eating better...but ALWAYS so tired!?

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I can't remember when I've been so exhausted. I get 7-9 hours of sleep at night, and after being up for 2-3 hours, I take a nap...a 2 hour nap. I make myself get up and clean or play with my son, go for a walk, etc...and then I am ready for a nap again. On some days I will be unable to stay awake & just crash again for 20-30 minutes. I am sleeping my life away, but I am still so tired.

I literally feel like all I do is eat, sleep & clean. My diet on the average day is:

An egg beater omelette with fat free cheese & lots of veggies, light whole grain toast,

Applesauce

lunch: 100 calories of soup and spinach salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, cukes,

1 oz almonds
an orange

4 oz fish or chicken, 1/2 c. whole grain pasta or rice, veggies

yogurt
rice cake

I stay between 1200 & 1500 calories per day and drink at least 64 oz of h2o...


Any thoughts?

Replies

  • whalomgirl
    whalomgirl Posts: 35 Member
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    I can't remember when I've been so exhausted. I get 7-9 hours of sleep at night, and after being up for 2-3 hours, I take a nap...a 2 hour nap. I make myself get up and clean or play with my son, go for a walk, etc...and then I am ready for a nap again. On some days I will be unable to stay awake & just crash again for 20-30 minutes. I am sleeping my life away, but I am still so tired.

    I literally feel like all I do is eat, sleep & clean. My diet on the average day is:

    An egg beater omelette with fat free cheese & lots of veggies, light whole grain toast,

    Applesauce

    lunch: 100 calories of soup and spinach salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, cukes,

    1 oz almonds
    an orange

    4 oz fish or chicken, 1/2 c. whole grain pasta or rice, veggies

    yogurt
    rice cake

    I stay between 1200 & 1500 calories per day and drink at least 64 oz of h2o...


    Any thoughts?
  • Ang8178
    Ang8178 Posts: 308
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    Hummm, maybe you should see your doctor? Being that tired could be stress, or something bigger. I find when I'm really tired I need more carbs...lol not a good diet tip, sorry. If you feel like all you do is eat sleep and clean, maybe you need "you" time. Stress doesn't have to mean you can't make your house payment, your pet died, and you just lost your job. Maybe doing so much is taking its toll on you? Maybe someone can watch your son for a while so you can have some peaceful time to your self. I would still see a doctor if it's really bad. My mom had something similar and it turned out to be her thyroid... hope the best for you!
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Is that enough calories? I'm a fairly small person, but on 1400 calories a day, I'm a zombie. I eat more like 1800 calories a day because I'm on my feet all day at work, walk a lot at school, and run/lift a lot. Some days MFP says to eat 2100 calories but it makes my tummy hurt :sick: . We need food to produce energy, so without enough food, we don't have enough energy.

    Or it could be another issue, maybe something with blood sugar or your thyroid. You could talk to your doc, just keep track of your sleep/nap schedule.
  • Ang8178
    Ang8178 Posts: 308
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    I agree with songbyrd.... is that enough calories? Sounds like you're pretty active even before you exercise!
  • Fit2btied
    Fit2btied Posts: 486
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    Wow, I looked at your profile, and you are one busy mom! First, you do need to take some self time that is not a nap! You can begin to lose all identity living for your family and neglecting your SELF inside. Motherhood is very satisfying but is also a very hard and demanding job. I don't know your situation of availability of helping hands, even to just go for a walk by yourself, or to the mall to browse, or to the gym on an elliptical, etc. Me time is very valuable for not just you, but the family!

    Also, I'd go get your thyroid and hormone levels checked. Once I turned thirty, I started to feel bad, lose weight, battle depression, etc. It was thyroid and low hormone levels. Ten years later, I'm back on track and feeling younger and more energetic than when I was thirty!

    You definitely need some help and support! Good luck!:flowerforyou:
  • FUNinTHEsun
    FUNinTHEsun Posts: 284 Member
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    when i first started on MFP, the site set my intake at 1200 cal/day and i felt the same way you feeling...always tired! after reading some insightful posts from the MFP family i decided to manually up my cal/day to 1400. it made a huge difference within the first few days. i had more energy and i also began losing weight more quickly!!!
  • Fitness_Chick
    Fitness_Chick Posts: 6,648 Member
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    I can't remember when I've been so exhausted. I get 7-9 hours of sleep at night, and after being up for 2-3 hours, I take a nap...a 2 hour nap. I make myself get up and clean or play with my son, go for a walk, etc...and then I am ready for a nap again. On some days I will be unable to stay awake & just crash again for 20-30 minutes. I am sleeping my life away, but I am still so tired.

    I literally feel like all I do is eat, sleep & clean. My diet on the average day is:

    An egg beater omelette with fat free cheese & lots of veggies, light whole grain toast,

    Applesauce

    lunch: 100 calories of soup and spinach salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, cukes,

    1 oz almonds
    an orange

    4 oz fish or chicken, 1/2 c. whole grain pasta or rice, veggies

    yogurt
    rice cake

    I stay between 1200 & 1500 calories per day and drink at least 64 oz of h2o...


    Any thoughts?

    OMG...just glanced at your profile...Hon, with 5 children to keep track of and one barely a year old...NO WONDER you're so tired! Your eating seems to be pretty healthy...wondering what you have your daily scedule set too? Ya know like 'active', very active, sedentary....etc. Might need to bump that up if it's to low so you can add more calories in....you seem to have proteins covered pretty well in regards to your almonds, fish etc., same with carbs with the fruits, veggies etc.

    Perhaps double checking that you might find you need a bit more calories doing just your daytime/evening stints with all the kiddos!

    Good ideas given by all regarding a checkup, are you taking a daily vitamin or supplement each day? Maybe tweek a few things that have been suggested on this thread and let us know if you feel any better? When I'm low on iron I can barely move, it feels like a vampire got me and sucked all the blood outta me I become simply exausted....

    Hm....when you eat your snack...looks like you shared you do a combo of carb/protein, that's always a good thing to keep your energy levels up....eating every few hours (5-6 mini meals) seems to help me keep my energy level zooming through out the day and evening.

    Concerned about you feeling that way everyday...for me working out alot boosts my bodies energy up to a level that is like super woman....I love it....but always try and do it earlier in the day so as not to lose that energy and have it zooming around at night and not be able to sleep. lol

    let us know what we can do for you:drinker:
  • jenn10
    jenn10 Posts: 161
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    I don't know about you guys but if I take a nap one day then the next day I want to take a nap and so on and so forth-- Maybe your just getting TOO much sleep - it's a hard cycle to break - but try doing some light exercise when you get tired- like situps or jumping jacks --just refuse to let yourself sleep and see if that works- I know when I am pregnant all I do is sleep - but yours is old enough now that your energy should have come back.
  • Lachele3
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    I have found i have that problem sometimes too but its bc i work graveyard shifts and on my days off i feel like i havent slept at all ever!!! but then i found out that its bc i have been sleeping for so many hours but my body is not resting for the fact of living by a busy road and the cars wake me up or my neighbor is loud or my animals wake me up constantly throughout the nite so i get that many hours of sleep but i constantly wake up...so i made it where i turn a loud fan on to block out everything and i lock myself in my bedroom where no animals can wake me up and i have felt better..plus sleeping pills and things of that matter make it a hundred times worst so i stopped taking those..hope that helps you!!!!
  • whalomgirl
    whalomgirl Posts: 35 Member
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    Ok, I'm going to monitor my iron intake more carefully, try adding another 100 calories & try to stay awake today when the baby naps. Thanks for the insights!