[carolineintx]

I'm going to donate blood this afternoon, any advice on how to handle my diet and exercise after this? I know I will need to take it easy on the exercise, any idea when I can get back to full speed? And as for food, I'm sort of baffled on what I should eat the rest of the day and tomorrow to help my body get back on track but hopefully not hurt the weight loss process either. If it matters, sometimes they have me give whole blood and other times I've done double red donations so I am not sure what I will be giving today. Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Arian]

With blood donations, you should not lift weights for I like 24-48 hours afterwards. You will also want a sugary snack and lots of liquid to replace what you've lost through the donation. ( I usually go for an orange and a bottle of water)

[fiberlover]

Do your exercise as early in the day as you can. Your BP will be up from exercise, so the earlier you do it, the more recovered you will be for the donation. You really should not do any workouts after donating.
There should be a snack table afterwards. Don't skip this part, even if it means bringing something on your own. Drink extra water for the rest of the day.
Your weight now is too low for double red blood cell. I think the cut off is 175 - so congrats to you for that

I donate 6 times a year, it doesn't really throw anything off, even if you need to take it easy for a day or so.

[ChunkyDunker]

Honestly, I don't do anything differently myself, I always feel fine...

But I found this article online
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...32/ai_81391076


* TWO WEEKS BEFORE: Eat more iron-rich foods to boost your intake of this essential mineral, says Mars Mallari Apherisis, supervisor at the Stanford University Blood Center in Palo Alto, Calif. Women age 19 to 50 should already be getting 18 mg a day; women over 50 and men should be getting 8 mg. A cup of cooked spinach has 6 mg of iron. Also take 100 to 500 mg of vitamin C a day, which helps your body absorb the extra iron, and avoid high-fiber foods, which block iron absorption. Steer clear of foods high in saturated fat; doctors may reject fatty blood.

Nutrition Action ...
More » * FIVE DAYS BEFORE: If you are temporarily taking a synthetic blood thinner like Coumadin (warfarin), ask your doctor if you can skip it until after you've donated. (Long-term users of this type of drug can't donate blood.) Taking supplements, even vitamin E, known to thin blood, is safe.

* THE DAY BEFORE: Drink ten 8-ounce glasses of water; giving blood dehydrates you.

* DURING: To calm yourself, try this: Inhale deeply just before the needle is inserted, and exhale fully as the needle is inserted. Exhaling relaxes your muscles and makes inserting the needle easier. While your blood is being drawn, focus on the rhythm of your breathing. Exhale fully again as the needle is removed.



* IMMEDIATELY AFTER: Focus on your breathing for five minutes before you get up. For the next few hours, eat plenty of nonacidic fresh fruit (like apples or pears), which will agree with your stomach better than acidic fruit, or dried fruit (like apricots) to replace lost blood sugar.

* FOR ONE DAY AFTER: Avoid vigorous exercise.

* FOR THREE DAYS AFTER: Continue your increased iron intake and drink lots of water.

[DCchick]

all of the above posts are great advice. I'm usually fine for the rest of the day, I dont exercise though (sometimes light yoga 8-10hrs later) eat some fruit, drink lots of water.

I'm really just posting to say good for you for donating blood. I do it every 2months or so and I really believe it's the easiest and one of the best things that everyone can do to help others.

[carolineintx]

thanks for the help guys! I just got back from my donation, I had a bottle of water and an apple after the donation (regular whole blood), apparently the cutoff weight is 150 for double red donations, at least with this blood company(correct term?), but my iron wasn't quite high enough to do it this time. And hopefully I will be below the cutoff weight the next time I go! I'm going to lay off the workouts for at least a day, I worked out this morning and I'm going to shoot for Thursday for my next trip to the gym, although I may take it easy then if I'm not feeling 100%. Although I feel fine right now, maybe because I've been drinking tons of water all day in preparation!

And thanks for the kind words Dcchick, I try to donate as often as I can manage as well, I have type O blood so I figure they could really use it. Plenty of times when I donate I use it as an excuse to eat a pile of oreos and take a week or two off of exercise...this time around I'm being good and going to try to stick as close to my normal plan as I can.

[DaisyNicole]

I am jealous of all the donations!! I have been cut off from donating for one year because of my honeymoon. I went to Costa Rica and that is an "at risk" place for malaria. I cannot donate again until the end of this coming October!

At least i can donate again eventually! my husband will never be able to donate because he lived in Germany for an extended period of time (a few years) in the 80's from his father being stationed there. I guess there was something going on at that time which makes people at risk for blood which is un-donatable.

[starofsorrow]

I won't be able to donate again, due to some personal reasons. I don't mind too much, anyways...>I feel like the blood donation centers discriminate against the bisexual and gay people too much, especially men. But that's opening up a whole can of worms right there that I'd rather not, so yeah!

[RememberHowToSmile]

I try and donate 6 times a year and on those days I 1. don't exercise afterwards if you are going to do it exercise before and 2. allow myself one juice box (I try and not drink juice because I like it to much so it's a big deal) and some type of either cracker or cookie. I try and plan it as a slightly higher day calorie wise.

[angeleyezx]

I wouldnt exercise after for about 24 hrs, Id eat as you normallwould, maybe replcing some of your meat with liver for iron

[carolineintx]

Its been a week since I donated, and really I feel just fine, I stayed away from exercise for a few days and now I'm pretty much back to normal except for when I try to do my normal routine on the stair climber (which is my most challenging cardio, it kicks my butt!), I had to cut down to one of the easier programs because I would start to feel faint when I did the stuff I normally do. Ah well, still feels as challenging, I guess when my RBC's replenish I'll get the full level of oxygen i'm used to.