I have no energy!

toots99
toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
What am I doing wrong? I have been so tired the last week or so, and don't know what's going on. I eat right, I exercise, I get usually 8 hours of sleep a night, if not more. I'm not feeling stressed.

I enjoy working out, 99% of the time. But the last few days, I have to force myself to workout. In the middle of working out, I feel as if I could literally lay down and go to sleep. And that's even after drinking an energy drink! It's like my body is tired, but my mind is raring to go!

Can some of you take a look at my food diary and give me some friendly advice...maybe there's some nutrient or vitamin or something that I'm missing. (I do take a multi-vitamin jst about every day). Maybe I'm not eating enough at breakfast (I work out after breakfast). It isn't often that I feel this way, so I don't feel that it's something medically wrong. I took a few days off from everything over Thanksgiving, maybe I'm just feeling sluggish because of that...?

Are there some things I should eat that will help give me more oomph? :laugh:


Thanks. :flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • courtney_love2001
    courtney_love2001 Posts: 1,468 Member
    Go your reports and look at your iron intake. It could be low (which most ppl are) and women in general are iron deficient if they still have menstruation (aka the curse haha). You could have a slight anemia and it could definitely make you feel fatigued. Definitely try to up that if you are deficient! I also take a multi-vitamin to get all my daily needs, so you could look into that too.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    I'll check into how much iron I've been taking in.

    You probably posted as I edited mine, I added that i do take a multi-vitamin almost every day (I might forget once or twice week.)

    Thanks! :smile:
  • chantybear
    chantybear Posts: 343
    Make sure the multi-vitamin is "plus iron" (for women). It also could be a deficiency of B-12, if you are not eating enough meat or meat substitutes. They make supplements that are very affordable, and they are tiny little things that dissolve quickly under your tongue.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    Thanks for the help. I don't really eat much red meat, mostly chicken. Is that an okay substitute?
  • ♥Faerie♥
    ♥Faerie♥ Posts: 14,053 Member
    I am by far no expert:tongue: but I noticed that you have no water logged. I know if I don't drink water throughout the day, I start to feel bogged down. Maybe this could be a factor????
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    I forget to log my water all the time!

    I drink a decent amount of water, but could probably stand to drink more, to be honest. I'll see if that helps!
  • poeticjustice_2001
    poeticjustice_2001 Posts: 53
    Hey girl! you're doing great, keep up the good work! :bigsmile:

    I noticed you aren't tracking your sodium? I never used to pay attention to it BUT the FDA suggests staying under 2400mg (my trainer wants us at 1500-1000mg but that's almost impossible if you're not vegan). Anyway, I noticed if I have too much sugar or sodium, I am sluggish. Before I started keeping track, even when I was under my calories, my sodium was like 5 times the amount it should be!

    Good luck!!!

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  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 22,170 Member
    When I think energy, I think carbs — good, complex carbs. I like to make sure I get some throughout the day to sustain my energy (oats for breakfast, whole-wheat bread for lunch, brown rice or whole-wheat pasta for dinner). I like to get 45 or 50 percent of my calories from carbs, which is lower than what mfp suggests but higher than what many people think is adequate.
  • AmandaJ
    AmandaJ Posts: 1,950 Member
    I am just wondering if you are eating enough calories at breakfast. I know that if I only eat about 200 calories at breakfast I tend to be tired. I need my bowl of oatmeal with the stuff I add on - it is about 380 calories.

    I also didn't exercise four days during Thanksgiving and am having a horrible time getting moving again. I don't feel like but I just want to stop. I keep pushing though.

    There was good suggestions to check your iron. I tend to run low on my iron count and that does wear a person done. Hope you feel refreshed soon!! :flowerforyou:
  • allisontaylor
    allisontaylor Posts: 57
    Not to scare you, but if it's not PMS....are you pregnant? Those can both cause unusual sluggishness. For increasing iron, if you don't like red meat, how about shrimp and/or pork? Green leafy veggies (spinach, asparagus, broccoli, etc.) and fortified foods such as cereals, pastas, etc. are also good choices. I also agree with PJilly - make sure you're getting enough good carbs. And if none of the above help....just rest up and I'm sure it will pass. I go through spells where I am more tired (and I'm usually really high energy/rarely skip work-outs or nap). When I hit one of those spells, I just listen to my body and at least try and get a nap in on the weekends, hit the sack a little earlier during the week, and skip a workout or too if needed. Good luck!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    all good suggestions. One I'd add toots, are you tired just when you are working out? Or is it all day?

    You could be over training, if you're doing high intesity stuff, or long workouts, you need to make sure you give your body a break every couple of days.

