T1 has a honeymoon in the beginning where your insulin production picks up from injections then later dies from adding external insulin. I guess youre almost there.
Here are my tips:
1. IF intermittent fasting, used by bodybuilders, athletes and alike to burn bodyfat, build and retain muscles, stay sharp and focused and have better life quality. If you mention this to your doctor they will lock you up since youre a T1, but the fact is that it is the single most effective thing you can do to control your sugar.
Less bodyfat and more muscles means more insulin sensitivity = less insulin needed. The fasting itself will also improve sensitivity. Check out
www.leangains.com which has a lot facts and tips. Fasting means abstinence from food but you should always ingest fluids. If you eat more than a teaspoon or two with milk your body goes into the fed state and starts storing energy and shuts down the fat burning process along with hormone secretion and the release of your natural "focus enhancing" chemicals. This may sound like crock but its really the opposite. Don't listen to your doctors when they say you should 5-6 times per day. They get their "info" from the pharmaceutical- and foodcompanies which are not your friends. The want make sure you need their shit!
You can consume all your calories in one sitting, easily. The biggest benefit of this is that when you break the fast (breakfast) your insulin sensitivity is the greatest and you will need less insulin to counter the carbs. Its also easier to control your sugar and have a healthy Hba1c if you concentrate your BG checks around this fed state.
I work with moving boxes and furniture up and down the stairs all day and im faster and stronger than all my work mates even though i break the fast after i come home from work. You can do i too.
2. Find and set your basal. Levemir has the most even curve of all basal insulin and i suggest you take it twice per day to overlap the imperfect effect curve. When you can hoover at 4-5 for 8hrs without adding bolus or carbs then youre pretty much there. Carbs store in muscles and the liver and the liver releases a slow steady stream of sugar to the brain and organs during the day and the basal is there to counter this. Think of your basal as a scale, on one side you have the sugar from the liver and on the other you have the basal. Its much better to be too low on BG cause if youre at 2,5-3 you can eat a minimal amount of sugar to bring you up to 4 again without breaking the fast whereas if youre to high and jab a splash of bolus you do break it.
3. Drink lots and lots of water. During the fast this is your only intake unless youre crashing. It will clean all the crap out of your system. I drink lots of tea as well, without milk and sugar of course. And stay the f*** away from artificial sweeteners. The are nasty and actually decreases your insulin sensitivity.
4. Lift weights. Free weights. And heavy. Women who train like men look like godesses.
5. No processed anything. Carbs, meat, veg, oil and such. Actually, if you CAN handle it, go vegan. The human body is tuned over millions of years to a raw vegan diet. Unless you think god made us a while back and made us for eating ben and jerrys, charred meat, coca cola and other equally tasty but nasty stuff!
6. Set alarms. 2x for basal (levemir) and 8 for checking BG. Check BG when you wake up, then have 3-4hr intervals during the fast. Then every 1,5-2hrs inthe fed state. stabilize your BG well before bedtime (no eating 2-3hrs prior shuteye) and be at 4-5. You have the same BG when you wake up when everything is tuned. This could take months depending on your dedication. You will fail, but f*** that, get up again. Do it again. Einstein said that and expert is considered someone who has made every mistake possible within a limited domain. That could be you.
7. Don't be scared of crashing. I have been under 2 a few times just to get used to the feeling. You never know when you might have stay positive and find sugar because youre dying. You could be on your own. Toughen up.
8. Set targets. Easy ones. Achieve them. Set new ones. Progress.
9. Reward/ disgust yourself. When youve hit a target, fast all day and buy exactly what youve been missing out on. Pig out. Leave nothing uneaten. Go to bed and feel that poison enter your system while you wish you hadnt just done that. Rethink. Set new goals. Tomorrow is a new day.
10. Stay positive. Lots of people are beating their T1 every day. You can too. Put up a note on your house that says "f*** you sugar!" That will motivate you.