Lightheaded every day at noon for an hour

chris77777
chris77777 Posts: 18
edited October 7 in Health and Weight Loss
Just wanted to share this b/c I think its diet related.

Ive been doing pretty good with this app for the past few months (beginning of october i started) and ive really hit my stride.
heres the thing...

now every day at noon for the past two weeks i get light headed, sometime a bit sometimes a lot. It happened again today in a meeting at work pretty bad, started to cold swaet a bit even.

went to the dr. he said its probably youre not eating enough. Ive been doing a good job lately, too good. Daily, im normally 1000 under my bmr; NOT the apps goal but true BMR). So im eating 500 less than what the app says i should if i want to loos a pound a week. that means im 100 under, that means im eating net 1200 cals a day (im 6'1' and 215)

so the dr. is saying im not eathing enough but im also going for bloodwork as well.

any comments, anyone else come across this. it kind of sucks b/c im really starting to loose a lot of weight.

for the record, so far, ive lost 22lbs since oct 1 roughly.

so, for the next while im going to hit my bmr (2200 per day), no more, no less, see if the dizzy spells clear up.

Replies

  • yoshi91610
    yoshi91610 Posts: 177 Member
    I get this when my blood sugar drops right in the noon before my lunch. I am diabetic so it is sort of expected until I can get my medicine regulated properly (through trail and error unfortunately) I get very light headed, cold sweats and clamy palms. So for lunch I usually have something that is high in carbs (but still in my calories range for lunch) so my blood sugar rises.
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    yeah, im going to try to eat more calories in the morning and have more of them be carbs
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    Your BMR is if you stayed in bed all day, so if your under that, you are not taking into account the normal calories you burn. So depending on what you do, that could be alot. It's at least 1000 + X which if your work out and are active could be alot.

    The goal is NOT how fast you lose weight, its how long you keep it off. Sadly this is a life style change and if people don't stick to their life style change, then they will gain weight again. Losing weight isn't as hard as keeping it off. The National Weight Control Registry is an online organization that studies this effect and what successful people do to keep off their weight.

    You could be sick, but bottom line, if your doctor says to eat more, you probably need to eat more since your true BMR is not what your burn in a day.
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    2200 BMR for me is desk job BMR so i think it includes walking around the poffice, getting groceries, etc..

    I add what i eat and subtract when i run.
  • Asces
    Asces Posts: 119 Member
    Sounds like sugar levels to me. I am not diabetic, but I know if I go too long without something to eat I get very weak and lightheaded....

    Are you taking vitamins?
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    no, no vitamins.

    im actually looking forward to eating 2200 cals a day for a bit here. I hope i didnt slow my metabolism too badly.

    Sounds like sugar levels to me. I am not diabetic, but I know if I go too long without something to eat I get very weak and lightheaded....

    Are you taking vitamins?
  • visiri
    visiri Posts: 173 Member
    How often are you eating? I eat breakfast and then a snack (10 almonds, a yogurt, apple w/slice of cheese, etc) around 10 and that carries me to lunch. I then have another light snack around 3-4 dinner is usually around 7 at our house. Make sure you're getting regular doses of food through out the day and ensure you're putting a little bit of protein with the carbs to balance it out and keep your blood sugar stable.

    Good luck!!!!
  • ShellyMacchi
    ShellyMacchi Posts: 975 Member
    not sure if this applies to your situation, but... i found the same thing happening at about same time every day as well, turned out it was the multi-vitamin i was taking.

    i changed it to a different time of day (later in day), after a meal, and have had no problems like that since.
  • kristilovescake
    kristilovescake Posts: 669 Member
    1200 calories sounds really low for a 6'1 tall dude (in my opinion)

    Sometimes I get lightheaded if I don't eat enough calories, don't drink enough water, or haven't eaten frequently enough (if I eat breakfast at 6am and don't eat until after lunch).

    Also make sure you're getting enough protein, otherwise probably a good idea to eat more until you hear back from the doc
  • alexzepp
    alexzepp Posts: 6 Member
    I was getting dizzy and lightheaded and found out via the doctor that I wasnt getting enough salt, added some sodium to my diet and the problem cleared up. Have you maybe cut your food or your sodium back too far ?
  • thejackswild79
    thejackswild79 Posts: 102
    I had a similar issue. For me it turned out to be low blood sugar from not eating enough. It caught me completely off guard because I was pretty much eating to maintain my weight loss after losing 80 lbs before going after the next 40-50 and hadn't changed anything for months calorie intake-wise. What I didn't take into consideration was the fact that I had been steadily increasing my activity level by a very significant amount. After meeting with my doctor and having to monitor my glucose levels for awhile (ouch), we managed to find a happy medium in calorie intake to fuel my NEW activity level plus starting to work on the next loss goal. It was an increase of about 350 calories per day. It was a very hard concept for me to take: I was being told at 210 lbs that I would need to eat more before I could start losing again. Easier for me to take was that I would need to expect slower weight loss (.5 a week instead of 2-3 lbs as I had last year) but it is the best way to fuel my activity habit. Since I love being this active, I'm okay with that. Anyway, you may want to just check in with the doctor.
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    thanks for the feedback,

    when i check out net caloies for the day in the app im at 1000/1200, which is, quite frankly, a little crazy so im going to ramp this back up to break even levels for a week.

