Just wondering if the trainers here have seen situations where somebody can get really sleepy due to diet or whatever. I can get 8.5 hours of sleep and still be ready to take a nap by 10 AM sometimes. I'll at least get sleepy by 1PM. I'm ready to go to bed by 10 PM which is crazy for me. I don't know what's going on. This has been happening for about 3 weeks.
crazy sleepy
- Thread starter corndogggy
- Start date
nicole1011
New member
Sounds like a blood sugar thing.
theleip
2
A caloric deficit over long periods of time will bring on heavy bouts of fatigue and lower energy. This is why a lot of people end up turning to theromogienic at the end of a cut, not so much for speed of fat loss, but for extra energy.
The best thing you can do is turn to your diet and try to give yourself a high energy low crash ratio while in a cut.
Making sure you are having 1 complete protein with every meal and at least 25% of your daily intake is of good fats is a start. You will stay at a more steady every level through out the day.
The best thing you can do is turn to your diet and try to give yourself a high energy low crash ratio while in a cut.
Making sure you are having 1 complete protein with every meal and at least 25% of your daily intake is of good fats is a start. You will stay at a more steady every level through out the day.
I should have specified more information I guess. I'm not really in a deficit anymore, I'm actually gaining weight. I got down to 153 then I quit dieting. I'm at about 160 right now but feel stronger and more ripped. I have plenty of energy when working out. Actually I'm stronger and faster than ever. I just feel like a truck ran over me when I wake up in the mornings and I get bogged down in the middle of the day.
My typical daily diet nowadays:
breakfast: two eggs fried in olive oil, bowl of oatmeal with walnuts, honey, and dried cranberries... sometimes grits, or Kashi with half a cup of blueberries instead
10 AM snack: 1 banana, 20 gram chocolate protein shake
12:30 lunch: small chicken breast or half a lean strip steak, various vegetables steamed or sautee'd in olive oil, usually black beans and natural picante sauce
3 pm snack: 1 apple, 20 gram chocolate protein shake
6:30 dinner: too many different things to type, but the usuals are grilled wild pacific salmon, chicken stir fry, gumbo and jambalaya with leaner meats instead of sausage, usually one fruit source, steak and potatoes/onions fried in olive oil, BBQ venison sandwiches... last night I had a strip steak, steamed zucchini/squash/carrots/mushrooms and watermelon... dinner varies alot, I like to cook.
9:30 snack: 2 spoons natural peanut butter with low sugar strawberry preserves, sometimes another whey shake if I just worked out crazy hard.
Kaika
New member
I'm not an expert but reading your diet I would think that maybe you're not getting enough grains. Maybe you should incorporate a little more whole grain breads, rice and or pasta into your lunch and dinner on a more consistiant basis and see if that helps. Also, take vitamin(s) daily, at least a multi, that helps me keep my energy up.
Last edited:
calitoker90
New member
Are you excercising more then you use to because that will make you more tired. Speaking of that I just ran a hour and I feel like 
Are you thinking I'm low on carbs or something? I eat the hell out of some complex carbs. I eat basmati rice and whole wheat pasta regularly, just not every day, I can't list everything. If I don't eat those things, I'm eating some other significant carb and fiber source. My stir fry and salmon is typically on a bed of basmati rice. My gumbo and jambalaya has long grain brown rice in it. I mix my red beans and black beans up with different rices half the time. My french dip and venison BBQ sandwiches are on whole grain hoagie rolls or bread slices. I eat this stuff all the time.
That may be a good idea in itself, but the lack of vitamin supplements shouldn't make me feel like absolute hell.
Are you excercising more then you use to because that will make you more tired. Speaking of that I just ran a hour and I feel like
Not really. A little differently but not "more". Actually probably less but with higher weight. I mountain bike 1.5-2 hours once a week. I run for 35 minutes twice a week. I now swim a few times a week but the fatigue started before I started swimming. I lift 3-4 times a week, mostly with low rep dumbbells and low rep abs exercises.
I actually feel tons better if I do work out or whatever, like on Sunday I raced my mountain bike at 9 AM and didn't get sleepy until like 3:30 PM... after I had been driving home for nearly 3 hours. Usually it happens much sooner.
