Please help

QueenofHearts023

Hello...

So after taking a long break from dieting (a year), I decided to get back into it. My deficit is quite small...only 250 calories. But I'm in hell currently and I'm truely unsure why this is happening. I'M SO TIRED!!! I feel like I want to pass out all the time. When I get up I'm always dizzy.

I try to eat quite balanced, but I focus mostly on getting enough protein. I eat 3 meals a day with 2 snacks. My exercise is not that strenuous. I walk 3 miles a day and do 20 minutes of bodyweight exercise 6 days a week.

I can for the love of me not figure out why I'm so exausted all the time.

Some stats: 22, female, 5'2, 136lb, maintenance calories = 1800 (tried and tested for a year), deficit calories = 1550.

MKEgal

What does your doctor say?
Are you drinking enough water?
Have you tried a smaller deficit?
Carbs are fuel. Are you getting at least the minimum? (see link & chart below)
If you're just getting dizzy when you stand up, or sit after you've been lying down, do it slower.


This calculator from the Baylor College of Medicine says that to maintain your current weight
you'd need 1540 cal/day, so your calories are spot on.
https://www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/healthyeatingcalculator/eatingCal.html


Here's a table which explains the healthy macro ranges, from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition:
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/1/1/T1.expansion.html

carbs, 45 - 65% of calories (4 cal per gram)
fat, 20 - 35% of calories (9 cal per gram)
protein, 10 - 35% of calories (4 cal per gram)

mallory_2014

Are you eating your exercise calories back? Are you properly measuring (as in weighing) your food to ensure you are logging correctly?

What is your sodium intake like?

I would get some blood work done and check your blood pressure. You could be anemic, have high/low blood pressure, etc.

MKEgal

Other thoughts...
Have you been sleeping enough? Is it quality sleep, or disturbed?
Have you tried a smaller deficit? You're at a healthy weight already.
Have you tried less exercise? (Though you're really not doing much, & it's far from excessive.)
For all of these, try the change even just temporarily, for a week or two, to see if there's a difference.

Have you made any change other than cutting calories?
Were you tired & dizzy before you made that change, or only after?
That's how I'd narrow it down: go back to how you were living, then make one change at
a time until you duplicate the problem.

maxit

mallory_2014 wrote: »

Are you eating your exercise calories back? Are you properly measuring (as in weighing) your food to ensure you are logging correctly?

What is your sodium intake like?

I would get some blood work done and check your blood pressure. You could be anemic, have high/low blood pressure, etc.

This.

piersonj

Checking in with you doctor is a good idea. There are many reasons that you could be feeling tired and dizzy. Just to name a few, low B vitamin levels, low D3 levels, dehydration, you are slightly sick (when I am starting to get ill; tired and dizzy are the first symptoms) and vertigo. That is just off the top of my head and I am sure there are other possible causes, that is why it can be important to touch base with a DR. Checking you macros and drinking more is the first easy, at home fixes to the potential problem. If things don't improve then consider a chat with the dr.

MKEgal

mallory wrote:

Are you eating your exercise calories back?

Both my doctor (endocrinologist specializing in weight issues) and dietician had never heard of this concept.
They say just to eat at a healthy calorie level.
Exercise is more for health than weight loss, though it's essential to maintain weight.
It's very easy to eat 500 cal, hard to exercise it away.

And for most people, the overage on food estimation is offset by the "underage" caused by exercise.


"Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html

QueenofHearts023

My blood work came back clean, no deficiencies. It seems to be only when I start dieting that this happens. I do drink enough water, as far as I'm concerned. I haven't tried a smaller deficit. I sleep like a baby! Yesterday I was so exhausted I slept 14 hours of the day... and I was still tired each time I got up.

I am weighing my food, measuring liquids, and I do eat back exercise calories.

I'm not eating quite as much carbs, because I'm replacing them with fat (need it for digestion since fibre makes things worse instead of better!) But I'm not eating low carb though.

I'm not anemic, but my blood is quite thin, I bleed very easily. Could that have something to do with it? If so, why only when I diet?

QueenofHearts023

Could it maybe be the heat? It's like 105 degrees here.

QueenofHearts023

I'm so sorry for all the questions! I know you all are not medical professionals. The doctors are expensive though (we don't have free medical care in this country), and I'm short on cash so I do want to make sure I have a legit reason for going to the doctor and that it's not just something I can fix from home.

holothuroidea

All the math works out, that should be a healthy deficit.

Are there other things going on in your life? Sometimes just adding one more stressor (and eating a deficit is a stressor, so is new exercise) to an already stressful life will have a serious impact on your energy.

I always know to expect some serious fatigue and irritability when I introduce new things in my life because it's crazy to begin with. As long as it isn't severe, I'd say give it a week or two to see if you adjust. Also, take naps, relax, do something fun.

WendyLaubach

Heat like that can certainly make you feel dizzy, but I'd expect it to happen when you're out in it and getting overheated, not when you try to get up off the couch. Even if your blood work is OK, there are other medical things that a doctor probably would want to check, like low blood pressure or heart function.