Hello My People,
     I'm hoping one of you can give me a suggestion since my body is having some trouble. I'm finding that I'm super fatigued after going to the gym and I literally have to take a nap to make it through the day. I'm not sure if this is a training issue (since I'm working harder than I have in 20 years) or a diet issue. I would love some help.
     I'm making changes to my diet like making sure I'm always at 1000 net cals for the day. I have tried eating carbs before the gym and it seems to help with my fatigue during my workout but not after.         
     I don't typically eat before a workout simply because I usually go to the gym first thing in the morning but I do always bring a 300 cal protein drink with me and chug it on the treadmill. I do about an hour of cardio 4-5 days/week and lift 2 days for an additional hour.
    Here are my food stats from yesterday which are pretty typical: 1700 cals, 104 g of carbs, 68 g of fat, and 155 of protein. I even upped the cals to see if that helped (well, of course I did- great excuse to eat more! lol) but that didn't seem to help me either. I just had my follow-up and all my labs are spot on. I'm at 75% of my excess weight lost and I feel good except for this. I'm losing slowly but surely and all the exercise has helped me drop inches more quickly than pounds.
    Any advice/thoughts? Feel free to share your ideas. (I'm going to post this in the RNY forum also to see if I get any advice there, too.)

Thanks,
Kim

    
    

Add a small amount of potassium rich foods to your diet; spinach, bananas, broccoli, kidney beans (Wendy's Chili), oranges.  Also add some salt to your diet.  Watch for dehydration too.  Brian

I am preparing for a body buidling competition in 8 weeks.  I am lifting heavy and hard 5 days a week and cardio 5 days a week.  I eat a small amount of sweet potatos for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it really helps me.  A post recovery is suggested.  Try Coconu****er or some sweet potatos. 

Patti,
I was thinking about the coconu****er & now I have the sweet potatoes on my list, too. I'm so impressed that you're a post weight loss surgery body builder! Really IMPRESSED. When I signed up at the gym I told the trainer that I wanted to gain muscle and get control over my body. He said we would "tone." I corrected him and said, "No, I want to build muscle, as much as I can." He said I was the first woman who had ever asked for that. lol. I'm really weak, to be honest, and not even close to where I was in my 20's just in natural muscle but with time I hope I will gain more muscle, more strength. It just makes me feel so good! Even when I'm doing 15 lb overhead presses when all the rest of the women are doing more...I feel like I'm getting strong and it's so motivating, exciting, and makes we want to do even more! I would love to hear more about your history with surgery, weight loss, and bodybuilding. Even if you have suggestions to train? I don't think I'll ever be where you are (especially with all my stretch marks and loose skin) but I want to try- even if the only competition I ever enter is just with myself. Feel free to private message me or better yet, email me at verykim@gmail.com or facebook me at the same name with a message so I know it's you. Hope I'm not being too forward. I'm just so excited to hear about your bodybuilding...I'm literally on the edge of my seat writing this! I haven't really had anyone to talk to about this so you're getting the full force of my pent up excitement. Anyway, like I said, I'm so impressed...and I just want to thank you for commenting...and thank you also for reminding me that the only thing holding me back is my old habit of low expectations. I'm going to raise the bar now. If you can do it, why can't I? Again...thank you.

I drafted a letter and lost it.  :( .  Of course you can do it!!!  You can do anything you set your mind too.  I have lost 126 lbs, ran a 1/2 marathon, got on stage in a two piece and flexed my muscle in front of strangers.  (mind blowing).  Just remember more muscle = less fat!  Please feel free to add me to your facebook.  plgondeck@yahoo.com.  I am getting ready to head out but I will email you more later....Keep body building!!!

When is the last time you had bloodwork done? How are your labs? 

B12 & Iron deficiencies can lead to fatigue even  with good nutrition.

I literally just had them done within the past few weeks & everything was perfect. I was having the same issue then and my doctor had me up my calories so now I make sure I have a net of 1000/day. I'm feeling better since doing that but still feel the fatigue, but not daily. Like yesterday, I didn't need a nap and made it through the entire day. I'm going in to get my thyroid checked again just to make sure that is still ok even though it was fine a couple of months ago. Also, I'm going to shift some more of my calories to carbs and see if that helps. Thanks for your thoughts.