Ok, this may be a coincidence, but, it may be my protein shakes. I noticed it yesterday, I ate a banana and a 20 gram shake at 10 AM. Within a few minutes I was really sleepy. I didn't consume any more of it the rest of the day and I was fine. Today I haven't touched the protein shakes at all and it hasn't happened, which is the first time in weeks. You guys ever heard of that? I'm going to try to switch over to natural un-processed protein sources during the day except for excercise sessions and see if it goes away. Now that I think about it, it's been happening approximately the same amount of time that I started with these shakes. That doesn't explain Sunday though, I didn't consume any right before the mid-afternoon sleepy spell, it was well before that.
ElenaDragon
New member
Hmm, I have been having something similar happen to me lately that I think I can blame on soy. I had some soy protein in a protein shake once and within about 20 minutes I had a migraine. Since then I have been paying more attention to when I eat soy. On more than one occasion, less than half an hour after eating something with soy in it (like a veggie burger), I have found myself geting very sleepy and sluggish all of a sudden, sometimes accompanied by a slight headache.
I have been wondering if maybe I have a soy food intolerance or slight allergy. Maybe there is something in your protein shakes affecting you?
I have been wondering if maybe I have a soy food intolerance or slight allergy. Maybe there is something in your protein shakes affecting you?
theleip
2
*if these things have been addressed already sorry I am short on time but wanted to respond.*
Here is the problem...
You are not getting enough complete food sources and to much simple sugar whey combos. This leads to really harsh drops in energy and will not sustain you well at all. Change those shakes to some who food and through in some more veggies and you should feel ten times better.
Also your breakfast could have a little better protein as well. Kashi as a protein source also is a bad idea. It isn't a bad cereal or unhealthy, but that doesn't mean it is a good protein source.
Here is the problem...
You are not getting enough complete food sources and to much simple sugar whey combos. This leads to really harsh drops in energy and will not sustain you well at all. Change those shakes to some who food and through in some more veggies and you should feel ten times better.
Also your breakfast could have a little better protein as well. Kashi as a protein source also is a bad idea. It isn't a bad cereal or unhealthy, but that doesn't mean it is a good protein source.
Makes sense, but when are you supposed to use that stuff other than maybe before and after exercising? If you consume it at other times are you always supposed to whip it up into a smoothie? I used to just have the one piece of fruit snacks at 10 and 3, I just added they whey protein to that.
Seriously, how else are you supposed to work whey protein into your diet? I have no idea. The folks at Mens Health advocate these use of shakes throughout the day during snack times but I guess that's only applicable if the "shake" is mostly other stuff with just a small amount of whey?
Is 2 eggs in addition to the cereal or oatmeal not enough? I thought I was doing pretty good in that department. I don't rely on Kashi anymore... used to, but not now, it's just something different when I get tired of eating oatmeal. I figured that at the minimum I'm getting 12 grams from eggs for breakfast plus some from milk and nuts.
nataliejo
New member
Sounds fishy .. you eat alot of fruit ...
thats alot of sugar ...a whole lotta sugar ... You might want to talk with your primary care physician about your intake of sugar ..
when you go from too much sugar ..fruits and what not ...to a low intake ... you just get dyzzy and what not ..dry mouth ..etc ... anything ..headaches ... you feel groggy ..when you come down from the sugar high ...
so you may want to try a dietician after seeing your primary care physician and check out what might be wrong with your diet ..and see if it is your sugar levels ..
best wishes to you
I am pre diabetic by the way ..and feel like crap right now ..so I can totally understand ..
best of luck
natalie jo
theleip
2
Well first off you don't need Whey, not one bit. Whole food is king never forget that. IF you are using Whey I only suggest it PWO. If you aren't in a deficit you really don't even need the simple sugar.
See Whey is a fast acting protein. You mix fast acting proteins with simple fruit sugars and you get instant up and not so fun crashes. A PWO shake should be right after, and then you have a meal to follow suit shortly before the crash.
It isn't a bad breakfast don't get me wrong, but if you are talking about sustaining energy, then that breakfast isn't optimal.
Whole Eggs-Lots of Fat/Decent Protein
Walnuts-Fat/Low protein
Fried in Olive Oil-Fat
Oatmeal-Complex Carbs
Berries-Simple Carbs
Honey-Simple carbs
Dried Fruit-Simple Carbs
=High in Sugar, Fats and low in Protein.
So do I need to be getting more like 20 grams for breakfast? I've always heard that athletes need about 0.7 grams of protein per pound in bodyweight which comes out to 112 for me. The two whey shakes just seemed like an easy way to get that much. Otherwise that's like 5 chicken breasts a day? Seems kinda hard. If I ate that much protein from meat for a snack, I couldn't stomach my lunch.
