I'm SO tired all the time. Please help me narrow down the problem.
Replies
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Black and White. All or Nothing. This is what dieting does to our thinking. Food gurus and books have been written to encourage and enable this thinking. It's the root cause of yoyo dieting and the root rot that remains in a dieter's brain all of the days of their life until you choose to pull it out.
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Just to go off on a tangent I haven't seen mentioned: You have a bunch of symptoms - for a lack of a better term - that can be signs of undereating, or signs of unresolved behavioral issues. I'm talking about the exhaustion, headaches, binges, etc.
I suspect that all are correct that sleep is your key issue. But I think the idea of a 2-week maintenance break is a good one, as is deload for the weight training, alongside the sleep. After that, I'd endorse your idea of eating at 2000 (or 2000 plus 50% of exercise) for a while, like maybe a month.
You haven't been able to stick to a calorie deficit long enough to see whether the calculator-estimated TDEE/NEAT is accurate for you or not. So, going for 0.5-1 pound a week for a bit may help you figure out whether part of the problem really is insufficient intake (i.e., if you see loss > 0.5 pound a week on what is theoretically 0.5 pound a week deficit), and - with the sleep - give you something do-able enough that you can start to groove in some good eating behaviors more easily. If your loss rate at 2000 isn't excessive, you always have the option of cutting a bit more, with better habits in play to support you.
You really probably don't want to be losing more than that 0.5-1 pound a week, anyway, at your current weight, with only 20 pounds to lose, and strength/muscularity goals besides.
(I'm a 5'5" 130-something pound 62-year-old woman, sedentary outside of intentional exercise. I lose slowly - half a pound a week, maybe a bit less - at 1850 calories + 100% of exercise (2100-2300 gross most days). I'd admit I'm a darned good calorie burner for my demographic for some reason, but you could turn out to have a higher than average intake requirement, too, even though it's rare. There's no reason to target a quick loss rate, when you're already having compliance problems, and don't have a track record to know whether the estimates are right for you or not). Take a break, then a slow on-ramp to improvements, I'd suggest.
Yeah, wow, if you're losing .5 a week at 1,850, and you're 5'5" 130 lbs, I MUST be eating too low a calorie amount.
I'll up it for a month and see where it goes.
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Other than the sleep and the calorie count that everyone else has already covered, I'm wondering if maybe what you are experiencing is also due to the lower number of carbs. Less than 100 is pretty low, and even 130-150g is considered "lower" than the average intake. That could also explain your headache, feelings of tiredness, and hitting a wall on your lifts, so that's something else to maybe consider if you don't see improvement with increased sleep and calories.3
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What I would do is eat at your maintenance level for a couple of weeks and just start logging everything without changing your normal diet or exercise plan. Work on getting enough sleep.
When your sleep is back on track look at gradual changes.
Set your goal to lose .5 lb a week and make small dietary adjustments. Maybe start with getting the recoomended protein and a few more vegetable or fruit servings n your day. If you like sweet things it probably won't be sustainable to drastically cut out sugar.2 -
Other than the sleep and the calorie count that everyone else has already covered, I'm wondering if maybe what you are experiencing is also due to the lower number of carbs. Less than 100 is pretty low, and even 130-150g is considered "lower" than the average intake. That could also explain your headache, feelings of tiredness, and hitting a wall on your lifts, so that's something else to maybe consider if you don't see improvement with increased sleep and calories.
Good info. Thanks!
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What I would do is eat at your maintenance level for a couple of weeks and just start logging everything without changing your normal diet or exercise plan. Work on getting enough sleep.
When your sleep is back on track look at gradual changes.
Set your goal to lose .5 lb a week and make small dietary adjustments. Maybe start with getting the recoomended protein and a few more vegetable or fruit servings n your day. If you like sweet things it probably won't be sustainable to drastically cut out sugar.
This is what I'm planning on doing, thanks!
My only struggle is figuring out the proper amount of protein. Info varies wildly online. I won't worry about it for now and stick to about 140g a day.
My focus will be sleep, calories, nutritious foods, and not overdoing training.1 -
trustymutsi wrote: »What I would do is eat at your maintenance level for a couple of weeks and just start logging everything without changing your normal diet or exercise plan. Work on getting enough sleep.
