Overtraining Syndrome- how to combat with nutrition?

kjo1713 · April 2020

Hello
I have spoken with an athletic trainer about the lack of gains I’m seeing in my weightlifting and running routines, and combination of other symptoms that point to overtraining syndrome. He suggested I add in an additional rest day to my routine , and work in one additional cross training day to help offset. I wish I had asked more dietary questions at the time however- has anyone here dealt with OTS- if so how did you manage it with the nutrition side? Should I be consuming a surplus of calories that are micronutrient dense (what I’ve been reading)? Trying to see what else I can do to help myself heal and get back to feeling like myself.

Thank you!

sijomial · April 2020

The key is primarily stopping the over-training (and under-recovering).

If one of your contributing stressors is a calorie deficit then switching to maintenance takes that away but see no need or benefit to switch to a surplus. The composition of my diet doesn't change, just the size of my diet but people need to assess their own needs. With a high to very high calorie allowance it's not at all difficult for me to get all my macro and micro nutrient needs covered.

I can show signs of over-training (fatigue, poor recovery from training, plateau in performance, rise in resting heart rate, water retention showing up as weight loss stalling despite a calorie deficit....) in the build up to an important cycling event when I'm both training very hard and dropping weight.
Tapering down training volume and intensity plus returning to maintenance calories resolves the problem. RHR will return to normal and I will lose the water weight.

BTW - it's easy to fall into the trap that the "feeling" based symptoms can be resolved or compensated for by trying harder, pushing through etc. The more empirical/measurable signs of stress personally I find far more convincing and easier to take notice of.

kjo1713 · April 2020

Thank you so very much for the response. I have decided to add in an additional rest day and return to eating back all exercise calories at a maintenance level as you suggested. The only evidence I have I guess is the perceived difficulty of workouts, High resting heart rate, water retention, and disrupted sleep....I will monitor and track these symptoms more closely!
Frustrating to feel I’ve hit a plateau- but I would rather back off for a bit than feel rough like this day in and day out- not accomplishing my goals anyway in that state.

Overtraining Syndrome- how to combat with nutrition?

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