Insulin 101 for newbies

[Pinnacle]

Humalog

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

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/waxy 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 Waxy maize

Day 2 : 5 iu slin/50g Waxy maize

Day 3 : 5 iu slin/50g Waxy maize


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 Waxy maize 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 Waxy maize

Day 5 : 5 iu slin/40g Waxy maize



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 Waxy maize
Day 7 : 6 iu slin/50g Waxy maize



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 Waxy maize

Day 9 : 6 iu slin/40g Waxy maize

Day 10 : 6 iu slin/40g Waxy maize



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 Waxy maize

Day 12 : 7 iu slin/50g Waxy maize
Day 13 : 7 iu slin/50g Waxy maize

Day 14 : 7 iu slin/50g Waxy maize

Day 15 : & iu slin/50g Waxy maize


If you felt confident with the above protocol. You could experiment on days 14-15 and drop your waxy 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 Waxy maize

Day 17 : 8 iu slin/60g Waxy maize
Day 18 : 8 iu slin/60g Waxy maize

Day 19 : 8 iu slin/60g Waxy maize

Day 20 : 8 iu slin/60g Waxy maize



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/ Waxy maize in one shake, or Waxy maize first, and whey 15 minutes later”?

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

~Pinnacle

[2bshredded]

Nice to see you around........Great post!

[oneshot]

where you been hiding out at lately? nice post

[PT]

nice post pinn.

[Pinnacle]

where you been hiding out at lately? nice post

Contest prep Bro. Time consuming. After the show I'll be around more


~Pinnacle

[PT]

when is the date pinn? i know its getting close so you got to be one grumpy SOB about now

[newKid2580]

hey my new cycle is test and d-bol how much kg can i expect to put on

[Gear]

hey my new cycle is test and d-bol how much kg can i expect to put on

Research then start a new thread please.

-Gear

[hugovsilva]

Sticky info.

[rhino1]

what the hell is waxy maize???

I take in 100gms protein of raw egg whites and 100gms carbohydrates/sugar of apple juice (0gms fat)

this is with 10units regular insulin pwo

is this ok?

[Pinnacle]

what the hell is waxy maize???

I take in 100gms protein of raw egg whites and 100gms carbohydrates/sugar of apple juice (0gms fat)

this is with 10units regular insulin pwo

is this ok?

Damn ..that's way to much protein and carbs, unless you're the size of Jay Cutler. How much body fat have you accumulated doing that?

[rhino1]

virtually none...i am loosing fat...

im 227 14% bf....

on prop 50mg ed/mast 50mg ed/tren 37.5mg ed

btw there is NO fat in egg whites or apple juice

[rhino1]

everything i have read says 10 gms carbs/protein per 1 iu insulin ...

what should i change?

[mjfit06]

you don't just get fat from fat. if the carbs have no where to go they spill and get stored as fat. protein can also store as fat I was on a really low carb diet and thought the more pro the better and I was like how am I getting fat. thank god you learn from you mistakes


also I have used slin and only took in 40g carbs and was taking 12iu you just haft to eat another 40 within 1 1/2 hours or just have it on hand. then another within 2 1/2 hours then your good you can start eating fat. I like slin but dont use it all the time just when I hit a wall.

[calfshot]

Pinn,

I see that you have set this up using humalog. What would need to be different using Humalin R?

[PT]

the only difference is time but if this is your 1st time with slin stick with humalog

[calfshot]

the only difference is time but if this is your 1st time with slin stick with humalog

Thanks PT. This isn't my first time, but I haven't used it too often. Every time that I have used it before, I used Humalin R for accessibility reasons.

I would do appx. 10g. carbs per iu right after injection and then make sure that I hit about 8g. carbs per iu appx. 2.5 hours later. Not sure if this was the right way to do it or not. I didn't have any problems with hypoglycemia sides, but maybe i was using too many carbs?

[reaper43230]

very nice and informative post

[HORSE~]

Great post Pin!!!!^^Bump^^

[Narkissos]

^^Agreed.

-CNS

[Narkissos]

Thanks PT. This isn't my first time, but I haven't used it too often. Every time that I have used it before, I used Humalin R for accessibility reasons.

I would do appx. 10g. carbs per iu right after injection and then make sure that I hit about 8g. carbs per iu appx. 2.5 hours later. Not sure if this was the right way to do it or not. I didn't have any problems with hypoglycemia sides, but maybe i was using too many carbs?

I prefer humulin-R.. but many advise against it.

It is technically more difficult to manipulate, but personally I find it easier.

The major issue would be the multiple spikes... as it peaks more than once.

Due to this, you need to revise your entire approach to dieting...consuming the majority of your daily carb-count around the pwo environment in most cases.

What i do is this:

pwo: 10/12 IUs slin... 4gr carb per IU; .25 gr protein per lb LBM.

At the second insulin spike i have a small pro/carb w/ the same amount of carbs, and low in fat...

2 hours after this i have a the same amount of protein as in the ppwo meal... and half the carb count of the meal which precedes it.


-CNS