When your sleep is back on track look at gradual changes.
Set your goal to lose .5 lb a week and make small dietary adjustments. Maybe start with getting the recoomended protein and a few more vegetable or fruit servings n your day. If you like sweet things it probably won't be sustainable to drastically cut out sugar.
This is what I'm planning on doing, thanks!
My only struggle is figuring out the proper amount of protein. Info varies wildly online. I won't worry about it for now and stick to about 140g a day.
You may need to play around with that. That's why I suggested using protein (and fat) as minimums. Personally, when I keep my protein a bit higher, I feel less hungry. Not everyone is going to feel that way. The other consideration is when you are trying to lose weight, it's valuable to keep protein up to help preserve the muscle to have (along with exercise). It will take some trial and error to find what works for you.2 -
Just a little observation to tack on to all the good advice you have so willingly taken on board and are implementing.
When you are ready to get back to your deficit and lifting remember to eat back the calories you burn through exercise.
I know you are pretty sedentary, but your basic calorie goal has accounted for that. When you lift you are burning calories, not a lot, but enough that for some (me most definately) it can be enough to make the difference between a good recovery, and a gradual decline in energy levels in every day life.
Under the cardio tab in the exercise portion of MFP there is an entry for weight lifting, use it. Then monitor your results. If you are losing more than you should be up the calorie by 10-20%, less, lower the calorie by a set percentage.
Cheers, h.
ETA: MFP is set up expecting one to eat back exercise calories.6 -
trustymutsi wrote: »Keep this simple.
You're tired - get more sleep. Prioritize it.
You're being too aggressive in this process. Either lose fat or build muscle. This requires months of cutting & bulking or attempting a recomposition, which takes months/years, not days/weeks.
Build your deficit to a more manageable level or move to maintenance and take a "break" for a week. For the strength training I recommend taking a deload week and work your way back up.
This is a life long pursuit. Check your pace.
Awesome points. Thanks. I do try and hurry the process, and then burn out.
What do you think of me going up to 2,000 calories/day?
Also, when deloading, how much less weight should I lift?
The key to long term success is identifying "bad" habits that don't support your long term goals and replacing these with "good" habits. During your break run through this exercise - write down 5 "bad" habits you want to change that aren't serving your goals and prioritize these 1-5. Cross off 2-5 and focus on #1. Give this at least a month and you must replace this habit with another one -it's how our brains function. Once the habit becomes ingrained and part of your routine then repeat this exercise.
I would recommend shifting to 2000-2300 kcals/day for the next two weeks.
I would recommend a large deload, something around 40% and give your body a much needed break.
I recommend you prioritize sleep and take time off for some time management. There are 168 hours in a week. Utilize each hour with purpose - including rest.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.4 -
trustymutsi wrote: »Keep this simple.
You're tired - get more sleep. Prioritize it.
You're being too aggressive in this process. Either lose fat or build muscle. This requires months of cutting & bulking or attempting a recomposition, which takes months/years, not days/weeks.
Build your deficit to a more manageable level or move to maintenance and take a "break" for a week. For the strength training I recommend taking a deload week and work your way back up.
This is a life long pursuit. Check your pace.
Awesome points. Thanks. I do try and hurry the process, and then burn out.
What do you think of me going up to 2,000 calories/day?
Also, when deloading, how much less weight should I lift?
The key to long term success is identifying "bad" habits that don't support your long term goals and replacing these with "good" habits. During your break run through this exercise - write down 5 "bad" habits you want to change that aren't serving your goals and prioritize these 1-5. Cross off 2-5 and focus on #1. Give this at least a month and you must replace this habit with another one -it's how our brains function. Once the habit becomes ingrained and part of your routine then repeat this exercise.
I would recommend shifting to 2000-2300 kcals/day for the next two weeks.
I would recommend a large deload, something around 40% and give your body a much needed break.
I recommend you prioritize sleep and take time off for some time management. There are 168 hours in a week. Utilize each hour with purpose - including rest.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Awesome, thanks.
Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?1 -
trustymutsi wrote: »Just to go off on a tangent I haven't seen mentioned: You have a bunch of symptoms - for a lack of a better term - that can be signs of undereating, or signs of unresolved behavioral issues. I'm talking about the exhaustion, headaches, binges, etc.
