BMI calculator

Body Mass Index Calculator

Enter your height: metres inches
Enter your weight: kilograms pounds

Your BMI is: ?

This means you are: ?

Strength Training Exercise

Strength Training

Strength training (also called resistance training) makes your body more sensitive to insulin and can lower blood glucose. It helps to maintain and build strong muscles and bones, reducing your risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures.

The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn – even when your body is at rest.

Preventing muscle loss by strength training is also the key to maintaining an independent lifestyle as you age.

We Recommend: doing some type of strength training at least 2 times per week in addition to aerobic activity.

Below are examples of strength training activities:

Weight machines or free weights at the gym
Using resistance bands
Lifting light weights or objects like canned goods or water bottles at home
Calisthenics or exercises that use your own body weight to work your muscles (examples are pushups, sit ups, squats, lunges, wall-sits and planks)
Classes that involve strength training
Other activities that build and keep muscle like heavy gardening
There are other types of activity that you can add to your fitness routine. Learn more about activity throughout the day, stretching and balance exercises.

Aerobic exercise

Types of exercises.

Two types of physical activity are most important for managing diabetes: aerobic exercise and strength training.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise helps your body use insulin better. It makes your heart and bones strong, relieves stress, improves blood circulation, and reduces your risk for heart disease by lowering blood glucose and blood pressure and improving cholesterol levels.

We Recommend: Aiming for 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise at least 5 days a week or a total of 150 minutes per week. Spread your activity out over at least 3 days during the week and try not to go more than 2 days in a row without exercising.

Note: Moderate intensity means that you are working hard enough that you can talk, but not sing, during the activity. Vigorous intensity means you cannot say more than a few words without pausing for a breath during the activity.

Get Started

If you haven't been very active recently, you can start out with 5 or 10 minutes a day. Then, increase your activity sessions by a few minutes each week. Over time, you'll see your fitness improve, and you'll find that you're able to do more.

If you are just starting out, you may want to check out our starting walking plan.

Find the Time

If your busy schedule doesn't allow you to exercise for a 30-minute period during the day, you have the option to break it up into bouts of 10 minutes or more. Research has shown that the health benefits are similar when you do this!

For example, you might take a brisk 10-minute walk after each meal. Or you could try doing 15 minutes of aerobics in the morning before work and another 15 minutes when you get home.

If you are trying to lose weight and keep it off, most people need to do closer to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day.

Below are some examples of aerobic activities:

Brisk walking (outside or inside on a treadmill)
Bicycling/Stationary cycling indoors
Dancing
Low-impact aerobics
Swimming or water aerobics
Playing tennis
Stair climbing
Jogging/Running
Hiking
Rowing
Ice-skating or roller-skating
Cross-country skiing
Moderate-to-heavy gardening

Exercise

Exercise, or physical activity, includes anything that gets you moving, such as walking, dancing, or working in the yard. Regular physical activity is important for everyone, but it is especially important for people with diabetes and those at risk for diabetes.

That doesn't mean you need to run a marathon or bench-press 300 pounds. The goal is to get active and stay active by doing things you enjoy, from gardening to playing tennis to walking with friends. Wondering how much activity you should be doing and what your options are?

Here are some ideas to help you get moving and start making exercise part of your daily routine.

Exercise

Exercise, or physical activity, includes anything that gets you moving, such as walking, dancing, or working in the yard. Regular physical activity is important for everyone, but it is especially important for people with diabetes and those at risk for diabetes.

That doesn't mean you need to run a marathon or bench-press 300 pounds. The goal is to get active and stay active by doing things you enjoy, from gardening to playing tennis to walking with friends. Wondering how much activity you should be doing and what your options are?

Here are some ideas to help you get moving and start making exercise part of your daily routine.

Emergency

Tips for Emergency Preparedness

We have always needed to be ready for emergencies. Wherever you live, there is the chance of something happening to disrupt your daily life, whether it's a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, or a blizzard.

Recent concerns about terrorist attacks have simply increased our awareness of the need to be prepared if a disaster strikes.

