Fell off the wagon and need help/advice

craigp1981

Hi,

I managed to achieve some good results earlier this year and dropped from 16st to 13.5st but I was super strict with my diet and went for a period of 9 weeks where pasta was my one treat meal per week. Other than that I was eating a protein/complex carb diet totalling around 15-1800 calories per day. I was doing a lot of running during this point training for a Half Marathon (the Great North Run) hence the weight loss. I had a week off training in the summer for my birthday and consequently I had 2-3 days where I ate whatever I fancied. This gave me the taste for carb heavy foods (pizza is my downfall) and I ended up being around 14.5st by the time of the race mid September.

I achieved good results in the race but pushed myself a bit too far towards the end as I picked up a foot injury which took 2-3 weeks to heal properly which meant I couldn't train. I then fell ill almost immediately after the injury healed (chest infection/flu and this took another 2 weeks to fully pull myself around. Now I am back to 16st

At this point I should add that when I don't train I don't think about my diet and end up being prone to carb heavy foods (pizza, chips etc).

Around this time I started a new job which has seen me go from a job where I was on autopilot and very little thought involved to a job where I am using my brain a lot more. This is making me mega tired when it comes to midday/mid afternoon.

To cut a long story short I am stuck in a viscous circle where I try and train to a intensity my body was capable off a couple of months or so ago along with a calorie restricted diet that my body could handle but now every day, or rather the day after a hard gym session (a Spin strength class for example) I hit the wall part way through the day and feel shattered to a point where I hit the carbs for energy.

I feel as if I need to take things back to basics and slowly build my exercise stamina up whilst gradually reducing what I eat rather than go from one extreme of at times is binge eating when I am shattered to the other extreme where the calories I'm eating are probably far too low. The problem is on the exercise front I cannot help myself, when I have some good tunes in my ears I can't help but push myself.

Another problem I have is that the new job I only get one lunch break of an hour so all I can really consume in the way of a snack in the morning and afternoon is a protein shake with some porridge oats in it.

At the moment this is what a good day looks like but I know it needs improving so I'm hoping someone on here can help.

Breakfast - Bran Flakes w/skimmed milk or a protein shake (lo carb blended protein) with 40g of porridge oats. Sometimes I have a large cupful of oats cooked with skimmed milk but even when I have this I still get the tiredness issues.
Mid morning - handful of grapes along with a 1 scoop whey protein shake (150-200 calories in the shake)
Lunch - 40-60g brown rice cooked and a chicken breast fillet (boiled, no breadcrumb or any covering)
Mid afternoon - As mid morning
Post training - Recovery protein shake (carbs)
Dinner - Chicken breast fillet with carrots and mushrooms
Pre-bed - Casein based protein shake.

At the moment I feel I can't stick to the above due to the tiredness and feel the carbs needs increasing. Has anyone got any ideas? My job is office based (call centre) and I am 31 so its not as if I can't do the exercise. I just need to figure out what's causing me to crash mid afternoon. Just to cover the obvious I do get 7-8 hours sleep on average however at times I feel the pre bed protein shake is doing more harm than good as this does quite often leave me backwards and forwards to the toiler during the night.

Sorry this is long winded but I feel the more info I give the more you guys can help.

Cheers
Craig

moniquedeanne

You're just going to be a bit tired for the first few weeks. Your body isn't currently conditioned to do all you're asking it to. You just have to keep at it and it'll get easier. The human body is great at adaption it just needs a little time to adjust. I know how you feel I've just finished week 3 of my workouts and I'm tired a lot. But I keep adding more to my workouts because I know in a few weeks my body will adjust and it'll be easier meaning I can do more and workout harder so you're never really not a little tired some days because you're always pushing for more. Right now I workout 4 days a week with circuit training (30 min.) and 2 days of cardio (30 min.). I'm trying to add in a day of kickboxing or jiu-jitsu and a day or two of running. While still getting a rest day in there somewhere.

RobynLB

Just have a coffee in the afternoon.

rubysparkle

I'm in exactly the same situation and had the same issues and im now back to the same weight. I ran a half marathon this March but i'm now back to the couch again I also picked up an injury after my race from pushing too hard in the final half mile.

I think you (and myself included) need to break it down into manageable chunks and start over. Put a cap on the weight gain and start from scratch with the exercise. It's like turning a cruise ship around, it takes a long time to start off but once its moving again in the right direction it's full steam ahead.

I've signed up for my second half marathon next year and that will be my goal. I'm going to start the C25K again to get me back on track and build my exercise up slowly. As for the nutrition, im still trying to work this out myself so can't really help. .

axialmeow

Add in some healthy fats?

gerripho

Have you had your thyroid levels checked? Low thyroid can lead to being tired. I can't see your diary so don't know your water consumption. I find when I increase my water intake my tiredness level is helped. Maybe it's just a mental thing, but what ever works.