Month 1-3: Monthly Appointments Begin

Your medical team will become your steadfast companions in the early stages of pregnancy. Expect monthly appointments, where they will monitor your progress and address any concerns. In this post we’ll cover what appointments to expect during pregnancy with type 1 diabetes! During this time, you’ll typically undergo:

• Ultrasounds: These visually check your baby’s development and ensure everything is on track.
  
• Genetic Screening (Optional): You may be offered genetic screening, but the choice to proceed is entirely yours. It can provide valuable insights into your baby’s health.
  
• Blood Work: Regular blood tests help keep a close eye on your glucose levels and overall health. If you opt for the NIPT test around week ten, you will also have the opportunity to find out the sex of the baby if you want to.
  

Week #20: Anatomy Scan (1-1.5 Hours)

Around the halfway point, you’ll experience a more extensive appointment. The anatomy scan, lasting approximately 1-1.5 hours, offers a detailed look at your baby’s development. During this scan, they will look at all of the organs. NOTE: This doesn’t happen to everyone, but I could not lay on my back for too long during this scan because I started feeling faint. Don’t be alarmed if this happens. Be sure to let the technician know, and they will have you take breaks and lie on your left side until you feel better. This can happen because your uterus can put pressure against blood vessels, restricting blood flow to your heart.

Week 20/24: Growth Scan (Starting Monthly)

As your pregnancy progresses, monthly growth scans become routine. These scans ensure your baby is developing as expected and provide important data for your medical team (and you).

Week 24: Fetal Echo Scan

At week 24, expect a fetal echo scan. This specialized ultrasound examines your baby’s heart, ensuring it’s healthy and functioning optimally.

Starting Week 32: Weekly Antenatal Scans

You’ll have weekly antenatal scans in the final stretch of your pregnancy. These frequent check-ins monitor your and your baby’s well-being, providing peace of mind as you approach the big day.

Every 2 Weeks: Appointments with your Endocrinology Team

Managing type 1 diabetes during pregnancy is a delicate balance. Most likely, you’ll meet with your Endocrinology (Endo) team every two weeks. During these appointments, they will assess and adjust your basal settings, ensuring your glucose levels remain stable and safe for you and your baby.

Conclusion:

Navigating pregnancy with Type 1 diabetes demands careful planning and regular medical attention. Your appointments are not just routine visits but milestones on your journey toward a healthy pregnancy. Embrace them as opportunities to ensure the well-being of both you and your little one. You can confidently stride towards a beautiful and healthy pregnancy with your dedicated medical team.

Have questions? Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you! Head over to Instagram and say hello

The post Your Appointment Roadmap: Pregnancy and Type 1 Diabetes appeared first on More Than Just a Type.

Pregnancy It isn’t always something you can plan, but for those of you who are trying or thinking you’d like to try within the next year, there are a few things to think about in advance that can help your pregnancy go a lot smoother:

Your body composition right now & your blood sugar control (standard deviation, TIR (time in range), A1C)

These are two things that in my opinion, should be the top priority. I’m not a doctor, but my doctors have told me for the last 6 years that “I am in the perfect place should I decide to have kids”. And, I can thank my body composition, diet, and exercise for this which all give the outcome of great blood sugar control.

Why is blood sugar control even more important during pregnancy for women living with type 1 diabetes?

Quoted from the American Diabetes Association: “Because crucial development happens so early, talking to your health care provider at least a few months before you start trying to conceive is one of the most important things you can do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. The reason: If your AIC is 10 percent or higher, you have a higher chance of having a baby with a malformation such as a heart, kidney, brain or spinal cord defect. Get your blood glucose (also known as blood sugar) in target range before you conceive, however, and that changes. If your A1C is 6.5 percent or less, you’re no more likely to have a baby with a birth defect than a woman without diabetes.”

In addition, having prolonged high blood glucose during pregnancy can result in a much larger baby at birth. For Blood Sugar targets during pregnancy, check this post.

Thankfully, for those who plan ahead and make blood sugar control a priority, with the right diet and exercise regimen, it doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems.

Body Composition

The leaner you are, and the more muscle you have, the more insulin sensitive you are. When you have lower body fat percentage it becomes a lot easier to control overall sugars in my experience. 

I’m not always my leanest, though. When it comes to my background in bodybuilding the cycle goes a little something like this: Increase caloric intake and volume at the gym (eat more, lift more, simply put), when I’m in this phase my blood sugars naturally increase, thus does my overall insulin quantity and it takes a little more to keep my sugars in range (for me), then, once you gain muscle mass you cut weight and get lean (lower caloric intake and overall volume at the gym + increase cardio). When I’m in this phase my blood sugars naturally are a lot lower, so I have to decrease my overall basal. Because I am eating less daily, my blood sugars are more predictable/easier to manage without thinking too much. Diet and exercise (exercise specifically for me) are my #1 when it comes to managing my overall sugars, because whether I am cutting or gaining weight lifting weights and walking keeps my sugars in check and my insulin sensitivity higher than if I am sedentary. So, if you have some weight to lose focusing on that aspect can make it a lot easier to keep your sugars in range pre-pregnancy and set a good foundation for BG management when you are pregnant. If you want guidance for weight loss you can check out my Fat Loss for Type 1’s program and follow exactly what I do here. Suppose you don’t have weight to lose. In that case, incorporating a solid weight lifting and cardio regimen will help increase insulin sensitivity and give you the best blood sugar management to get your body prepped and at its healthiest pre-pregnancy. 

