Need your opinion on diet/exercise please...

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FemininGuns
FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi, I've been here since July, lost 14lbs so far.

I noticed the past couple of weeks that I've been feeling sluggish. 3 weeks ago, I changed my diet (please view diary to assess), started going to bed earlier as I go to the gym at 5am. Cut out wine/beer or any alcoholic beverage...

I feel that I am eating pretty clean... However, I am wondering if my sluggishness is due to not enough carbs in my diet. I do a lot of cardio (4 times per week in the AM at the gym at 40 min. each, twice a week in the evening go running for aroun 30 minutes and I do a long run on the weekend that's about 1hr long) and lift weights 5 times a week. Anyway, if anyone has input on if I should increase carb intake (good ones) or if I should be ok in what I'm eating please let me know.

I want to continue losing at a slow pace, but I want to be full of energy the majority of the time instead of possibly 2 days out of 7...

Thanks!
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Replies

  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    I don't know too much about regulating carbs, but one thing that I have found is that it is possible to get sluggish in the fall because of the dwindling daylight. How much time do you spend outside?
  • cakefarm
    cakefarm Posts: 33
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    Great job on your success thus far! You look phenomenal!

    And regarding carbs - I am the first person to try to get rid of them. I lose better without them and I FEEL better without them. But the fact is, when you're doing a lot of cardio, you really need to balance your macro-nutrients. I did not believe that increasing my carb intake would increase my fat loss until I read Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat - Feed the Muscle (which I highly recommend).
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Are you getting enough iron? I haven't looked at your food yet, but feeling sluggish is a sign of anemia (and also hypothyroid).

    It could just be a hormonal change, too.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    Well It does look like things are pretty clean with your eating. I would say eat a good breakfest. Here is mine generally. 1c cooked oatbran with 2tbsp ground flax seed, 1/4 c pumpkin,spices and 2 eggs and 1 egg white. It may very a little but generally it is the same. Make sure that you are getting your complex carbs like brown rice whole grain bread, quiona, oats, red skin potatoes. Fruits veggies. If you are then I would suggest a good mulit vitamin if your not on one. Also how is your iron. Most women have low iron and that can cause you to feel drained and tired
  • 00trayn
    00trayn Posts: 1,849 Member
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    You should go into your Food Diary settings (on the Home Page, click on Goals, then Change Goals, then Custom) and reset your ratios. You're getting a lot more protein and less carbs than MFP recommends as a default and I think it would benefit to change them so you can adjust your eating accordingly. I'm at 50% carbs, 25% fat and 25% protein right now and I feel good. A higher protein diet would be 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. It's worth changing so you can see how you're doing against the ratios.
  • cakefarm
    cakefarm Posts: 33
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    I just read that you're also lifting. You really do need carbs right after your workout to keep your body from cannibalizing your muscles. If you message me, I'll be happy to email you Venuto's ebook. It revolutionized my training and nutrition.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    OK, I've looked at your diary now. I would toss the protein shakes. Those are not the best source of protein (your body doesn't absorb it efficiently) and you're getting WAY more protein than you need. WAY MORE. That isn't good for you. A lot of people will tell you differently, but your body can only absorb so much.

    The rest becomes fat or gets flushed out and taxes your kidneys and liver. Also, I know more than one person who was getting too much protein and ended up with permanant health problems because of it (and stomach surgery to boot).

    So, my advice is cut out the protein shakes, track your iron and see how you feel.

    As for carbs, as long as they're coming from complex carb sources, I wouldn't even worry about them.
  • cakefarm
    cakefarm Posts: 33
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    Are you kidding? Protein turns into fat? The is an absolute mis-statement.

    Training as hard as the OP is, I'd suggest she eat 1 g of protein per pound of body weight. You'd be hard pressed to find a trainer who wouldn't agree with that.
  • End6ame
    End6ame Posts: 903
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    Check out this article.
    http://www.articlesbase.com/womens-health-articles/which-is-better-to-burn-fat-cardio-vs-strength-training-3016208.html

    Here is my advise. Take it or leave it, but it works for me. Decrease your cardio and increase your strength training. I would switch to 3 days per week, 45 minutes of strength training and 2 to 3 days per week, 30 to 45 minutes of cardio (either on strength training days or off days, your choice. I do mine directly after strength training). Also up the intensity of your strength training, the weight should be heavy (don't worry you won't get big)

    For a good fat burning strength routine, check this out. (http://stronglifts.com/) the content is geared towards men, but there are many women that do it too (my wife does, and she is not big/muscular)

    Reducing the cardio will increase your energy, and it may sound weird, but so will upping the intensity of your strength training.

    Hope this helps.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Are you kidding? Protein turns into fat? The is an absolute mis-statement.

    Training as hard as the OP is, I'd suggest she eat 1 g of protein per pound of body weight. You'd be hard pressed to find a trainer who wouldn't agree with that.
    And the last person I would take diet advice from is a trainer. My information comes from nutritionists and the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

    But you can take advice from a trainer who more than likely has very little if any actual training in nutrition if you want. I prefer not to gamble with my health.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    there's lots of reasons why you could be feeling sluggish. The diet change probably has something to do with it, it could be as simple as giving it time. I did notice that many times you're replacing a lot of your carbs with protein. Not enough to become ketogenic of course, not even close, but still quite a few, a change like that takes time to get used to. That COULD be it, but then again it could be a million other little things, since all I know is what I see from your diet and the fact that you switched up a few weeks ago, I'd probably look at that first.

