Low energy all day especially after eating?

[ingodstime]

Hey y’all !

I’ve been going to the gym consistently since the beginning of the year. I got myself on a really nice sleep schedule and started perfecting my nutrition. At the beginning of April I decided to do a 30 day challenge of going to the gym everyday. It’s honestly gone really well, it’s a great way to start my day and I’m seeing a lot of new muscle growth!

My only problem is after getting home from the gym I have just enough endorphins to get me through making breakfast and then I’m absolutely exhausted. Usually I gain some energy back in mid to late afternoon but there’s a huge chunk of time lost having absolutely zero energy. I own a sewing business and it’s been really affecting my productivity with it.

I’m thinking it’s either my body letting me know that exercising everyday is too much to handle or that my nutrition isn’t as good as I thought it was. I usually make a high protein meal that’s not too heavy. Some eggs, chicken sausage and fruit. Or a smoothie bowl with some pb. I’m just stumped as to where my energy goes. My sleep is fine. Bed by 8:30p awake by 4:30a. Gym 7:30/8a depending on the day. I’m curious what your thoughts are?

 

[rodneys]

@ingodstime Are you doing strength training at the gym every day? That is not good for you at all! It’s OK to do some kind of exercise every day, but you have to have active recovery days which means you should be doing at most easy walking and light yoga

In addition to that, if you did not increase your calorie intake to support doing more exercise, that would explain why you’re so exhausted. You cannot maintain a lot of exercise on a low calorie intake.

 

[ingodstime]

@rodneys I can totally see this being the case. I am doing strength training everyday but I tried to break it up and do an alternating leg day/arm day routine so my lower body had time to rest and vice versa. I do think I need to supplement some real rest days in there.

My calories were definitely adjusted higher for this venture! So I’m good there. But I do think I need more carbs lol. I’ve been craving pizza for a week

 

[rodneys]

@ingodstime Rest days are absolutely not optional. They are 100% essential and not taking at least one a week is extraordinarily detrimental to your training and your health. Alternating upper body and lower body is absolutely not a replacement for a rest day. Rest days are extremely important in allowing your body to build muscle, so working out every single day is actually counterintuitive to any goal that involves gaining strength. What you’re doing right now is setting you on a path to pretty serious injury. If you would like to get some kind of exercise in every day, take two of those strength training days and replace them with just yoga and/or walking. I would also recommend staying away from whatever source recommended doing 30 straight days of strength training as that has no health benefits,

 

[ingodstime]

@rodneys Honestly just my own idea to do it. Consistency is something I wanted to get ingrained in my behavior this year and I thought going to the gym everyday would be a good goal. But I hear yah and I’m taking today to sew and will do some light yoga later in the day. No gym )

 

[dreynar]

@rodneys I second this, rest day are important not only for your body (that's when your muscles actually grow), but for your mind also. Either increase your calories (at least for a bit), or give yourself more rest days.

In my experience this "gym euphoria" always had a downside which feels a bit like going from manic to depressive stages of bipolar disorder (if you'll alow me such a comparison), so be careful and listen to your body, OP.

 

[junejer]

@ingodstime It sounds to me like you need to increase your carbs (complex aka not fruit), especially for breakfast. As long as you pair it with a protein, and watch your overall calories still, it shouldn't cause undue gain.

 

[ingodstime]

@junejer Honestly been living off hashbrowns and baked baby potatoes for the last few weeks but yes! Carbs are a big one for me and something that I’ve been playing around with a lot this month.

 

[savedsinner777]

@ingodstime Are you tracking your calories? If so, how did you calculate your maintenance calories and what percentage of them are you eating?

 

[ingodstime]

@savedsinner777 Yes, according to my TDEE I need 2,222 calories a day (angel numbers ) and 167g of protein a day. Which has been a struggle but I’m gulping down protein smoothies and eating cans of tuna to get it in. My maintenance is 1,784 so I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of those two numbers. Some days I eat a ton of food and the next day I eat a moderate amount as my body isn’t as hungry for fuel. But usually I hit about 1,900-2,220.

 

[savedsinner777]

@ingodstime Solid base. I agree with other posters that said to up your carbs as well as decrease your strength training days. If that doesn't work in about four weeks or so, increase your calories to 2,400 and see how you feel (you can keep protein the same).