knottylady is getting stronger by the day

document my body's changes regularly (read all 13 entries…)
Confession, Carbs and New Nutritional Goals 8 months ago

Shhhh, confession time: I am TIRED. Actually I’ve been exhausted for a couple of weeks now. As I’m sure you can already guess, tiredness does NOT mix well when you have goals!!!

It may sound silly/ridiculous/nonsensical, but fatigue is one of a few select things about myself that I equivalate to defeat or weakness. I am proud that I finally reached a point where I can accept taking time off to injuries, although I am quick to learn from it and create a prevention plan. I can also say that I really enjoy my two complete rest days of the week; it’s a lot to me, but I love it and so does my body! My latest achievement is being able to cancel certain workouts here and there when I am fatigued, but canceling a string of workouts on my heavy load day because I’m TIRED?! This is a first, and it hurts!

I knew there was something wrong that had to be addressed while driving to the gym for my afternoon workout. There was a general, overwhelming feeling of tiredness, even though I already had an hour nap under my belt. Something felt … off… but I needed to verify it with someone who was more clearheaded than I was. Quickly, I dialed HB (I used the phone while driving-horrible, I know!), described to him what I was feeling and asked him if I really was tired or sounded like I wanted to get out of my workout. I was a bit surprised when he agreed that something was off and suggested that I go home, and so (siiiigh) here I am.

Possibilities for the fatigue:
  1. Overtraining? This was my first thought. The symptoms – fatigue, crankiness, impatience – seem to point towards overtraining, except for that these days I’m working out less and voluntarily resting a lot more than I ever have.
  2. Baby? Omigosh PLEASE no! I am not ready!
  3. Water? Good guess, but I drink a ton and do not drink any caffeinated drinks (except for green tea). If it were only this easy.
  4. Nutrition? A possible bingo!

According to the book “Vegetarian Sports Nutrition” by D. Enette Larson-Meyer, low carbohydrate intake on a particular day can result in “feeling tired, fatigued, or dead-legged… poor running, lightheadedness, or excessive moodiness during a training session.” ALL ME!

Accounting for my lean body mass and level of activity, the book recommends that my carb intake be in the ranges of 302g-358; however, silly me was still eating according to SP’s recommendation that was much, MUCH lower… Furthermore, I never adjusted my fitness goals in SP to reflect my current activity level! (oops)

In addition, I can now recall that I started feeling tired when I started tracking my food. During my SP break, I was eating whatever I wanted, including dessert almost every night. (Actually it was dessert EVERY night… But who’s counting?) Back then, I was working out even more than I do right now, yet I felt completely energized; every workout was met with renewed vigor. Unfortunately, even working out at that level couldn’t burn all that bread pudding I ate, so when I grew out of my “skinny” jeans, I came back to SP and started tracking my food. I lost weight immediately, but in the process I also cut out vital calories and carbs that I needed to get me to the gym. Doh!

SIDENOTE: I am a self-professed carboholic, so this is a mixed blessing. It’s like telling an alcoholic that he/she needs two glasses of wine a day to be healthy!

So starting tomorrow, these will be my new nutritional goals that I will work towards. Hopefully the results will be immediate! crossing fingers

  1. I am very petite, but I know I can’t live on 1200 calories a day. Maybe more like 1500 should be the bare minimum, or even 1800? I might try to increase it 100 calories at a time and see how I feel. I’m sad that it will take longer to reach my weight goal, but slow and steady wins the race, right? (Fake it til you make it, ha!)
  2. UP THE CARBS! This is a tricky process. Too much = weight gain, not enough = misery. With my current fitness load, SP recommends carb levels 197g-284g, which is lower than the book. I’ll start by including 2-3 fruits a day to boost my current levels up and go from there.
  3. EAT WHEN I’M HUNGRY! Or rather, eat snacks so that I won’t get hungry. So elementary, but I still don’t get it. Grrr.

Okay, that’s it for now on the home front. Will update on this!

Apr 14, 06:25PM PDT | 1 cheer


Comments:

satisfy.my.soul

Hey!

I was reading your post and it sounds like you were doing intuitive eating before you got back to logging on SP, and logging totally seems to work for you. But I found that when I logged I either freaked when I was low on calories or upset if I was ‘over’ and thought a lot about every little thing I ate. Maybe there could be a good balance of checking calories every once in awhile if you eat the same foods regularly and eating what/when your body tells you. :)

For awhile I was having oatmeal every morning with pb, bananas, raisins, etc. but it just didn’t stick to me and fill me up like I thought it should. Since then, I’ve mostly had green smoothies which are perfect since I get hungry as the day progresses. I oddly enough, found that I lost weight when I ate pizza, bagels, Thai food, tamales and more! But it also took a lot less of that food to satisfy me. I think when I ate super clean at times it wasn’t satisfying so I ate more in hopes of achieving that and it didn’t work for me. It really helps to check in with your hunger level and then give your body what it wants. I found that if I deny myself a food too, then it is all the more appealing. I’m probably blabbing but I do think the way you were feeling was food related and just think of ultimately, how eating the food will make you feel after. That always helps me. :)

Apr 17, 10:21PM PDT | Respond to this

redstar

You might want to have your serum ferritin levels checked to see if your stored iron level is low, especially seeing that you are a vegetarian. One can have a normal hematocrit, with normal RBC counts and iron levels and have everything seem normal, but be low in stored iron. The magic number is 30 for women, if its lower than that you may want to get on an iron supplement. This isn’t a normal test in the panel for blood work, you will have to specifically ask for it.
Good luck!

Apr 27, 09:03PM PDT | Respond to this


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