3 weeks on MFP daily headaches and exhaustion

completebeginnings

I did 3 weeks of keeping with in my calories suggested by MFP including eating my exercise points. During this time I lost about 5 pounds. I ate well. Plenty of protein, fruits and veggies, complex carbs etc.I had daily headaches (plenty of water 8-12 glasses a day), was almost always hungry and had pure exhaustion every afternoon (found myself needing a 2 or 3 hour nap daily). I had a stressful and busy few days and didn't track and ate what ever I wanted and walah headache gone and energy is back. I was eating between 1450 and 2000 calories daily before. Exercising for an hour 4 or 5 days a week.
Any thoughts? I want and need to loose weight but can't function with headaches and exhaustion. I have 4 young kids whom I am at home with and work as a midwife.

srp2011

If you make a drastic change in your diet, particularly if you go from high sugar or high caffeine to eliminating it entirely, headaches can result - essentially you are going into withdrawal. What I would suggest is take a few days and eat normally and find out exactly what you are eating now, when you feel fine - don't worry about dieting just yet. Then gradually change to a healthier lower-cal diet, changing one thing at a time and see when/if the headaches come back - then work around that culprit (leave it in your diet for now, but make the rest of your diet healthy, and then eventually try to taper the amount of whatever it is down). If you were always hungry and exhausted, it's sounding a lot like fluctuating blood sugar, but the exhaustion could be from caffeine withdrawal also, so it's really hard to say without seeing your food diary before and after. Another thing to try is eating small meals and snacks, each with some high quality protein, throughout the day (think 6 minimeals, rather than 3) - that should help if it's a blood sugar issue. You might also check with your doctor and see if you might have hyper or hypoglycemia.

Dellonious1

Did you stop caffeine and stop or lower your sugar intake? Doing so cold turkey may have caused this..

lesliefoste

Headaches and exhaustion aren't normal OR good. When you're eating right and working out you should feel better; less tired and more energetic. My first guess is that your body was going through withdrawal from something that you stopped eating or drinking during those three weeks. Guess #2 is that you might not have been getting enough protein. Protein gives you slower-and-longer-lasting energy, so if you don't eat enough, your blood sugar levels could drop until you eat again. Low blood sugar can cause all kinds of symptoms, including headache and fatigue. Guess #3 is that you might not fit the normal dieting mold, and maybe something that's a good recommendation for the general dieting public isn't working for you. If you can't figure out anything on your own, you might want to go to your doctor or a dietitian to have them check things out.

Good luck! I hope you can figure it out, because dieting's hard enough with those side effects!!

monkeybuttsmommy

DId you incorporate any new foods you hadn't been eating before MFP? Like soy, different kinds of nuts, new seasonings etc? You could have just had an allergy to something you were eating daily. And an hour a day of excercise from the start might have caused the exhaustion. Were you a heavy caffiene drinker and did you give it up for your diet? That can cause severe headaches if you give it up cold turkey. I would suggest talking to your doctor. I get heat headaches from exertion... I am just sensitive that way. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Lighter excercise may help and checking out your diet to see if anything is screwy. Good luck.

cc_campbell81

Also water intake could be an issue. Maybe you were getting dehydrated when you worked out.

spaztastic13

I think that you should just take baby steps and work your way up as far as excercise your food intake seems to be fine....just remember it took time to put on the weight and its gonna take time to get it off..keep up the good work!

Ramberta

Did you change your diet in any way to accommodate easier calorie counting, or to try and be healthier? Did you forego caffeine, or soda? Did you severely cut back on your fine sugar intake (any processed sugar not from natural sources such as fruit)? Did you change your exercise routine for MFP? Did you notice that you had any trouble sleeping or that you were waking frequently in the night?

I myself suffered chronic fatigue for several months before my doctor finally prescribed an iron supplement, and I've never before been at all anemic in my life. But these are all things to consider before you automatically target the calorie-counting as the problem.

alifer

Might want to see your doctor and have bloodwork done. I'm not a doctor, but if your electrolytes are out of wack, you could develop those symptoms. (According to my last Dr. visit) Of course countless other things could have those symptoms also.
For me it was sodium level too low.

