Fatigued

I have been getting up at 5:20 am to go for 5 km walk than I eat breakfast and go to work. I was on a 1600 calorie plan but increased it to 1850 because I thought perhaps the lack of calories was making be fatigued but I still tired with the calorie increase. Does any one else find they are tired?

Replies

  • SonicKrunch
    SonicKrunch Posts: 192 Member
    How much sleep are you getting? Is it mental fatigue or physical? I only get about 5 hours sleep so I usually get mentally fatigued around 5pm so I have a 20-30 nap and I'm back to normal. My body is not what is tired in my case.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    OP doe you have any medical issues or on any medication? Next question is how long have you been dieting or eating at less calories? Next question is how long have you been getting up at 5:20 in the morning and walking 3 miles? Next question, do you feel exhausted after the walk or are you invigorated from the exercise? Next question when where you getting up before the walking and are you still going to bed at the same time as before or earlier?
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    And,to add to the above. Are you eating back the calories burned through exercise?
    MFP has your deficit built in toyour basic calories, you are supposed to eat back at least a percentage of those calories burned through exercise. If you are using MFP or machines 50-75% is advisable as they tend to over calculate.

    Lethargy in everyday activity is one of the first signs of not eating enough to feed your exercise burn.

    Cheers, h.
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    I have no medical issues. Many nights now I'm asleep by 9pm so no shortage of sleep. I have always been a early riser so I don't see that being the problem.
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    I do not eat back the calories I burn. I have been using mfp since January and have lost 61 pounds thus far.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    You are a whole lot lighter, congratulations.
    Now may be the time to start eating back some of your exercise calories as you have less room for error the closer you get to goal weight.
    Cheers, h.
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    61 pounds in 20 weeks. That puts you at losing 3 pounds a week- Too much too fast. Your goal should be no more than 2 pounds a week, unless you're dangerously obese and under doctor supervision. :)
    Try eating back half your exercise calories and see if that helps?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Yeah, that rate of loss is fairly aggressive. Try aiming for no more than 2 lbs per week, eat a bit more food, and see if that helps!
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    That's why I increased my calorie intake. When I started I was 258 lbs
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    I just made a post about this! I get up at 5 or 6AM every day, hit the gym for about 1-1/2 hours (cardio + heavy lifting - I train 6 x week), work an 8-hour day (5 x week) all while dealing with a 3-hour commute and still cleaning, cooking, running errands since I'm the "housewife" of my townhouse haha. I am excessively tired after increasing cardio from 15-minutes to 30 or 45-minutes daily, but I'm thinking it's just my body adjusting? This week I'm running on lots of tea, coffee and energy drinks unfortunately. If you find any supplements that are suggested, let me know!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    justinrye wrote: »
    That's why I increased my calorie intake. When I started I was 258 lbs

    Just as an example, I am female, 5'4" 130 lbs, lightly active, and I am eating 1600 cals to lose weight.

    How long have you been eating at the 1850 level, and what is your rate of loss now?
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I'm not a male, however, I can tell you that I'm nearly always tired and fatigued if my total calorie intake is more than 1000 less than my total TDEE. No matter what I do, no matter what I eat, no matter how much I sleep. If you are eating 1850 every day and your actual TDEE is higher than 2850, your thyroid and such may simply not want you to be in a greater than 1000 calorie per day deficit. That's why it's downregulating your stamina, because it thinks there's a food shortage and it's telling you to conserve movement to conserve the scarce food.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2016
    justinrye wrote: »
    That's why I increased my calorie intake. When I started I was 258 lbs

    Has the weight loss slowed down? Meaning have you been doing it for long enough to feel the effects of having more energy intake daily?

    I can ask a lot more questions, because I do need to know more about your current situation before I can even begin to shoot off things that could cause fatique. I do not like to make assumptions for things because fatique is usually a secondary symptom of something else.. I had chronic fatique back in April of this year and it was a secondary symptom. Fatique can be caused by numerous things. If it is acute or chronic, etc..

    So my best thing to do is highly recommend (since you are concerned) you should go get a blood panel done (CBC, a complete metabolic panel, perhaps T4, TSH, the whole thing)...
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,185 Member
    OP: To add to the above posting of @RoxieDawn, how is your protein intake?
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    Too low of calories or Iron/Vitamin deficiency would be my first thought. Good for you for upping your intake. You may need to up it more. In the past when I would try to eat "healthy" and exercise fairly strenuously, I would end up in the same position. MFP helped me realize that I was not eating enough. Replacing my calorie dense foods with healthy options took my calories way too low if I wasn't careful. It sucks to be that tired all the time.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Too low of calories or Iron/Vitamin deficiency would be my first thought. Good for you for upping your intake. You may need to up it more. In the past when I would try to eat "healthy" and exercise fairly strenuously, I would end up in the same position. MFP helped me realize that I was not eating enough. Replacing my calorie dense foods with healthy options took my calories way too low if I wasn't careful. It sucks to be that tired all the time.

