Another Workout Related Question - I’ll Feeling

Just curious how common/normal it is to feel nauseous, kinda dizzy, with a headache after working out. Sometimes I get the chills after too. Is it just from the intensity (I tend to do quite a bit of HIIT) or am I doing something wrong? Whenever I feel this way I follow up with Redmond’s Re-Lyte mixed with water to replenish electrolytes - sometimes helps. I also get in plenty of water throughout the day (sometimes teetering on too much).

Thanks in advance! 🥰❤️
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Replies

  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,668 Member
    It sounds like dehydration. Do you sweat a lot when you work out? Do you drink during your workouts? That might help. You may also be generally dehydrated apart from your workouts.
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    It sounds like dehydration. Do you sweat a lot when you work out? Do you drink during your workouts? That might help. You may also be generally dehydrated apart from your workouts.

    Thank you! :) I do tend to sweat quite a bit and drink during the workout during the short breaks! I usually have at least 64 oz of water going into a workout and by the end of the day I’m closer to 100 oz. I teeter more on the overhydrated end (swollen tongue with teeth indentations is a big sign for that and I’ve had that more 😬). However, maybe my body just loses the water really fast?
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,393 Member
    How large is your deficit / how fast have you been losing?
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    How large is your deficit / how fast have you been losing?

    I haven’t been tracking my weight too much but deficit has been around 700-1000 each day.
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    It's not really normal, and it's certainly not good. Either you have a health condition of some sort, or you're overdoing. "Overdoing" could be cutting calories too far, or underplaying good nutrition, or doing too much or too intense exercise for your current fitness level.

    The *occasional* bad moment, when going through changes in life habits, is possibly normal. But feeling ill often, during/after exercise, is not normal. It's a warning flag.

    Thanks Ann! I appreciate it, truly! I’m starting to think it may be a blood sugar thing for me at this point. It’s not every time but it’s becoming more apparent. Except with yoga, that’s just the exercise that makes me feel ill from all the down dogs 🤣. But the higher intensities may be a blood sugar thing as I’m looking into this more. I appreciate it!
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,668 Member
    It may also be over-hydrating. 100 oz a day is more than most people need, unless working all day in the hot sun.
  • Arc2Arc
    Arc2Arc Posts: 484 Member
    Another thing to look at is when and how much food you have prior to the workout. If I'm working out hard and haven't had enough calories or the right kind of calories to sustain me through the workout, I'm at risk as to hitting the wall where I lose all energy and have to completely stop. On a -1,000 calorie day you might be particularly susceptible. Perhaps some carbs pre-workout might help.
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    It may also be over-hydrating. 100 oz a day is more than most people need, unless working all day in the hot sun.

    It totally could be that too! Lol - I’m so used to drinking a ton from breastfeeding my youngest and now I need to find the happy-medium again!
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    Arc2Arc wrote: »
    Another thing to look at is when and how much food you have prior to the workout. If I'm working out hard and haven't had enough calories or the right kind of calories to sustain me through the workout, I'm at risk as to hitting the wall where I lose all energy and have to completely stop. On a -1,000 calorie day you might be particularly susceptible. Perhaps some carbs pre-workout might help.

    Definitely! I try hard to have mostly complex carbs but I think you’re right, I’m waiting too long after consuming them to workout, I need to switch up my schedule! Thank you!
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 865 Member
    I'd encourage you to think about blood sugar as well (I think you stated that). The headache is more likely due to dehydration -- remember even if you are drinking a lot of water (like you said you think sometimes you are drinking too much water) you lose both water and electrolytes when sweating. So maybe look into a rehydration drink/mix (I use Nuun tablets) to add to a couple of your waters per day. If you feel like dehydration is a constant issue, go get checked by a doctor bc having your electrolyte levels out of balance (too high or too low) and you'll have some pretty serious problems.

    The dizzy/nauseated feeling may be more likely due to low blood sugar. I've had 2 occasions where similar stuff has happened to me - the first was definitely a blood sugar issue (and after I thought back about my activity/eating the few days prior....it made total sense, I definitely didn't eat enough). The 2nd time I think it was a hydration issue. I have found that it's quite easy for me to get dehydrated and then it's quite hard to rehydrate properly after I'm already dehydrated, it can sometimes take a couple days to properly rehydrate too depending on what you're doing.