    My only other question is what do you set your goal loss at? Because from your pictures, it looks as if you don't have a ton of weight to drop (not much at all actually), and if your deficit is set rather high, well then you most certainly will feel a drop in energy, especially with a change or increase in exercise intensity (you said you started working out in the morning). Remember, as we move closer to goal weight, we need to reduce our deficit in order to reflect our current fat stores.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    http://my.clevelandclinic.org/sports_health/nutrition/protein.aspx
  • cakefarm
    cakefarm Posts: 33
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    And the last person I would take diet advice from is a trainer. My information comes from nutritionists and the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

    But you can take advice from a trainer who more than likely has very little if any actual training in nutrition if you want. I prefer not to gamble with my health.

    She's training daily to compete in a fitness competition. Can you please provide references to support your assertion that her daily protein level is detrimental to her health? Because the Mayo clinic sets their recommendation "about 50 to 175 grams a day." The OPs target protein intake is 148.

    Just saying.
  • tbernard
    tbernard Posts: 54 Member
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    Normally I'm quite happy to critique Diet but frankly, I think I eat clean and I think you're eating better than me. On top of that you look fantastic. Dare I say... "hot"

    You might balance a little more carbs and a little less protein but to be blunt, I haven't seen logs of anyone on here who I thought were as good as yours

    I do wonder if your sluggishness feel is caused by performing two types of exercise regularly whose effects counter each other. A number of years ago I ran the marathon, but I was also lifting substantial amounts of weight. It was really tough looking for a balance because it takes time for muscles to recover from lifting, and long runs tend to each muscle. What sort of workout do you perform ? Do you work all of your muscles all of the time or do you work on a split ? How long are your runs ?
  • End6ame
    End6ame Posts: 903
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    http://my.clevelandclinic.org/sports_health/nutrition/protein.aspx

    Only if you have a calorie surplus. Anything can be stored as fat if you have a calorie surplus. If you have a calorie deficit your body will not store fat.

    Calories in > Calories out = Gain weight
    Calories in < Calories out = Lose fat
  • pfenixa
    pfenixa Posts: 194 Member
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    I, too, have been very sluggish over the last two weeks but like someone else mentioned, I attribute it to the changing of seasons. I've been trying to go to bed earlier because I was dragging myself out of bed in the morning, but I've realized it's because my body/mind rejects waking before the sun is up. That initial feeling was dragging along with me during the course of the day, leaving me half-asleep after work. Granted, maybe not your problem, but something to think about. :smile:
  • lloydrt
    lloydrt Posts: 1,121 Member
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    Grglander, thanks for your post. I went to that site, really informative. I gotta say, Ive been doing exactly what he suggests, ....whew, but there are times if I have the time, Ill stay on the tread mill or bike for an hour.......I like to keep my heart pumping strong, as well as knowing that it lowers my bp in the end...Also, I did in the last 2 months start using the weight equipment, ie, the bi and tri machines, no free weights yet, just about 45 mins a day on the weight equipment, and then, if time allows, 30 mins to 90 mins cardio

    Im in the process of being weened off of blood pressure medicine by Christmas, and following Drs orders, but he said to keep my heart a pummping away, thats the best thing for lowering cholesterol, of which mine is 130 s ............too cool, and my bp is about 110 / 60...awesome numbers...............so, thankfully, its all paying off

    .....again, thanks for these posts, I do read them and use certain ones for my journey.....Lloyd
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    And the last person I would take diet advice from is a trainer. My information comes from nutritionists and the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

    But you can take advice from a trainer who more than likely has very little if any actual training in nutrition if you want. I prefer not to gamble with my health.

    She's training daily to compete in a fitness competition. Can you please provide references to support your assertion that her daily protein level is detrimental to her health? Because the Mayo clinic sets their recommendation "about 50 to 175 grams a day." The OPs target protein intake is 148.

    Just saying.

    It's based on weight. Someone who weighs more would shoot for more protein, thus the range.

    Regardless of the amount of training she's doing, the body can only absorb a certain amount of protein. Period. The rest will turn to fat (and as stated, only if it's not being burned, so that's probably not the case here) or filter through the liver and kidneys. It can cause seirous health issues.

    1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is WAY higher than any recommendation I've ever seen from a reputable source that I would trust. I would not trust a trainer with my diet.
  • coastalstorm25
    coastalstorm25 Posts: 48
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    I think you may just need to get more sun because ..like someone said ..of the changing seasons. You could see if you are getting enough vitamin C...I was reading in I think Oxygen Magaine that if you are feeling a little low on energy try some vitamin C. I am a person you follows the "eat right for you blood type diet" and I swear by it...that's just me. You could pick up the book at your local library and see if what you are doing is in conjuction with what they advise. It wouldn't hurt to take a look and see how you measure up. Another things is if you are getting enough carbs and like someone else said Iron.
    I hope you find a solution to your situtation..Good luck :)
  • cakefarm
    cakefarm Posts: 33
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    As I said before: She is training (hard) for a fitness competition. If she did not consume as much protein as she does, she'd lose muscle. 1 g of protein is the standard for people who are highly active. And I'm not so inclined to trust nutritionists either: the low-fat, low-protein, high-carb mess that is the standard American diet is completely responsible for the obesity epidemic in my opinion.

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