Help with energy
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jerilynconn
Posts: 524 Member
So my energy level sucks anyways but I am especially tired on lifting days. Like I threw sandwiches and chips on paper plates for my family's dinner last night tired. I am in a deficit. Is this normal? I want to keep changing my body but I need to at least be able to function the rest of the day.
Advice?
Advice?
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Replies
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The only advice I can think of is to eat at maintenance on lifting days. I wish I had something better to offer you, but I often suffer from the same problem. If I fit in my lifting during the week, then I at least get the entire weekend off to recuperate. That does seem to help a little.0
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I know that there were some days, especially after deadlifts, that I literally felt dead and wanted to sleep so much. There were Saturdays where I would have to leave the kid to play on his own so I could lay back down for a few hours.
How big is your deficit? Are you seeing weight loss on the scale, in measurements, or both? Would you say you are closer to the upper weight ranges for your lifts? Do you have set macro goals? If so, what are they? What time do you work out? Do you eat before/after your workout?0 -
I used to feel like that too...esp later in the week....
I starting hitting my macros better and it helped but what really helped was upping calories by 100...just 100 a day...
And instead of doing HIIT that kicks my butt I am going on walks outside in the sunshine on my off days now...
As well I chatted with SS and Sara +group and the consensus was don't push the weigh increases at too big of a deficet...ie TDEE-20%0 -
I agree with Stef. Last month I was totally overtraining, but wasn't seeing any real results. Felt tired all the time and just weak and blah.
Went back to my settings and readjusted my macros to include a little more carbs, and got rid of the extra day or two of HIIT sessions I was doing every week. I feel so much better now and things are actually starting to progress in both weight and inches lost.
A small increase in calories or a macro adjustment might be all you need.0 -
^^ This. If you feel exhausted, stay at the same weight or less and work on form for a while. The fat loss will primarily come from the caloric deficit, and pushing yourself to increase the weights will become very difficult on a deficit. I took a week-long break and ate at TDEE over Easter, and my deadlift went up 7.5lbs, but I didn't gain any weight.As well I chatted with SS and Sara +group and the consensus was don't push the weigh increases at too big of a deficet...ie TDEE-20%0 -
In agreement with everyone else hjere. If you're at a decent deficit, you should cut back on volume and/or increase your food intake a bit. Jason Blaha's 5x5 program says if you're cutting to go down to 3x5 cuz otherwise your body just can't recover from all the work. Pretty sure the same can apply to SL as well.
Also, how much sleep do you get at night? An extra 30 minutes couldmake a world of difference.0 -
I will try to answer all of the questions.
I sleep 8-81/2 hours a night.
I weigh 170 (i'm 5' 4"). I am eating 1600 calories a day. I had cut that down from 1700 after no weight loss in a month. I did lose 1.4 pounds after moving down- but this last week i was the same or slightly up. I don't have a food scale, just measure. I was still tired at 1700 after my lifts. I may try maintence on my lift days. I am losing inches ( almost 6 total since beginning in march). I'd be okay with my weight the same as long as my stomach fat goes away lol.
I aiming for 120 grams of protein. I haven't focused too much on the others. I usually get 60-80 grams of fat and the rest carbs. I tend to cut out the carbs if I am running out of cals (like no rice with dinner). I cannot eat gluten or dairy but I do eat fruits and veggies.
I cannot progress past 50 lbs for my overhead press. I failed at 90 lbs for bench. I have moved to 3x5 for my upper body lifts. I am okay on squats- did 155 lbs yesterday 5x5 and my deads were 180. I cannot imagine doing much more as that was hard.
I warm up with 5 minutes of rowing and end with 1 mile run on treadmill (10-12 minutes). Thats it. I usually only do that 2 times a week. On my workout days I eat breakfast around 7:30/8 and hit the gym between 9-9:30. I drink protein powder after my workout, which ends around 10-10:30. Then have lunch within 1 1/2 hours after finishing.
I think i will up my cals by 100 (to start), and decrease most of my lifts.0 -
Sounds like a good starting point.0
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Reading with interest though I don't have anything to offer as I am too new to SLs. I'm pretty tired too, but for now I'm pretty sure its do to starting lifting as a new activity. I'm hoping that the tiredness will go away after my body gets used to it. Please update us as to how adding the calories works out for you.0
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I found that when I started SL I felt fine until I started getting into more taxing weights. Adding in 100 cals a day really helped me and since then I have changed my settings to lose just 0.5 lbs and now I see better results with increasing the weights that I lift.0
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don't stress the scale...remember...cortisol levels...water retention...mask weight loss...
if you are losing inches you are ahead of the curve...I would much rather lose those than lbs...
I know it's hard when you just want it but keep calm...relax and focus on the inches and BF%...
Here is my weight loss graphed...notice all those straight areas...it's where I would go weeks without losing a pound...sometimes going up...but the inches were coming off...slowly the weight has come down..13.5 net lbs in 7months..but I am in a size 5...and you will be here too, just keep a reasonable deficet and lift what is heavy for you...even if that means staying at the same weight on the bar for a while.
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Thanks again!!!
I suck at patience LOL.
Llamapants- i just changed to .5 too and it pushed me up almost 200 calories.
now, using that, do I eat my exercise calories? 0 -
I raised my calories up by 100 daily (on weekly average, so some days by 200 and some days by 0) when starting the program and will re-evaluate in a couple weeks. I also have upped my carb intake, while still making sure to hit 1g of protein per pound of LBM.
I take progress pics in less than 2 weeks, so we'll see what's going on!0 -
Thanks again!!!
I suck at patience LOL.
Llamapants- i just changed to .5 too and it pushed me up almost 200 calories. now, using that, do I eat my exercise calories?
I eat back my exercise calories because I have mfp set to sedentary. So I log all exercise and eat back those cals (my fitbit does a pretty good job with anything step related and I just add in non step exercise)0 -
I am afraid that with decreasing my lifts that my body won't keep shrinking. Is that totally off?0
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yes...you weight loss comes from your deficet..remember that.
the lifting is for "the look" which will come along....0