    Also, there are lots of other reasons why you could be tired, besides the ones already mentioned (b12, iron, sodium, wrong carb intake...etc.)

    a few are hormone imbalance, calcium deficiency, deficiency in any of the B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin), potassium deficiency. These are just a few of the many other reasons.

    Ironically (and this is one of the only times I'll ever say this), if you aren't sure, then before you work out, drink a red bull, it contains many of these items in quick release format, if you feel remarkably better after drinking it, then you probably have a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

    FYI, supplements don't cut it for replacing food. Most vitamins absorb naturally from food, but pills don't release them correctly or in the right format. So while you will receive some nutritional value from supplements, it's not nearly as much as what's listed on the bottle. Look up bioavailability for more info.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    Double post...
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    Hey girl! you're doing great, keep up the good work! :bigsmile:

    I noticed you aren't tracking your sodium? I never used to pay attention to it BUT the FDA suggests staying under 2400mg (my trainer wants us at 1500-1000mg but that's almost impossible if you're not vegan). Anyway, I noticed if I have too much sugar or sodium, I am sluggish. Before I started keeping track, even when I was under my calories, my sodium was like 5 times the amount it should be!

    I was tracking my sodium, and I do keep an eye on it. I wish we could track more than just 5 things on here.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    all good suggestions. One I'd add toots, are you tired just when you are working out? Or is it all day?


    It's mostly when I'm working out...
    Ironically (and this is one of the only times I'll ever say this), if you aren't sure, then before you work out, drink a red bull, it contains many of these items in quick release format, if you feel remarkably better after drinking it, then you probably have a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

    Would any energy drink work, or specifically red bull?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member

    It's mostly when I'm working out...

    how often do you work out, and if you had to categorize how intense your workouts are, would you say they are extreme, high, medium, or low? And how long per workout do you do?


    Would any energy drink work, or specifically red bull?

    Check the drink, some just fill it with caffeine and sugar, you want the ones with lots of B vitamins, panethoic acid, potassium, and sodium.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    how often do you work out, and if you had to categorize how intense your workouts are, would you say they are extreme, high, medium, or low? And how long per workout do you do?

    I usually work out about 5-6 days a week, at least an hour each time. I'd say it's a medium-high intensity. Usually 30-45 mins cardio (treadmill or elliptical), then weight machines, squats, free weights (not all of them all the time, I'll mix them up here and there), and cool down stretch. I'll usually eat lunch as soon as I get home (usually spinach salad with chicken and veggies and reduced fat cheese), then I'm off to work.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    how often do you work out, and if you had to categorize how intense your workouts are, would you say they are extreme, high, medium, or low? And how long per workout do you do?

    I usually work out about 5-6 days a week, at least an hour each time. I'd say it's a medium-high intensity. Usually 30-45 mins cardio (treadmill or elliptical), then weight machines, squats, free weights (not all of them all the time, I'll mix them up here and there), and cool down stretch. I'll usually eat lunch as soon as I get home (usually spinach salad with chicken and veggies and reduced fat cheese), then I'm off to work.

    Thanks again. :smile:
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member


    I usually work out about 5-6 days a week, at least an hour each time. I'd say it's a medium-high intensity. Usually 30-45 mins cardio (treadmill or elliptical), then weight machines, squats, free weights (not all of them all the time, I'll mix them up here and there), and cool down stretch. I'll usually eat lunch as soon as I get home (usually spinach salad with chicken and veggies and reduced fat cheese), then I'm off to work.


    So first, I'd say, separate your workouts, it's extremely taxing on the body to do both anaerobic and aerobic training in the same day, that's why when people do long HIIT workouts, it's recommended to take a day off after. You may not feel like you're working overly hard, but what you're doing is forcing your body to both refuel the tired muscles from the cardio, and rebuild and strengthen the muscles from the weight training, so you're body's pulling double duty trying to repair and replenish at the same time, this amounts to a very high stress time, and the chemicals this releases in your body could be leeching nutrients away from what would normally be used to refill your muscle ATP stores.

    Also, eat a decent amount of complex carbs about 2 to 3 hours before you do any moderate cardio routines that last for over 35 or 40 minutes, this will give your body the glucose it needs in the blood stream and liver to replenish your ATP stores while you're working out. Protein and to a lesser extent fats are good after, but really only necessary after a moderate or harder anaerobic (weight training) workout, as unless your cardio pushes past your anaerobic threshold (which at a medium pace you aren't doing) you won't be doing much in the way of muscle building during cardio.