    And I might be misunderstanding you --- you said your calorie deficit PER DAY was 700-1000 calories......I'd imagine that's far too steep of a deficit for most people. But... maybe I misunderstood that. If your daily calorie goal is already set at a deficit (like, if you didn't work out at all, you'd still be under your total daily energy expenditure)...then if you work out heavily (which it sounds like you might be doing)...then you really should consider eating back those calories. I even fuel while running (~200 calories with running gel).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Not remotely normal. What is your current fitness level? Do you have a fitness base that would support strenuous training? To that end, strenuous training all of the time is a crappy way to train...true HIIT should be performed once per week...twice at the most. It's not a very good way to train at all without a very solid aerobic base to begin with.

    Ideally, one would want to train at various intensities. Strenuous training all of the time as a big time stress on the body.
  • candylilacs
    candylilacs Posts: 614 Member
    I think you are going at it too hard. Take a walk or do strength training. Make the core your workout (and without the core, you're going to get backaches well into your forties.)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,717 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Not remotely normal. What is your current fitness level? Do you have a fitness base that would support strenuous training? To that end, strenuous training all of the time is a crappy way to train...true HIIT should be performed once per week...twice at the most. It's not a very good way to train at all without a very solid aerobic base to begin with.

    Ideally, one would want to train at various intensities. Strenuous training all of the time as a big time stress on the body.

    ^^^ Yes, that.

    I also agree with a PP (before Wolfman) that "The dizzy/nauseated feeling may be more likely due to low blood sugar." Or, it could be a blood pressure problem. Those are probably common reasons here on MFP, because we have so many people starting/increasing exercise when still overweight, when very underweight (sometimes the ED history scenario), not very fit, with complicating health problems related to excess or inadequate body weight, etc.

    But even among people who are serious exercisers, even sometimes quite fit ones, nausea and even vomiting can happen in someone otherwise healthy because of the biochemistry of extremely intense exercise, perhaps aggravated by stress/nerves (such as the emotions related to competition). Anecdotally, based on observing athletes I know at competitions, some people are more prone to exercise-triggered nausea/vomiting than others.

    Dizziness is also a potential intense-exercise effect: I remember reading an account from a multi-medal international rowing star about how his field of vision would narrow physically during races (not just his attention, literal vision), and even the whole visual field would go dark and he would be close to passing out, he said from redirection of blood flow to muscles.

    Extreme exertion can have extreme consequences, even among healthy people who've trained for those extremes. Doing extreme exercise in many/all workouts is not a good fitness plan, as Wolfman says. That's not how elites train; us regular folks certainly shouldn't.

    Even in fit people prone to these severe effects, it should *not* be happening frequently in regular training sessions. That's not normal.
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    I'd encourage you to think about blood sugar as well (I think you stated that). The headache is more likely due to dehydration -- remember even if you are drinking a lot of water (like you said you think sometimes you are drinking too much water) you lose both water and electrolytes when sweating. So maybe look into a rehydration drink/mix (I use Nuun tablets) to add to a couple of your waters per day. If you feel like dehydration is a constant issue, go get checked by a doctor bc having your electrolyte levels out of balance (too high or too low) and you'll have some pretty serious problems.

    The dizzy/nauseated feeling may be more likely due to low blood sugar. I've had 2 occasions where similar stuff has happened to me - the first was definitely a blood sugar issue (and after I thought back about my activity/eating the few days prior....it made total sense, I definitely didn't eat enough). The 2nd time I think it was a hydration issue. I have found that it's quite easy for me to get dehydrated and then it's quite hard to rehydrate properly after I'm already dehydrated, it can sometimes take a couple days to properly rehydrate too depending on what you're doing.

