less time in the virtual world.
You can probably see he is a bit of a complex case! Lol...

He sounds like more and more typical unfortunately, and probably has plenty in common with many boys his age.

When I was his age I did a lot of biking and hiking while shooting bow and target rifle. I also developed a passion for Xcountry skiing. Somewhat ironically to this conversation, a lot of this had to do with getting out of the house so I could be alone!

But a lot of it was to get with my buddies, GFs, get into trouble. I had no car.

I was also big into paintball whenever I could get to it. Is great exercise and way more fun than any video game, whether inside or out.

The biggest factors for me and fitness at that age were for fun and self defense, a buddy's older brother was a very solid MA practitioner and after sparring him a few times I realized I had to elevate my game, so lots of jumprope, grip exercises, pushups. Not sure if this is any help.

I have same issue with my boy and being active, but he's still young enough I can lay down rules and he'll follow them - you have to spend equal time doing some other non-digital activity, no more than 1 hr/day on your tablet or game system.

 

[wespom9]

Kudos to you for taking an active role in your son's health. Him seeing the effects of food by understanding blood glucose readings is an awesome step. Thankfully you are seeking medical advice to help combat this.

Exercise is a fantastic way to control blood glucose. Both aerobic and resistance training have benefit. I love the idea of meeting him halfway by exploring activities similar to his current interests, as well as the idea of being a positive role odea of good habits. Best of luck and keep,is updated!