Tired all the time

[PipPip]

I've posted on here before about my weight loss. I'm down from about 197 pounds in June to around 162 pounds today. I exercise several times a week and people say I now look great. But here's the issue, I don't feel great. I feel exhausted all the time, like I just want to go to bed, tired to my bones. I struggle through my working day with false smiles and tired eyes and force myself to exercise at the gym using a lot of will power. Its not like its a cold or temporary thing, i've felt like this for a couple of months now. Could this be linked to the weight loss?

 

[sonick]

What's your diet consist of?

 

[PipPip]

Typical day:
Breakfast: bowl of swiss muesli with skimmed milk and a multi vitamin tablet
Lunch: grilled chicken salad (favourite is a salad consisting of chicken, grated carrot, french beans, coriander, a few peanuts and a handful of noodles). Usually have a small piece of baguette on the side with it and can of diet coke
Afternoon snack: 1 banana, 1 apple
Evening: handful of almonds when I get in from work. Dinner usually something like a tin of sardines on two slides of wholemeal toast with a tomato on the side or a piece of steamed/grilled fish with mixed vegetables.
Later in the evening I eat a low fat yoghurt with porridge oats added and 2 or 3 large squares of dark chocolate with almonds.

During the day I drink 2 small coffees from a vending machine (milk but no sugar) and usually 3 or 4 vending machine cups of water.

Thats a very typical/normal days consumption.

 

[Scrumhalf]

What is your height, weight, age? What is your BMR and your TDEE? Finally, what is your daily consumption in Kcal?

 

[Septavius]

Consider getting your thyroid hormone levels checked by your doctor.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by PipPip

I've posted on here before about my weight loss. I'm down from about 197 pounds in June to around 162 pounds today. I exercise several times a week and people say I now look great. But here's the issue, I don't feel great. I feel exhausted all the time, like I just want to go to bed, tired to my bones. I struggle through my working day with false smiles and tired eyes and force myself to exercise at the gym using a lot of will power. Its not like its a cold or temporary thing, i've felt like this for a couple of months now. Could this be linked to the weight loss?

it may be nothing wrong with your diet or work out routine, but it may just be some anomaly unfortunately with you with like above mentioned hormones or something else. you know, some people smoke and get cancer, some people smoke a lifetime and never will.

i am in the same position as you. i lost weight from 198+ lbs down to about 166 lbs now and i feel great though. i am stronger and faster and more energetic than i was even last time i lost this weight (2 years ago). in 2007-2008 when i lost the weight, i weighed and looked the same, but i was also very tired, and i felt like my eating one day will go out of control.

the difference is, this time around , i just ate what i want. i ate healthy, i ate when i was hungry and i never just denied myself food (other than when i tried fasting a few times) just to lose weight. i exercised like an hour like hell though. drenched completely in sweat, 6-7 days a week.

last time 2 years ago, i did less exercise, but i nipped my eating.

i dont know if this helps any but just sharing if you can get anything out of it.

 

[PipPip]

Thanks for the replies. I'm 5 foot 8 and just turned 40. Think I'll check with the doctor just in case. I suspect it's a combination of current work stress as it's been a nightmare recently and an undercurrent of stress as my contract in Paris ends in Feb next year and we are not sure what or where next (I'm from UK). Don't think I sleep very well although a mattress and new pillow seemed to help for a while. I normally read until midnight to 1am to unwind from work, I know I wake up during the night most nights and I'm up at 6.30 every morning At the end of the day I suspect it's all down lack of sleep and to stress rather than weight loss but having never lost weight before I wondered if the body does kind of react by shutting down somewhat.

 

[Scrumhalf]

You may not be getting enough calories. Tiredness is often a side-effect of dieting too hard. You might want to calculate your intake and ensure you are not undershooting your TDEE by too much.

 

[jarude]

What's your temperature at?

 

[Harrington]

This is pretty obvious, but your diet's totally lacking in red meats and leafy greens - which to me connotes a lack of iron. Some multivitamins have sufficient iron in them, but most, frankly, don't. Try adding some iron supplements to your diet and see if that helps. That said, I agree with the suggestions to get your hormone levels checked.

 

[APK]

Originally Posted by jarude

What's your temperature at?

This right here. My energy levels and overall feeling of well being has improved a lot in the last week and I attribute it to the $2 I spent at the grocery store for a thermometer.

I was topping out in the low 96 area regardless of when I took my temperature. After a couple days of low readings, I decided to up my calories. Even though I'm still eating at a deficit considering my activity levels, the additional 400-500 calories a day has made a lot of difference.

I'm still eating at a level where I should drop fat, but now I'm doing so without compromising my metabolism or general feeling throughout the day.

 

[Eason]

Originally Posted by PipPip

Thanks for the replies. I'm 5 foot 8 and just turned 40. Think I'll check with the doctor just in case. I suspect it's a combination of current work stress as it's been a nightmare recently and an undercurrent of stress as my contract in Paris ends in Feb next year and we are not sure what or where next (I'm from UK). Don't think I sleep very well although a mattress and new pillow seemed to help for a while. I normally read until midnight to 1am to unwind from work, I know I wake up during the night most nights and I'm up at 6.30 every morning At the end of the day I suspect it's all down lack of sleep and to stress rather than weight loss but having never lost weight before I wondered if the body does kind of react by shutting down somewhat.

you said it right here. 5.1/2 hours of sleep is not enough. Of course you're run down.

 

[indesertum]

try some light therapy. it might be depression. if you feel lazy, unmotivated, and just don't want to do anything you might want to see a professional or at least do some reading online

i have the phillips golight blue or whatever it's called and it's fantastic.

 

[Reevolving]

Originally Posted by Eason

you said it right here. 5.1/2 hours of sleep is not enough. Of course you're run down.
+1 At 40, you can't get by on 6 hours of sleep. Go to bed at 10pm for an entire week, and report back. Change nothing else. Surprised no one asked yet, but how many days a week are you working out? And the duration of a typical workout?

 

[scientific]

yep it's definitely the 5.5 hrs of sleep. i do the same and it's not good