My new job is KILLING my energy

katerinab

Up until last week, I hadn't worked outside of the house for over 8 years. Then I decided that now that my son is in full time school and his autism isn't providing as many time consuming obstacles as it used to, I wanted to rejoin the workforce and interact with, I dunno, people, on occasion LOL

So now I work for a major toy retailer. They are SO busy that I applied online at like 11pm last Tuesday night, got called back Wednesday, interviewed Thursday morning, got the job offer Thursday afternoon, had orientation Friday evening, worked 5 hours Saturday, 6 hours Sunday, and 5.5 hours Monday. And regardless of the extra bodies on the sales floor, we are absolutely slammed during pretty much every minute we're open, and we haven't even approached Black Friday yet!

Prior to this I worked out 45-60 minutes every single day. I've been eating well. But DANG, I am so freaking TIRED now. And my body is just insanely achey. My joints and back and overall condition has been nothing to brag about anyway, but I feel like a 90 year old woman who got run over by a mack truck that didn't quite manage to kill her. Last night I slept about 7 hours, put my son on the bus, and went back to take a nap and ended up sleeping for another 3.5 hours, and I still managed to violently yawn my way through my choir rehearsal tonight. And we sat most of the time, though when we got up to sing, it was painful and hard to stand for very long.

So I guess my long winded post comes down to this - WHAT can I do, eat, drink, take, WHATEVER, to make this transition a little easier on me? I can't really add much more sleep or nothing around my home will ever get done. But I NEED to do SOMETHING to manage to make it through my days, 'cause they will only get worse as we approach the holidays. I do drink caffeine, but I'm kind of an odd bird - caffeine doesn't act as a stimulant for me. It just happens to exist in the beverages I enjoy.

Any thoughts or suggestions for me?

Luckymam

I'm keen to hear suggestions too. I've just gone back to work 4 weeks ago after 9 months maternity leave and I'm soooooo tired. I don't even have the energy for housework, let alone jumping about to an exercise dvd! I'm usually in bed not long after the kids!

BigGail

Water, massage, vitamin and mineral supplement, stretching, hot baths and plenty of sleep! I bet if you wore HRM it would show you pounding through your calories - make sure you are getting enough.

And well done on the new job x

haroldz123

after a week, u'll get used to it.
get power nap if possible during ur working day..

simple stretching could help to relieve ur boredom n sore joints

beefy79

Recovery is the key!!! a long slow stretch session (hold your stretches for 25-30secs each) after each training session should help release the lactate in your system which is what is causing the aches and pains. Also make sure you have rest days, its alright to go 100 miles an hour and harder the better in the 45 - 50mins sessions you are doing, but if your training every single day you will burn out (Which i have done many of times and just ended up having rest for longer then i should to recover and lost any gains that i had made). When starting training its always good to train day on then have a day off and just go for a walk if you feel the need to excercise you will still burn calories but it is also great for recovery.

once you have done a couple of weeks building a foundation you can move up to training 3 days on - day off - 2days on - day off. or just move upto 6 days but always give your body time to recover by having a rest day.

Also if your doing weight/circuit training and doing full body exercises best to do these day on/off rotation otherwise there will be no benefit and you will just burn muscle

As for food or drink try and find a low cal electrolyte supplement you can have after training (which will also help with the aches and pains) this will replenish anything you have lost a lot quicker then food. Also try and find a good sports performance multi vitiman

Other great foods are fruits especially bananna's they are a great source of energy and as with all fruits have naturally occurring sugars which will burn a lot quicker then there starcher counterparts and don't forget to keep your protein levels up. Proteins repair your muscle after training, but dont over do it because protein can put more weight on just follow your myfitnesspal daily intake goals for a guide

Hope this helps

robin52077

If you had your diary set to sedentary before , you need to change it to active. That will show you how much more you need to eat in order to fuel your now-more-active days. You are probably tired from the new job, but you also might not be eating enough to give you energy..

shannonichole

I know how you feel. I work as a chef in the evenings and towards the holidays I work 12+ hours a day (continually rocketing around a kitchen).

- Try taking B-12 (or B-complex) vitamins for a natural energy.
- Eating an apple before your shift starts helps with energy.
- Good shoes!!! This will help your back and feet. Add Dr. Scholls or another favorite insole. Nothing worse than not being able to get your shoes off at the end of the night!
- Drink lots of water, because it helps with pain and energy (dehydration makes everything worse).
- I like to have my days off separated so that I can work one day and then exercise the next and then work the day after (otherwise the weekend rolls around and I can't even imagine getting out of bed).
- I know from experience that you will eventually get used to all this new activity. It just takes time to adjust.

Don't forget that the more you move the more weight you will lose. Or, as I like to now say, no pain no loss!