Exercise NAUSEA, HELP!

If you find the snack beforehand helps (and I'm on that team), also keep some juice on hand during your workout. If you feel nauseous during a workout, it could be due to low blood sugar. Juice is a quick way to get some sugar in your system and make you feel better. This sometimes happens to me despite my best intentions and juice helps.

I didn't look at your diary, but if you are only eating 1200 calories and doing an intense workout like P90X you probably need to eat more in general.

Thanks Hawkian!

That's exactly the problem - if you eat too much, too little, or at the inappropriate time then the bouts of nausea are inevitable. For Plyo I think I'll still do it on an empty stomach in the morning, but for anything else definitely after at least a protein rich snack an hour or so earlier, like you said!

Oh gosh, too little water REALLY is the worst. And it's not like you replenish immediately if you are dehydrated - so not drinking all day and chugging two bottles of water during your exercise will initially make it worse due to the large amount of liquid swirling around in your belly.

Yep you're right of course. And really, you don't have to eat much for this purpose- just a little of something substantial (some carbs/sugars/protein!). I'd definitely try consciously doing it an hour before your intense workouts when you've got the chance, and see if it makes a difference. I can understand you not having time in the morning before Plyo of course- you ever hear of Shot Bloks? Lil 33 calorie cubes of tasty chewy gumminess with 4g of sugar and 8g of carbs. Not ideal but you could have one or two of those 10 minutes before a workout without having to worry about "eating too much too soon" and feel a difference in terms of nausea afterward. Even the chocolate milk suggestion (a few more calories, but who cares, you're burning like crazy every day ) is a great idea.

I bet you're on the right track with this stuff in mind now!

How hard do you exercise? Nausea can be perfectly normal after a long bout of high intensity exercise. Try backing off the intensity a bit and see if that helps. Chronic cardio isn't good for the body anyway and will do more for eating away at muscle mass than fat mass.

And food is up to you. Some people like to exercise with food in the belly (I don't advise this if you are going to be doing high intensity cardio for more than a half hour because high intensity exercise stresses the body and your digestive system will shut down). Some like to exercise fasted. Some like to eat after, some don't. See what your body likes best.

I prefer not to eat right before or right after exercise. I think it defeats the purpose of using exercise to burn carbs/fat from storage. Think about it. If you eat before (takes about 2-3 hours for food to leave the stomach and about 5-6 hours for the digestion process to complete) then your body will be using what you just ate as fuel. If you eat after then your body will use what you just ate to replenish. With no food in your system your body will have no choice but to USE WHAT IS ALREADY THERE.

Ooooh, I can't agree with much at all of this post O.O

Major points:
1. Nausea "normal" after exercise? Errr. After a 5K or an all-day bike ride, maybe. After an hour of structured cardio? Nausea is much more likely to be an indicator of something wrong- either your body wants nutrition badly, you ate too soon before the workout and interfered with digestion, or you're not properly hydrated. I'd say nausea isn't necessary a BAD sign every time, but "normal" is not at all how I'd express it. Nausea is your body trying to get you to take some action, even if it's vomiting to get rid of toxins or removing yourself from an unsteady environment (like a rocking boat).

2. I think you're way off the mark about not eating beforehand if you're going to be working out for a long time. In fact, the longer and more intense the workout, the MORE important it is that you have something in you to burn! The fact that the digestive process slows while your cardiovascular systems are working hard during exercise is no reason to favor having no food in you at all, and you'll stimulate your metabolism during the workout too!

3. The last bit about "defeating the purpose," and "forcing your body to use what is already there"- these concepts are great if they work for you, but it's important you realize that what you're talking about is basically purely psychological. Especially in terms of losing weight- if you run a net caloric deficit you will lose weight, if you don't you won't. When you eat in terms of before or after a workout has comparatively little to do with this compared to what you eat, how often you eat, and how much you eat each time.

Furthermore, eating (or drinking, this is all I use protein shakes for) something high in protein quickly after a workout (no more than 1 hour, preferably within 30 mins) is demonstrably, scientifically proven effective for boosting muscle growth.

I've always been under the impression than netting as close to zero as possible is the way to weight loss. Also, I thought that by exercising on an empty stomach your body will be forced to use the fuel that is already present in adipose tissue. This is what I've heard and read constantly, and I do find that it curbs my appetite as well, which is usually monstrous in the morning.

I understand the logic of this and it's an EXTREMELY common thought (see my response to the similar claim above), but it sooo just doesn't work like that in practice.

Exercising curbs your appetite for sure, but it's doing so by slowing/deprioritizing your digestive system in relation to other body functions like respiration and circulation, regulating your body temp, etc. This is great if you're prone to overeating and need a way to avoid snacking on junk late in the day... but my dear, this is not your problem.

You run great (many would say too wild) deficits every day. You don't need to concern yourself in the slightest with workout out on an empty stomach to "use the existing fuel." You're gonna be killing it no matter what with your diet and fitness routines, and frankly you might see more complete gains if you ate a little more in general But as long as you don't feel weak/hungry, I won't push this aspect on you.

great topic will have to finish reading later

I meant chocolate milk might not sound appealing right before working out I think it's good too.

This occasionally happens to me on days that I burn 800+ calories (i'm fairly small so it takes a lot for me to get to that number).

I'm pretty sure it probably has something to do with the stress hormones your body releases when you exercise intensely. Your body basically thinks it is fighting for its life when you exercise really hard, which is probably why you begin to feel nauseas. It is most like a bodily response.

You may need to step back from the intense exercise, lower the duration of the intensity and slowly increase it so that your body can get used to the extra stress.

I've been doing traditional Japanese Karate for about 22 years now, so I've fallen into a bit of a routine--hope what works for me helps you.

If I have a 5:30 or 6:00 workout, then I try to be done with lunch before 1:00. I don't have a heavy lunch on the days I work out, but I do try to make sure lunch has a good healthy dose of protein. If I start to feel hungry, a small snack like a handful of nuts and/or raisins goes a long way, and I do make sure I have water between lunch and workout, but I wait an hour after lunch to start drinking it so my stomach has a chance to work on lunch a bit first.

If you're fairly new to dieting and exercising like this, especially since P90X is kind of an "all over the map" approach to exercise, I suggest the following:

- A good helping of protein an hour before the workout
- A glass of water just before starting
- At least one water break every 30 minutes, even if it's just for a few sips

When you feel nausea, you may be pushing yourself too hard--back off on the intensity of what you are doing a little bit and cut yourself some slack. For me, if I get indigestion in a workout, I slow down and don't worry that I'm only doing 5 reps out of 10 because I know in a minute or two I'll be back up to 10/10 and not feel miserable.

Hope this is helpful to you. You definitely DO want to take in protein, carbs, and fat during weight loss, especially when combining it with an exercise regimen. The real key to losing weight is simply to keep an eye on portion control, percentages, and get enough sleep so you can recharge your body and your metabolism.

LIKE
I haven't felt nausous during a workout in a while now so thought I had the problem fixed. But yesterday while doing weights I felt it again. I worked through it, but I think the only thing left for me to try is intensity level. I definately was pushing my limits at the time....but it felt soooooo gooooood haha

It happens to me every time we do sprints. I asked my MA instructor about it and he told me that if I don't get nauseous during sprints - I'm not putting enough effort. I just drink some ice cold water and get fresh air and the nausea goes away.