Energy problems

[themoose00]

New to MMA, training, and the forums here. Looking for a little dieting/training advice from some experienced trainers/fighters. I apologize in advance for the long-winded explanation, but I feel a little pretext is in order in case any of the information is relevant to my current problem.

Until about a year and a half ago, I was a cigarette smokin, weed smokin, fast food munching, video game playing couch potato. I took some McDojo TKD classes, which gave me some basic understanding of striking, and good kicking form, but not much else. I also work a desk job as an IT admin, so my activity level was almost none.

One day, I decided enough was enough. In the last two years I've;
taken up jogging 5-6 days a week(20 months),
quit smoking cigs(18 months),
quit eating sugary/processed foods 4-5 days a week(9 months),
quit drinking caffine (3 months),
quit smokin weed (2 months),
training MMA 1-4hrs /day 5-6 days a week,
and gone from 250lbs to 195lbs and still dropping 1-2lbs a week. Probably to about 180 but i'm not really sure since i've never been down this far proportionally.

My typical diet is:
1-1.5 cups of oatmeal for breakfast with 1-2tbsp organic jam (12g sugar)
3-4 cups of various salad mix(mostly spinach) with 1-2Tbsp dressing and a couple pieces of fruit for lunch
4-6oz of chicken/salmon and 8-16oz of steamed veg and/or potatoes or rice for dinner.
Saturday/Sunday is my cheat day when I'll have crap like pizza or ice cream or whatever, but I try not to have too much.

Again, sorry for the wall of text, but I though it might be relevant. About a month ago I started experiencing large swings in energy levels, mostly on the downside. I will go for a 30min 3.5mi jog, and be practically falling asleep at my desk about an hour afterward. I'm not talking like I get a little tired and want to take a nap, i'm talkin like afraid to drive because I can't physically stay awake. I've been getting more and more dizzy during workouts as well. Feeling feint and lightheaded while working out to the point where I have to stop and take a minute or I think I might pass out. Feeling very tired and lethargic in general and can never seem to get enough energy.

I had a checkup just a few months ago, and everything turned up fine. Bloodwork, blood pressure, BPM, and blood sugar test all looked good. I should probably go see a doctor again, but I was hoping with all of the experienced trainers and fighters on this site, someone might be able to give some insight.

Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.

 

[Omegaboy13]

Definitely continue with your plan to see your doctor. He or she will definitely be able to help you more tha we can, but if I had to guess...

Stress, anxiety, and depression. It is amazing what having one of these can do to your body physiologically. When my anxiety acts up, I get symptoms similar to MS and sleepy in the same way you are explaining.

 

[1PBCE1]

As was said, see the doc.

But just a side not, doesn't look like you're eating much. I'd get very wobbly if I did cardio with just a salad inside me.

Are you eating any carbs around your training? How your sleep?

 

[themoose00]

Definitely continue with your plan to see your doctor. He or she will definitely be able to help you more tha we can, but if I had to guess...

Stress, anxiety, and depression. It is amazing what having one of these can do to your body physiologically. When my anxiety acts up, I get symptoms similar to MS and sleepy in the same way you are explaining.

That's very interesting. My doctor DID suggest that I might have some anxiety problems. I just never thought that it could affect someone in that way.

As was said, see the doc.

But just a side not, doesn't look like you're eating much. I'd get very wobbly if I did cardio with just a salad inside me.

Are you eating any carbs around your training? How your sleep?

Sleep is not great, but ok. I haven't been able to get more than 6-7 hours since I was 16. I try to stay away from carbs because i'm still trying to lose weight. I get carbs from my oatmeal in the mornings, and fruit throughout the day.

 

[Seriously-Dead]

Your body controls blood sugar levels by secreting stored glucose from your liver. In order to store glucose and release it, the liver requires energy. So the liver uses fat for this energy, because it's a stable energy source that your body always has around to use.

When you're overweight, your liver has plenty of fat to draw that energy from because one of the bodies favourite places to store fat is in the visceral area (around the liver). As you lose that weight though, the liver's most accessible energy stores get used up, and it's ability to both store and secrete glucose becomes impaired. This in turn can make a person light headed and tired throughout the day, causing peaks and crashes in energy levels. Unfortunately, this won't really show up on any blood tests unless you're hooked up to a continuous blood glucose monitor 24/7.

You've lost around 25% of your bodyweight in under a year. That's a lot of fat burning, and that's a lot of body mass to lose. I think it's time you maybe give your liver a bit of a break, and give it the energy and nutrients it needs. Being in a caloric deficit for so long often creates micronutrient deficiencies, which can impair both glucose availability and other important metabolic processes. So you really have one choice:

Give your body enough total energy (calories) to get your liver working right again. So you take a break from dieting, include a bit more fat in your diet then what's currently in there, and maybe focus on building muscle or increasing athletic capacity for a 2-3 months instead. Eat at maintenance, hit the weights, train hard, and build some muscle. Focus not on losing weight, but on increasing your training capacity. Increasing training capacity ultimately requires that you take in more energy, because increasing your capacity for more metabolic output means providing enough metabolic input. Still eat "clean" micronutrient dense foods like you are, but eat more of them, be a bit more lenient on what kind of foods you routinely eat, and maybe keep your small weekend cheats.

I can tell you, that if I were eating what you ate every day and training up to 4 hours per day, I would be in the exact same situation as well (and I'm 35lbs lighter than you). I get light headed and have energy crashes when I train lots and don't eat enough for a long time - you aren't unique in this respect in anyway.

You probably aren't sick, you're just underfed.

 

[themoose00]

Your body controls blood sugar levels by secreting stored glucose from your liver. In order to store glucose and release it, the liver requires energy. So the liver uses fat for this energy, because it's a stable energy source that your body always has around to use.

When you're overweight, your liver has plenty of fat to draw that energy from because one of the bodies favourite places to store fat is in the visceral area (around the liver). As you lose that weight though, the liver's most accessible energy stores get used up, and it's ability to both store and secrete glucose becomes impaired. This in turn can make a person light headed and tired throughout the day, causing peaks and crashes in energy levels. Unfortunately, this won't really show up on any blood tests unless you're hooked up to a continuous blood glucose monitor 24/7.

You've lost around 25% of your bodyweight in under a year. That's a lot of fat burning, and that's a lot of body mass to lose. I think it's time you maybe give your liver a bit of a break, and give it the energy and nutrients it needs. Being in a caloric deficit for so long often creates micronutrient deficiencies, which can impair both glucose availability and other important metabolic processes. So you really have one choice:

Give your body enough total energy (calories) to get your liver working right again. So you take a break from dieting, include a bit more fat in your diet then what's currently in there, and maybe focus on building muscle or increasing athletic capacity for a 2-3 months instead. Eat at maintenance, hit the weights, train hard, and build some muscle. Focus not on losing weight, but on increasing your training capacity. Increasing training capacity ultimately requires that you take in more energy, because increasing your capacity for more metabolic output means providing enough metabolic input. Still eat "clean" micronutrient dense foods like you are, but eat more of them, be a bit more lenient on what kind of foods you routinely eat, and maybe keep your small weekend cheats.

I can tell you, that if I were eating what you ate every day and training up to 4 hours per day, I would be in the exact same situation as well (and I'm 35lbs lighter than you). I get light headed and have energy crashes when I train lots and don't eat enough for a long time - you aren't unique in this respect in anyway.

You probably aren't sick, you're just underfed.

Amazing advice, thank you very much.

 

[Pope Leo VII]

uh... over training? take a break and see what happens.

why would you ever give up ganja lol

 

[freaky]

I agree with what seriously dead said.

Sleep, and diet. I don't think you're eating enough calories or proteins. You're eating like someone on a diet. You're an athlete now. You need to eat like an athlete now. Normal people need 2000 calories. You're barely eating 2k and you're burning at least 1-2k every day. You need to eat like 2.5-3k calories for your work out.

I would eat or drink something after every work out. You must be super hungry and dehydrated everyday.

Sleep more and eat more. Make sure you're not hungry but not overly full too.

Eat some lean protein and healthy fat like Fish. Lay off on the work out. Maybe every other day or 1 hour a day until you are back to normal.

Believe it or not but I would probably swap your dinner and breakfast around. Eat a big healthy breakfast and a small light dinner and sleep early. Eat some healthy snacks in between each meals. Like an apple or banana before lunch at 10 or something and something else at 3 before your dinner etc. I would also get rid of the jam and replace it with real fruits. Less sugar and more natural. Instead of having 2 cheat days, try to just eat more normal.