    I was concentrating on how much under the daily goal i could get.

    - meals, bfast at 630 lunch at 12, dinner at 7, pretty much no snacks except protien powder after my night runs.
    - water is ok im pretty sure, never thirsty really, drink about 2 litres a day i guess
    - I probably eat too much salt .. gotta learn other ways to add 'flavour'
    -1 mutivitamin every other day, not much at all

    right now im just planning some bigger meals and some decent snacks (nuts, apples) (especailly for the morning time).

    I also recalculated my bmr and i was a bit low (200 cal) so that wasnt helping.

    im cranking it up to 2480/day for a bit here until, i hopefully get stable again.
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    thanks jackiswild
    "I had been steadily increasing my activity level by a very significant amount. "

    ive started running again after being injured for a while and i love running so i think i overdid that as well.
    running about 35 min a day, so not much but i have not run for about 4 months. (shin splints)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    Yup, sounds like your doctor is right and you aren't eating enough.
    It's easy to focus on the numbers and lose sight of the big picture, I'm glad you're trying something different now. It sounds as though you have made some really positive changes, don't waste that effort by not eating enough!
  • chatnel
    chatnel Posts: 688 Member
    I get this as well. I need to eat every 3 hours and notice it's alot worse if I have had a carb heavy meal beforehand.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    It's great to get thin and fit but do it a healthy way. You are not getting enough cals as your doctor said. Also, you probably going hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) when the light headedness happens. Try eating something like an energy bar mid to late morning. Obviously, get one with a calorie load that fit's into your daily. Eating more smaller meals with some complex carbs and good fats like nuts or a nut bar in between meals will help level out your blood sugar and also help supress your appetite somewhat so you can stay on plan at mealtime. If you've come up with a good plan, don't try and beat it. Just try to meet it. In this case, more is not nessesarily better. You've already come so far and seen such good results. Patience Grasshopper! ;-)
  • loischapman
    loischapman Posts: 88
    for your height and weight you are definitely not eating enough calories and it seems as though your blood sugar drops..not goodd. you have to eat your calories.add me as a mfp friend and check out my food diary ...you need more calories sweety. good luck.
  • CornbreadCountryFed
    CornbreadCountryFed Posts: 25
    I was getting the same thing, I wen tto the Doc and I have been testing my sugar, thats what mine was, I eat 1/4c of raw unsalted Almonds in between breaskfast and lunch then again between lunch and dinner, the Almonds have enoughf stuff to keep me full and the blood sugar in check...Good Luck!
  • mlmcquinn
    mlmcquinn Posts: 41
    You could be eating the right amount, but not the right balance. You have to balance your carbs and proteins or your blood sugar would stay stable. My calorie goal is 1200. I eat 3 meals and then I plan in a snack at 10am and 3pm. Since I started doing that, I haven't had issues. Also, if you plan in snacks, you don't have time for your blood sugar to get so low that you feel starving by the time you get to a meal.
  • HannahMarieMcDougald
    HannahMarieMcDougald Posts: 544
    I uped my calories intake :-D
  • chris77777
    chris77777 Posts: 18
    ok, sounds like im on the right track then

    looking forward to eating 500 more a day!!! :)
  • cjpg
    cjpg Posts: 433 Member
    Wow, this is almost scary - your story is practically identical to mine!

    I started dieting in October, am averaging about 1600 calories a day and over the last few weeks I've been noticing light-headedness (in fact I've got it at the time of typing this).

    I always pushed it at the back of my mind and chalked it up to adjusting to my new diet. I was also concerned that perhaps I was doing something wrong.

    I know that its easy to justify eating more food to 'test and see' if the light-headedness goes away, but I, too, have made such great progress I don't want to risk changing my eating habits YET AGAIN.

    However, I have found that eating smaller portions at more regular intervals alleviates these symptoms significantly. I don't do this often enough but the days that I stick to a 6am/9am/12pm/3pm/6pm/9pm eating routine seems to help.
  • kabloozi
    kabloozi Posts: 119 Member
    I'm with the Dr. on this one...you are 6'1"! You need not to be under in your calories...up your calorie intake a little if you still want to maintain your goal but your body needs a little more than what you sound like you are doing. You still rock and you can do it...find good calorie intakes as a fruit or veggie-helps with blood sugar if low and a bit more food for your height. WOOT WOOT!!! Hope you will be better. :)
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