Feeling Fatigued...

lpummell73 · March 2011

Hello to everyone.

I work nights, 12hr shifts so my nights are days and vice versa. While everyone is eating "dinner" and logging it. It is my "breakfast". So far this has been working for me. I have increased my excercise to 30min a day at least 4-5 days a week. Burning 250-350 if not more a day. I take B12 lingual and prescribed diet pills and so far have lost 21lbs to date. Since starting about 2 months ago. So its comming off slowly which is good

. I am logging my food which is helping a great deal, however over the past week I am more tired than usual at work. When I started my "lifestyle change" I had loads of energy. Now ugh I just can't catch a break. Any suggestions from anyone who works nights and feels tired.

I am trying to make sure I eat at least 1200+ calories when my base is at 1600. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Laura

skinnyjeanzbound · March 2011

Halfway into my 3rd week, I felt fatigued and decided to up my caloric intake by 200 calories a day for 2 days in a row. This is still well under what I would need to maintain my current weight. I did it and felt a lot better. Also, it didn't hinder my weight loss at all--still lost 2 lbs. last week. Not sure if it's good advice for all, but it worked great for me.

Newfiedan · March 2011

eat more, 1200 is not enough simple as that. If your base is 1600 then try to match it, and get more foods into your diet like healthy carbs and greens that promote energy like baby spinach and broccoli.

nomex · March 2011

I can't see your diary, so it is hard to tell if it is food related or not. Maybe you want to make your diary public so that people could give you some feedback.

Maybe consider how many carbs vs Protein. Protein will stay with you longer, providing more satiation and more energy through the day. Are you eating your exercise calories? If you are eating 1200 calories and then exercising some of them away, you may be getting too little nutrition.

Maybe consider taking a multivitamin, to see if that helps. If it continues, might be good to have blood work done by a doctor to check for iron deficiency, hypothyroidism, diabetes....

iamhealingmyself · March 2011

If you are set to the maximum weight loss per week you could set it back to maybe 1 or 1 1/2 lbs instead to give you more calories and still lose weight. Your diary isn't public so it's hard to say without knowing your specifics. If you think you have a substantial intake, then maybe consider what you're eating when. See when and how you are dividing your proteins and carbs over the day. What is your largest meal? you might also need to reconsider what your eating in the way of carbs - if a lot of them are refined white carbs, you could replace some or all with whole grains and give your body a longer burn time and most WG's will have more fiber too which can help fill you up and slow the digestion and carb burn.

Are you eating back your exercise calories? if not, you could be creating too big of a deficit for your current weight. Remember MFP already takes your normal day burn based on data you entered and creates a deficit for you to lose weight. If you eat under that amount, you could be hurting yourself long term.

I'm not sure what pills your taking for diet but maybe they're having a side effect with the other changes you're making? Make sure you prescribing doctor is aware of what you're doing, including any new foods your adding. Some foods could have additives that might not work well with what you're taking. Better safe than sorry.

lpummell73 · March 2011

Ok i just changed my settings.... kind of worried setting it to public...but i want to be healthy and any help is greatly appreciated!! thanks everyone!

glassyo · March 2011

I am trying to make sure I eat at least 1200+ calories when my base is at 1600. Any suggestions?

^^^^^^^^^^^^This. Right there. Your calorie goal is 1600 so why deliberately eat only 1200?

I peeked at your diary and there are a few days within the last week you were in a 1000 calorie deficit. So this was pretty much ON TOP OF the 500 or 1000 calorie deficit MFP gave you when you set up your calorie goals to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week. No wonder you're tired!

Also, you should maybe track your sodium. I noticed you rarely went a day without 2 lean cuisines/smart ones and/or Taco Bell which packs A LOT of sodium into their foods.

michelle4271 · March 2011

I second that sodium intake tracking,,,you have alot of prepared foods on your diary and the only way they can make them as "tasty" as possible is to add salt. On top of that your water intake, if acurately logged is not good at all, try and get some more glasses in, especially to off set the sodium. Another option, although until you get into the hang of it,,,since you obviously have a microwave at your convenience to warm these meals, an even better option is to make twice as much when you are cooking and put them into a freezer container and bring those with you instead,,,,that way you can control the amount of everything.

I would also suggest eating more "satiety" foods, things that are a little harder to digest, the longer the body needs to digest the food, the longer you are full, and fueled. ex: dark leafy greens, skin on apples, oatmeal, etc (you can get lists of superfoods on google)

The other thing is to try and add in some strength training, without properly fueling your body/ muscles they are getting tired, snowball over all feeling. 1/2 hr every other day (in addition to your cardio) and even that will help. keeps the fat burn going even when youre resting. If all else fails,,,make sure your iron is not deficient (again, dark greens can help that naturally)

Good luck to you on your journey.!!!!

nomex · March 2011

Ok i just changed my settings.... kind of worried setting it to public...but i want to be healthy and any help is greatly appreciated!! thanks everyone!

I know that is a big step to put it public... I had trouble too. It is good to be able to get / give feedback though. I had trouble reading your diary though.... Just because you eat supper for breakfast!!! It through me off! I see you eat quite a few WW pre-packaged meals. although they are probably low in calories, I am betting they are high in sodium. It looks like you eat quite a bit of meat (i am a meat lover too!) and it seems you make good choices there (lots of turkey, chicken) My biggest suggestion would be to move away from the prepackaged stuff and restraunt stuff if you can (it could be MSG causing you tiredness).

In the profile section you can change your diary settings to include different nutrients. I would add sodium and then try to keep your sodium under 1500 (this is hard! - impossible with packaged foods). For example, I had 1/2 cup of mushroom soup as a sauce on pasta tonight and it was 870 mg!

Feel free to have a look at my diary. I eat LOTS of fruit. I am on the go ALOT and tend to take packable foods with me. If you are wiling to go even further, I would go into the goals section, and then into the customize section. There you can change your settings. Increase protein to 40% carbs 40% carbs and 20 fat. Try to keep all your breads ect. in the mutigrain choices.

I hope this helps

iamhealingmyself · March 2011

I agree with others comments but wanted to add try evening out your meals calorie wise as your dinner or snacks tend to be larger. Also try eating every 2-3 hours if you don't already. I'm currently on 1520 and I try to average 400 calorie meals and 3- 100 calorie snacks. Sometimes its hard to eat it all though if you make the right choices it can be a lot of food. We also don't know what times your meals are or where your workouts fit in. All this can affect your appetite and how you get through the day. My diary is set to friends so feel free to add me if you want to take a look. :drinker:

Feeling Fatigued...

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