[SOON2BE154]

Originally Posted by Rakkoon

For the past 2 weeks I have been very fatigued all day, I will take a nap and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I find that I am very moody also.

Now this irritates me b/c everyone I have taked to, talks about how much energy they have since they started exercising. Or even that exercising reduces stress. Even on the news yesturday they were talking about the benifits of exercising and how it gives you energy.

I go to bed at 9:30pm and get up at 6:00am to workout. I don't have any muscle aches or pain, I'm just very tired almost drained.

The following method, Profile of Mood States, is something I use on a daily basis to ascertain my fitness recovery from what I did the previous day. I also use this for my nutrition program to determine if it needs to be altered.

Although basically used by athletes for sports competition, it can be used by anyone.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0685.htm

"Rest And Recovery: How do you know when you're at risk of overtraining? It's a simple matter of how well you feel, sleep and eat. ...

"The Profile of Mood States was developed in 1971 for people undergoing counselling or psychotheraphy, but it quickly gained popularity with sportsmen and women. In fact, since the Profile was introduced into the sports world in 1975, a total of 194 POMS articles dealing with 32 different sports have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and many studies have indicated that the POMS can be used quite successfully to assess performance status in athletes.

"One problem, though, is that the full-fledged POMS has 65 different questions, perhaps a few too many for the busy athlete. There is an abbreviated version, but even this includes 30 questions. Athletes are more likely to use a much snappier wellbeing checklist - one that takes up just a minute or two each day.

"There are many different ways to assess wellbeing, but I have found the following 'quiz' an extremely useful way to monitor training load and recovery in the athletes I coach. There are only six points, and the whole test takes less than one minute to complete. Simply rate each statement on a 1-5 scale as follows: 1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = neutral; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree.

(1) I slept really well last night.

(2) I am looking forward to today's workout.

(3) I am optimistic about my future performance(s).

(4) I feel vigorous and energetic.

(5) My appetite is great.

(6) I have very little muscle soreness.


"Evaluate yourself in this way each morning when you are ready to start your day. If your total score is 20 or above, your overall state of recovery is pretty good and you have probably recovered enough to carry out a high-quality workout on that day. If your total score is below 20, it is probably a good idea to rest or work easily until your score rises again.

This checklist can also be used during tapering periods to determine how well your recovery is going. If you have been training close to the borderline of overtraining before tapering, you might start the tapering period with a score of 15-18 (a lower score may indicate that you are already stale or overtrained). As the tapering period progresses, your score should rise steadily. In fact, the optimal situation would be for your ratings to reach 'flood stage' of 27-30 just before your major competition."

______________

This list is helpful for me to determine if I'm overtraining.

Common Symptoms of Overtraining
WORKOUT SYMPTOMS
Usual workouts feel more difficult
Early fatigue during workouts
Faster heart rate with less effort
Decreased strength
Decreased coordination
Physical challenges seem too hard
Decreased performance on strength,
* speed, or endurance testing

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
Persistent fatigue
Ongoing muscle soreness
Loss of appetite
Increased aches and pains
Increase in overuse injuries
Frequent colds or infections
Decreased sex drive

NONPHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
Difficulty sleeping
Feelings of irritation or anger
Feelings of depression
Lack of motivation
Fear of competition
Difficulty concentrating
Increased sensitivity to
* emotional stress

[Rakkoon]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will try to cut back my exercising to 5 days. Its just hard b/c I know the way I am, if I cut back to 5 days I will probably get lazy and not want to start back up but I will try to do it though. I'm thinking my propblem might be that I'm not getting enough sleep. My husband have the habit of staying up till 11:00am to do stuff we don't get to do when the kids are up. Like cleaning or reading. I'm trying to go to bed early to see if it changes anything.
Thanks again for all the help.

[ROFL]

yes try to go to bed early

try to eat more -1600 calories or maybe even more, eat eggs, chicken, peanut butter (protein foods)

also i dont understand why some people want to exercise every day, i mean yes you are motivated and all, but you will burn yourself out, take it slower and you will get there for sure, if not you may well get to tired and stop completely

also cut back on walking or tae bo, incorporate weight lifting, i suggest starting with low weights and work up to heavier weights (eat protein i cant stress this enough). and no you will not get big like Arnold, just toned and better metabolism and strength (many women say this as an excuse not to lift)

i suggest a week like this

monday-walking
tue-tae bo
wed-weights (upper body)
thurs-walking
fri-weights again (lower body) and a 5-10 min warmup on a stationary bike (if u have one)

sat-off
sun-off

you can change this anyway you want, however that is plenty of exercise, i seriously doubt u need more

good luck

[Laila_girl22]

Was it a family Dr. that you tried to make an appointment with? Most places will make sure to get you in sooner if it fatigue. There are so many things that can be related to fatigue.

I was going through something similar. I walk 3 miles a day also and WAS feeling great for a while, then I started to feel tired, lazy, no drive..... I didn't want to do anything. I am feeling better again and walking again (had a couple weeks off). I had an appointment set up to talk to my Dr. but I canceled on account of feeling better.

I think that you should call again, or go to an urgent care or ER if you're concerned enough about it.

Sara G.

[gray eyed girl]

My guess is that you're not eating enough for the amount of exercise you're doing AND breastfeeding. It takes about 500 calories a day to make breastmilk, so your body only has 1000 calories to work with for YOU anyway. When you take away what you're burning off with getting at least an hour of exercise every day, well, no wonder you're exhausted. I'd increase the calories a couple hundred a day and give yourself a couple of days off from exercise every week, too. If you stayed at around 1600-1700 calories a day, eating healthy foods, and kept up your exercise 4-5 days a week, you'll still lose, I'm sure and have a lot more energy. And when your baby is weaned, you can cut your calories a little and add in more exercise hopefully without making yourself so tired.

[Rakkoon]

ROFL- I will take your advice about the exercise routine. I was thinking about doing that. And taking 2 days off in the week to rest.
My husband just got his new insurance recently so we need to re-establish with new doctors again. They did ask if I wanted to go to urgent care. I told them I would wait till Monday to see if anything changed.
Gray- I did try today to eat alittle more but I just felt like I was eating too much. I just got used to eating the way I was doing for a while. So far I felt better today.
Quick question, I normally drank coffee in the morning then ever since I started walking I have put off drinking it till later on in the day. Could this be giving me this "fatigued" effect? I just started wondering this today. I was telling my husband since I had been putting it off so late, I might as well cut it out completely I don't really need coffee, I have just always liked the taste. Just a thought.

[paperclippy]

Originally Posted by Rakkoon

Quick question, I normally drank coffee in the morning then ever since I started walking I have put off drinking it till later on in the day. Could this be giving me this "fatigued" effect?

If you are a regular coffee drinker, this could totally be the cause. Caffiene withdrawal's most common symptoms are fatigue and headaches. If that's the case, do you feel less fatigued after you drink your coffee later in the day? Because it will probably take a few weeks for your body to adjust to the new caffiene routine.

[aphil]

Okay...I have breastfed two children, can I chime in here?

As far as the calories that it takes to make breastmilk, it varies on how much your child is consuming. For instance, for babies that are bottle fed-a newborn may only take 2 oz. at a time, while a 6 month old can take 6-8oz per feeding.
How many calories a day depends on how much milk that your baby is actually taking from you each day. Breastfeeding is total "supply and demand" so a woman producing 24 oz of milk a day (feeding a newborn 2 oz every 2 hours) is going to be using less calories doing it than a woman who is nursing a 6 month old who is still primarily nursing (the baby not taking much solid food yet) and producing double the milk per day (feeding a 6 month old about 8 oz 6 times per day.
If you are not yet getting your period, than you are still nursing quite a bit, as most women start getting their periods back when the baby is relying more and more on solid food, and the nursing becomes the supplemental nutrition, rather than the main nutrition.
For those of you who have not had any children or breastfed-the system is nature's way of assuring that you do not get pregnant again while you still have an infant totally relying on you for food. Once the infant is able to eat solid foods and could "get by" without you (nursing amount decreases) then your periods return. In this day and age it happens much quicker, than say 100 years ago, or in third world countries where baby food is not readily available. (where babies often do not start on solid foods until they have enough teeth to do so )

My recommendation is two things:

~up your caloric intake to 1800 per day, and be sure that you are eating as healthful as possible. Do this for a couple of weeks, and start to see how you feel.
~Take your exercise from 7 days a week down to 5 or 6. Allow yourself at least one day off from the exercise. If you feel that you must do "something" than take a stroll around the block with the baby in a stroller, or something like that on your "off" days.

[Mel]

I've also nursed two children and dieted and exercised through the process. I really agree with Aphil's recommendations. In addition, take a look at where your calories are coming from. Are you getting an adequately balanced diet? If you are relying on a lot of chicken, turkey and fish, even though you aren't yet menstruating, you may need more iron. I was anemic when I was nursing and felt exhausted.

Nursing may be nature's way of ensuring that you don't have to deal with more than one infant at a time, but nature isn't fool-proof Don't rely on not yet having had your period if you don't want another quite yet!

Mel

[Rakkoon]

Well, I have never been happy to say this but. I GOT MY PERIOD, YEAHY!!! We have not been using birth control at all. With the hopes that I could get pregnant, now that its here, its very possible I can get pregnant soon. I couldn't understand why I was so tired but I guess now we know why. With the combination of not drinking my coffee (As Paperclippy said ) and also my period coming back, now it makes sence.
My son has been Breastfeeding alittle less lately. I guess he finally realized he needed more then just breastmilk. He will be 1 /yo this Saturday
Now I will try not to over do it on the exercising for a week or so. I really want to lose some more weight before I get pregnant again. The less I have to deal with the better.