Exercise makes me fatigued

RecoveringToHealthy

I've recently started to work out again, after not being able to do it for more than six months. I LOVE it, it boosts my mood and makes me feel good. The only problem is that after a couple of hours I become SO. BLOODY. TIRED. I lay in bed and have no energy for anything. It takes up to a day to get my energy back. Is this how it's supposed to be??

I eat enough, I've actually gained six pounds since I started working out. (Which I don't care about as long as I don't gain more.)
I drink enough, although I could probably drink a little more.
I don't sleep well at all and I don't know why. My doctor described sleeping pills, but they don't work as well as they should.

I mean, I love exercising, but I don't want to feel like this. I had more energy when I sat on my *kitten* all day and did nothing.

MaraPN

Well you just started after 6 months so maybe your body needs to adjust to exercising again.
Maybe you started of too hard and maybe you should take it easy for the first few weeks.
How long do you exercise and how often?

grantdumas7

Lack of sleep is probably contributing but you may have an underlying issue as well. Talk to your doctor about it and he or she may run a few test.

ninerbuff

It's your rest if you're not sleeping well. The body needs it.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Irish_Eyes81

I would go get blood work done. I have a low hemoglobin. I'm anemic and it makes me very exhausted. Do you take vitamins,? I am now on b12 and iron...should help out just curious because if you are it would at least be an easy thing to fix, hope that helps

3foldchord

Talk to your doctor. He can run a few blood tests if nothing else. I have a few health issues that cause it to be like for me. one of which occasional low iron. I am off the iron suppliers finally, but I have needed to adjusted my diet to include more iron rich foods .

3dogsrunning

You don't log food so how do you know you are eating enough?
How much exercise are you getting?
What are you doing?
Do you include enough rest time?

phjorg

Not eating enough

Not sleeping enough

or both..

Absref71

Wait, do you mean after a few hours of training or after a few hours after training? Cause under an hour training is best... And the other comments pretty much cover everything else

RecoveringToHealthy

I try to exercise three to four times every week. The time depends. If it's cardio I don't work out more than 20-30 minutes, otherwise it can be up to an hour, occasionally more.

I know I'm eating enough because I've had an eating disorder (which is why I wasn't allowed to exercise) and my doctors keep track of it. I've just started to track calories again.

I take extra vitamins, so that's probably not the problem.

(Oops, my bad: a few hours *after* training )

Thanks for all the answers! I'll bring it up next time I see my doctor. The lack of sleep probably contributes to everything.

abrahamsitososa

You're just a little rusty. Hang in there and be consistent. You'll get over that stage. And be very smart about your food choices too of course. You need good nutrition for fast recovery. You look in good shape overall.

krhn

If you have problems sleeping a good idea would be straight after your workout, pop a caffeine pill to wake up a bit, by night fall you should experience a tiny crash from the caffeine and get tired dramatically quicker than normal!

Tanja_CHH

I find that I get a huge energy boost from working out, but if I dont use the boost (so if I just sit on my computer) I get super tired after a few hours. To make the most of this I tend to workout at 6-8, come home, eat my dinner, use my energy to do some school work and then go bed and get my 8 hours sleep If you work out too late it might also contribute to sleeping badly in the start, I used to get that but I dont anymore

Sycoholic

Well, I saw somebody suggested vitamins. I know I feel a difference. It's not a subconscious thing either. I had been forgetting to take them and after a few days was wondering why I was always so tired. Another big cause I'm sure is your lack of sleep. You need at least 7 hours of sleep. I don't think I can help you there though as the only time I can't go to sleep is when I skip working out... I lay there all jittery until I pass out after a few hours. It's usually easier at that point for me to hit the gym for an hour and come back home. Also, are you staying well hydrated? This can affect your weight gain as well as your feeling tired. If I'm not drinking enough and go for my long run I know I'll be wasted the rest of the day until my body rehydrates.....

krhn

A person that gets tired dramatically whilst working out can be partially attributed to the breathing patterns of a person... Everyone has seen how Olympic lifters go into a front squat and simply pass out there and then... The reason is because the weight touched the area where blood flows into the brain, so in essence the brain just shuts down..

This can be related to moderate workouts as well, since your body isn't getting enough oxygen to pump blood into the muscles and around the body, the blood flowing into the brain is drastically reduced, hence you get tired or yawn often even if you do get enough sleep! (Solution to this if you experience this is breathe in hard and breathe out hard - dont hyper ventilate yourself though! :laugh:

jzammetti

I had a similar issue (except i was sleeping fine) - turned out my blood pressure was low and I was slightly anemic. maybe a visit to the doc is not such a bad idea.