    And I might be misunderstanding you --- you said your calorie deficit PER DAY was 700-1000 calories......I'd imagine that's far too steep of a deficit for most people. But... maybe I misunderstood that. If your daily calorie goal is already set at a deficit (like, if you didn't work out at all, you'd still be under your total daily energy expenditure)...then if you work out heavily (which it sounds like you might be doing)...then you really should consider eating back those calories. I even fuel while running (~200 calories with running gel).

    That all completely makes sense! I do use a re-lyte powder in waters and I was really consistent with it over the summer and I need to be more consistent with it again. You’re right, it can take a bit to have hydration levels balanced out!

    My current goal is at a maintenance phase of 1700 but deficits have been that steep I’d say almost every day for the past month. Some days it’s less of a deficit. This week I’ve been trying to stay consistent with increasing calories and working out less intensely. Thank you for all your insight! It appears to boil down to the mix of hydration and blood sugar balance!
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    I agree that you are probably under-eating by quite a lot PeacefulBalance, and it's causing health problems.

    After looking at your recent threads I see you're 5'6" and 107. Now you're saying you are trying for a 700-1000 calorie deficit. Your past threads discussed multiple tries at anorexia recovery and it seems to me that you're heading down a pretty dangerous path right now..

    This is a relevant string of quotes from one of your recent threads:
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    88olds wrote: »
    What do you eat before? I used to go flying out of the gym to the nearest fast food burger I could get and scarf it down.

    The way to fix this is before your workout. Once you’ve crashed it’s hard to regain control. And consider this- a high level of fitness coupled with weight loss works on very tight margins. And the less you have to lose the tighter those margins are. The losses can be very slow. But the most important thing is to control the process. The best plan is the one we can actually stick with.

    Thank you for your reply! I usually eat lunch anywhere from 45 min to 1 hr before my workout. Typically it’s a heavy veggie meal with ~ 12-18g protein, a healthy fat and complex carbs. If I workout before the 45 minute mark after lunch I notice i don’t do as well during the workouts or start to cramp in the stomach. I then have a snack within 20ish-30 minutes after the workout.

    That's . . . not very much protein, IMO, and I'm saying that as a vegetarian who is active but not all that big (5'5", 125ish pounds). I didn't see where you indicate your size: Apologies if I missed it.

    How much protein are you getting overall? I'm a believer in 0.6-0.8g protein per pound of healthy body weight (reasonably equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass, for most people). It's not universally magical, but many people find protein foods filling, and getting enough (overall) is a very desirable component of an athletically active life. For myself, I mostly wouldn't like to be eating a meal without getting around 25g or so of protein, and shoot for a minimum of 100g daily, usually exceed it (but I'm in maintenance, eating 1850 calories plus exercise most days - it was slightly less TBH when I was losing weight, usually 90g-ish +/-).

    Have you been at this routine to know whether and how fast you're losing weight, averaged over several weeks (at least one full menstrual cycle)? That's the best indication IMO of whether you're undereating for your needs.

    Thanks for all of your insight, I appreciate it! And I get more protein throughout the day, my lunch tends to be on the lower of my other meals, and then I get in more with my snacks too! And right now I’m about 107 and 5’6. I’m working at just maintaining it and not losing.

    The other x-factor is that I finished nursing my 17 month old in September and so I still haven’t gotten my menstrual cycle back yet but I’m thinking that’ll show up in November. I can definitely try upping my protein more at lunch - I’ve been playing around with spacing out my protein through various foods to save on groceries (lame, I know). I’ll play around with it even more and add extra to my lunch. Thank you again! :)
    What are your daily calories right now? Do you add in more calories on workout days? How much more? That is the way this site is set up to be used.
    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
    I thought I read somewhere that you're eating about 1700? Is that recently? I'd suggest you calculate your Maintenance calories (go to "Goals" then View Guided Setup and choose, "Maintain my weight") and eat all that PLUS a few hundred more on days you exercise and call your eating disorder team and get in for an evaluation right away before this spirals.

    Good luck.

    Thank you for your reply and insight! I definitely have had a bad past with anorexia and it can definitely sneak in in ways without me realizing it and during times of higher anxiety/depression. Overall I’ve been really stable and haven’t needed treatment in 6 years. With that said, I can totally see your concern and where you’re coming from, and I also appreciate it a lot.

