Really fatigued every night but not hungry or losing too fast...

my4570
my4570 Posts: 39 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know that MFP is not a place for medical advice, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to stop being fatigued (muscles are weak, difficult to exercise and I just want to lay down all the time). This has only been a problem since I started tracking and losing weight; however, I’m confused because I am not losing at an unhealthy rate and am not starving myself. I’m usually really fatigued (but not in a sleepy way) by 10 or 11 pm every day unless I ate above my maintenance cals. So my question is: how do I maintain a deficit and energy? I do intermittent fasting as a recovery tool for binge eating disorder, so I try to only eat between 12 and 8 pm. I eat half my calories between 6 and 8, and it makes me very full. I’m 5’2.5 (159 cm) so my calculated 1 lb/week deficit was actually less than 1100 cals, but I eat around 1250-1350 cals per day. I do exercise a decent amount (Fitbit estimates about 350-600 cal adjustment/day), but regardless I only lose about 1 lb/week or less. I love working out and being active and hate that my energy levels are low. But I already eat 650 cals for dinner/dessert each night and it’s tough to add more food. What should I do? I only want to lose a few more pounds (less than 5), but I am really struggling and am worried upping my calories by too much will just cause gaining/loss of progress.

Replies

  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    edited August 2020
    Are you eating back your exercise calories?

    And healthy weight loss would be .5 lbs a week.
  • my4570
    my4570 Posts: 39 Member
    @harper16 I do not because I’ve struggled in the past with disordered mindsets surrounding exercise for calorie burn rather than health goals. Also, I tend to burn calories in the evening after eating through walks, so I don’t know my daily burn until later. My “0.5 lb/week” calorie estimate by MFP is 1310 calories, which I usually hit and occasionally exceed.

    Also as a side note, I am a healthy BMI, so I understand why weight isn’t just flying off. I started calorie tracking 3 months ago at 127 lbs; I’m currently about 114 and my goal is 110 lbs. I have a family history and racial disposition to many weight related diseases and have been recommended to maintain a lower BMI (highest weight was 132 lbs).
  • Nyxinu
    Nyxinu Posts: 3 Member
    You might want to get your Dr to check your iron levels, they could be low. Good luck
  • my4570
    my4570 Posts: 39 Member
    @harper16 that is true, I usually don’t burn 600 calories though (usually 350-450), yet will still feel fatigued. I will try to up my calories a bit more, but I don’t think exercise calories are that accurate so I’m concerned about losing any deficit.

    @Nyxinu I got blood work done about 5 months ago and everything was fine; I take an iron, B-complex, and calcium supplement each day. Is it really possible to get deficient within a few months? But thank you, I might consider getting new blood work in the future.
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
    my4570 wrote: »
    @harper16 that is true, I usually don’t burn 600 calories though (usually 350-450), yet will still feel fatigued. I will try to up my calories a bit more, but I don’t think exercise calories are that accurate so I’m concerned about losing any deficit.

    @Nyxinu I got blood work done about 5 months ago and everything was fine; I take an iron, B-complex, and calcium supplement each day. Is it really possible to get deficient within a few months? But thank you, I might consider getting new blood work in the future.

    The calorie burn can be off, many people only eat back a portion. Start with 1/3rd of your burn and see if that helps with the energy. Gradually increase as needed.

    Have you majorly cut carbs recently? Sometimes severely limiting carbs will make you feel fatigue, they call it the “keto flu” I think.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,264 Member
    How is your nutrition? Are you doing a low carb sort of thing? How much protein are you usually getting?

    There are certainly other nutritional deficiencies that could be in play (iron is one as mentioned above, but there are others), and it would be good to talk with your doctor about blood tests for those and anything else s/he thinks may be relevant.

    But the macro part you should be able to figure out yourself. Sub-par nutrition can come home to roost as fatigue, over a period of time. I'm inclined to suspect (with zero scientific evidence 😉) that some people may be more sensitive to this than others, and that being active might increase the chance of it happening (as our exercise breaks down and rebuilds body tissues, so puts demands on our supply of essential nutrients).

    You say that you've lost from 127 to 114 in 3 months, you say, so your effective deficit is clearly not huge . . . but you're also not very large, so it might be worth considering losing more slowly. (I know how hard that can be, as I've been doing ultra-slow loss on purpose for a few months - I go multiple weeks where progress is murky, even with a trending app, but it shows up eventually!).