Have a Plan

Everyone is now advised to have a plan in place in the case of an emergency, and people with diabetes must consider proper diabetes care when they make emergency plans.

Emergency Supplies

Consider storing three days worth of diabetes supplies, which, depending on how you take care of your diabetes, could include oral medication, insulin, insulin delivery supplies, lancets, extra batteries for your meter and/or pump, and a quick-acting source of glucose. You may also want to have an extra glucagon emergency kit.

All these items should be kept in an easy-to-identify container, and stored in a location that is easy to get to in an emergency.

Emergency Contacts

Your emergency supply kit should also contain a list of emergency contacts and, if you are a parent of a child in school or daycare, physician's orders that may be on file with your child's school or day care provider. As always, it is a good idea to wear medical identification that will enable colleagues, school staff members, or emergency medical personnel to identify and address your medical needs.

If you are a parent of a child with diabetes, it is important that your child's school has clearly identified the school staff members who will assist your child in the event of an emergency evacuation.

For those who are away from home, consider informing your colleagues, friends, and family members about your diabetes and where your emergency supply kit is kept.

Taking a few minutes right now to gather supplies and inform those around you about your diabetes, may make a world of difference in maintaining blood glucose control and staying healthy under stressful circumstances.

Oral Drugs

The first treatment for type 2 diabetes blood glucose (sugar) control is often meal planning, weight loss, and exercising.

Sometimes these measures are not enough to bring blood glucose levels down near the normal range. The next step is taking a medicine that lowers blood glucose levels.

Only people with type 2 diabetes can use pills to manage their diabetes, people with type 1 diabetes must use insulin.

These pills work best when used with meal planning and exercise. This way you have three therapies working together to lower your blood glucose levels.

Diabetes pills don't work for everyone. Although most people find that their blood glucose levels go down when they begin taking pills, their blood glucose levels may not go near the normal range.

Will They Help?

What are the chances that diabetes pills will work for you? Your chances are low if you have had diabetes for more than 10 years or already take more than 20 units of insulin each day. On the other hand, your chances are good if you developed diabetes recently or have needed little or no insulin to keep your blood glucose levels near normal.

Diabetes pills sometimes stop working after a few months or years. The cause is often unknown. This doesn't mean your diabetes is worse. When this happens, oral combination therapy can help.

Even if diabetes pills do bring your blood glucose levels near the normal range, you may still need to take insulin if you have a severe infection or need surgery. Pills may not be able to control blood glucose levels during these stressful times when blood glucose levels shoot up.

Also, if you plan to become pregnant, you will need to control your diabetes with diet and exercise or with insulin. It is not safe for pregnant women to take oral diabetes medications.

There is no "best" pill or treatment for type 2 diabetes. You may need to try more than one type of pill, combination of pills, or pills plus insulin.

There are different types, or classes, of drugs that work in different ways to lower blood glucose (blood sugar) levels:

·         Sulfonylureas

·         Biguanides

·         Meglitinides

·         Thiazolidinediones

·         DPP-4 inhibitors

·         SGLT2 Inhibitors

·         Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors

·         Bile Acid Sequestrants

Sulfonylureas

Sulfonylureas stimulate the beta cells of the pancreas to release more insulin. Sulfonylurea drugs have been in use since the 1950s. Chlorpropamide (Diabinese) is the only first-generation sulfonylurea still in use today. The second generation sulfonylureas are used in smaller doses than the first-generation drugs. There are three second-generation drugs: glipizide (Glucotrol and Glucotrol XL), glyburide (Micronase, Glynase, and Diabeta), and glimepiride (Amaryl). These drugs are generally taken one to two times a day, before meals. All sulfonylurea drugs have similar effects on blood glucose levels, but they differ in side effects, how often they are taken, and interactions with other drugs.

Biguanides

Metformin (Glucophage) is a biguanide. Biguanides lower blood glucose levels primarily by decreasing the amount of glucose produced by the liver. Metformin also helps to lower blood glucose levels by making muscle tissue more sensitive to insulin so glucose can be absorbed. It is usually taken two times a day. A side effect of metformin may be diarrhea, but this is improved when the drug is taken with food.