Best wishes.

biznurse

Might want to see your doctor and have bloodwork done. I'm not a doctor, but if your electrolytes are out of wack, you could develop those symptoms. (According to my last Dr. visit) Of course countless other things could have those symptoms also.
For me it was sodium level too low.

Best wishes.

I've been a RN for 30 years, and i totally agree..... Withdrawl headaches from refined sugar or caffeine lasts only a few days normallu. I'd go to your physician and let them do some blood work to get to the bottom of it all....

completebeginnings

Answering all of the above:
Don't do caffeine of any sort. Never have.
Don't do a lot of sugar or junk food-no soda, sugared cereals, fruit snacks, sugared yogurt,etc. Dessert when I go out or a cookie or two with my kids when we bake together.
Thyroid and hormones have been checked just before starting MFP and everything was in the normal range.
Water is never an issue for me. 2 quarts a day min. plus an additional quart on the days I exercise (more than that and I am up peeing too much at night lol)
I have always eaten pretty well just too much of it and not enough exercise..thus trying MFP.

JennMuc

I was having these exact same issues my first few weeks. I tweaked my foods a bit to find higher protein and higher energy boosting foods. This helped me tremendously. Also, while I was eating healthier I was spacing it too far apart. I did much better eating smaller more frequent meals and beginning with a substantial breakfast and having a high protein lunch, I have 2 snacks (mid morning and mid afternoon) and a smaller dinner. These changes helped me feel much better and now I feel great working out and eating healthier has changed my life. I have a long way to go but have found the balance that my body needs and I feel good about it. I do find that when I don't sleep well I am extremely lethargic the next day - more so than I remember pre MFP.

completebeginnings

Made my food diary public for those who want to look. Didn't track the days I was eating what ever(the last few). And like everyone some days are better than others.

Betheroo

Looked at your diary and saw that you have your carbs set pretty low. I know I feel better when I eat lower carb and higher protein, but the diuresis that goes along with shifting to that eating style can definitely cause electrolyte imbalance. What is odd to me is that it continued over three weeks for you. Seems it should have balanced out by then. Perhaps you could speak with a nutritionist? By the way, good for you for studying midwifery while raising a family. It's on my "dream list" to do, but I'm waiting until my four kids are a little older. You are a brave lady!

ladyhawk00

You may have your settings incorrect. What is your loss per week goal? If you've set that too high, you could be unintentionally undereating. Your activity level setting could also be off - may try using the next higher setting and see how that works.

The calculations for BMR and activity level are fairly accurate for the majority, but there are some people outside the curve. Particularly for someone who is pretty fit, the activity level may need tweaking.

Might help to read this to make sure your loss per week goal is appropriate:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

ladyhawk00

Looked at your diary and saw that you have your carbs set pretty low. I know I feel better when I eat lower carb and higher protein, but the diuresis that goes along with shifting to that eating style can definitely cause electrolyte imbalance. What is odd to me is that it continued over three weeks for you. Seems it should have balanced out by then. Perhaps you could speak with a nutritionist? By the way, good for you for studying midwifery while raising a family. It's on my "dream list" to do, but I'm waiting until my four kids are a little older. You are a brave lady!

This too. I'm assuming you have a specific reason for choosing those macro settings, but for the vast majority of people, that much protein would be VERY detrimental (even if you were meeting the goals). I would try to find a better balance of macros that you can stick with, so that you have a better picture of what levels you're actually at. Most people do best with something like this:

15-30% protein
12-25% fat
40-60% carbs (mostly complex carbs from whole grains, veggies and fruits)

Going too low on carbs AND fat can backfire. If you prefer a low carb plan, that's fine, but in that case you usually need to increase the healthy fats, not just protein.

DustinReiner

Well the exhaustion could be coming from the complex carbo's, they're a little hard to digest and actually take engery to digest. The same reason why people get tired after Thanksgiving dinner or any other "BIG" meal. (And no it's not the tryptophan in the turkey. It acually has less than most other meats. It's an old wive tale [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1609661/common_medical_myths_and_misconceptions.html]

I'm not a big fan of complex carbs, personally I'd cut them out. I work on a low carb diet.

Also if you've made a change in your diet recently as in starting dieting or cut out caffene you'll get headachs for a short while. It will subside after a while. It's kind of like withdrawls.

Don't give up.