Nutrition, exercise and exhaustion

Timborino

I've been going to the gym for about a year. I've lost roughly 50lbs. I'm happy with my progress but I'm having trouble with exhaustion.

I started out going to the gym 5 to 6 days a week. Now I go 2 to 3 days and sometimes I have to skip a whole week because I'm just so exhausted. I thought losing weight and exercising would make me feel better and have more energy but I feel more tired all of the time.

I feel like I can tweak my diet to correct this. I would like to start with pre and post workout meals. I burn 600 to 800 calories per workout. I've read I should eat carbs prior to and protein after. Is this correct? I currently consume 200 to 400 calories pre workout but it is generally complex carbs, i.e. peanut butter on wheat toast, oatmeal with blueberries. Should I change to more simple carbs, like oranges etc. to provide quicker and more energy to workout? Should I add more calories as well? This morning I noticed I "ran out of gas" about halfway through working out and decided to just do 2/3 workout rather than exhaust myself further.

I'm currently not taking any vitamins but am considering adding a multi vitamin.

Any thoughts anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Tim.

erickirb

I have a few questions.

How much do you eat per day?
Do you eat your exercise calories?
How much sleep do you get?
The answers to these may give some clues as to why.

nehtaeh

Others will be able to help with the food/nutrients much better than I.

I find that sleep is more important for me than working out. If I don't get enough sleep, or am very stressed - working out is not happening and would be more detrimental to me. Just a thought. You don't mention how other parts of your life are, but its something to consider if you are going through anything.

Hope you can figure it out. Being exhausted isn't fun.

Timborino

I definitely eat my calories. I try to stay under 2k a day. I've never really slept well but in the last 6 months I've had to start taking a prescription sleep aid.

I think sleep is definitely an issue. Sometimes even after 8 or 9 hours I wake up feeling like I wrestled a bear all night! I'm not sure what to do but I'm going to discuss it with my doctor.

I was hoping maybe I could change my diet to increase energy levels. I'm going to try and see what happens.