    The only other thing I can think of is to ask if your IF schedule is new with the calorie deficit, or something you've been doing longer than that because of your BED. If new, is there any chance that your eating schedule could be affecting your sleep *quality* (not duration)?
  • my4570
    my4570 Posts: 39 Member
    @ALZ14 that’s a good idea; I might just up by 50-100 for now since I’m sure it’s not inaccurate by 200+ cals? Also I definitely am not keto, but does the keto flu apply to reductions in carbs in general? I used to eat like 60-65% carbs before tracking (I’m vegetarian and used to not watch protein so I’m pretty sure I’d only eat like 50g/day) but have since reduced it to 45-50%. I still eat a lot of carbs though relative to keto.

    @AnnPT77 thank you for these interesting points! I eat quite balanced, 50% carb/30% fat/20% protein, I try to hit 70-80 g protein/day. Not low carb at all. I take supplements for iron, B-complex, and calcium. I eat fruit and veg daily; I pretty much eat the same types of foods every day though. I can’t tell which nutrient is missing besides maybe that I don’t tend to eat a ton of salt? My blood work was fine for all the big nutrients like calcium, iron, sodium, potassium etc about 5 months ago. I have subclinical hypothyroidism but not close to actual hypothyroidism.

    I’m actually really curious about this point about sleep you make. I’ve actually recently (past 2 months) have been having bad sleep in terms of constantly waking up at night/super restless. I used to never wake up in the middle of the night (before deficit); I thought maybe I just haven’t been as tired because it’s summer. I would say I started IF for a bit longer than the deficit (for about 5 months total vs 3 months deficit) but for years I used to skip breakfast but eat snacks nearly every night. Which is related to BED so I obviously actively have been avoiding eating after 8.
  • Mithridites
    Mithridites Posts: 600 Member
    Try supplementing magnesium. It’s the second most common nutritional deficiency in North America. Start slowly, with a quarter dose at most. Powder versions like Natural Calm are good for upping the dosage slowly. It may help with your sleep quality. I also agree with the Ann (as I usually do) that you should start eating back a third of your exercise calories.
  • ALZ14
    ALZ14 Posts: 202 Member
    my4570 wrote: »
    @ALZ14 that’s a good idea; I might just up by 50-100 for now since I’m sure it’s not inaccurate by 200+ cals? Also I definitely am not keto, but does the keto flu apply to reductions in carbs in general? I used to eat like 60-65% carbs before tracking (I’m vegetarian and used to not watch protein so I’m pretty sure I’d only eat like 50g/day) but have since reduced it to 45-50%. I still eat a lot of carbs though relative to keto.

    @AnnPT77 thank you for these interesting points! I eat quite balanced, 50% carb/30% fat/20% protein, I try to hit 70-80 g protein/day. Not low carb at all. I take supplements for iron, B-complex, and calcium. I eat fruit and veg daily; I pretty much eat the same types of foods every day though. I can’t tell which nutrient is missing besides maybe that I don’t tend to eat a ton of salt? My blood work was fine for all the big nutrients like calcium, iron, sodium, potassium etc about 5 months ago. I have subclinical hypothyroidism but not close to actual hypothyroidism.

    I’m actually really curious about this point about sleep you make. I’ve actually recently (past 2 months) have been having bad sleep in terms of constantly waking up at night/super restless. I used to never wake up in the middle of the night (before deficit); I thought maybe I just haven’t been as tired because it’s summer. I would say I started IF for a bit longer than the deficit (for about 5 months total vs 3 months deficit) but for years I used to skip breakfast but eat snacks nearly every night. Which is related to BED so I obviously actively have been avoiding eating after 8.

    The “keto flu” would apply if you greatly reduce your carb intake, you don’t have to go full keto. Not everyone experiences this and it can happen at various levels, so if you cut carbs by a decent amount that could be the problem (or a contributing factor).

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,481 Member
    This is totally, totally anecdotal but I was having the same issue. I would be exhausted by mid afternoon and couldn’t hold my head up. It was like the sofa cushion was nap-magnetic.

    I increased my calories and really worked on increasing protein within that calorie increase. That seems to have helped.

