Normal to constantly ache?

IsaackGMOON wrote: »

You know why I think you're constantly aching? You're hardly getting any protein. Your muscles probably aren't repairing themselves from strenuous activity.

Along with that, you are hardly eating any sodium. If you are going to do that much exercise, you need to eat well, not just hit your calorie goal. Your body NEEDS protein, fat, and electrolytes (aka salts). If you are logging accurately, your sodium is painfully low and as is your protein.

Make sure you are getting sodium and potassium and drink a lot of water along with it. It might make you retain water initially, but your body will equalize out later.

I have a similar problem, though I haven't been working out as much or as long as you have (3x a week). I realized that I haven't been stretching after swimming, and I need to learn some new stretches because I'm working out different parts of my body. I also realized I need to stretch after even short walks sometimes. I sleep awkwardly too, making my muscles tense and sore. Also sitting for long periods of time sometimes tenses up my calf or thigh muscles, and a bad posture will contract my shoulders/neck.

Using a heating pad or ice on the sore spot helps tense muscles relax, epsom salt baths can help, and also a massage. It's worth getting checked out by a chiropractor in case of injury. Sometimes muscles tense around an injury, or if they're tense for too long they can cause one.

I'm pretty sure post-workout stretching does not do much for soreness, although I may be wrong. I would think a solid warm-up would help, or at least reduce risk of injury.

To increase protein just up your portions a bit (say-6 oz of fish instead of 4, for example) and stick to lean cuts of meat. If this will still put you over calories, just reduce another item. Take out the pear in your salad, reduce the portion of avocado, etc.

I didn't read every reply, sorry if this had been said, but I would also look at overall calories to ensure you're eating enough. If I don't eat enough (and drink enough!) I do not recover well.

Salt is an essential nutrient. In many western cultures there is so much added to food during processing that many people have large excesses in their diet. Too little is a serious threat to good health. Occasionally going over is not going to kill you, however if you are consistently 2-3 times or more of RDA then you could have issues with blood pressure and kidney function.
Whole grains, non-fat dairy, lean meats, fish, beans, nuts and seeds are sources I use. I have read that women who aim for 90 grams of protein per day are the most successful at fat loss and maintenance. It has worked for me. Ice those sore muscles and if you can take ibuprofen both of these will reduce inflammation which is often at the core of muscle pain.

If you're really achy a lot and think it's more than just the typical "I worked out" soreness, see a doctor.

But, yeah, working out can cause muscle aches.

There's just no way for anyone online to knowing it's your exercise, diet, both of those or something else entirely.

Kalikel wrote: »

If you're really achy a lot and think it's more than just the typical "I worked out" soreness, see a doctor.

But, yeah, working out can cause muscle aches.

There's just no way for anyone online to knowing it's your exercise, diet, both of those or something else entirely.

Seconding this. If it's "achy" and not soreness, it could be a symptom of fibro or some other immuno-defficiency. It could also just be normal pain and maybe the doctor might have some other suggestions.

Your sodium totals are almost certainly inaccurate, because you're using Quick Adds (which add calories but not other nutritional information) and a lot of the entries you're using don't have the sodium information listed. For example, there's no way a sausage roll, some bacon or a package of crisps have 0g of sodium, so I doubt that's contributing to your issues.