What's going on?
 

So I am not sure what is going on with me. Over the past 3 weeks I have basically been working out between 1-2 hours each day with one rest day and have been sore nonstop since I started. I have been so tired lately and I hardly have any energy during the day until I get to the gym, but I usually have to drink a redline a couple times a week to have enough energy to even go. I take a multi-vitiman every day and eat between 1300-1400 calories so I am pretty sure I am ok in that area. In the past 3 weeks I have lost about 7 pounds and I should feel good about that but yesterday I was in a class at the gym and I was watching myself in the mirror and I looked huge and had like a weird flashback to when I was bigger and I literally almost cried during the class and couldn’t even look in the mirror anymore. I kind of just feel like I am never going to be happy with my body even when I am at goal I will still feel huge because I still feel way bigger than everyone else now and I am pretty close to my goal weight. Maybe its stress? I don’t really know what’s going on…Anyone have any ideas or advice?

I don't think you are eating enough. If I do intense cardio - I estimate I burn about 600 calories an hour. Even if you only burn 400 in an hour and you do two hours (that is 800 cals. burned) and eat 1400 calories... that means 600 net calories.

I notice if I eat whatever the heck I want, I really don't get sore muscles from working out (within reason). But when I really focus and really cut back, that is when I really start to notice a lot of soreness.

And make sure you are getting enough protein! You should try to eat a little protein w/in 30 mins of exercising. That will help with the sore muscles, too.

No, it doesn't mean 600 net calories. Net calories? It doesn't work that way. That is an incorrect term.

Once you've eaten 1400 calories, all the exercise in the world can't negate the nutrition and energy that you've received from those calories. In other words, if you've eaten 1400 cals worth and burned off 800, it doesn't mean that in actuality you've only eaten 600, or net calories as you called it. You've still consumed 1400 calories. One has nothing to do with the other.

Anyway, to the OP, is this your normal routine and have you been doing it for a while and now all of a sudden you're seeing a large drop in weight, are sore and lacking energy and not feeling well? If so, you may want to go see a doctor.

I usually have a protein bar or half of one every day after I work out.

It used to be my normal routine I was at the gym every day more than I am now but over the summer I took about 2 months off from working out and just started it up again 3 weeks ago. But even when I first started working out at the beginning of losing weight I was sore for a couple days but it didn’t continue on for weeks and not ever go away and I was never this tired. I might try and see a doctor.

Try adding a calcium plus vitamin D supplement also- I read somewhere that when you lose a lot of weight you can also lose a lot of vitamin D and calcium in your stores (vitamin D gets stored in your fat if I remember correctly) and it can cause fatigue. That happened to me- my vitamin D was very low (21 ng/ml when it should be more like 50ng/ml).

You can ask your doctor to check your vitamin D to double check (ask to see the number, anything below 50 is low, my test result was labeled "normal" even though it wasn't really normal)- my doctor told me most vitamins only have 400IU of D and even though it says 100% a person should take more like 800-1000IU a day.

Nutrients, fiber, protein, etc. I agree. However, I do not agree that the energy isn't used up. IF that were the case, then what would be the effect of having a "slower" or "faster" metabolism? Nothing. It just doesn't make sense that the energy isn't being used when one exercises. Have you heard of exercise bulimia? I'm in no way saying the OP has this, just making the point that the energy you gain from eating IS being used when you exercise and it can be harmful to have a "net" calorie amount that's too low. Of course one of the reasons we exercise is to increase our deficit, however, there is a point when it is too much. To me it sounds like you've reached your "too much" point, OP. Your body is telling you that it either needs more rest or more energy.

I meant the word energy as a synonym for calorie, which it is often used as. I could see though how my explanation was confusing.

Energy is most definitely being used when we exercise and breathe and sit and snore, etc... If we don't have enough of it coming in, that is when our bodies are forced to go to our STORED energy, the excess fat we are carrying around, and use IT to get us through the day, thus losing the fat and excess pounds. We've created a calorie deficit. Our objective.

I'm not certain of this, and I think a medical check up is in order. That is of course just my opinion.

Sorry - I didn't word that very well. I think the way FreeSpirit put it is more like what I was trying to say. I was concerned the OP wasn't eating enough to fuel all the exercise she was doing. Or maybe not eating the RIGHT things?

do you track your TOM carefully? you might see a hormonal/energy level correlation there. another easy check on nutrition is to plug your food into fit day and look at the daily vitamin requirement breakdowns.

has your routine outside of exercise increased? do you have more stress in your life? how are your sleep patterns?

sometimes all those things can accumulate: stress, body change, TOM/hormone levels, just overdoing it physically and mentally.

I've read lots of posts at 3FC written by women who've lost large amounts of weight and are at or approaching goal, and they have mentioned the mental adjustment aspect -- the brain has to catch up with the changes in the body.

I would say if your body is telling you it's tired, give it rest. that may be exactly what a doctor would tell you. Six days a week exercising 2 hours a day is rigorous; I don't know what the rest of your day is like schedule wise (job, school, kids, etc.).

I think the rest is a better suggestion than adding in more calories. For no other reason except that adding in extra calories is *most likely* not going to be any help. 1400 high quality calories is more that enough for most to run on, especially given that she has run sufficiently on that amount in the past. But of course, things do indeed change.

Of course only the OP can know for sure through trial and error. Not to sound like a broken record - see a doc.

I think since you took time off, that you need to have eased back into your old routine instead of just going back like you've never left. You are basically starting from scratch. Give yourself more recovery time to allow cells to replenish themselves.

I just got through reading a chapter about this (I'm studying to become a certified personal trainer lol).

Thanks so much for the advice everyone :hug:

I took yesterday and today off from working out and I feel a little better and am not as sore or as tired as before. I haven’t really been sleeping well lately ive been up on and off throughout the night which might be a cause of stress. I am going to go back to workout tomorrow and see how that goes for the next couple of days. If it doesn’t change I definitely think a doc appt is in order. I don’t think my brain has caught up with my body either which is probably a big problem too so I guess I will have to wait it out until it does, if it ever does…

It slowly catches up...some days I still see myself in the mirror at my starting weight. It was really rough right before & right after I made my goal

*hugs*