I suspect that all are correct that sleep is your key issue. But I think the idea of a 2-week maintenance break is a good one, as is deload for the weight training, alongside the sleep. After that, I'd endorse your idea of eating at 2000 (or 2000 plus 50% of exercise) for a while, like maybe a month.
You haven't been able to stick to a calorie deficit long enough to see whether the calculator-estimated TDEE/NEAT is accurate for you or not. So, going for 0.5-1 pound a week for a bit may help you figure out whether part of the problem really is insufficient intake (i.e., if you see loss > 0.5 pound a week on what is theoretically 0.5 pound a week deficit), and - with the sleep - give you something do-able enough that you can start to groove in some good eating behaviors more easily. If your loss rate at 2000 isn't excessive, you always have the option of cutting a bit more, with better habits in play to support you.
You really probably don't want to be losing more than that 0.5-1 pound a week, anyway, at your current weight, with only 20 pounds to lose, and strength/muscularity goals besides.
(I'm a 5'5" 130-something pound 62-year-old woman, sedentary outside of intentional exercise. I lose slowly - half a pound a week, maybe a bit less - at 1850 calories + 100% of exercise (2100-2300 gross most days). I'd admit I'm a darned good calorie burner for my demographic for some reason, but you could turn out to have a higher than average intake requirement, too, even though it's rare. There's no reason to target a quick loss rate, when you're already having compliance problems, and don't have a track record to know whether the estimates are right for you or not). Take a break, then a slow on-ramp to improvements, I'd suggest.
Yeah, wow, if you're losing .5 a week at 1,850, and you're 5'5" 130 lbs, I MUST be eating too low a calorie amount.
I'll up it for a month and see where it goes.
Most people aren't that far off their calculator-estimated intake requirements; it's unusual. (MFP and most other calculators think I should maintain on about 1500 net; it's wrong - number is more like 2100 or so.) But you should lose fine (maybe only 0.5 pounds/week) at 2000, unless your intake needs are unusually low. So, yeah, increase intake some and work on better habits, see how it goes until you have a month's worth of consistent experiential loss data to work from.0 -
middlehaitch wrote: »Just a little observation to tack on to all the good advice you have so willingly taken on board and are implementing.
When you are ready to get back to your deficit and lifting remember to eat back the calories you burn through exercise.
I know you are pretty sedentary, but your basic calorie goal has accounted for that. When you lift you are burning calories, not a lot, but enough that for some (me most definately) it can be enough to make the difference between a good recovery, and a gradual decline in energy levels in every day life.
Under the cardio tab in the exercise portion of MFP there is an entry for weight lifting, use it. Then monitor your results. If you are losing more than you should be up the calorie by 10-20%, less, lower the calorie by a set percentage.
Cheers, h.
ETA: MFP is set up expecting one to eat back exercise calories.
Thanks, I'll try that.2 -
trustymutsi wrote: »trustymutsi wrote: »Keep this simple.
You're tired - get more sleep. Prioritize it.
You're being too aggressive in this process. Either lose fat or build muscle. This requires months of cutting & bulking or attempting a recomposition, which takes months/years, not days/weeks.
Build your deficit to a more manageable level or move to maintenance and take a "break" for a week. For the strength training I recommend taking a deload week and work your way back up.
This is a life long pursuit. Check your pace.
Awesome points. Thanks. I do try and hurry the process, and then burn out.
What do you think of me going up to 2,000 calories/day?
Also, when deloading, how much less weight should I lift?
The key to long term success is identifying "bad" habits that don't support your long term goals and replacing these with "good" habits. During your break run through this exercise - write down 5 "bad" habits you want to change that aren't serving your goals and prioritize these 1-5. Cross off 2-5 and focus on #1. Give this at least a month and you must replace this habit with another one -it's how our brains function. Once the habit becomes ingrained and part of your routine then repeat this exercise.
I would recommend shifting to 2000-2300 kcals/day for the next two weeks.
I would recommend a large deload, something around 40% and give your body a much needed break.
I recommend you prioritize sleep and take time off for some time management. There are 168 hours in a week. Utilize each hour with purpose - including rest.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Awesome, thanks.
Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
Focus on those habits that are currently working against staying in your calorie range, keeping you from sleeping, and other items inhibiting your goals. Replace each one with a habit that supports a caloric deficit/maintenance, healthy sleep, lifting, etc.
Key point is to only tackle habits one at a time. This is challenging enough. To tackle more require intensive reprogramming on par with military boot camp programs.
Our brains work much like the grooves in a record. They are set and established, so attempting to remove a bad habit ends up in failure almost every time. Replacing a habit has a much greater chance of success.4 -
trustymutsi wrote: »trustymutsi wrote: »Keep this simple.
You're tired - get more sleep. Prioritize it.
You're being too aggressive in this process. Either lose fat or build muscle. This requires months of cutting & bulking or attempting a recomposition, which takes months/years, not days/weeks.
Build your deficit to a more manageable level or move to maintenance and take a "break" for a week. For the strength training I recommend taking a deload week and work your way back up.
This is a life long pursuit. Check your pace.
Awesome points. Thanks. I do try and hurry the process, and then burn out.
What do you think of me going up to 2,000 calories/day?
Also, when deloading, how much less weight should I lift?
The key to long term success is identifying "bad" habits that don't support your long term goals and replacing these with "good" habits. During your break run through this exercise - write down 5 "bad" habits you want to change that aren't serving your goals and prioritize these 1-5. Cross off 2-5 and focus on #1. Give this at least a month and you must replace this habit with another one -it's how our brains function. Once the habit becomes ingrained and part of your routine then repeat this exercise.
I would recommend shifting to 2000-2300 kcals/day for the next two weeks.
I would recommend a large deload, something around 40% and give your body a much needed break.
I recommend you prioritize sleep and take time off for some time management. There are 168 hours in a week. Utilize each hour with purpose - including rest.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Awesome, thanks.
Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
Focus on those habits that are currently working against staying in your calorie range, keeping you from sleeping, and other items inhibiting your goals. Replace each one with a habit that supports a caloric deficit/maintenance, healthy sleep, lifting, etc.
Key point is to only tackle habits one at a time. This is challenging enough. To tackle more require intensive reprogramming on par with military boot camp programs.
Our brains work much like the grooves in a record. They are set and established, so attempting to remove a bad habit ends up in failure almost every time. Replacing a habit has a much greater chance of success.
For example, no electronics after 11pm, so I can get to bed by 11:30?
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trustymutsi wrote: »Yeah, I'm starting to feel kinda stupid for even posting this. I guess sleep was the obvious problem.
Duh.
I'll primarily focus on sleep, and once I'm feeling better start to tick off the other boxes (calories, protein, etc...) although I think I'll also focus on upping my fruits and veggies and other healthy foods.
Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback.
there are no stupid questions so dont feel stupid for posting. a lot of us dont realize things sometimes until we ask someone else or write it down. sleep can do a number on you if you dont get enough. I know for me I want to eat badly,my workouts suffer,and so on yes headaches happen too.8 -
trustymutsi wrote: »trustymutsi wrote: »trustymutsi wrote: »Keep this simple.
You're tired - get more sleep. Prioritize it.
You're being too aggressive in this process. Either lose fat or build muscle. This requires months of cutting & bulking or attempting a recomposition, which takes months/years, not days/weeks.
Build your deficit to a more manageable level or move to maintenance and take a "break" for a week. For the strength training I recommend taking a deload week and work your way back up.
This is a life long pursuit. Check your pace.
Awesome points. Thanks. I do try and hurry the process, and then burn out.
What do you think of me going up to 2,000 calories/day?
Also, when deloading, how much less weight should I lift?
The key to long term success is identifying "bad" habits that don't support your long term goals and replacing these with "good" habits. During your break run through this exercise - write down 5 "bad" habits you want to change that aren't serving your goals and prioritize these 1-5. Cross off 2-5 and focus on #1. Give this at least a month and you must replace this habit with another one -it's how our brains function. Once the habit becomes ingrained and part of your routine then repeat this exercise.
I would recommend shifting to 2000-2300 kcals/day for the next two weeks.
I would recommend a large deload, something around 40% and give your body a much needed break.
I recommend you prioritize sleep and take time off for some time management. There are 168 hours in a week. Utilize each hour with purpose - including rest.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Awesome, thanks.
Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
Focus on those habits that are currently working against staying in your calorie range, keeping you from sleeping, and other items inhibiting your goals. Replace each one with a habit that supports a caloric deficit/maintenance, healthy sleep, lifting, etc.
Key point is to only tackle habits one at a time. This is challenging enough. To tackle more require intensive reprogramming on par with military boot camp programs.
Our brains work much like the grooves in a record. They are set and established, so attempting to remove a bad habit ends up in failure almost every time. Replacing a habit has a much greater chance of success.
For example, no electronics after 11pm, so I can get to bed by 11:30?
Excellent example.
Start logging and reviewing behavior. Become acutely aware of yourself and your actions. How much time do you need to start de-loading the day and getting to sleep? Budget time for this.2 -
Great thread and advice. Love your attitude! My Doctor recently told me that it takes 2 hours of sleep to make up for 1 hour of sleep deprivation. That surprised me. I fetl much better once I caught up.3
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Everyone has commented on all but the bad eating at night. I work late hours, so to ensure I eat well at night I prep a meal each Sunday for M-Thurs. It ensures I have something healthy and within my calorie/macro range - but super easy to grab when I'm tired or need to get to bed. It also means, however, I eat the same thing 4 days in a row - so I make sure it is something tasty! Also - I agree with getting more sleep. It made a huge difference for my energy levels - which benefited my eating and workouts.2
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Great thread and advice. Love your attitude! My Doctor recently told me that it takes 2 hours of sleep to make up for 1 hour of sleep deprivation. That surprised me. I fetl much better once I caught up.
There is a point where you just catch up. If this were not true every military vet would be dead.5 -
Definitely prioritize sleep. Another perspective for the calories aspect, I have around 15lbs left till my goal (40lbs lost so far) and I was getting tired/lacking determination. I was set to .5lb per week loss but not eating back any exercise calories for the most part. I do 5 days per week of 45 min lifting sessions, and then probably 3x 5k runs. I decided to give myself a break and upped my cals to maintenance. It’s made a huge difference in my energy and determination. I’ve also lost about 5 inches since I switched. I’m still not counting my exercise cals but the 250 more that being at maintence gave me so far has been enough.
Reason I wasn’t counting is because of so many saying that it’s easy to over estimate what you burn. At least at maintence, I get the extra food I need, but I won’t over estimate my burn and potentially gain weight, if that logic makes sense.2 -
Start with the sleep. Lock that in, then see how you feel. Trying to make too many changes at once can cause needless stress.3
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Your OCD (yes, even if you don't have formal diagnosis, just call it tendencies) is what's making you tired. And while your doctor's order was 100% in order, it was terrible advice. You're already exhausting yourself trying to do everything right, but at some point, something's gotta give. So I think you need to focus on the big things that matter most, and ignore the smaller things that just make a small difference (actually make things more difficult), and that's exactly what a person with OCD would struggle with! "Make a sustainable plan" is the usual advice, but a person with OCD can't help obsessing over each detail and get more and more anxious.trustymutsi wrote: »Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
I think you need to attack this at two sides simultaneously: 1) calm down and reduce stress 2) make a simple, intuitive plan so you don't have to figure out things all the time, one that works through triggering behavior.
So, are you getting treatment for your anxiety? If so, do you feel it's working, or if not, have you considered getting/changing treatment/councelor?
And to the plan. The plan I'm suggesting, is not so much a plan, as a routine, where everything you do, has its natural place at the appropriate time. Done right, I'm not going to be surprised if it reduces your OCD symptoms (I have tendencies myself, and I do this myself, and I feel it's helping me). Link things. Have things you do, prompt other things. And of course in line with YOUR daily life - I'm using my own schedule as an example, not a new law you have to follow
For instance, when you get up, the first thing you do, is make your bed, go to the bathroom, drink water, make coffee.
Then it's breakfast, then brush teeth. Breakfast consists of item of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then go to work, or whatever, take short breaks every hour, get up from your desk, drink water.
Then have lunch. Lunch consists of items of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then this and that, go to the gym on your way home.
Then dinner. Dinner consists of items of group "veg", "protein", "starch", "fat".
