Exhausted from Exercise?
MJT2021
Posts: 9 Member
Hi, I'm an 18 year old girl trying to be fitter. Ever since I started exercising( a month ago today) I have been feeling weak, fatigued, and unmotivated. I currently run 2.5 miles 3-4 times a week + with strength training ( low-medium weights, high reps each session). I eat about 1200 calories a day, with a healthy mix of fruit and veggies ( is this enough? I'm 5"3 120 pounds). It's really discouraging because I always hear about how exercise energizes people, and I have yet to feel these effects. Hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong!
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Replies
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I think there are a couple of things at play here.
1. You're definitely in a healthy BMI range and based on a couple of TDEE calculators you're not eating enough. Based on your activity level your maintenance calories would be between 1,900 and 2,100, 1,200 is too low even if you still want to drop a few pounds.
2. Your body hasn't adapted to the new demands being put on it. When I first started running I'd be dragging my butt after a couple of miles, now a 10km mid week run is routine and I feel sluggish on days that i don't workout.
Be patient and consider eating more.....exercise takes fuel.6 -
You are eating way too little.
Also are you really trying to lose more weight?
You should consider a recomp, where you maintain weight but build muscle.4 -
1200 calories is probably not enough and part of the reason you feel exhausted. Are you running and lifting on the same day? If you are, then consider doing them on alternate days and giving your body some rest time. You might also consider doing less reps, higher weights on lifting days.2
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1200 calories is an aggressive weight loss target for a sedentary female. It isn't enough to fuel regular exercise. Fit and healthy people eat and train, they don't crash diet and go do a bunch of exercise on top of things.
You're at a perfectly healthy weight for your height so 1200 is way too aggressive...you probably don't even need to lose any weight, you probably just might need to work on body composition...again, crashing your diet isn't going to help in that regard.
You've only been exercising for a week...adapting to regular exercise takes time.1 -
You need to eat more intake of food and when you done running or working out do a protein shake or drink some bcaa's to help you recover. I just started using Organifi in my shakes and I don't crash like I used too.
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Are you eating back your exercise cals?
Its doubtful you need to eat as little as 1200 cals, given your stats you should only be aiming to lose 0.5lbs per week.2 -
Hi everyone, thanks for the advice. I got 1200 from the MFP calculator, I know I'm at a healthy weight I just want to lose 3 or so pounds of fat. I definitely will up my intake though, since 1200 seems very low now.0
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At 120 pounds, your runs are burning ~200 calories. So on those days, your 1200 calories is already only 1000 calories. With so little left to lose, you don't have a lot of reserves to draw on, either.
It's going to take a little experimentation to find the right numbers for you, and the margins are so tight at these low weight levels. You're basically operating inside the margin of error on calorie counts for most foods. It may be necessary to - for a short while - restrict your food choices to a small number of items whose calorie counts are very very accurate. The trick then is to make sure you aren't screwing up on the nutritional side.
Anyway, you seem to be thinking through this in a sensible way, so best of luck!
Cheers!
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@TavistockToad Yes, I forgot to mention, I eat around 1400-1500 calories on days that I exercise. 1200 is on non- activity days. The reason I eat so little is because I'm on summer vacation, so other than leaving my house to exercise, I get virtually no physical activity.
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Hi everyone, thanks for the advice. I got 1200 from the MFP calculator, I know I'm at a healthy weight I just want to lose 3 or so pounds of fat. I definitely will up my intake though, since 1200 seems very low now.
When you set the calculator, how many lbs per week did you set it for you to lose? If more than .5, it was too aggressive with so little to lose.1 -
@MJT2021 someone else kind of mentioned it, but since you are only looking to lose a few more pounds you might actually be happier with the results from a recomp instead.
That would be where you eat at maintenance or a very slight deficit and build muscle and minimize body fat (as opposed to a specific weight loss/a number it's more based on body fat/overall look of your body), a lot of times the look we women are going for is actually achieved through the strength workouts if we are already at a healthy weight.
The problem with eating at a steep deficit is that you are losing muscle and fat, where as you probably only want to lose fat if 3lbs is all you have left to lose.1 -
@WickAndArtoo thank you! I'm definitely going for the "lean" as opposed to the skinny fat look I have right now. I just assumed I'd have to lose weight first, before toning up. I'm definitely going to up my intake, do a little less intensive cardio, and up my lifting and see what happens.0
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Hi everyone, thanks for the advice. I got 1200 from the MFP calculator, I know I'm at a healthy weight I just want to lose 3 or so pounds of fat. I definitely will up my intake though, since 1200 seems very low now.
Seriously, just eat at maintenance and continue training. Cutting calories is not always the answer, especially if you are already at a good weight, which you are. I wish people would see this. Way too many people obsessed with dieting.5 -
@WickAndArtoo thank you! I'm definitely going for the "lean" as opposed to the skinny fat look I have right now. I just assumed I'd have to lose weight first, before toning up. I'm definitely going to up my intake, do a little less intensive cardio, and up my lifting and see what happens.