    I eat a ton of Greek yogurt, and started eating a simple sandwich with a good quality sliced deli chicken when I saw protein was faltering. Sometimes I’ll even just roll the deli meat up into “pirouettes” and eat them plain.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,264 Member
    my4570 wrote: »
    @ALZ14 that’s a good idea; I might just up by 50-100 for now since I’m sure it’s not inaccurate by 200+ cals? Also I definitely am not keto, but does the keto flu apply to reductions in carbs in general? I used to eat like 60-65% carbs before tracking (I’m vegetarian and used to not watch protein so I’m pretty sure I’d only eat like 50g/day) but have since reduced it to 45-50%. I still eat a lot of carbs though relative to keto.

    @AnnPT77 thank you for these interesting points! I eat quite balanced, 50% carb/30% fat/20% protein, I try to hit 70-80 g protein/day. Not low carb at all. I take supplements for iron, B-complex, and calcium. I eat fruit and veg daily; I pretty much eat the same types of foods every day though. I can’t tell which nutrient is missing besides maybe that I don’t tend to eat a ton of salt? My blood work was fine for all the big nutrients like calcium, iron, sodium, potassium etc about 5 months ago. I have subclinical hypothyroidism but not close to actual hypothyroidism.

    I’m actually really curious about this point about sleep you make. I’ve actually recently (past 2 months) have been having bad sleep in terms of constantly waking up at night/super restless. I used to never wake up in the middle of the night (before deficit); I thought maybe I just haven’t been as tired because it’s summer. I would say I started IF for a bit longer than the deficit (for about 5 months total vs 3 months deficit) but for years I used to skip breakfast but eat snacks nearly every night. Which is related to BED so I obviously actively have been avoiding eating after 8.

    Personally, I went for a little higher protein while losing (80-90g+), but had a slightly higher calorie allowance, too, I believe. I'm also vegetarian, eating 100g+ in maintenance now, no protein powder or bars (though those can be good options). I do eat a lot of dairy, but think I could get to those targets fully plant-based. Depending on protein sources, and because you say you tend to eat the same foods, I also wonder if essential amino acid imbalance is possible.

    Vitamin D is an issue for some. I agree that magnesium could be good to try.

    I'm wondering whether significantly reducing carbs and sodium at the same time could be meaningful - I don't know if there's "subclinical keto flu" because I won't come within 50 yards of keto myself (not opposed to it for others, but it's not for me). How low is your sodium intake? How are your potassium intake levels? (Some of the other electrolytes were already mentioned.)

    One thing to be aware of is that MFP tracks potassium poorly (not on lots of labels). If your food choices are fairly consistent, you could do what I've done a few times, which is spot-check a couple of typical days against a more comprehensive database (USDA or Self, for example).

    Sure sounds like sleep quality could be a contributor here, from what you say. I won't try to diagnose why it's happening. I've seen some here say that reduced calories per se reduced their sleep quality, or that they needed to eat something shortly before bed in order to sleep well (apologies for saying that, as I understand that that's out of reach for you, but I mention it as speculatively within the realm of explanatory factors). I've just seen people post those kinds of things, I don't know whether they've accurately diagnosed themselves, of course - most of us change a number of things when we seriously undertake weight loss, and it's hard to sort out all the causes and consequences.

    One potential contributor to fatigue that I think I didn't mention previously is cumulative stress. Many of us have stressful lives, even before this pandemic-related stuff entered the picture. So, that's now added. A calorie deficit, or an increased exercise load, are also stressors (they can be "good" stress or have positive benefits, but it's still an addition to the stress on each of us as complex organisms). That's just another thing to think about (just what you needed, eh? 😉). For some, managing cumulative stress helps with fatigue.

    Best wishes sorting this stuff out - your thoughtful approach bodes well for you reaching a solution!
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    You might consider pre-adding your typical average exercise calories to your 'net' calorie allowance here if extra calories tied to exercise is a possible obsessive problem for you (ala TDEE method). (or if it's possible to change your mindset about the exercise - make it something you like and want to excel at, rather than doing it because you are supposed to for good health,.. then it might be possible to view the exercise calories as necessary to fuel your performance in the chosen sport as opposed to doing the exercise to get those calories). (to be fair, I have both of those simultaneously going on in my own head).

