I will admit it, it is time for a change this December. This message is coming straight from my body. This past week has been utter havoc on my body. My blood sugar issues have continued to bother me horribly after my workouts. I took rest days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The first two days of those three days I felt pretty exhausted and restless. Three days of complete rest and maintenance caloric intake to try to recover. Friday, I started to feel good and refreshed and headed to the gym for a 40 min cardio workout followed by a shoulder weight routine. Minutes after my workout my blood sugar dropped and I felt exhausted, sore and tired even after I ate a good mix of proteins/carbs/and fat. What I am experiencing is reactive hypoglycemia due to over training. This is not the first time this has happened to me. My body has developed a wonderful way of telling me when I am pushing myself to far, my blood sugars get crazy and my eye begins to twitch. Why may you ask that my body goes into such a state...here are some reasons why...
1. I don't eat enough carbs to replenish my endurance activities
2. I don't eat enough calories period
3. I only take on or no rest day at all a week
Ha, at least I can admit I need a little help. I love working out, I love it so much I feel the need to want to to do it everyday (thankfully in my case I have never jumped to twice a day). At the same time, I love to eat healthy and still battle food issues with feeling guilty for eating more than 2,000 calories a day or overeating "unsafe" foods. Those two just don't mix. For someone who wants to be strong when they work out, they have to eat right and train properly. This is why I am starting to nix my cardio. For one thing, all my cardio has started to strip away my muscles and I am looking very soft...it also seems as if my body is holding on to more fat (probably in starvation mode). I am not saying that endurance activities are bad, I love them! But, for someone like me who does not know when to stop or properly fuel themselves for those types of activities...not the best choice. I need moderation.
So a new month brings about new goals for me. This will not be easy, but over time I think I can accomplish them.
1. Recover from overtraining-this means returning to the gym only three days this week after work, walking on the treadmill for minutes followed by yoga or light, very light weights. These days will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a weekend rest.
2. Once my body starts to feel more refreshed, I will take my weight lifting up a notch but I will be following a four day weight lifting plan...Jaime Eason's 12 Week Trainer
3. Allow more fat in my diet to up my cals when I start working out more again
4. Only stick to five days of working out, be consistent with taking my two days of rest
5. Last, this one will be the hardest, limit my cardio to 30 minutes a day for the month of December focusing more on intervals. I know this still seems like a lot of cardio, but I really do enjoy it and I can't completely erase it from my life.
I need to remember that when it comes to appearance the diet matters more than the gym, starving myself while killing myself at the gym just does not click.
So as for now, I am in recovery, not happy about it but I did this to myself. I have got to take it a notch down and realize that my health and happiness is much more important than hitting the gym everyday. This is all easier to write and it will be much harder to put into action. I am stubborn and I hate changing my ways, hence the reason why I get myself into this quite often. This is just God's way of saying, take care of yourself :)
I definitely definitely think you need to eat A LOT more. And complete rest. (Fat and carbs are very important).
ReplyDeleteI used to be a distance runner and was top-notch. I'm now 30 years old and after years of extreme burnout and exhaustion and up/down food swings...I'm paying the price. I just walk each day and I'm underweight.
in fact, I'm pretty lost about eating because I'm just a mess of confusion. I feel guilty for eating carbs (because I do zero cardio or weights). I feel guilty for eating to gain + eating sweets (and i mean all out near-binges) when again, I dont' exercise. I'm just overall lost. And sad.
PLEASE take care of yourself.
Hope you to feeling better. Sometimes your body just needs a break from working out. You will feel so much better once you get your diet and blood sugar under control. Good luck girl!
ReplyDeleteI hope you recover quickly! I know exactly how this feels. I am doing Jamie's program now and have just started week two. I've never felt better. My body has needed the break from the constant cardio I was doing. I am loving the weight lifting and haven't done any cardio in over a week. The full first phase is weights only!! Be careful with the recommended calories though...her site gave me a really low estimate that I'm not 100% sure about. I'm still going by how I feel and eating clean when I am hungry!
ReplyDeleteSometimes the eye twitching and stuff can be low electrolytes...so make sure you're getting enough potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Those are the big ones that I'd try to make sure I get enough of. Hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteI hope you start feeling better soon. Health first, always :)
ReplyDeleteI of course understand what you are writing here... and I appreciate you being so honest. It is quite hard to take a rest day, let alone a few (as we both know) but it is so important. Reading this is helping me to deal with the extra rest I have been needing
ReplyDeleteIf I wasn't typing this from my phone, this would probably be the longest comment ever. Your honesty is amazing. I've dealt with the set backs of over training and it can be really scary and difficult to deal with. Fueling is a whole other ball game. It's so hard to balance it all. You are such a good role model for me and others for taking it into your own hands and doing what you need to do to get to a better place. That takes courage! You're the best.
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