    I’m pretty active each day (although listening to my body when it definitely needs rest). Right now for maintenance I’m at 1700 calories a day, but I’ve had issues meeting that over the last month. The days where I have more intense activity I usually end up eating 200-300 more calories. This last month has been where my bigger deficits began and I’ve noticed the increase in dizziness so I’m definitely seeing the connection. I’ve eased on my intensity over the last week and things have started to balance out more. So I’m taking the steps and working on figuring out my
    balance.

    I truly appreciate your advice, insight, and kindness!
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Not remotely normal. What is your current fitness level? Do you have a fitness base that would support strenuous training? To that end, strenuous training all of the time is a crappy way to train...true HIIT should be performed once per week...twice at the most. It's not a very good way to train at all without a very solid aerobic base to begin with.

    Ideally, one would want to train at various intensities. Strenuous training all of the time as a big time stress on the body.

    I feel like my current fitness level is pretty good? I was a competitive tennis player for 10 years (but have played the sport for a good 25 years) and 2 hour intense tennis activity was a minimum for me 6-7 days of the week. It would be upwards to 5 hours depending on training and tournaments. I enjoy higher intensity activities because it seems more familiar for me and fun but I can definitely understand the stress on the body (that’s also why my my competitive time was short - I became prone to having injury and my cells were just depleted). I’ve been trying to incorporate more Pilates and yoga recently along with walking too. I just tend to go more with HIIT most days. I’m trying to figure out the balance of it all along with having a healthy relationship with exercise. I truly appreciate your help!
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    I'd encourage you to think about blood sugar as well (I think you stated that). The headache is more likely due to dehydration -- remember even if you are drinking a lot of water (like you said you think sometimes you are drinking too much water) you lose both water and electrolytes when sweating. So maybe look into a rehydration drink/mix (I use Nuun tablets) to add to a couple of your waters per day. If you feel like dehydration is a constant issue, go get checked by a doctor bc having your electrolyte levels out of balance (too high or too low) and you'll have some pretty serious problems.

    The dizzy/nauseated feeling may be more likely due to low blood sugar. I've had 2 occasions where similar stuff has happened to me - the first was definitely a blood sugar issue (and after I thought back about my activity/eating the few days prior....it made total sense, I definitely didn't eat enough). The 2nd time I think it was a hydration issue. I have found that it's quite easy for me to get dehydrated and then it's quite hard to rehydrate properly after I'm already dehydrated, it can sometimes take a couple days to properly rehydrate too depending on what you're doing.

    And I might be misunderstanding you --- you said your calorie deficit PER DAY was 700-1000 calories......I'd imagine that's far too steep of a deficit for most people. But... maybe I misunderstood that. If your daily calorie goal is already set at a deficit (like, if you didn't work out at all, you'd still be under your total daily energy expenditure)...then if you work out heavily (which it sounds like you might be doing)...then you really should consider eating back those calories. I even fuel while running (~200 calories with running gel).

    That all completely makes sense! I do use a re-lyte powder in waters and I was really consistent with it over the summer and I need to be more consistent with it again. You’re right, it can take a bit to have hydration levels balanced out!

    My current goal is at a maintenance phase of 1700 but deficits have been that steep I’d say almost every day for the past month. Some days it’s less of a deficit. This week I’ve been trying to stay consistent with increasing calories and working out less intensely. Thank you for all your insight! It appears to boil down to the mix of hydration and blood sugar balance!
    I am also 5'6" and am wondering what your goal weight is. Shouldn't you be gaining rather than having a goal of maintaining at 107 pounds?
    I agree that you are probably under-eating by quite a lot PeacefulBalance, and it's causing health problems.

    After looking at your recent threads I see you're 5'6" and 107. Now you're saying you are trying for a 700-1000 calorie deficit. Your past threads discussed multiple tries at anorexia recovery and it seems to me that you're heading down a pretty dangerous path right now..

    This is a relevant string of quotes from one of your recent threads:
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    88olds wrote: »
    What do you eat before? I used to go flying out of the gym to the nearest fast food burger I could get and scarf it down.

