Sleeping 14 hours a day and eating/calories

LadyFleata

I have CFS and have had it for 10 years now. I sleep about 13-16 hours a day and in constant pain and a state of exhaustion

Good day I sleep 13-14 hours from 11pm to 1pm-2pm
Bad day I sleep 11pm to 3pm-4pm
ive tried going to bed earlier and it gets worse. got to bed at 9-10pm and I still sleep till 1-2pm or longer the next day.

My question is do I still eat a minimum of 1200 calories a day. As I am only awake and very in active between say 7-10 hours each day.

how best to cope with energy levels and eating? I am addicted to sugar (chocolate) as it gives and instant energy boost or which I am sorely lacking. I am trying to cut down but its a losing battle.

Katmary71

I'm honestly not sure how many calories you should eat. If you see a doctor, that would be the best person to ask. I take naps every afternoon and have wondered about that as well, but also have hormonal issues that seem to be affecting my weight loss. The one way to find out on your own is to try 1200 for a month and see how it goes. Some feel we should still follow what we're told by MFP under being sedentary, but I've gone to 1200 calories after not losing for a few months.

Good question about energy levels! A friend who also has chronic pain pointed out ZipFizz to me, which is basically a vitamin/herb powder that helps with energy that Costco carries. It made it even harder to sleep for me so I stopped taking it, but maybe should try taking a little at a time instead. It's definitely better ingredients than most energy boosters. Coffee or black tea is another option. Some feel Vitamin D can help if you're deficient and I'm not outside too much so I started to take it. It's not helping with energy, but again I'm in the middle of finding out why a bunch of hormones are real low in my system, so that might be my problem. If you go with a drink, you can try something like Truvia to lower your sugar intake. I know cutting out sugar's not easy at all.

Food-wise I think it's important to make sure you eat when you first get up. You can always do small meals or two main ones with snacking, try what feels right to you that's at least over 2 meals and see how it goes. Try and go by when you're hungry and do your best to reach your calories so you can see if it works for you. With ten hours, you can fit in a few meals. I wish I could offer more, but we're both dealing with abnormal hours and that makes things tough. I definitely recommend having easy-to-make healthy foods around! I've found I really need some back-up foods to heat up and eat easily for days I can barely move are very important, and I'm guessing you have your days too. Best of luck to you, I wish I could have helped you more.