    FYI, if you try the red bull trick, and you are tired again 15 minutes into the routine, then it's probably not vitamins, it's probably either you're overtaxing your body (the above stuff in this reply) or you have an issue with your thyroid. These aren't the ONLY possibilities, but generally, they would be my guess.
  • amk1725
    amk1725 Posts: 156
    What am I doing wrong? I have been so tired the last week or so, and don't know what's going on. I eat right, I exercise, I get usually 8 hours of sleep a night, if not more. I'm not feeling stressed.

    I enjoy working out, 99% of the time. But the last few days, I have to force myself to workout. In the middle of working out, I feel as if I could literally lay down and go to sleep. And that's even after drinking an energy drink! It's like my body is tired, but my mind is raring to go!

    Can some of you take a look at my food diary and give me some friendly advice...maybe there's some nutrient or vitamin or something that I'm missing. (I do take a multi-vitamin jst about every day). Maybe I'm not eating enough at breakfast (I work out after breakfast). It isn't often that I feel this way, so I don't feel that it's something medically wrong. I took a few days off from everything over Thanksgiving, maybe I'm just feeling sluggish because of that...?

    Are there some things I should eat that will help give me more oomph? :laugh:


    Thanks. :flowerforyou:

    I swear I thought this was myself writing this! I am in the EXACT same boat as you. I workout, I eat right, I take a vitamin etc etc. I've been extremely dedicated and focused the past two months on my health and losing weight and working out. I just "took off" from my routine last week for the holiday and it has been the hardest thing to get back on track. I've been sleepy and sluggish, even after energy drinks, and have just been going though the motions of my workouts this week. I too started wondeirng if something was wrong with me or something going on with my body.

    I finally convinced myself that I was just burnt out, needed that break, and need to just get refocused. I think it's all in my head and I've got to snap out of it. Maybe even psycologically the weather change has affected me...the cold makes you want to hibernate and be comfortable and lazy. While I was on "my break" I avoided this website, didn't write in my log, didn't think about working out, didn't even read my fitness magazines...just to give myself a break. I think I'm slowly snapping out of it but it has really taken me longer than expected. I tend to do this ever so often and really need to break the cycle.

    Please share anything you find that works for you to get back to normal. :happy:
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    What am I doing wrong? I have been so tired the last week or so, and don't know what's going on. I eat right, I exercise, I get usually 8 hours of sleep a night, if not more. I'm not feeling stressed.

    I enjoy working out, 99% of the time. But the last few days, I have to force myself to workout. In the middle of working out, I feel as if I could literally lay down and go to sleep. And that's even after drinking an energy drink! It's like my body is tired, but my mind is raring to go!

    Can some of you take a look at my food diary and give me some friendly advice...maybe there's some nutrient or vitamin or something that I'm missing. (I do take a multi-vitamin jst about every day). Maybe I'm not eating enough at breakfast (I work out after breakfast). It isn't often that I feel this way, so I don't feel that it's something medically wrong. I took a few days off from everything over Thanksgiving, maybe I'm just feeling sluggish because of that...?

    Are there some things I should eat that will help give me more oomph? :laugh:


    Thanks. :flowerforyou:

    I swear I thought this was myself writing this! I am in the EXACT same boat as you. I workout, I eat right, I take a vitamin etc etc. I've been extremely dedicated and focused the past two months on my health and losing weight and working out. I just "took off" from my routine last week for the holiday and it has been the hardest thing to get back on track. I've been sleepy and sluggish, even after energy drinks, and have just been going though the motions of my workouts this week. I too started wondeirng if something was wrong with me or something going on with my body.

    I finally convinced myself that I was just burnt out, needed that break, and need to just get refocused. I think it's all in my head and I've got to snap out of it. Maybe even psycologically the weather change has affected me...the cold makes you want to hibernate and be comfortable and lazy. While I was on "my break" I avoided this website, didn't write in my log, didn't think about working out, didn't even read my fitness magazines...just to give myself a break. I think I'm slowly snapping out of it but it has really taken me longer than expected. I tend to do this ever so often and really need to break the cycle.

    Please share anything you find that works for you to get back to normal. :happy:

    That's exactly me!

    The last few days I came home from the gym and went to sleep. That's not normal for me.

    Thanks so much for your help, Banks and everyone else! I'm definitely going to follow the advice given here and see what works! I hate feeling like this, because like I said, I do enjoy working out and when something I like becomes a chore, that effects my mood and eating habits for the rest of the day.
  • musclebuilder
    musclebuilder Posts: 324 Member
    Sounds like you need a break. Try taking a week off or even 2 from all exercise. This should re charge your battery so you can come back refreshed and ready to take on your next training phase. Every 8-12 weeks typically I take a week and deload. I hit the wall usually at around 8-12 weeks of training. If you do take some time off..Ease back into training and slowly build back up. Your endurance and strength will be down at first but after a couple weeks or so you'll feel much stronger and completely re energized and re motivated.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    I took a week off at Thanksgiving.