Sounds fishy .. you eat alot of fruit ...
thats alot of sugar ...a whole lotta sugar ... You might want to talk with your primary care physician about your intake of sugar ..
when you go from too much sugar ..fruits and what not ...to a low intake ... you just get dyzzy and what not ..dry mouth ..etc ... anything ..headaches ... you feel groggy ..when you come down from the sugar high ...
so you may want to try a dietician after seeing your primary care physician and check out what might be wrong with your diet ..and see if it is your sugar levels ..
best wishes to you
I am pre diabetic by the way ..and feel like crap right now ..so I can totally understand ..
best of luck
natalie jo
Well, first of all, I'm a distance athlete, so I burn alot more carbs than most people. Secondly, and your diabetic comment reminded me of this... I'm kind of hypoglycemic. If I were to exercise the way that I do without these carb/sugar sources from fruit/rice/oatmeal, my blood sugar gets crazy low. So, the types of things you're talking about really doesn't bother me, I actually feel alot worse if I do otherwise. Before I started eating alot of carbohydrates, I'd exercise then would literally have to take a 3 hour nap afterwards, I'd be dizzy, talking crazy, etc. Even at work at my cubicle, if I don't have a constant sugar source, I feel like hell, can't think right, etc. So, really, for this most part, the carbohydrate part of my diet makes me feel great, I'm faster than ever and sporting a 6-pack and can enter a 2 hour endurance race and feel awesome afterwards. But, looking back now, I started having troubles after adding whey protein. I just need to figure out how to easily get more protein, like 100+ grams a day, without having to rely on whey much, and without eating a crazy amount of saturated fat and cholesterol, as my cholesterol is already supposedly high at 202.
Last edited:
ElenaDragon
New member
I just ordered some egg white protein powder since I can't have whey. I haven't tried it yet (it's being shipped), but you could give that a try.
Well I switched over to only eating half of a half chicken breast for protein during snacks. At this point I'm not sure it's diet related, although it often happens right after I eat, but it doesn't seem to matter what or how much I eat. You know that sleepy feeling you get after you've eaten a huge lunch then try to go back to work? Multiply that by about 5, even if you've only had a small healthy snack of pretty much anything, and that's what I'm going through. Doesn't matter how much sleep I get either, I got 10 hours last night and it still happened.
A few months ago I found out that my pituitary gland doesn't work right anymore so I'm going to assume it's related to that. My doc thought I had brain cancer and stuff, had an MRI and all that jazz. These symptoms just didn't show up at the same time so I didn't think it was related. I'm going to try to get an appointment with an endocrineologist or however you spell it... the hormone doc.
A few months ago I found out that my pituitary gland doesn't work right anymore so I'm going to assume it's related to that. My doc thought I had brain cancer and stuff, had an MRI and all that jazz. These symptoms just didn't show up at the same time so I didn't think it was related. I'm going to try to get an appointment with an endocrineologist or however you spell it... the hormone doc.
Last edited:
CoachCrimson
New member
While the nutrition aspect is being covered quite well, id like to note that your "symptoms" are also indicators of overtraining. Perhaps you system has been overstressed. There are a lot of variables that contribute to overall training intensity, and while you could seemingly reduce your workload, if you are using higher weights, or longer durations, or even just weigh more now, you could still be working at high intensities. to me, even more importantly is when was your last scheduled break in activity? have you recently had any recouperative sessions with either zero or very low activity? and if you did, did you come back off them properly, or just jump back in "balls to the wall"? (as you seem to like to say, lol)
aside from training stresses, check sources of stress elsewhere in your life as well. if you have a very stressful job, or maybe if things with the wife are rocky? just examples i dont know your personal life, but watch for these things. all stresses need to be accounted for in order to maintain proper health. if not, you will dive into a rut and find a hard time climbing back out.
something i have noticed over the years: any training program that will give you great gains over the short run, will mostly likely drive you straight into the ground over the long run. ceteris parabis of course. proper rest, nutrition, and periodization can indeed prevent that.
aside from training stresses, check sources of stress elsewhere in your life as well. if you have a very stressful job, or maybe if things with the wife are rocky? just examples i dont know your personal life, but watch for these things. all stresses need to be accounted for in order to maintain proper health. if not, you will dive into a rut and find a hard time climbing back out.
something i have noticed over the years: any training program that will give you great gains over the short run, will mostly likely drive you straight into the ground over the long run. ceteris parabis of course. proper rest, nutrition, and periodization can indeed prevent that.