Exercise

Even though both diet and exercise are crucial and go hand in hand, let’s start with exercise because I find that exercise is a core component to keeping my blood sugar in range with an A1C in the 5’s for over 6 years. Whatever you do for exercise, make sure that it’s something you enjoy. The most important aspect of any weight-lifting program is to focus on progressive overload. This means that you are increasing volume with every workout. Progressive overload is key. If you hit the gym without a proper plan and you’re just going through the motions, you’re not creating the change that’s needed to build muscle (and no, you will never look like a man no matter how heavy you lift because men and women have different hormones and unless you’re taking growth hormones you will never look like a man). Muscle is what’s needed to increase insulin sensitivity because the bigger muscle you have the bigger tank you have to store excess glucose. Progressive O/L is a must! If you want workout plans that focus on progressive O/L you can download them within my Thrive Community on the Honey Health App.

Diet

The things you eat regularly are extra important when it comes to keeping your glucose in range as much as possible. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to cut out certain foods or avoid eating certain things, it just means that you will need to learn to dose for these things accordingly to try and avoid a spike in glucose. And, you won’t always get it right, and that’s okay. When we’re talking about A1C, TIR, and standard deviation, we are looking at your targets over a longer time frame, not just a few days. So don’t beat yourself up if you have a few wonky days when the rest of the days are great. If I’m going out to a restaurant or eating something I don’t normally do, I like to use MyFitnessPal to help me get an estimate of the carb, fat, and protein so I can inject my doses more accurately for those foods. I generally follow an 80/20 rule. Eating 80% mindfully and 20% treats that I wouldn’t normally. What does it mean to eat more mindfully and keep sugars more stabilized? It means going to the grocery store and reading labels. Pick the carbs that contain a higher content of fiber, like choose bread that contains a higher content of fiber versus the one with less, because fiber has little to no effect on blood glucose and will increase it at a slower pace. Choose lean meats/proteins, and eat veggies and high-fiber fruits like frozen berries. Focus on getting in enough protein per day and stay hydrated!! Implementing these habits will help you because your diet will be similar during pregnancy. You’ll want to eat foods that raise blood sugar more slowly so you can avoid those sudden spikes, think high fiber, and pair your carbs with fat and protein. 

When you focus on these three components, you will automatically find your blood sugar becomes much easier to manage. And the beautiful thing is all of these components go hand in hand, meaning you cannot achieve one without achieving the other. You cannot eat lower calories and make mindful food choices without automatically lowering your body fat percentage, and when you decrease your body fat percentage, you increase insulin sensitivity. When you add progressive overload training to that, you burn more calories and build more muscle while dramatically increasing insulin sensitivity. Cardio is the icing on the cake: you can go for a brisk 10-20 min walk to lower blood glucose and burn extra calories, which doesn’t just help your weight loss efforts if that’s your goal, but it helps your body stay healthy as a whole. We can curse diabetes for making life more difficult, or we can find gratitude for forcing us to take care of our bodies in a way that most people don’t. And, when you prep your body for pregnancy and start your pregnancy off in a healthy way, your pregnancy as a person living with type 1 diabetes becomes no more high risk than anyone else’s. That’s my opinion. It doesn’t need to be overwhelming; start where you can and gradually increase what you’re doing until you reach your goal.

The post Top 3 Things To Consider If You Want To Get Pregnant appeared first on More Than Just a Type.

The Fallacy of “Good” and “Bad” Foods:

When it comes to weight loss, labeling foods as “good” or “bad” can be misleading. While whole foods offer more nutritional value than processed alternatives, the key to fat loss lies in understanding calories and energy balance. It’s important to recognize that sustainability, rather than food restriction, is what ultimately determines success.

Tweaking Your Approach:

Rather than completely eliminating certain foods from your diet, consider making mindful adjustments. Start by determining your daily calorie requirements for maintaining a deficit, which is essential for fat loss. Instead of completely cutting out pizza or ice cream, be more conscious of the portion sizes and balance them with nourishing options such as leafy greens, veggies, and protein-rich foods. By doing so, you can feel satiated while still enjoying occasional treats.

Lifestyle Change over Temporary Diet:

To achieve sustainable weight loss, it’s crucial to view your journey as a lifestyle change rather than just another diet plan. By integrating your dietary choices seamlessly into your daily life, you eliminate the need for periodic indulgences that can lead to weight regain. Avoid the “diet starts Monday” mentality and instead focus on long-term consistency and balance.

Embracing Imperfections:

Weight loss is not a linear process, and it’s essential to recognize that occasional slip-ups are a natural part of the journey. One or two “mess-up” days won’t derail your progress or undo your hard work. Remember to zoom out and look at the big picture—a few off days won’t overshadow your overall achievements. Just as blood sugar management fluctuates, yet the average remains crucial, weight loss success is determined by sustained effort over time.

The Power of Resilience:

Similar to managing blood sugar or building a successful project, weight loss requires continuous effort and resilience. When faced with setbacks, the key is to pick yourself up and keep pushing forward, rather than succumbing to self-doubt or giving up entirely. Your understanding and knowledge empower you to overcome obstacles and achieve remarkable weight loss results.

Conclusion:

Your weight loss journey doesn’t have to be a sacrifice-filled struggle. By embracing a sustainable lifestyle change, rather than an unsustainable diet, you can achieve long-lasting success. Remember that moderation, consistency, and resilience are the cornerstones of your transformation. So, let go of the “good” and “bad” food labels, focus on energy balance, and create a sustainable path towards a healthier, happier you.

Want to lose weight? Here are some tools that can help:

• FREE Audio Training & eBook: 12 actionable steps to lose weight with type 1 diabetes!
• Fat Loss for Type 1’s program: the method that’s helped hundreds of people successfully achieve and maintain their weight loss goal

The post The Weight Loss Journey: Embracing a Sustainable Lifestyle appeared first on More Than Just a Type.