    The way to fix this is before your workout. Once you’ve crashed it’s hard to regain control. And consider this- a high level of fitness coupled with weight loss works on very tight margins. And the less you have to lose the tighter those margins are. The losses can be very slow. But the most important thing is to control the process. The best plan is the one we can actually stick with.

    Thank you for your reply! I usually eat lunch anywhere from 45 min to 1 hr before my workout. Typically it’s a heavy veggie meal with ~ 12-18g protein, a healthy fat and complex carbs. If I workout before the 45 minute mark after lunch I notice i don’t do as well during the workouts or start to cramp in the stomach. I then have a snack within 20ish-30 minutes after the workout.

    That's . . . not very much protein, IMO, and I'm saying that as a vegetarian who is active but not all that big (5'5", 125ish pounds). I didn't see where you indicate your size: Apologies if I missed it.

    How much protein are you getting overall? I'm a believer in 0.6-0.8g protein per pound of healthy body weight (reasonably equivalent to 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass, for most people). It's not universally magical, but many people find protein foods filling, and getting enough (overall) is a very desirable component of an athletically active life. For myself, I mostly wouldn't like to be eating a meal without getting around 25g or so of protein, and shoot for a minimum of 100g daily, usually exceed it (but I'm in maintenance, eating 1850 calories plus exercise most days - it was slightly less TBH when I was losing weight, usually 90g-ish +/-).

    Have you been at this routine to know whether and how fast you're losing weight, averaged over several weeks (at least one full menstrual cycle)? That's the best indication IMO of whether you're undereating for your needs.

    Thanks for all of your insight, I appreciate it! And I get more protein throughout the day, my lunch tends to be on the lower of my other meals, and then I get in more with my snacks too! And right now I’m about 107 and 5’6. I’m working at just maintaining it and not losing.

    The other x-factor is that I finished nursing my 17 month old in September and so I still haven’t gotten my menstrual cycle back yet but I’m thinking that’ll show up in November. I can definitely try upping my protein more at lunch - I’ve been playing around with spacing out my protein through various foods to save on groceries (lame, I know). I’ll play around with it even more and add extra to my lunch. Thank you again! :)
    What are your daily calories right now? Do you add in more calories on workout days? How much more? That is the way this site is set up to be used.
    https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
    I thought I read somewhere that you're eating about 1700? Is that recently? I'd suggest you calculate your Maintenance calories (go to "Goals" then View Guided Setup and choose, "Maintain my weight") and eat all that PLUS a few hundred more on days you exercise and call your eating disorder team and get in for an evaluation right away before this spirals.

    Good luck.

    Thank you for your reply and insight! I definitely have had a bad past with anorexia and it can definitely sneak in in ways without me realizing it and during times of higher anxiety/depression. Overall I’ve been really stable and haven’t needed treatment in 6 years. With that said, I can totally see your concern and where you’re coming from, and I also appreciate it a lot.

    I’m pretty active each day (although listening to my body when it definitely needs rest). Right now for maintenance I’m at 1700 calories a day, but I’ve had issues meeting that over the last month. The days where I have more intense activity I usually end up eating 200-300 more calories. This last month has been where my bigger deficits began and I’ve noticed the increase in dizziness so I’m definitely seeing the connection. I’ve eased on my intensity over the last week and things have started to balance out more. So I’m taking the steps and working on figuring out my balance.

    I truly appreciate your advice, insight, and kindness!
    I'm glad to hear this but also think reaching out to your treatment team would be wise.
  • PeacefulBalance
    PeacefulBalance Posts: 473 Member
    I think you are going at it too hard. Take a walk or do strength training. Make the core your workout (and without the core, you're going to get backaches well into your forties.)

    Thank you! I appreciate you reply! I definitely have room for improvement when it comes to incorporating more strength into my routine. I love walking and did that a ton this summer - now that it’s much colder I find it more difficult because I’m wimp in the cold 🤣, but I do have a treadmill. I make sure to work the core too :) I’ve had to work on that area specifically for quite some time after having 2 kiddos and needing to repair my diastasis recti. Thank you again!