Then this and that. Brush teeth. Stop water intake at 9PM (to avoid having to get up in the night). Shut off electronics at 10PM. Go to bed no later than 1130PM.
Does this seem doable for you? I admit that written out, it looks like a lot. But in practice, it's a lot easier. It's actually a lot easier than many plans that looks simple enough on paper.4 -
I know I'm mostly just reiterating what others have said but:
Going all in is exhausting. Try to change every single thing about what you're doing is hard work. This is the case in any aspect of our lives. Ask anyone who's started a new job, or are new parents, or are moving house. Change is tiring.
Give yourself a break. Ditch that all or nothing mentality.
First thing I would do is focus on drinking enough and getting a good night sleep. This always makes you feel tired.
Next move onto logging. Don't worry if you're going over your allowance. Too tired to cook so you order takeaway? That's not a problem, log your takeaway calories. Ate an enormous bag of doughnuts? No worries, just log it. To begin with it doesn't matter if you make your target, just get into the habit of logging. It takes some getting used to keeping it accurate and consistent. But once you get into the habit, it really isn't that much more effort, and is fairly easy. From there move onto your other goals.
Take it one step at a time. It's easier to learn to run, once we know how to walk.
Something else to consider, have you recently changed your caffeine intake? If you went from 8 cups of coffee a day to 2 cups overnight, you will get headaches and feel really tired. These are classic caffeine withdrawal symptoms.2 -
I know I'm mostly just reiterating what others have said but:
Going all in is exhausting. Try to change every single thing about what you're doing is hard work. This is the case in any aspect of our lives. Ask anyone who's started a new job, or are new parents, or are moving house. Change is tiring.
Give yourself a break. Ditch that all or nothing mentality.
First thing I would do is focus on drinking enough and getting a good night sleep. This always makes you feel tired.
Next move onto logging. Don't worry if you're going over your allowance. Too tired to cook so you order takeaway? That's not a problem, log your takeaway calories. Ate an enormous bag of doughnuts? No worries, just log it. To begin with it doesn't matter if you make your target, just get into the habit of logging. It takes some getting used to keeping it accurate and consistent. But once you get into the habit, it really isn't that much more effort, and is fairly easy. From there move onto your other goals.
Take it one step at a time. It's easier to learn to run, once we know how to walk.
Something else to consider, have you recently changed your caffeine intake? If you went from 8 cups of coffee a day to 2 cups overnight, you will get headaches and feel really tired. These are classic caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
My caffeine changed a little, so I'm sure that could be part of it.
I had my first 7+ hours of sleep last night. Here's to me keeping that schedule
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kommodevaran wrote: »
Your OCD (yes, even if you don't have formal diagnosis, just call it tendencies) is what's making you tired. And while your doctor's order was 100% in order, it was terrible advice. You're already exhausting yourself trying to do everything right, but at some point, something's gotta give. So I think you need to focus on the big things that matter most, and ignore the smaller things that just make a small difference (actually make things more difficult), and that's exactly what a person with OCD would struggle with! "Make a sustainable plan" is the usual advice, but a person with OCD can't help obsessing over each detail and get more and more anxious.trustymutsi wrote: »Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
I think you need to attack this at two sides simultaneously: 1) calm down and reduce stress 2) make a simple, intuitive plan so you don't have to figure out things all the time, one that works through triggering behavior.
So, are you getting treatment for your anxiety? If so, do you feel it's working, or if not, have you considered getting/changing treatment/councelor?
And to the plan. The plan I'm suggesting, is not so much a plan, as a routine, where everything you do, has its natural place at the appropriate time. Done right, I'm not going to be surprised if it reduces your OCD symptoms (I have tendencies myself, and I do this myself, and I feel it's helping me). Link things. Have things you do, prompt other things. And of course in line with YOUR daily life - I'm using my own schedule as an example, not a new law you have to follow
For instance, when you get up, the first thing you do, is make your bed, go to the bathroom, drink water, make coffee.
Then it's breakfast, then brush teeth. Breakfast consists of item of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then go to work, or whatever, take short breaks every hour, get up from your desk, drink water.
Then have lunch. Lunch consists of items of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then this and that, go to the gym on your way home.
Then dinner. Dinner consists of items of group "veg", "protein", "starch", "fat".
