Not eating enough? Not sleeping enough?

climbing_trees

Hi! I'm 22 years old, 5'4" and 135 lbs.
I've been on MFP for 6 months and it has helped me learn a lot about my body and my nutrition. I got down to 130 from 150, but recently gained back five due to holiday slacking and starting a new birth control. I'm focusing on lowering BF% and increasing strength, and I'm aware that the scale is going to be all over the place. I take weight daily, measurements weekly, and pictures monthly. I still feel "too big" and would really like to be smaller, whether or not my weight decreases. (Though I do have an arbitrary goal of 125.)

I hit a plateau last fall and switched my goal from 1200+exercise to TDEE-20%. I was at 1500 until the holidays. I currently eat 1400 calories per day. I try to get 100g protein. Things were going well for a while, but I've been struggling now for about three weeks. I'm not seeing any real big changes scale wise or measurement wise.

I am STARVING and EXHAUSTED all the time. I'm not sure if I'm not eating enough, or if the winter blues are just getting to me. I am in a very un-exciting season at work right now and that could be playing a part as well? Some days I even skip the gym because I feel too weak to get in a good workout. I have low blood sugar and used to have a much bigger problem confusing being tired with being hungry. I managed to break this habit but I feel like I might be falling back. I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. On the weekends when I can turn off the alarm, I will often sleep 10-12 hours.

I have also noticed that I'm much colder than usual. I'm constantly drinking tea/coffee at the office to stay warm. Even eating a salad for lunch will send me into shivers. When I went home to my parents' recently, I had to ask them for a ton of extra blankets, when I usually complain about the heat. I take a daily vitamin that includes iron, and also I eat a ton of spinach so I'm not sure if it is anemia or just me being less "insulated" than I've ever been before.

I work out in the gym 3-4x a week, 20 minutes warm-up on the elliptical followed by about an hour of weight lifting. I try to work lower and upper body twice each. During the week I have a very sedentary desk job. On the weekends I like to stay active with my hobbies, cooking, cleaning, yoga, walking. I am not a couch potato, I try to stay on my feet as much as possible. I frequently go to nightclubs and dance with my hula hoops.

I'm not sure if I should go back to eating exercise calories, or just increase my goal. I really like eating the same amount every day, but I've been skipping workouts to nap more and more often lately... I am starting to feel burnt out and I really want to do a better job taking care of myself. I'm stressed about skipping workouts, I'm skipping workouts because I'm stressed. I'm eating because I'm stressed, and I'm stressed because of my eating! Eeek!

My January progress stuff is posted to my blog. Pictures and measurements.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/climbing_trees

Here's my weight graph so far. Too wide to post a picture
http://i.imgur.com/bfvS52k.png

Looking for some advice! My diary is open~ (Please note that this past weekend was not my usual behavior, I attended two house parties and drank a lot more than I planned. Oops! I also pigged on some junk food. Maybe 75% of it is logged accurately. Stress really weakens my self control.)
Thank you!

TheGymGypsy

I used to be EXHAUSTED all the time no matter how much I slept! It turns out even though I was not anemic, I was iron deficient and also lacking in b12. So I fixed that with a supplement. As for the being cold all the time... That's one I haven't figured out yet. I think it's pretty normal with weight loss though.

I usually plateau for MONTHS at a time. I was stuck at 135 for 5 months, dropped down to 130, and have been stuck here for a awhile. I have learned that weight is not a very effective way to gauge your progress. Monitor your strength and endurance instead. You may have not dropped a pound, but you can lift 5 pounds heavier. In my eyes, that's where the real progress is seen.

What might help is switching up your work outs, or adding some intensity. Throw in some HIIT with your strength training, maybe?

climbing_trees

My strength and endurance have definitely increased, I even have some visible muscles appearing in my upper body.
That isn't a thing I've thought about tracking before though. Good idea!

I try to do HIIT when I warm up, 20 sec sprint, 40 sec jog, for 10-15 minutes. I'd like to do more, but weight lifting is my top priority. My gym is by my work, not near my house and I try to avoid driving out there on the weekends to save gas. Hopefully when it gets warmer out, this will be something I can do on my own, outside, on the streets, in the park, etc.

TheGymGypsy

Just remember, strength training will build muscle, but cardio will reveal it. The heavy lifting elitists on this site will bash cardio wherever they can, and obviously nothing but cardio won't really get you far. But if you enjoy it and can stand doing it, I would recommend adding it in for at least 2 hours a week. And if you're mainly weight lifting, weight loss is not going to be as apparent since your muscles will be constantly swollen and repairing themselves.

MakePeasNotWar

I used to be EXHAUSTED all the time no matter how much I slept! It turns out even though I was not anemic, I was iron deficient and also lacking in b12. So I fixed that with a supplement. As for the being cold all the time... That's one I haven't figured out yet. I think it's pretty normal with weight loss though.

I had the same experience, and supplementing b12 and iron helped immensely. Also, if you live somewhere that has short winter days like I do, there is a very good chance you are vitamin D deficient, another deficiency that causes exhaustion and depression-like symptoms.

ETA: just re-read OP and see you are already taking a multi with iron. Make sure you aren't taking it with/ near tea or red wine, as the tannins can block absorption. Also, if the multi doesn't have vitamin C (unlikely but worth checking), taking some vitamin c through food sources or pills at the same time as the iron will aid absorption.

RachelRuns9

I don't know if not eating enough is the cause of all of your symptoms, but it does seem to be perhaps low.

So you only have max 10 to lose.. so what is your TDEE - 10% ? You are so active, there is no way that the 1400 you are eating right now is your TDEE - 10%.

lizziebeth1028

First off - you look amazing! So stop stressing out because you think you're still too big. You're not. You're healthy and fit.

Second - have you seen your Doctor for a physical? I'm sure nothing is wrong but it's always nice to cross that off your list.

3 - you are not eating at TDEE. At only 1400 calories and your activity level, your deficit is probably too much for the goals you want to accomplish. You're most likely not getting enough calories to support your lifestyle.

4 - not getting enough sleep. 7 hours a night and sleeping in on weekends is generally adequate. But then again if your body is under stress from not enough calories and too much exercise this can cause extreme fatigue.

So basically - check in with your Doc to rule out anything weird. Relax, eat more, give yourself a rest day, love yourself, embrace all you've accomplished, don't stress out about not being 100% perfect...none of us are. It will always be a work in progress. Enjoy the journey!! :flowerforyou:

climbing_trees

Thanks for the feedback. ^__^

I just went back to the "path to sexypants" beginner info thread and looked up some other TDEE calculators. I had originally calculated TDEE-20% using IIFYM, which put me at 1500, but some of the others have me as high as 1800/1900. Even higher if I use -10%. This is interesting to me and exciting because I love food!!

I'm going to increase my calories, slowly at 100 per week, and see what happens. I will also make a doctor appointment, I haven't had a physical in ages and it is probably just a good idea.