Why am I so lethargic?

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isobelg5484
isobelg5484 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm currently doing calorie cycling, and the daily goals range from 1499-2280 calories a week.
So far, it's been a success, but I'm noticing a drop in my energy levels lately. I mean, I still get up at 6am to do my morning walks, but I am no longer motivated to lift weights nor do my HIIT workouts. It worked all really well a few weeks ago...
I sleep for a sufficient amount of time, I can forget to drink enough water but I think i've been pretty good keeping it in check at the moment. So why am I so tired? Is it because of online school or?

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  • meharmahshahid
    meharmahshahid Posts: 107 Member
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    Trust me, I understand. My online school started 10 days ago and I don't even have the energy to move anymore.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited September 2020
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    Stress. Jumped out, right at me and then I read Ann's reply. I think you have a confirmation but you'll know as time goes on. Do you toss and turn at night. I do, just thinking about all of this multi-cr@p. In the beginning of this frickity frick frick nightmare, those words 'covid 19' would go through my head when I wasn't thinking about anything. It still happens when I'm outside, there's those words running through my head. It's like being chased by some invisible thing.

    Coming here, helps me forget about it. I mill around and shoot the breeze but it's bedtime now.

  • RidiriH
    RidiriH Posts: 11 Member
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    Stress is a likely possibility, but it could also be when you eat certain foods. I’ve needed an afternoon nap for the last 25 years until I began changing my eating habits last December. I discovered that eating breads at breakfast and lunch was what put me to sleep. Cereal for breakfast and a sandwich at lunch equaled a 2 hour nap. I have had probably only 10 total naps now in 2020 just by eating bread after 3 PM. Maybe there’s a food out there giving you trouble along with the stress? Anyway, experimenting will help engage your mind on something new! Wish you well.
  • SLL1803
    SLL1803 Posts: 49 Member
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    If this persists, consult your doctor to eliminate medical causes such as thyroid function
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    isobelg5484 wrote: »
    I'm currently doing calorie cycling, and the daily goals range from 1499-2280 calories a week.
    So far, it's been a success, but I'm noticing a drop in my energy levels lately. I mean, I still get up at 6am to do my morning walks, but I am no longer motivated to lift weights nor do my HIIT workouts. It worked all really well a few weeks ago...
    I sleep for a sufficient amount of time, I can forget to drink enough water but I think i've been pretty good keeping it in check at the moment. So why am I so tired? Is it because of online school or?

    I am curious to find out what "a success" means to you. How quickly are your losing?

    It seems as though you felt really motivated and ambitious while you were devising this plan and you might have believed you would be that motivated each day for the rest of your life. That is not realistic. You need a plan you can stick to when you are not motivated that allows you to make progress even if the progress is stretched over a longer period of time. As others have suggested you may be under too much stress.

    Do you have a specific need to do calorie cycling? If I was having energy management issues at all I would make sure that my calories were coming in when I need them not when a schedule permits them. If you absolutely need to get fancy with your eating do it after you stabilize.
  • isobelg5484
    isobelg5484 Posts: 5 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    isobelg5484 wrote: »
    I'm currently doing calorie cycling, and the daily goals range from 1499-2280 calories a week.
    So far, it's been a success, but I'm noticing a drop in my energy levels lately. I mean, I still get up at 6am to do my morning walks, but I am no longer motivated to lift weights nor do my HIIT workouts. It worked all really well a few weeks ago...
    I sleep for a sufficient amount of time, I can forget to drink enough water but I think i've been pretty good keeping it in check at the moment. So why am I so tired? Is it because of online school or?

    I am curious to find out what "a success" means to you. How quickly are your losing?

    It seems as though you felt really motivated and ambitious while you were devising this plan and you might have believed you would be that motivated each day for the rest of your life. That is not realistic. You need a plan you can stick to when you are not motivated that allows you to make progress even if the progress is stretched over a longer period of time. As others have suggested you may be under too much stress.

    Do you have a specific need to do calorie cycling? If I was having energy management issues at all I would make sure that my calories were coming in when I need them not when a schedule permits them. If you absolutely need to get fancy with your eating do it after you stabilize.

    I'm losing about 0.5 kg a week -- although i'm not exactly sure of the rate since I haven't been able to weigh myself on a weekly basis.

    I admit, I have been a little stressed lately, but mainly with family issues? But maybe it is stress... Two days ago I did absolutely no exercise because i was that tired, but the next day I was super pumped and managed to somehow close all my rings. I guess since I had a rest day I managed to catch up a little. But i didn't think my plan was that stressful... i'm actually battling whether to cut out HIIT and just do walking/strength training.

    I initially started cycling because I wanted to get out of a plateau, and i find it sustainable and easy to follow.