I think you will love the results of those small adjustments. Since you are already at a healthy weight and your body needs fuel to build muscle it will be beneficial to start now. You'll definitely find that it's all easier and less tiring with the extra calories. I had the same thing happen too, I was tired and hungry so I increased my calories to the bare minimum deficit and always eat back my calories from exercising and I have seen a huge difference!
My stats and goals are similar to yours I'm 124lbs with a goal of losing body fat/becoming more lean and strong. I'm not sure what workouts you are doing but I have been doing Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and 30 Day Shred and they are AWESOME.1 -
Hi everyone, thanks for the advice. I got 1200 from the MFP calculator, I know I'm at a healthy weight I just want to lose 3 or so pounds of fat. I definitely will up my intake though, since 1200 seems very low now.
Seriously, just eat at maintenance and continue training. Cutting calories is not always the answer, especially if you are already at a good weight, which you are. I wish people would see this. Way too many people obsessed with dieting.
This is very good advice. You may really like the way you look at your current weight but with a more developed muscular structure.0 -
I've had this exercise problem my whole life and only several months ago I got diagnosed with POTS which explained it all. It is a pretty rare condition and most likely you don't have it but if you're curious it is easy to check so you can google it.
Saying this here because I wouldn't have lost years of my life in misery if anyone ever mentioned it to me.0 -
I would look to see if you have enough vitamins and set your calories to maintain and the workouts will help you firm since you are a healthy weight.0
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@Machka9 in a typical day, I'll have some almond milk and cornflakes + strawberries for breakfast, a black bean burger + broccoli and a small fruit at lunch, and then zucchini pasta + green beans for dinner, and a small piece of dark chocolate (70%) for desert. I eat a mostly plant based diet.0
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Hi, I'm an 18 year old girl trying to be fitter. Ever since I started exercising( a month ago today) I have been feeling weak, fatigued, and unmotivated. I currently run 2.5 miles 3-4 times a week + with strength training ( low-medium weights, high reps each session). I eat about 1200 calories a day, with a healthy mix of fruit and veggies ( is this enough? I'm 5"3 120 pounds). It's really discouraging because I always hear about how exercise energizes people, and I have yet to feel these effects. Hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong!
define low-medium weight/high rep, there's been plenty of discussion of your calorie intake.
Also, what exercises are you doing?0 -
@Machka9 in a typical day, I'll have some almond milk and cornflakes + strawberries for breakfast, a black bean burger + broccoli and a small fruit at lunch, and then zucchini pasta + green beans for dinner, and a small piece of dark chocolate (70%) for desert. I eat a mostly plant based diet.
Could be you need to focus on getting more protein.1 -
@Machka9 in a typical day, I'll have some almond milk and cornflakes + strawberries for breakfast, a black bean burger + broccoli and a small fruit at lunch, and then zucchini pasta + green beans for dinner, and a small piece of dark chocolate (70%) for desert. I eat a mostly plant based diet.
Could be you need to focus on getting more protein.
I agree here, if your working out you'll want to make sure you are getting enough protein and judging from this I really doubt you are (I have done plant based before so I have a general idea how much is in those things and it's not nearly meeting your quotas).0 -
@stanmann571 well since I've only recently begun (4 weeks), I'm fairly weak
I use the machines in the gym, usually only lifting 30 pounds on my arms with 12 reps x 3 sets. On my legs, I'll set the machine to 50 pounds and also do 12 reps x 3 sets.
Cardio is 30 mins with a warm up at 4-4.5, then a run at 5.5 with a max speed getting up to 6.50 -
@WickAndArtoo any tips on how to get a lot of protein without eating too much meat/ fish? I've been tracking my intake and it seems like I hover around 11% of my diet being protein, but I don't know how to get much more.0
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@WickAndArtoo any tips on how to get a lot of protein without eating too much meat/ fish? I've been tracking my intake and it seems like I hover around 11% of my diet being protein, but I don't know how to get much more.
Eggs
Nuts
Cheese1 -
@WickAndArtoo any tips on how to get a lot of protein without eating too much meat/ fish? I've been tracking my intake and it seems like I hover around 11% of my diet being protein, but I don't know how to get much more.
Is there a reason why you don't want to eat animal products? Personally I wasn't able to get enough protein when I was doing it, which is one of the reasons I stopped. Do you eat soy products? Your best bet is to increase you consumption of things that have protein, do a google search and form your meals around those foods. If you are doing plant based for moral reasons that's awesome, if it's for "health" reasons I would really reconsider for a mostly plant based with lean meats.1 -
Protein shakes are a great supplement. Premier Protein has 30g of protein at 160 calories for the premixed drinks and they're pretty easy to find (I can only vouch for the chocolate flavor). Not sure if they're vegan/vegetarian friendly, though.1
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Are you running and working out the same day?? you should workout only one day then next day do running only.
your muscle need time to repair when you work out.
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Also realize that, at 18, you're in that place between adolescence and adulthood but your body is still developing... Make sure you are fueling your body appropriately and setting up healthy habits. Checking in with a physician for an annual physical is also a good habit to start...1
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