Waking Up With Migraines?

navywife5810
navywife5810 Posts: 63 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Alright so I just started a really intense workout routine this week (for me anyway) & each night I've woken up with migraines.

They aren't your every day run-of-the-mill migraine. They're because my body thinks it's starving. My head throbs, I'm light sensitive, and it makes me want to puke, but if I eat, it goes away within minutes. I know I'm pushing my body way beyond what I was doing before, but I've done it many times before and it's never been an issue. I'm thinking it's this way because now I'm counting calories instead of just eating what I wanted (which never worked).
Anyway, my caloric intake before I workout is 1200. The past two days I've burned between 1150 and 1300 doing 60 minutes of high impact aerobics and then 75 minutes of walking/jogging at an incline of 10 on the treadmill, but I've only increased my caloric intake to 1430 (i'm estimating - give or take 60 calories).

Basically, I'm trying to figure out what I should be eating to prevent this from happening. Should I space my routines out - one in the morning, one in the afternoon - instead of one right after the other? Should I eat more or should I allow my body more time to naturally adjust to this amount of food combined with my workouts? Should I rotate the more intense routine with others? (Like this: intense, moderate, intense, etc.)

I honestly don't know where to adjust what I'm doing. Any advice will be very helpful. Thanks in advance!
I don't know if you need my height and weight to help me out, but here it is just in case:
Height - 4'11"
Weight - 164
Age - 21

Replies

  • Aventuria
    Aventuria Posts: 151
    Do you drink enough/more water since you started your training?
  • navywife5810
    navywife5810 Posts: 63 Member
    Do you drink enough/more water since you started your training?



    Yes, I drink 5 bottles of water every day. So it's about 10, 8oz glasses of water.
  • Shadowsan
    Shadowsan Posts: 365 Member
    It might sound strange...

    But you need to eat some complex carbs before bedtime.

    What you're probably getting is crashing due to blood sugar levels going all over the place. Some low GI complex carbs before bed should help level you out overnight.

    Also, what time is the latest you eat? Gotta take into account if your dinner is say 5pm and you're not awake until 6am... That's 13 hours with no food, whilst on a deficit. You are going to suffer with that - there is also a large possibility you're not eating enough... You left yourself 965 calories in deficit last night - way too much.
  • navywife5810
    navywife5810 Posts: 63 Member
    It might sound strange...

    But you need to eat some complex carbs before bedtime.

    What you're probably getting is crashing due to blood sugar levels going all over the place. Some low GI complex carbs before bed should help level you out overnight.

    Also, what time is the latest you eat? Gotta take into account if your dinner is say 5pm and you're not awake until 6am... That's 13 hours with no food, whilst on a deficit. You are going to suffer with that - there is also a large possibility you're not eating enough... You left yourself 965 calories in deficit last night - way too much.

    Aren't whole grains and legumes (green beans) considered complex carbs?
    I ate more than usual of both last night around 8:30 and woke up 4 hours later with the migraine. I would think they would have held me over until 6 am at the very least.

    I usually eat dinner around 8 & many people leave that large of a deficit. My husband included. I mean, I know everyone's nutrition needs differ in certain areas, but 1000 calories is average for those trying to lose 2 lbs a week.
  • witchy_wife
    witchy_wife Posts: 792 Member
    Am I reading it right and you are eating around 1400 calories a day and burning off like 1100?

    I don't know a lot about losing weigh and calorie deficit but to me it sounds like you need to eat more. If you are getting migraines that instantly go away when you eat I think your body is trying to tell you something.
  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
    What are your Ttde and bmr? My guess is your not eating enough. Eat more. I was going to say the same thing as above about the complex carbs since the body goes into a state of ketosis during slumber if it doesn't have enough glucose.... But then I noticed your calories in vs. calories out.
  • Erica27511
    Erica27511 Posts: 490 Member
    Am I reading it right and you are eating around 1400 calories a day and burning off like 1100?

    I don't know a lot about losing weigh and calorie deficit but to me it sounds like you need to eat more. If you are getting migraines that instantly go away when you eat I think your body is trying to tell you something.

    Agree.
    I was going to bed with migraines and waking up with headaches. I started eating more and making sure I was netting a healthy calorie goal for me and they are gone now.
  • Shadowsan
    Shadowsan Posts: 365 Member
    It might sound strange...

    But you need to eat some complex carbs before bedtime.

    What you're probably getting is crashing due to blood sugar levels going all over the place. Some low GI complex carbs before bed should help level you out overnight.

    Also, what time is the latest you eat? Gotta take into account if your dinner is say 5pm and you're not awake until 6am... That's 13 hours with no food, whilst on a deficit. You are going to suffer with that - there is also a large possibility you're not eating enough... You left yourself 965 calories in deficit last night - way too much.

    Aren't whole grains and legumes (green beans) considered complex carbs?
    I ate more than usual of both last night around 8:30 and woke up 4 hours later with the migraine. I would think they would have held me over until 6 am at the very least.

    I usually eat dinner around 8 & many people leave that large of a deficit. My husband included. I mean, I know everyone's nutrition needs differ in certain areas, but 1000 calories is average for those trying to lose 2 lbs a week.

    It's really not - 1000 calories is much more than you need to be under. Think about this for a min. MFP calculates what you need in order to lose 2lbs a week and allows for extra calories to cover exercise. You set this via your goals. If you hit those calorie goals or are only slightly under (say 100-200 cals) then you continue on losing weight safely. However in your case... On top of that you're also being 1000 calories _under_ that (looking at the last couple of days) - that is a LOT more than you should be under.

    Make sense?
  • navywife5810
    navywife5810 Posts: 63 Member
    It might sound strange...

    But you need to eat some complex carbs before bedtime.

    What you're probably getting is crashing due to blood sugar levels going all over the place. Some low GI complex carbs before bed should help level you out overnight.

    Also, what time is the latest you eat? Gotta take into account if your dinner is say 5pm and you're not awake until 6am... That's 13 hours with no food, whilst on a deficit. You are going to suffer with that - there is also a large possibility you're not eating enough... You left yourself 965 calories in deficit last night - way too much.

    Aren't whole grains and legumes (green beans) considered complex carbs?
    I ate more than usual of both last night around 8:30 and woke up 4 hours later with the migraine. I would think they would have held me over until 6 am at the very least.

    I usually eat dinner around 8 & many people leave that large of a deficit. My husband included. I mean, I know everyone's nutrition needs differ in certain areas, but 1000 calories is average for those trying to lose 2 lbs a week.

    It's really not - 1000 calories is much more than you need to be under. Think about this for a min. MFP calculates what you need in order to lose 2lbs a week and allows for extra calories to cover exercise. You set this via your goals. If you hit those calorie goals or are only slightly under (say 100-200 cals) then you continue on losing weight safely. However in your case... On top of that you're also being 1000 calories _under_ that (looking at the last couple of days) - that is a LOT more than you should be under.

    Make sense?


    Yep! Now that I understand what the hell I'm doing, I can actually eat and not feel like I'm about to fall over :)
    I changed my goals to reflect my TDEE - 20% because I starve myself if not. I was barely eating my BMR the past 2 days let alone making up for all the calories I burned. I guess having that bigger number makes me feel more at ease when I eat so I don't pick at my food.

    Thank you, Shadowsan!



    & thanks to everyone else that responded as well!

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