    Since he is not feeling better after upping calories, the question is.. has it been long enough for the body to correct itself or is there something else underlying. The other question is.. is he having any other symptoms like lack of quality sleep, headaches, sore muscles, etc.

    Fatigue (and I do not like to say this lightly) when it is recognized as a symptom pretty early on and not relieved by food intake and perhaps less exercise (putting less stress on the body) he should drive on down the docs for a 15 minute 4 vial blood sample. Metabolically he may need to change certain things in his diet, the increase protein would be a plus if not getting enough, and vitamins and nutrients he may be lacking in, but only a blood test can tell this.

    It can do nothing but ease his mind as to what he needs to do in order to feel much better. Nothing to take lightly here.
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    justinrye wrote: »
    That's why I increased my calorie intake. When I started I was 258 lbs

    Just as an example, I am female, 5'4" 130 lbs, lightly active, and I am eating 1600 cals to lose weight.

    How long have you been eating at the 1850 level, and what is your rate of loss now?

    I have up my calorie intake last week to 1850
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    I just made a post about this! I get up at 5 or 6AM every day, hit the gym for about 1-1/2 hours (cardio + heavy lifting - I train 6 x week), work an 8-hour day (5 x week) all while dealing with a 3-hour commute and still cleaning, cooking, running errands since I'm the "housewife" of my townhouse haha. I am excessively tired after increasing cardio from 15-minutes to 30 or 45-minutes daily, but I'm thinking it's just my body adjusting? This week I'm running on lots of tea, coffee and energy drinks unfortunately. If you find any supplements that are suggested, let me know!

    I can tell your hard work is paying off. Good job.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,148 Member
    If you were at 1600, and losing about 3 pounds a week, that implies you're burning an average of around 3100 daily. (Roughly 3500 calories in a pound x 3 pounds lost per week = 10,500 calories; 10,500 calories / 7 days = 1500 calorie daily deficit; 1600 eaten + 1500 deficit = 3100).

    Personally, I would try to slow the loss rate to no more than about 1% of your body weight per week, which would presumably be just under 2 pounds/week. That would imply eating around 2100 daily (gross). Even slower loss might be healthier depending on how much you have left to lose.

    I accidentally ate too little for a short time while losing (the calorie needs calculators turned out to give too low a number for me). This did cause fatigue, and it took longer than a week for it to turn around - maybe a month or more. Your mileage may vary - I'm pretty old (60), and stamina/recovery in general are things I notice declining with age.
  • justinrye
    justinrye Posts: 61 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    If you were at 1600, and losing about 3 pounds a week, that implies you're burning an average of around 3100 daily. (Roughly 3500 calories in a pound x 3 pounds lost per week = 10,500 calories; 10,500 calories / 7 days = 1500 calorie daily deficit; 1600 eaten + 1500 deficit = 3100).

    Personally, I would try to slow the loss rate to no more than about 1% of your body weight per week, which would presumably be just under 2 pounds/week. That would imply eating around 2100 daily (gross). Even slower loss might be healthier depending on how much you have left to lose.

    I accidentally ate too little for a short time while losing (the calorie needs calculators turned out to give too low a number for me). This did cause fatigue, and it took longer than a week for it to turn around - maybe a month or more. Your mileage may vary - I'm pretty old (60), and stamina/recovery in general are things I notice declining with age.

    Hey that's some great information you gave me. Thank you
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,148 Member
    justinrye wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    If you were at 1600, and losing about 3 pounds a week, that implies you're burning an average of around 3100 daily. (Roughly 3500 calories in a pound x 3 pounds lost per week = 10,500 calories; 10,500 calories / 7 days = 1500 calorie daily deficit; 1600 eaten + 1500 deficit = 3100).

    Personally, I would try to slow the loss rate to no more than about 1% of your body weight per week, which would presumably be just under 2 pounds/week. That would imply eating around 2100 daily (gross). Even slower loss might be healthier depending on how much you have left to lose.

    I accidentally ate too little for a short time while losing (the calorie needs calculators turned out to give too low a number for me). This did cause fatigue, and it took longer than a week for it to turn around - maybe a month or more. Your mileage may vary - I'm pretty old (60), and stamina/recovery in general are things I notice declining with age.

    Hey that's some great information you gave me. Thank you

    Glad you found it so!

    If you're worried about going up too much (like if you're not weighing food, or are not confident of your exercise estimates), you could add a couple of hundred a day, wait/monitor a week or two, then repeat as needed until you get to a healthy loss rate.

    But I'd still suggest going up a bit, based on your recent experience, since you're trying to kill the fatigue reasonably rapidly.

    Good luck!