    I did as you suggested, Banks, and tried a Red Bull. I usually drink a different energy drink but when I looked at it today it didn't mention anything that you told me to look for. So I got a Red Bull, and it kicked me into high gear. So maybe it is Vitamin B that I'm needing. I felt good as new, back to the way I always felt. I don't need to sleep right now! Yay! :drinker:

    I don't really want to have to drink an energy drink every day, so do you think that a vitamin B tablet will help me out?
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    I took a week off at Thanksgiving.

    I did as you suggested, Banks, and tried a Red Bull. I usually drink a different energy drink but when I looked at it today it didn't mention anything that you told me to look for. So I got a Red Bull, and it kicked me into high gear. So maybe it is Vitamin B that I'm needing. I felt good as new, back to the way I always felt. I don't need to sleep right now! Yay! :drinker:

    I don't really want to have to drink an energy drink every day, so do you think that a vitamin B tablet will help me out?

    ahh, vitamin pills aren't really very good at absorbing into your body. Far more effective would be actually eating foods rich in the b complex family, along with panethoic acid. If I were you, I'd go for foods that are rich in b vitamins, like avocados, tuna, ahh, peanuts, brazil nuts, bananas, potatos
    these are all high b complex foods.

    A pill is ok, but there are two issues with pills, 1 is the absorption rate, the other is the bio availability (Google bioavailability for more info), so if you go the route of a multivitamin, make sure it has a super high bioavailability. Hint, things like centrum, or your basic walmart generic multi-vitamin aren't going to give you anything near what it says on the label.

    keep in mind it might not be B vitamins, it could be one of the acids that red bull gives you too. But now you know that ONE or more of those things works, you can isolate and try them all to find out which one your body is lacking.
  • toots99
    toots99 Posts: 3,794 Member
    Thanks again for your help. :flowerforyou:
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 22,170 Member
    A pill is ok, but there are two issues with pills, 1 is the absorption rate, the other is the bio availability (Google bioavailability for more info), so if you go the route of a multivitamin, make sure it has a super high bioavailability. Hint, things like centrum, or your basic walmart generic multi-vitamin aren't going to give you anything near what it says on the label.
    I googled and did some reading, but it's pretty overwhelming. Are there any supplement manufacturers that overall provide a better-quality product than most? And could you share those names with us? Pretty please? Thank you.

    Jill
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    A pill is ok, but there are two issues with pills, 1 is the absorption rate, the other is the bio availability (Google bioavailability for more info), so if you go the route of a multivitamin, make sure it has a super high bioavailability. Hint, things like centrum, or your basic walmart generic multi-vitamin aren't going to give you anything near what it says on the label.
    I googled and did some reading, but it's pretty overwhelming. Are there any supplement manufacturers that overall provide a better-quality product than most? And could you share those names with us? Pretty please? Thank you.

    Jill

    I'll do some nosing around.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    apparently, this website (www.usp.org) does 3rd party testing. here is a web page that shows the verified suppliments from them.

    http://www.usp.org/USPVerified/dietarySupplements/supplements.html


    dunno how good their testing is, but they were recommended on more than one vitamin review site (and from a quick scan it didn't seem like a scam, I'll keep looking into it though).

    and here's the wikipedia page on us pharmacopeia, it seems pretty legit to me I guess.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pharmacopeia
  • AwMyLoLo
    AwMyLoLo Posts: 1,571 Member
    Bump, I want to read all of this again. :flowerforyou:
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 22,170 Member
    Thank you. I appreciate that very much.
  • Daffdilly
    Daffdilly Posts: 7
    Besides iron... you might want to check your Vitamin D levels. I suffered from low energy for a number of years -- couldn't figure out the problem, and it kept getting worse. Turned out I was quite deficient in vitamin D. Didn't find out until after a bout of breast cancer. Now I take D3 supplements and am recovering nicely.

    All women should check their D regularly -- ask for it with your annual physical as part of the blood workup --- deficiency in D is one of the risk factors for breast cancer, depression, joint & bone troubles and decreased energy. I found it to be the cause of my sloggy feeling -- like all my limbs weighed a ton & it was hard just to lift a finger, let alone do much of anything. Fortunately I'm now starting to feel perkier -- enough so I can tackle losing some weight :D

    good luck !
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