Then this and that. Brush teeth. Stop water intake at 9PM (to avoid having to get up in the night). Shut off electronics at 10PM. Go to bed no later than 1130PM.
Does this seem doable for you? I admit that written out, it looks like a lot. But in practice, it's a lot easier. It's actually a lot easier than many plans that looks simple enough on paper.
I like this idea. And writing it all down makes me have to think less. Maybe you can help me work something out. Here are all the things I want to get done every day:
Sleep 7.5 hours (getting up before 7:30)
Drink enough water
Eat healthier
Stay at 2,000-2,300 calories
Strength train 3X a week
Work on animated short (I'm just learning to animate and want to start a youtube channel)
Work on my web comic
Play video games for 30-60 minutes.
Learn piano.
Meditate/pray/read bible
This of course doesn't include time for cooking, spending time with family, commuting, showering, going to the bathroom, etc
How would you recommend breaking this down, and also deciding what to cut out if there's too much?2 -
My contribution is to encourage you to do this:trustymutsi wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »
Your OCD (yes, even if you don't have formal diagnosis, just call it tendencies) is what's making you tired. And while your doctor's order was 100% in order, it was terrible advice. You're already exhausting yourself trying to do everything right, but at some point, something's gotta give. So I think you need to focus on the big things that matter most, and ignore the smaller things that just make a small difference (actually make things more difficult), and that's exactly what a person with OCD would struggle with! "Make a sustainable plan" is the usual advice, but a person with OCD can't help obsessing over each detail and get more and more anxious.trustymutsi wrote: »Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
I think you need to attack this at two sides simultaneously: 1) calm down and reduce stress 2) make a simple, intuitive plan so you don't have to figure out things all the time, one that works through triggering behavior.
So, are you getting treatment for your anxiety? If so, do you feel it's working, or if not, have you considered getting/changing treatment/councelor?
And to the plan. The plan I'm suggesting, is not so much a plan, as a routine, where everything you do, has its natural place at the appropriate time. Done right, I'm not going to be surprised if it reduces your OCD symptoms (I have tendencies myself, and I do this myself, and I feel it's helping me). Link things. Have things you do, prompt other things. And of course in line with YOUR daily life - I'm using my own schedule as an example, not a new law you have to follow
For instance, when you get up, the first thing you do, is make your bed, go to the bathroom, drink water, make coffee.
Then it's breakfast, then brush teeth. Breakfast consists of item of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then go to work, or whatever, take short breaks every hour, get up from your desk, drink water.
Then have lunch. Lunch consists of items of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then this and that, go to the gym on your way home.
Then dinner. Dinner consists of items of group "veg", "protein", "starch", "fat".
Then this and that. Brush teeth. Stop water intake at 9PM (to avoid having to get up in the night). Shut off electronics at 10PM. Go to bed no later than 1130PM.
Does this seem doable for you? I admit that written out, it looks like a lot. But in practice, it's a lot easier. It's actually a lot easier than many plans that looks simple enough on paper.
I like this idea. And writing it all down makes me have to think less. Maybe you can help me work something out. Here are all the things I want to get done every day:
Sleep 7.5 hours (getting up before 7:30)
Drink enough water
Eat healthier
Stay at 2,000-2,300 calories
Strength train 3X a week
Work on animated short (I'm just learning to animate and want to start a youtube channel)
Work on my web comic
Play video games for 30-60 minutes.
Learn piano.
Meditate/pray/read bible
This of course doesn't include time for cooking, spending time with family, commuting, showering, going to the bathroom, etc
How would you recommend breaking this down, and also deciding what to cut out if there's too much?
Go to bed no later than midnight (or 1130, which was just a time I threw out).
First decide what "enough water" is. Then make a schedule for drinking water, if necessary with an alarm, and when it goes off, you drink a big glass of water. Or make yourself a rule that bathroom visit=glass of water. You should also drink more when you're hot, be it from weather or exercise.
Decide what healthy eating means to you, and how it's possible to do while still eating food you and your family like, at times where it's natural to eat, with friends/family whenever possible/desired.
Put together some meals (breakfasts, lunches, dinners) that fit the bill.
