No energy

[postiegirl]

Hi,
Just wondering if someone can give me some advice.
I work as a postwoman, so walk about 10 miles a day. My polar heart reate montitor tells me I burn on average 1,000 cals a day.
My RMR is about 1,500. I'm 5 ft 7 and weigh 12 stone 7. I'm 41 years old.
I cannot lose any weight. It's just not happening. What is happening is I come home absolutley knackered and starving, especially craving sweet food and I stuff my face.
I get about 7 hours sleep a night, but I'm too knackered to do anything for the rest of the day.
I don't know how to change this. My energy levels are so low after work.
I have weetabix and a banana for breakfast, sometimes eggs or toast or porridge.
I have a snack of fruit around mid-day and I drink about a litre of water in the 4 to 4.5 hours I am delivering mail.
Once I am home, I eat soup or an egg or chicken sandwich, and sweet things. For example, I might have a caramel wafer or two or some rich tea biscuits, jammie dodgers, that kind of thing. I drink about 4 or 5 cups of tea a day. I probably eat about 2000 to 2500 cals per day so I am maintaining my weight. If I try to cut calories, I get far too HUNGRY!
What am I doing wrong? I've got no energy to go swimming or do any other type of exercise. When I come home I'm STARVING!
I've had a full blood count and I'm healthy.
Is it just my age and the fact I walk around 10 miles a day 5 days a week.
I want to lose weight (at least 2 stone) and have more energy.

Does anyone have any advice?

 

[tryptofan]

Your low energy level may be caused by walking 10 miles a day for sure. What kind of tea do you drink? You could try green tea to increase your energy level. Check out Yerba Mate which is a great energy booster.

 

[randyT]

postiegirl,

I can offer some advice but first read my post just above yours
"Information about weight control that no one seems to know"
Now that you can understand whether your body is storing fat or burning fat and why, consider this. After you eat a meal you will not get any weight loss benefit from exercise for two hours. After that you should start to burn body fat for energy. Make that period last longer if you want to lose weight. At three meals a day and with no carb intake in between meals you should be maintaining your weight but depending on your system it may be necessary to go longer between meals to lose weight. eating less carbs at meal time will help to reduce the time the insulin spike last after eating. Eating two meals a day instead of three may be necessary also to lengthen your burn time. I do that often myself. Eating two hours before you start exercising will help insure you are actually burning fat when you exercise. Make absolutely sure you are not eating or drinking any carbs between meals because if you do all the exercise you are doing will not help. When you do eat try eating larger low carb meals to help you avoid getting hungry again so soon. Unfortunately there is not easy way to lose weight. But exercise does help you expel stomach gas which makes it easier to go longer between meals. When I lost 30 pounds at age 40 I used a strict low carb diet but I never worried about how much I ate or how many calories. Calorie counting is very misleading because it matters whether the calories come from carbs or fat. Fat is ok for weight loss but carbs are not. Fat does not cause insulin spikes and carbs do. You should have plenty of body fat to burn to get the energy you need. But given the large amount of walking you are doing you may never feel like it is enough.

I hope this helps
randyT

 

[Rubydbz]

It sounds like you've lost all motivation because you are so tired all the time. Yes walking 10 miles a day is good excersise but sometimes your body can get use to it. Maybe try some low impact excersise like yoga, Pilates or Tia chi, even mediation can help you feel rested. You do enough cardio with your job so I wouldn't worry about doing high impact excersise like aerobics etc. I'm guessing with your job it involves early mornings, this could be why you feel tired all the time.