Feeling achy, cold and tired all the time

intrepidelephant

I do a landscaping job. I wanted to drop from 5'6 140 lbs to 125 lbs. For the first few weeks I was losing 1.5 to 2 lbs a week on a 2000 calorie diet. Now I'm 133, the scale will barely budge and I'm cold, achy and tired all the time. I take a multivitamin and get lots of protein (ie. tuna and a hamburger in the same day). My BF is around 21% (down from 23%) and I wear size 26 pants.

logg1e

I wanted to drop from 5'6 140 lbs to 125 lbs.

Are you female? Why do you wish to get your weight down so low?

gypsy_spirit

Cold, achy and tired could indicate several things. With a demanding outdoor job like landscaping, you could be eating too little to support such an active lifestyle. Maybe your body is trying to tell you it's out of fuel.

Or you could be getting sick. Or many other things.

My point is, the people on this site (including me) can only offer guesses to what's going on with you. If it continues, either eat more and see if that helps or see your doctor.

Patttience

Well there's a few things possibly going on.

1. YOu maybe just lost weight too fast to be sustainable.
2. you could be coming down with a virus, not helped much by letting yourself get so run down (hard work restricted calories can lead to getting run down).

Oh i am just seeing the gypsy spirit is saying the same things as me. And i agree with her put on a little weight again.

if your symptoms are weight related, then you are experiencing what Dr Amanda Sainsbury Salis calls a famine reaction. Its your body's attempt to try to make you put on weight when you've lost too much body fat. You see ultimately its not about the number of calories about about the size of the calorie deficit.

Tiuna and a hamburger is not lots of protein for someone in your situation. That would probably be a normal amount of protein for someone not doing much activity. Have a look at how much protein you need for your lifestyle and current weight. Active people do need more protein. ARe your eating vegetables? They say that most of a vitamin pill goes down the toilet. Food is the best source of vitamins. And you should vary your diet as much as possible. Not just tuna and hamburger but try some other fish and other meats as well as dairy and legumes and so on.

Liftng4Lis

Achy, tired and cold = DOCTOR. Achy and tired could have been from exercise and reduced calories initially, but the cold part, sounds like you're sick.

rosebette

You could be eating too little. It sounds as if you already have a slim body. Also, why would someone with so few pounds to lose need to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs. a week. That's the level that someone who is obese needs to lose, not someone with a few "vanity" pounds. At 133, your BMI is 21.5, and you have another post that says you have a 25" waist and "feel like a whale." That indicates some body image issues.

Maybe you're losing your weight too quickly and you're not eating enough to fuel your metabolic needs. I'm and older adult (55), I've been on a calorie restriction diet with optimal nutrition for older adults (eating 20% below TDEE regardless of weight) and one of the side effects is feeling cold all the time, but this diet is for older, inactive people to promote longevity and prevent illness and weight gain caused by the reduced BMR related to aging. By the way, I haven't felt cold all the time yet, but maybe that's because it's summer.

This kind of calorie restriction is not recommended for young, active people, which you are. You may need to eat more at your age and activity level to maintain your metabolism. You have an active job; you need to support that level of activity. Add 300 calories more of protein to your diet -- maybe bring some nuts to work (high calorie, good fats, and protein) and you could easily get that extra you need to fuel your body.

cwolfman13

Lets see...you're a landscaper so obviously a very active job and you're eating 2000 calories and dropped weight very quickly...I wonder what the issue could possibly be?

Kalikel

133 pounds, size 26? Are you a 133 pound baby or in some non-US country that sizes differently?

You should call the doctor about your symptoms. Nobody is qualified to diagnose you online. Hope you feel better soon!

LAT1963

Yup. You need to see a doc.

JTick

133 pounds, size 26? Are you a 133 pound baby or in some non-US country that sizes differently?

You should call the doctor about your symptoms. Nobody is qualified to diagnose you online. Hope you feel better soon!

I think OP means size 26" waist.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

The only time I had all those symptoms was when I was eating too little. Bump up your calories a bit and see if that helps.

danelutza19

On their own each symptom can be cause by many things, but together, coupled with your activity level, are a dead giveaway for the condition: you have managed to slow down your metabolism.
Feeling cold is a very significant indicator of your metabolic process: your body is in survival mode because it's not feed so it's shutting off the lights that are not essential. Feeling tired is again a defense mechanism because your body knows it can't support extra activity based on its current resources.
Try this for a week and see if it helps: set your calories to maintenance and eat that for the whole week to regulate your metabolism. Take a workout break and don't go back to exercising until you feel like you can't sit down because you're so energetic.( about a week later )
Best of luck!
After you feel better, return to calorie deficit but do that by taking 10% off the total calories you were eating during maintenance.

intrepidelephant

On their own each symptom can be cause by many things, but together, coupled with your activity level, are a dead giveaway for the condition: you have managed to slow down your metabolism.
Feeling cold is a very significant indicator of your metabolic process: your body is in survival mode because it's not feed so it's shutting off the lights that are not essential. Feeling tired is again a defense mechanism because your body knows it can't support extra activity based on its current resources.
Try this for a week and see if it helps: set your calories to maintenance and eat that for the whole week to regulate your metabolism. Take a workout break and don't go back to exercising until you feel like you can't sit down because you're so energetic.( about a week later )
Best of luck!
After you feel better, return to calorie deficit but do that by taking 10% off the total calories you were eating during maintenance.

I don't actually work out at all. I go on two 3 hour walks a week if I can, but the rest is just work. Cutting down on my activity level is not possible

Kalikel

133 pounds, size 26? Are you a 133 pound baby or in some non-US country that sizes differently?

You should call the doctor about your symptoms. Nobody is qualified to diagnose you online. Hope you feel better soon!

I think OP means size 26" waist.

OIC.

astroophys

133 pounds, size 26? Are you a 133 pound baby or in some non-US country that sizes differently?

You should call the doctor about your symptoms. Nobody is qualified to diagnose you online. Hope you feel better soon!

Deleted because already answered.

Lilylee757

Maybe I missed someone else mentioning it, but landscaping and those symptoms sounds like potentially Lyme disease. Call the doc.

PapaChanoli

You've had some good advice here, but for a healthy person.

Nobody here has a clue whether or not you're healthy. Go see a doctor.

RET68

You might see about being tested for MTHFR. That was my problem, I could always drop weight, calories etc, I could workout hard and long, but whenever I did. I got exactly the same, cold tired, sore muscles, achy bones. Turns out I had a genetic condition that makes folic acid (like in multivitamins) toxic for me. Over the years all these toxins plus the ones my body couldn't flush out because my methylation cycle (cellular detox) was FUBAR, from the reduced level of MTHFR proteins my body could make, were building up in my fat. So when I forced weight loss, out came the toxins, and boy was it painful. Now I'm on this elaborate vitamin cycle, and I'm able to lose (slowly) but without getting sick. If you don't want to or can't afford to get tested (Quest, LabCorp, 23andMe) just cut out all folic acid (it's in all bread, milk, Oj, everywhere basically) and add Folate, not folinic acid, and methyl or hydroxycobalamin or maybe adenosylcobalamin, and read some at MTHFR.net and see if the symptoms are something you can relate too. Good luck. :flowerforyou: