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Weakness and exhaustion


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Hello,

 

I'm on day 24 and the last three days have been awful. I feel so exhausted, my muscles are weak and it's hard to stand let alone walk or carry anything. Any suggestions. I will put further background information below.

 

Started Whole30 after 3 months of Dairy and Gluten free diet due to seasonal allergies. Was on a traditional diet (WAPF) before that. I eat a ton of meat and veg, eggs, lots of ghee and tallow in our food prep and cooking. Have potatoes and sweet potatoes at least once a day. Am nursing 1x per day for 5-10 mins. I have a physically demanding job, day home provider with 5-6 kids a day. My sleep is erratic (always has been and has not improved) which I know doesn't help. 

 

But this exhaustion and muscle weakness has me ready to throw it in, I can't take care of these kiddos when I can barely walk!

 

Thanks for the ideas!

Megan :)

 

Sunday- 3 Poached Eggs, Hollandaise Sauce, Pork Sausage (3), Nectarine and 2 pieces Jerky, Ground beef with tomato sauce and zucchini noodles, Chicken pieces with cucumber, Ribs, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and salad with mayo based dressing.

 

Monday- Ground beef and zoodle mix, Chicken pieces and peppers, Chicken and cauliflower hash with gravy and cucumbers, strawberries with coconut cream and 2 pieces jerky, Beef stew with potato, parsnips and carrots. 

 

Tuesday- 2 eggs and 2 sausage, chicken leg and pineapple, ground beef with zucchini and mushrooms, dried kiwi and pineapple with coconut cream dip, steak with mushrooms, potatoes scalloped, broccoli.

 

Every day I take my herbs (from acupuncture) 3 times a day. I drink the herbs in half cup of water and chase it with another 500ml or so water. So thats 750ml three times a day, then I drink fizzy water with lemon throughout the day, usually 1-2 glasses which are probably 750ml themselves. In my water I include Trace Mineral drops. I'm also taking Fermented Cod Liver Oil and Probiotics in capsule and in Bubbies sauerkraut. 

 

Does that help at all?

I always eat my meals sitting down and I eat till I am feeling satisfied. I eat at snack times with the kids but don't eat till I'm 'full' feeling as it's a snack. 

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Hi Peachy

 

It's difficult to offer any advice without a more detailed food log. Could you provide a few days worth of food/liquid intake to see if there are any tweaks that could be made to help you feel better? 

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I'm attempting to parse out what is Meal 1, Meal 2 and Meal 3 for you each day.  Is it 3 or 4 meals you're having? (Given you're nursing, you could certainly have 4 meals.)

 

My main question is, are you satiated between meals?  Are your meals keeping you satisfied for 4-5 hours?

Secondly, it's hard to tell portion sizes. When I see a word like "chicken pieces," that leads me to believe you might not be getting enough protein.  Are you getting in 1-2 palms of protein at every meal?  1-3 cups of veggies at each meal? (Sunday and Tuesday's meal 1 looks like it's missing veggies: don't let fruit push vegetables off your plate.)

 

The erratic sleep is likely a huge culprit here that healthy food alone may not be able to fix.  Have you explored options for improving the quality and length of your sleep?

 

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Sorry the food log was a copy of what we ate for meals for my day home. I eat until I feel full, this is the way I've always been told to eat. Till you're full or satisfied.

 

I'm eating 4 meals a day, sometimes 5 depending on how active I am with the kids. But the 'snacks' are not full meals for sure and I'd say I can go about 3 hours between meals before feeling really hungry again. 

 

A lot of our meals are mixes, meat mixed with veggies like a one pot meal because that's what the kids will eat. I put 2 lbs of meat in a meal and there's never any left, so between me and the 5-6 kiddos who are all under 4 I should be getting a lot of protein.

 

There's always Ghee added at the end of cooking, but I don't measure it. And we use mayo (with avocado oil) as a sauce along with the Whole 30 ketchup and BBQ sauce. I've never had to track portion sizes so I'm not great at it!

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

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Hey,

 

I am not sure about this, but I was also feeling really exhausted- aka it was difficult to contract my muscles. I posted something about it and the feedback I got was to stop salting my food. That REALLY helped. Make sure you are staying hydrated, too. You need to drink massive amounts of water (I didn't realize that) when you're doing a W30 so keep a water bottle nearby and track how much you're drinking. I hope that helps!!

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Hey,

 

I am not sure about this, but I was also feeling really exhausted- aka it was difficult to contract my muscles. I posted something about it and the feedback I got was to stop salting my food. That REALLY helped. Make sure you are staying hydrated, too. You need to drink massive amounts of water (I didn't realize that) when you're doing a W30 so keep a water bottle nearby and track how much you're drinking. I hope that helps!!

I'm sorry, I couldn't find your post on here where the reply was you being told to stop salting your food.  I wanted to look at it for context because for the most part that is the exact opposite advice that we would give anyone on this forum.  Once you remove processed foods from your diet you have basically removed all the sodium.  Humans need sodium and so we say that people should get friendly with their favourite salts again.

 

As I said, I couldn't see the post that this refers to so perhaps it was a very unique circumstance but for the most part we don't recommend that people eliminate salt from their diet.

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I have/had been feeling this way. I'm on day 24 and wondering "where is this Tiger's Blood?"  One day especially I was super sick and thought it might be the stomach bug. But I realized that I'm not getting the carbs I needed. I workout and teach Insanity, and I am always hungry. The day I was sick, I heated up some leftover sweet potato and felt much better. 

But I thought I ate everything in moderation before, but this has been a hard thing to see through.

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  • 6 months later...

I'm having a similar problem - muscle weakness during my workouts...actually all morning today.

I'm on day Day 10 and this started on Day 9 during my morning run.  My legs felt like they weighed 100+lbs.  Same issue this morning during bootcamp.  I just couldn't power through the usual workout.  My workouts are at 4:30 a.m. so I'm not good about a pre-workout meal and usually don't eat my breakfast until over an hour post-workout.  I will start to focus on getting something in my system pre-workout and hope that resolves the problem. 

 

I would like to know the science behind this...why am I experiencing this now at Day 9 while I didn't have this problem last week. 

 

I'm pretty confident I get enough food (protein, carbs and fat) at each meal.  Any other suggestions?

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I'm having a similar problem - muscle weakness during my workouts...actually all morning today.

I'm on day Day 10 and this started on Day 9 during my morning run.  My legs felt like they weighed 100+lbs.  Same issue this morning during bootcamp.  I just couldn't power through the usual workout.  My workouts are at 4:30 a.m. so I'm not good about a pre-workout meal and usually don't eat my breakfast until over an hour post-workout.  I will start to focus on getting something in my system pre-workout and hope that resolves the problem. 

 

I would like to know the science behind this...why am I experiencing this now at Day 9 while I didn't have this problem last week. 

 

I'm pretty confident I get enough food (protein, carbs and fat) at each meal.  Any other suggestions?

That sort of depends on what your diet was like pre-Whole30 and what you were eating in those first 9 days. If you were relying heavily on dried fruits, larabars etc, you likely delayed your fat adaptation.  Know that this "lead legs" is pretty common and should resolve itself around 2 weeks in.

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I'll keep at it.  No dried fruit or larabars at all...something is going on, but that's okay because something is supposed to happen obviously!  I'm seeing it as a good thing and will work my way through it.  I've been a recreational runner for years and am always pretty cognizant to how my diet (good or bad) affects my workouts.  Thanks!

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I'll keep at it.  No dried fruit or larabars at all...something is going on, but that's okay because something is supposed to happen obviously!  I'm seeing it as a good thing and will work my way through it.  I've been a recreational runner for years and am always pretty cognizant to how my diet (good or bad) affects my workouts.  Thanks!

OK, good to hear.  It is a common thing, lead legs.  And bodies are not all the same so your lead leg situation just happens to be showing up at this time, I think.  Give yourself a couple rest days while your body switches over.

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  • 2 years later...

I am at day 23 and have been experiencing almost the same as described above.  The tiredness/weakness happened in the first 1-2 weeks, then improved, got Tigrr blood!  The past three days I am exhausted and my legs  feel weak. I also workout at 5am and do intense cardio for 90+ minutes 6 days a week.  I have been eating a few bites of grilled chicken pre-workout. My breakfast is later, once I am at work and is a large egg muffin  with bacon, spinach and tomatoes, small piece of baked potatoe and a clementine. The one thing I have changed recently is to remove some high FODMAP foods as my stomach had been very uncomfortable all day- like "that hunger pang but I just ate and want a tums" feeling.  I also started steaming all veggies vs. eating them raw.  I eat mostly protein and veggies, some fruit, and cut way back on the nuts the past few days.  I really don't want to extend my 30 days or start over but I don't want to start the re-introduction if I am still feeling bad as I don't think it would give reliable info.  Any suggestions on the weakness/stomach upset?  I should also say I take Zantac for reflux and my reflux was under control pre-whole30. Now it seems worse.  The reduction of high FODMAPs the last 3 days has reduced the stomach pit pangs described above, but also seems to have timed exactly with the exhaustion/ weakness.   Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thx in advance!  I forgot to mention, I normally sweat a ton during my intense cardio workouts. The past 2 weeks I am not sweating even close to my normal.  I have been salting all my food  so I don't think that is why. 

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@Kristen F the first thing you should try is to add a post-wo meal/snack of some lean protein and starchy vegetable, just a few bites of each, shortly after your workout, before breakfast.

What do your meals look like? Are you having 1-2 portions of protein the length, width, and height of the palm of your hand, or if eggs are your only protein, as many whole eggs as you can hold in one hand, which is probably 3-4? Are you adding 1-2 servings of fat as outlined on the meal template, in addition to whatever oil you cook in? And then are you having a plate full of vegetables, like 2-3 cups? Have at least one fist-sized serving of starchy vegetable each day, and it is okay to have more -- an extra serving a day might help with your exhaustion right now. 

Also, be sure you're salting your food, and that you're drinking plenty of water, at least 1/2 oz per pound of body weight, so a 120-lb person needs at least 60 oz.

 

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Thank you Shannon!  I will try to bring something to eat in the car on the way to work. My egg cups have about 2 eggs in them, plus some bacon.  I generously grease the muffin pan with avocado oil and I put olive oil and salt on the potatoe.  I am pretty full after but I guess I could make myself eat a 2nd egg cup, or have a piece of lean meat.  It seems like I am eating a ton. I also have a 4th meal around 400 which might be an epic bar or can of tuna, plus a banana and maybe even more potatoe.  My lunch does have at least a palm size serving of chicken and steamed veggies on a spinach salad plus homemade dressing with apple cider vinegar and olive oil.  Feeling full and tired, but my workouts are pretty intense.  I will also try increasing the water.

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I would work on upping several things about your breakfast.  90 minutes of intense cardio nearly every day and you're eating 2 eggs for protein?  That could be catching up to you.  I'd add some additional protein, and some more veggies in there.  I prefer cooked veggies in the morning, they just sit a lot better with me and prevent afternoon energy crashes.  I keep leftover roasted asparagus and green beans for easy breakfasts.

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Thank you! Green beans will work. I can only take so much meat early!  This morning I had an egg white immediately following the workout and my normal breakfast once at work. So far I think I feel better than yesterday.  Although I am full, not used to eating so much! Thanks again!

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