Feeling weak

It's normal to feel more tired or weaker when you start losing weight. That feeling subsides after a few weeks. When you have a calorie deficit, your body will use up glycogen and then start burning fat. Your blood sugar will temporarily go down and your cholesterol will temporarily go up. But none of those things are something to worry about. It's better to lose the weight than to worry about temporary effects from dieting and stopping the diet.

mch2829 wrote: »

It's normal to feel more tired or weaker when you start losing weight. That feeling subsides after a few weeks. When you have a calorie deficit, your body will use up glycogen and then start burning fat. Your blood sugar will temporarily go down and your cholesterol will temporarily go up. But none of those things are something to worry about. It's better to lose the weight than to worry about temporary effects from dieting and stopping the diet.

Nobody has to feel tired and weak when losing weight. They just need to pick a less aggressive target for weekly loss. Please don't people that it is normal and ok to feel that way

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever fully get used to eating only 1200 calories a day. There are days when I feel like 1200 just isn't enough, so I'll go ahead and eat something healthy that puts me over by an additional 100 calories or so for that day. I do try hard not to exceed 1200 calories per day unless I really feel that I need to. What I find helpful is to eat as healthy as possible so that I can eat a much larger amount of food. Consulting a doctor always helps too, just to see if there may be any underlying health concerns that you should be aware of.

mch2829 wrote: »

aimeerace wrote: »

mch2829 wrote: »

It's normal to feel more tired or weaker when you start losing weight. That feeling subsides after a few weeks. When you have a calorie deficit, your body will use up glycogen and then start burning fat. Your blood sugar will temporarily go down and your cholesterol will temporarily go up. But none of those things are something to worry about. It's better to lose the weight than to worry about temporary effects from dieting and stopping the diet.

Nobody has to feel tired and weak when losing weight. They just need to pick a less aggressive target for weekly loss. Please don't people that it is normal and ok to feel that way

But it is normal. It doesn't matter if your deficit is 500 calories or 1500 calories. Some people will feel tired and weak from the effects of having any deficit at all. It's part of losing weight.

It might be a natural consequence, but you need to find a level where you arent hungry, you arent weak, but still lose weight. Weak and hungry flash up warnings of not being stong enough for workouts, unhappy and more likely to binge or quit.

I have felt horrible since day one. It is now day 6 and the fog is finally getting better. I think I started too much change at once but I just need to quick cold turkey or I'll never give in.

I went from eating pure crap at work (RN who works 12 hour shifts), fast food, tons of coffee with Splenda, etc. Now I'm eating 1600 calories a day and only having 16 ounces of coffee per day (8 in the am, 8 in the afternoon), no more fake sugar, and having lots of protein. I'm sure the caffeine and sugar withdraw is what made me feel horrible. It was worth it because I lost 4.6 pounds this week and I drank 3/4 gallon of water per day.

Good luck! You can do this!

From strictly an anecdotal standpoint, I definitely did feel pretty tired when I started losing, though pushing through it by exercising anyway worked pretty well. I feel on top of the world after a good dose of cardio.

It did go away quickly enough as I exercised consistently and maintained a reasonable deficit and now aside from grad school stress and late nights I feel pretty okay. Just really make sure you are getting enough to eat (i.e. weigh and log your food accurately, make sure the deficit you are at is right for you, etc.) and that you eat some of your exercise calories back when you work out. That's very important. Good luck!

mch2829 wrote: »

aimeerace wrote: »

mch2829 wrote: »

It's normal to feel more tired or weaker when you start losing weight. That feeling subsides after a few weeks. When you have a calorie deficit, your body will use up glycogen and then start burning fat. Your blood sugar will temporarily go down and your cholesterol will temporarily go up. But none of those things are something to worry about. It's better to lose the weight than to worry about temporary effects from dieting and stopping the diet.

Nobody has to feel tired and weak when losing weight. They just need to pick a less aggressive target for weekly loss. Please don't people that it is normal and ok to feel that way

But it is normal. It doesn't matter if your deficit is 500 calories or 1500 calories. Some people will feel tired and weak from the effects of having any deficit at all. It's part of losing weight.

Well, actually, it's not normal. It can be a sign that you are eating too few calories and not properly fueling your body, or it can be something else entirely.

OP, you need to eat more. If that doesn't help, pay a visit to the doctor.

Did MFP tell you to start at 1200 calories? Seems low for a starting point. Blessings.