  • isobelg5484
    isobelg5484 Posts: 5 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Stress causes fatigue, and stress is cumulative. I'm talking physical, mental, psychological stress - it all adds up.

    A calorie deficit is a stress. Over-exercise is stress. Even the right amount of exercise is a stress, because you're basically breaking your body down and building it back up again, only better. HIIT tends to be a particularly stressful form of exercise (max effort stuff). Strenth training is inherently stressful (more muscle breakdown than your walks, for example). You say your sleep is OK, hydration maybe so-so, you don't mention your nutrition . . . but any of those can add to stress if sub-par, too. There's a pandemic, and that can be stressful in a lot of different ways. You mention online school, maybe that's stressful.

    Stress from different sources stacks up, and the effects accumulate from stresses that continue over a long time (like the intense workouts, and the calorie deficit, for example).

    I'm not saying this is for sure true for you, but consider whether you just have too many different kinds of stress wearing you out.

    If that's possible, consider making some changes. Maybe lose weight a little slower, consider replacing the HIIT with something milder, revisit your strength training to see if you can get some benefits without as much stress, look for other stressors in your life, and manage the ones you can to limit the effects.

    I'm not sure that will help, but it might.

    Yeah, I think you're right. I also haven't been eating particularly healthy lately. I've been taking advantage of the low calories and eating whatever simply fits into my goal. However, I make sure my proper meals are mostly healthy.

    To be honest, I was totally clueless about the stress part. I never actually realised i was so stressed out (my therapist mentioned it as well). There was an incident not long ago that caused me a lot of anxiety - I guess it all adds up. Online school is a bit of struggle for me also (I can't concentrate properly).

    I think I might cut out the HIIT for good. I'm already doing hours of cardio anyway.

    Thanks a lot, I really didn't think of that. But it all make sense :)






  • AlexandraFindsHerself1971
    AlexandraFindsHerself1971 Posts: 3,106 Member
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    Stress will do it. I was losing at a good clip, then pandemic. Since I was doing diet alone due to arthritis pain, the loss didn't slow down. Then we added in packing to move, house hunting, and moving. Dead STOP for two months. We got in the new house, and two weeks later, the weight began to come off again.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    isobelg5484 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    isobelg5484 wrote: »
    I'm currently doing calorie cycling, and the daily goals range from 1499-2280 calories a week.
    So far, it's been a success, but I'm noticing a drop in my energy levels lately. I mean, I still get up at 6am to do my morning walks, but I am no longer motivated to lift weights nor do my HIIT workouts. It worked all really well a few weeks ago...
    I sleep for a sufficient amount of time, I can forget to drink enough water but I think i've been pretty good keeping it in check at the moment. So why am I so tired? Is it because of online school or?

    I am curious to find out what "a success" means to you. How quickly are your losing?

    It seems as though you felt really motivated and ambitious while you were devising this plan and you might have believed you would be that motivated each day for the rest of your life. That is not realistic. You need a plan you can stick to when you are not motivated that allows you to make progress even if the progress is stretched over a longer period of time. As others have suggested you may be under too much stress.

    Do you have a specific need to do calorie cycling? If I was having energy management issues at all I would make sure that my calories were coming in when I need them not when a schedule permits them. If you absolutely need to get fancy with your eating do it after you stabilize.

    I'm losing about 0.5 kg a week -- although i'm not exactly sure of the rate since I haven't been able to weigh myself on a weekly basis.

    I admit, I have been a little stressed lately, but mainly with family issues? But maybe it is stress... Two days ago I did absolutely no exercise because i was that tired, but the next day I was super pumped and managed to somehow close all my rings. I guess since I had a rest day I managed to catch up a little. But i didn't think my plan was that stressful... i'm actually battling whether to cut out HIIT and just do walking/strength training.

    I initially started cycling because I wanted to get out of a plateau, and i find it sustainable and easy to follow.


    @isobelg5484

    Sustainable is a whole life approach to weight management not just how you eat. If eating the way you do is causing your lethargy it is not, in fact, sustainable. I do not know that is the case but it is a variable that I would eliminate as an experiment.

    There is no such thing as a plateau if you are in a caloric deficit. Your body will lose fat weight each day. What it won't always do is show up on the scale in a linear fashion. There will be times your body has extra water or waste weight that masks the fat loss. The only reason calorie cycling impacts the scale (assuming the calories are the same) is because it changes your bathroom schedule. If you had waited all of your weight loss would have shown up. I know this because I very often have waited multiple weeks.

    To determine your rate of loss you would take your current weight and subtract it from a weight from about 6 weeks ago. Divide that number by the total number of days (Google: How many days between [date1] and [date2]) and then multiply that by 7.

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