    Especially if said exercise is in the heat and you are sweating a fair bit, then definitely add some decent electrolyte capsules. (several others above me on here have suggested the possibility of low magnesium or potassium). if any issues with muscle cramping or restlessness at night, then definitely this. (my use of the word "decent" largely applies to the fact that many brands of electrolyte capsules neglect to add magnesium, and in my experience, is a really bad one to leave out).

  • my4570
    my4570 Posts: 39 Member
    Wow, thank you everyone for your replies. All of this has been very helpful; I will definitely start with upping my calories to 1400-1450, with room for more if I have a crazy exercise day. This may even be a struggle, as 1250-1350 was fairly easy since I guess I do eat a good amount of whole foods that have a lot of volume. I don't think (at least hopefully) don't have amino acid imbalance as I eat a lot of "complete protein" sources such as eggs/egg whites, greek yogurt, and tofu daily. I don't like protein bars but will occasionally have a little bit of protein water I got (but hate the taste of). I will try to just add some extra protein throughout my day; probably through eating more string cheese and adding more yogurt to my daily oatmeal. Or eating more boiled eggs at dinner. It's definitely always a balance managing BED with healthy lifestyle changes. It has made me an "all or nothing" person at times so I am trying to focus on the healthy foods I enjoy and being active to boost my energy and for cardiovascular health. I will definitely look into magnesium supplements; I know potassium is not something you can supplement based on FDA guidelines. I feel like I don't get enough potassium, but it seems awfully difficult to get enough since even bananas only have like 10% of your daily allotment each? But regardless, thank you!
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 989 Member
    A handful of nuts or some seeds in your yoghurt would help boost your calories and so would things like avocado or a chunk of some nice cheese for a snack (perhaps with an apple).

    With regards to logging your exercise, could you do a walk this evening but log it for tomorrow? The net effect over a week would even out.

    Other than that, as others have said, at your height and weight, losing 5lbs is going to be really slow. I'm an inch shorter than you and now at your goal weight, but it took months to lose the last bit, netting 1200 calories a day. When I switched to maintenance I got less than 1350 so my deficit had only been 150 cals, which equates to losing less than 0.5lb a week and only with very accurate logging.

    Not eating your exercise calories (or at least a fair portion of them) potentially means you're under-eating, which would also be unhealthy in the longer term. I manually enter my walks to MFP - I have a pretty good idea what speed I typically walk at and obviously I know how long I was walking for - and found it to be reasonably accurate with estimating my calories burned. Maybe try entering the info to the Exercise tab (even if you delete it again) to see how it compares to your Fitbit. You could then adjust accordingly with regards to how much of your exercise calories you eat back.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,260 Member
    edited August 2020
    You've averaged a good lb or more a week. That's actually NOT slow within the normal weight range and as a percentage of your TDEE.

    You're not going to get to 110lbs and then you're done and all is good. Weight management better continue past that if you plan on maintaining!

    So... time to increase calories. You've been losing at an effective -500 Cal based on your logging (13lbs and 3 months) . That easily leaves you room to eat 300+ Cal more a day while dropping the last 5 lbs leading into the new year.
  • my4570
    my4570 Posts: 39 Member
    edited August 2020
    @Strudders67 the last 5 pounds are truly difficult! Those maintenance calories seem pretty low. Without exercise my maintenance is 1550-1600 I believe. I definitely think the Fitbit is more accurate than my own walk calculations; I have no idea what speed I walk and the time also varies. I hate setting a walk "timer" since it's for fun and not "you must walk x minutes" so I'm glad the Fitbit just naturally tracks the walk. But thank you for the insight.

    @PAV8888 hm yes, I agree; just hitting 110 does not mean "the end" and just stopping tracking and healthy living. I have a maintenance range in mind of 108-112 pounds (but I'm not actively going to try to reach 108 since that's pretty low), so hitting 110 would just be in the middle and I would hopefully reverse diet up to my maintenance calories by then. I had initially planned to up my calories to 1400 sooner, but I had issues with the binge-restrict cycle where I felt super guilty and kept sticking to 1250-1300...I realize that probably fueled the cycle since I was still really hungry and tired at that calorie level. Having hit the 112s, I think it is definitely time to continue with this "reverse diet" and up to 1400-1450 like suggested. And only weigh myself once a week or so, not looking for the same 1 lb/week loss since I am just a pound away from my maintenance range. Thank you for the insight!

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