How Much Insulin is Too Much Insulin?

[bwandrade]

Following the same idea of another thread about Test, let me ask here: How much insulin do you guys think is too much? Where is the limit?

To give a little context let me create this hypothetical scenario:

Let's say that I've been monitoring my blood glucose for a while and know exacly how much slin I need to put it within a normal range (and with which carbs). I am not adding any more carbs than what's already in my diet and will consume half of it after my workouts. For the sake of example, let's say that it's 300g of carbs, would be ok to take 30ui of insulin after the workout with it? Where is the point of diminsh results? I am curious about what you guys think.

Warning
Before someone have any ideas about taking a ton of insulin:

Insulin can be fatal, I am only asking this for educational purposes, I am not encouraging anyone to take huge amounts of insulin, it's not something you should mess with if you don't know what you are doing, so:

1) Buy a glucometer and keep of your blood glucose in check.
2) Always start with a low dose and see how your body reacts. (1iu/10g of carbs is considered a safe starting point)
3) Always have some kind of fast digesting carbs nearby in case you start to feel any kind of hypoglycemia symptoms.
4) Don't take insulin before going to bed because you could go hypo in your sleep and it will be bad.
5) Fats slow down the absorption of carbs, so, while it's not a problem in itself, you should be carefull because any extra fat with your carbs can make the same amount that was ok before, make you go hypo.

[Livinlean]

Insulin is a bit tricky in regards to point of diminishing returns. Either you get fat from eating too many carbs or die from not eating enough.

As far as taking 30iu post workout with 300g of carbs goes, sure that's fine. Would I do it? No. I would much rather split that into 15iu shots and take it alongside 2 separate meals.

Ideally I would split that into 10iu with my 3 largest meals which is actually something I have done with success. Taking a larger amount of insulin just makes me extremely tired and ruins my day. Not to mention it is much harder to go hypo on 10-15 than it is with 30.

[bwandrade]

Insulin is a bit tricky in regards to point of diminishing returns. Either you get fat from eating too many carbs or die from not eating enough.

As far as taking 30iu post workout with 300g of carbs goes, sure that's fine. Would I do it? No. I would much rather split that into 15iu shots and take it alongside 2 separate meals.

Ideally I would split that into 10iu with my 3 largest meals which is actually something I have done with success. Taking a larger amount of insulin just makes me extremely tired and ruins my day. Not to mention it is much harder to go hypo on 10-15 than it is with 30.

Those are some good points. The interesting thing (and kinda dangerous IMO) is that I've never had any kind of colateral using slin, never went hypo or felt tired, if I wasn't measuring my blood glucose I would say that it wasn't working. Someone else in the same situation could take it lightly and end up taking too much slin.

Anyway, I think I will have to try some protocols myself and see which results I get, like: If you maintain a reasonably caloric surplus (to keep you from getting too fat), is it more efficient to spread your carbs (and slin) through the day or take it peri-workout? Or: Keeping the same calorie intake would you have better results if you change your macro split and eat more carbs to take more slin? Those are questions that you have to test or ask someone that already did it before, because it takes some time to try it.

So many questions, lol, I hope more people share their experience with Insulin so we get more data about it.

[Bonaparte]

The main issue I see is that you will become hypokalemic, as insulin draws potassium into the cell with it.
And when we're talking about large doses of fast-acting insulin, you won't be able to accurately counter it without IV potassium titration, which obviously isn't going to happen at home.

So when you develop muscle weakness, cramps, and palpitations, you've taken too much insulin.

[charger69]

I actually do what LL recommended. 15 pre, 15 post. 2nd workout is just pre because it is later in the evening.
If you compete or change your diet, watch out.
I was pre contest and using slin to get cut. I was using 2 iu pre cardio and would go hypo.
I stopped that quick.


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[Ashop]

I think that most people should just leave insulin alone especially the recreational type bodybuilder.

[bwandrade]

I think that most people should just leave insulin alone especially the recreational type bodybuilder.

I agree, there isn't much room for errors and people usually are impatient and end up screwing things up when try to do too much too soon.

I am really interested in this discussion because I have questions like: If I keep the same calories and a minimum healthy amount of fats, would a raise in the carbs (to use more insulin ) ratio give any better returns or theres a point that there's no need and you are just wasting money?