You are very ambitious. My concern is that you might be too ambitious and will make sticking to a plan just another task, instead of letting it work for you - a daily plan like this is supposed to be a guideline and create flow. For the rest of the items on your list, I would recommend Gretchen Rubin's book "Better than before", she handles this better than me, I can just say "schedule and make priorities". Oh, and combine tasks, but do it wisely
1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »
My contribution is to encourage you to do this:trustymutsi wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »
Your OCD (yes, even if you don't have formal diagnosis, just call it tendencies) is what's making you tired. And while your doctor's order was 100% in order, it was terrible advice. You're already exhausting yourself trying to do everything right, but at some point, something's gotta give. So I think you need to focus on the big things that matter most, and ignore the smaller things that just make a small difference (actually make things more difficult), and that's exactly what a person with OCD would struggle with! "Make a sustainable plan" is the usual advice, but a person with OCD can't help obsessing over each detail and get more and more anxious.trustymutsi wrote: »Quick question: Do you mean I should focus on losing a bad habit, PLUS work on the calories, sleep, and deload, or do I consider getting more sleep/deload/sleep on of the bad habits to replace?
I think you need to attack this at two sides simultaneously: 1) calm down and reduce stress 2) make a simple, intuitive plan so you don't have to figure out things all the time, one that works through triggering behavior.
So, are you getting treatment for your anxiety? If so, do you feel it's working, or if not, have you considered getting/changing treatment/councelor?
And to the plan. The plan I'm suggesting, is not so much a plan, as a routine, where everything you do, has its natural place at the appropriate time. Done right, I'm not going to be surprised if it reduces your OCD symptoms (I have tendencies myself, and I do this myself, and I feel it's helping me). Link things. Have things you do, prompt other things. And of course in line with YOUR daily life - I'm using my own schedule as an example, not a new law you have to follow
For instance, when you get up, the first thing you do, is make your bed, go to the bathroom, drink water, make coffee.
Then it's breakfast, then brush teeth. Breakfast consists of item of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then go to work, or whatever, take short breaks every hour, get up from your desk, drink water.
Then have lunch. Lunch consists of items of groups "fruit", "veg", "protein", "starch", "dairy".
Then this and that, go to the gym on your way home.
Then dinner. Dinner consists of items of group "veg", "protein", "starch", "fat".
Then this and that. Brush teeth. Stop water intake at 9PM (to avoid having to get up in the night). Shut off electronics at 10PM. Go to bed no later than 1130PM.
Does this seem doable for you? I admit that written out, it looks like a lot. But in practice, it's a lot easier. It's actually a lot easier than many plans that looks simple enough on paper.
I like this idea. And writing it all down makes me have to think less. Maybe you can help me work something out. Here are all the things I want to get done every day:
Sleep 7.5 hours (getting up before 7:30)
Drink enough water
Eat healthier
Stay at 2,000-2,300 calories
Strength train 3X a week
Work on animated short (I'm just learning to animate and want to start a youtube channel)
Work on my web comic
Play video games for 30-60 minutes.
Learn piano.
Meditate/pray/read bible
This of course doesn't include time for cooking, spending time with family, commuting, showering, going to the bathroom, etc
How would you recommend breaking this down, and also deciding what to cut out if there's too much?
Go to bed no later than midnight (or 1130, which was just a time I threw out).
First decide what "enough water" is. Then make a schedule for drinking water, if necessary with an alarm, and when it goes off, you drink a big glass of water. Or make yourself a rule that bathroom visit=glass of water. You should also drink more when you're hot, be it from weather or exercise.
Decide what healthy eating means to you, and how it's possible to do while still eating food you and your family like, at times where it's natural to eat, with friends/family whenever possible/desired.
Put together some meals (breakfasts, lunches, dinners) that fit the bill.
You are very ambitious. My concern is that you might be too ambitious and will make sticking to a plan just another task, instead of letting it work for you - a daily plan like this is supposed to be a guideline and create flow. For the rest of the items on your list, I would recommend Gretchen Rubin's book "Better than before", she handles this better than me, I can just say "schedule and make priorities". Oh, and combine tasks, but do it wisely
Thanks! This helps. And I'll check that book out.
1 -
I would be tired on 5 to 6 hours of sleep too. Get at least 8 hours. Then, focus mostly on your diet. If you have extra energy, then hit the gym.2
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