Meglitinides

Meglitinides are drugs that also stimulate the beta cells to release insulin. Repaglinide (Prandin) and nateglinide (Starlix) are meglitinides. They are taken before each of three meals.

Because sulfonylureas and meglitinides stimulate the release of insulin, it is possible to have hypoglycemia (low blood glucose levels).

You should know that alcohol and some diabetes pills may not mix. Occasionally, chlorpropamide and other sulfonylureas, can interact with alcohol to cause vomiting, flushing or sickness. Ask your doctor if you are concerned about any of these side effects.

Thiazolidinediones

Rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (ACTOS) are in a group of drugs called thiazolidinediones. These drugs help insulin work better in the muscle and fat and also reduce glucose production in the liver. The first drug in this group, troglitazone (Rezulin), was removed from the market because it caused serious liver problems in a small number of people. So far rosiglitazone and pioglitazone have not shown the same problems, but users are still monitored closely for liver problems as a precaution. Both drugs appear to increase the risk for heart failure in some individuals, and there is debate about whether rosiglitazone may contribute to an increased risk for heart attacks. Both drugs are effective at reducing A1C and generally have few side effects.

DPP-4 Inhibitors

A new class of medications called DPP-4 inhibitors help improve A1C without causing hypoglycemia. They work by by preventing the breakdown of a naturally occurring compound in the body, GLP-1. GLP-1 reduces blood glucose levels in the body, but is broken down very quickly so it does not work well when injected as a drug itself. By interfering in the process that breaks down GLP-1, DPP-4 inhibitors allow it to remain active in the body longer, lowering blood glucose levels only when they are elevated. DPP-4 inhibitors do not tend to cause weight gain and tend to have a neutral or positive effect on cholesterol levels. Sitagliptin (Januvia), saxagliptin (Onglyza), linagliptin (Tradjenta), alogliptin (Nesina) are the DPP-4 inhibitors currently on the market in the US.

SGLT2 Inhibitors

Glucose in the bloodstream passes through the kidneys, where it can either be excreted or reabsorbed.   Sodium-glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) works in the kidney to reabsorb glucose, and a new class of medication, SGLT2 inhibitors, block this action, causing excess glucose to be eliminated in the urine. Canagliflozin (Invokana) and dapagliflozin (Farxiga) are SGLT2 inhibitors that have recently been approved by the FDA to treat type 2 diabetes.  Because they increase glucose levels in the urine, side effects can include urinary tract and yeast infections. 

Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors

Acarbose (Precose) and miglitol (Glyset) are alpha-glucosidase inhibitors. These drugs help the body to lower blood glucose levels by blocking the breakdown of starches, such as bread, potatoes, and pasta in the intestine. They also slow the breakdown of some sugars, such as table sugar. Their action slows the rise in blood glucose levels after a meal. They should be taken with the first bite of a meal. These drugs may have side effects, including gas and diarrhea.

Bile Acid Sequestrants

The bile acid sequestrant (BAS) colesevelam (Welchol) is a cholesterol-lowering medication that also reduces blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes.  BASs help remove cholesterol from the body, particularly LDL cholesterol, which is often elevated in people with diabetes.  The medications reduce LDL cholesterol by binding with bile acids in the digestive system; the body in turn uses cholesterol to replace the bile acids, which lowers cholesterol levels. The mechanism by which colesevelam lowers glucose levels is not well understood. Because BASs are not absorbed into the bloodstream, they are usually safe for use by patients who may not be able to use other medications because of liver problems. Because of the way they work, side effects of BASs can include flatulence and constipation.

Oral combination therapy

Because the drugs listed above act in different ways to lower blood glucose levels, they may be used together. For example, a biguanide and a sulfonylurea may be used together. Many combinations can be used. Though taking more than one drug can be more costly and can increase the risk of side effects, combining oral medications can improve blood glucose control when taking only a single pill does not have the desired effects. Switching from one single pill to another is not as effective as adding another type of diabetes medicine.