I am overweight- 220 pounds where I should be 130, and I am trying to lose weight, but when I workout I feel AWFUL afterwards, I feel light headed, nauseous, and depleted. Any tips on getting rid of this issue, and making it less miserable to work out?

Are you eating enough (and enough of the right food) before your workouts? I used to get like that when I wouldn't eat enough before working out (grad school, no time for dinner...bleh)

Make sure you're also drinking enough water before, during and after your workout as well!

The symptoms you describe are common when first starting out, and usually don't mean anything serious... *But*, they could be heart ailment related. Do check with your doctor, if you haven't already. It's good to get that worry off your mind so you can proceed working out in peace.

When I started working out (after checking with my doc!), it felt as you describe before I ever even broke a sweat! Here are some tips:
• Eat protein/complex carb foods an hour *prior* to working out. Eating closer to working out can cause nausea, too much earlier or not at all will get you light headed and depleted.
• Make sure you are drinking plenty of water during your work out. (I easily drink 64oz or more in only an hour of working out!) Lack of water produces those symptoms. Drinking water when you're already dehydrated causes nausea... take little sips if that happens.
• Go at your own pace; rest in between; be persistent. As you build endurance, the symptoms will subside. I still occasionally get nauseated when I've stepped up the routine!
• Learn to enjoy sweating as a sign of a successful workout!

You haven't mentioned what kind of workout you're doing, or for how long. Are you working alone, in a group, or with a personal trainer? Do you know how to adapt exercises to your levels?

I was very unsure of myself during my first attempts at working out... It felt so different and I didn't know if I was hurting myself, doing anything right or making progress. I felt extremely awkward, uncoordinated and absolutely hated breaking a sweat! And then, I couldn't do anything for the rest of the day but recover... Now, if I don't work out for a couple of days, I go buggy. It gets better, trust me!

There are a lot of reasons which were before mentioned that could cause someone to get that yuck feeling you described.

I read an article awhile back that a small glass (1/2 c ) of chocolate skim milk made with Ovaltine helps the after exercise yuck because it has about the right amounts of carb to protein. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds. Now this was a weight lifting article, but no mater the exercise the muscles are depleting the carbs and oxygen around them and micro tears to increase the muscle mass. If the muscles use up all of the resources around them then they start to build up of lactic acid which can cause your muscles to feel just limp to a painful burn depending on you resilience and how much lactic acid built up. After exercising your body is still trying to recover , how fast you recover depends on what shape your in and how hard you worked ( also if for some reason you can’t get the air supply from your lungs like you need to it can make it a lot worse… aka any cold in the lungs). By drinking the small amount of chocolate milk you give your body some of the things your body needs, yet your not in taking anything heavy where your body will be doing a lot of digestion and trying to recover from exercising at the same time. Which should shorten the recovery time and reduce muscle fatigue. I know it worked for me, but other bodies differ greatly and find what is best for your body.

Did you build up to this level of working out or did you just go hardcore from the start? I think it's important to build up to a certain level and not to push yourself too much the way we see trainers do on The Biggest Loser. On that show, they actually have medics standing by because there can be some serious consequences to pushing oneself too hard too soon. I'm all for challenging yourself, but please take your time and work your way towards fitness gradually.

I am definitely starting slow, I'm only walking. I'm okay when I do 1 mile, but when I bump it up to 2, I feel awful.

On an average day, I have a carnation instant breakfast shake with almond milk and a cup of coffee for breakfast, a salad and piece of fruit for lunch, and chicken breast with veggies for dinner. Usually if I need a snack I have something like trail mix or almonds. I tried eating some trail mix after my workout yesterday, and it helped a little, but I still felt kind of "off" for the rest of the day.

I agree with Kara, it doesn't sound like you've had enough to eat. Does your lunch salad have at least some protein?

I haven't heard of carnation instant breakfast but is it possible to have something a bit more substantial for breakfast? Say eggs (2 egg omelette with onions/green peppers/tomatoes/spinach is rarely more than 180 calories depending on the oil/butter you use, if any. Add a slice of light cheese and you won't go higher than 260 calories but you get a whopping 16-20 grams of protein.)

If I were you I'd have a small pot of plain low-fat yogurt (not the sweet kind but the salty/sour stuff used in Arabic and Greek cooking) with pieces of cucumber cut up into it post work out. 1 cup of yogurt can give you nearly 14 grams of protein at 140 calories. If you prefer it on the sweeter side then you can forgo the cucumbers and use berries instead for some added carbs. Easy to eat and pretty damn good for your digestive system!

I used to have two scrambled eggs and two slices of honey wheat toast with butter for breakfast, I might go back to that. My salad is mostly made of spinach leaves, so there's protein there. I'm running on a pretty tight budget, so I am not able to buy all of the healthy foods I'd like to (like cucumber & greek yogurt)... Also, could not eating enough keep me from losing weight?