Listen now
Released 8th December
Episode details
- Episode: 26 — Diabetes with Milly: Building a Community Through Vulnerability, Movement & Mindset
- Host: John Pemberton
- Guest: Milly (Diabetes with Milly)
- Series: Beyond the Numbers
- Focus: Diagnosis in lockdown, exercise and yoga, Eastern–Western philosophies, emotional load, and building community for women with type 1 diabetes
Episode Summary
In this Beyond the Numbers episode, John speaks with Milly, the creator behind Diabetes with Milly, about how a lockdown diagnosis, sport, yoga, Eastern philosophy and honest vulnerability have combined into a community that feels like home for people with type 1 diabetes.
Diagnosed in January 2021 during the third UK lockdown, in the final year of her biology degree, Milly went from rapid unexplained weight loss and a racing heart to a phone call telling her she was in severe DKA and needed to get to hospital immediately. She spent her diagnosis weekend alone due to COVID restrictions, and then had to relearn how to move, train and live with type 1 from inside a family bubble.
Over time, her background in sport and strength training, a solo trip to India for intensive yoga, and a growing interest in women’s health and exercise physiology have all fed into a distinctive “East meets West” approach: resistance training for metabolic health, yoga and breathwork for nervous system regulation, and social media as a vehicle for real, messy, day-to-day honesty.
The episode explores what it means to build a community through vulnerability rather than perfection, how trauma around diagnosis anniversaries and high glucose episodes shows up in the body, and why women with type 1 diabetes need both better data and better spaces to move together.
This conversation is informational only and does not constitute medical advice or a therapeutic relationship.
Who is this episode for?
- People with type 1 diabetes looking for community, realism and emotional honesty
- Women with T1D who care about movement, sport, yoga and menstrual cycle impacts
- Parents, partners and friends trying to understand the lived cognitive and emotional load of type 1
- Clinicians who want to see how guidelines collide with real life beyond annual clinic visits
- Anyone interested in how online spaces can support mental health and self-management in long-term conditions
Key Themes Explored in This Episode
Diagnosis in Lockdown: DKA, Exams and Isolation
- Final year biology exams, rapid weight loss and “anxiety” that turned out to be severe DKA
- Being told over the phone to go straight to hospital — in the middle of COVID restrictions
- Spending diagnosis weekend alone, with no visitors allowed
- How that isolation shaped confidence, fear and behaviour long after discharge
Exercise as Identity and Therapy
- Growing up with sport: cricket for Lancashire, football in Wigan, then strength and hypertrophy training
- The first home workout after diagnosis and the first terrifying hypo
- Why activity became a non-negotiable tool for both metabolic and mental health
- How lockdown provided a “safe lab” to relearn movement with family close by
East Meets West: India, Yoga and Nervous System Regulation
- Travelling solo to India two years after diagnosis for 26–27 days of yoga training in an ashram
- Blending strength training and yoga: compacting vs lengthening muscles, and why she keeps both
- Using breathwork, mindfulness and body awareness to manage panic during hypos
- How Eastern practices help her step back from frustration and trauma echoes during highs
Burnout, Back Burner Diabetes and Coming Home
- From 250 Libre scans and logging everything to “I just didn’t care” during the final weeks in India
- High-carb vegetarian diet, multiple hours of yoga per day and loss of routine
- Roller-coaster glucose and the decision to accept imperfection while focusing on the purpose of the trip
- Rebuilding structure and control on returning home
Social Media, Vulnerability and the Growth of “Diabetes with Milly”
- Starting her Instagram account two months after diagnosis, inspired by other T1D creators
- Organic growth to the first thousand followers with no strategy beyond documenting real life and sharing research
- Being contacted about exercise, nutrition and mindset, and watching a community form around shared struggles
- Choosing Instagram over TikTok to protect focus and keep depth over distraction
Hypos, Hypers and Trauma Responses
- How yoga and logic-based self-talk helped her move from near-panic attacks during hypos to more grounded responses
- Why highs still trigger stronger emotional reactions than lows
- Diagnosis anniversaries, injury worries and the sense of “is this happening again?”
- Normalising these responses as human, not failures
Women’s Health, Menstrual Cycles and a New Research Path
- From biology degree to exercise physiology to PT and yoga instruction in the Lake District
- Drafting a new master’s proposal in women’s health and type 1 diabetes
- Interest in insulin and glucose responses across the menstrual cycle and across life stages
- Long-term vision of moving into PhD research on physical activity in women with T1D
Building Community: Glucose Gals and Offline Aspirations
- Creating “Glucose Gals”, a WhatsApp community of ~250 women with type 1 diabetes
- Sub-chats for pregnancy, exercise and other key topics
- Dreaming of UK meet-ups that blend training, yoga and safe, practical support (hyposnacks included)
- How being “silly and herself” doesn’t detract from competence — it makes connection possible
Beyond the Numbers: Why People Need People
- John’s reflection on guidelines, evidence and the limits of clinic-based support
- Why real life implementation needs peers as well as professionals
- How online communities provide belonging, meaning and daily encouragement between appointments
Episode Timestamps
- 00:10 – Why this podcast exists
John sets the frame: lived experience + evidence, and why Beyond the Numbers focuses on the human reality of T1D. - 01:23 – Milly’s diagnosis in lockdown
Final-year exams, rapid weight loss, a racing heart, and the phone call telling her she was in severe DKA. - 07:41 – Sport, strength training & relearning movement
From cricket and football to her first post-diagnosis hypo; how exercise became both therapy and challenge. - 11:13 – India, yoga & regulating the nervous system
Solo travel, ashram training, breathwork, mindfulness and how Eastern practices helped her manage hypos, hypers and trauma echoes. - 14:46 – Building “Diabetes with Milly” & the Glucose Gals community
Starting Instagram two months after diagnosis, organic growth, and creating a 250-woman WhatsApp community. - 28:15 – Women’s health, menstrual cycles & her next research chapter
Her plan for a new master’s on female physiology in T1D, long-term goals for PhD study, and creating safe UK movement spaces.
About our guest — Milly (Diabetes with Milly)
Milly is a 25-year-old living with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed in 2021 during the third UK lockdown. She has a background
in biology and exercise physiology, and now works as a personal trainer and yoga instructor in the Lake District.
Her work blends:
- strength and resistance training
- yoga, mindfulness and nervous system regulation
- evidence-informed thinking about exercise and metabolism
- honest conversations about burnout, trauma echoes and mental health with T1D
She runs:
- Instagram: @diabeteswithmilly
- Glucose Gals: a WhatsApp community for women with T1D, with topic-based sub-chats (exercise, pregnancy and more). To join Glucose Gals, send Milly a direct message on Instagram.
Closing Message
“Numbers matter, but we don’t live inside graphs. We live inside stories, communities and bodies that remember.
Episodes like this remind us that type 1 diabetes is not just a clinical problem to be solved, but a shared experience
to be carried together.”
Prepared by John Pemberton, supported by AI assistant (“Chad”). Ideas, insights, and responsibility remain with John.
