constantly low on energy.

R

realworksuks

2
It started around a year ago when I turned 20. Everything is seeming more of a chore. Just simple things like getting up while i'm watching tv, having to get up and go to the bathroom. I'm always very drained.

I get about 7-9 hours of sleep each night, plenty of sleep. I am currently cutting but it started before I even watched what I ate at all so it can't be that. I'd hate to blame it on getting old because I wasn't expecting to get old at my age. I started eating healthy too now. I get plenty of protein and then lots of fruits and veggies. I cut out all the processed carbs and i'm definitely eating better but i'm still drained it didn't effect it at all (eating healthy I mean). What do you think is wrong?
 
Do you have a history of depression? Or are you currently feeling helpless/worried/upset about anything or life in general?

If your mental health is OK then ask your doctor about running tests, there are plenty of things that can cause a lack of energy from low testosterone levels to an inactive Thyroid
 
I think i'm eating enough carbs, and no I am never depressed or stressed out or anything like that. I don't really have the cash to go to the doctor though. You think it could be pretty serious though huh?
 
It could be serious, but it probably isn't. As I said before, there are plenty of reasons why you might be lethargic. It's not just carbs that you need to have a balanced diet, you also need your fruit and veg, Iron, sodium, vitamins etc...

If you're sure that there couldn't be any mental issues then it's probably got something to due with the fuel your body's getting.

Do you go to work? What kind of physical activity do you get? If you don't excersize then you will feel tired
 
It could be depression or thyroid, but my guess is that it probably involves monitoring your days and then tweaking some things here and there wrt diet/nutrition/lifestyle.

I had a friend who, over time, started to feel more and more drained. She'd eat high-carb, high-glycemic foods and then she'd crash (no energy) and after she crashed, she'd get hungry and so she'd eat more of the same sort of foods. She was getting no cardio and was probably eating 3000 calories a day with only maybe 10g of protein.

She tried weird diets and none of them "worked" and then she did the more-meals-smaller-portions approach, but she didn't change what she was eating so she put more weight on and was in this constant foggy/lethargic state. By then, she felt like she'd "tried it all" and became convinced that she had an undetected or undetectable medical problem and spent a couple of years sort of standing behind that.

For her, the shift came around after she really began to understand nutrition and its effects. She eliminated (nearly) all of the bad stuff from her diet. After about 10 days or so, she felt (and sounded) better and after 2-3 weeks, she was exercising fairly regularly and had normal energy. Actually, she said that after making those shifts, she had more energy than ever before.

These problems seem vicious--the "fog" you can get yourself into by not eating well makes it hard to find the energy to be active. And the fog you can get yourself into from not being active often makes you not want to eat healthy foods. Starts and perpetuates a nasty cycle that takes a lot of energy to break, and if you're low on energy, then you're just contributing to the cycle. It's elegant when you think about it.
 
Definately go to your doctor. I have Chronic Fatigue its a real illness I had no idea existed until I got it. If you want to email me feel free but definately see your doctor. Don't worry.
 
If it was your Thyroid you would experience weight gain(extremely slowed metabolism,near 0 cold tolerance, other usual symptoms are such things as dry skin,depression and obviously fatigue.
Possibly if you are experiencing the symptoms of Hypothyroidism then you might consider supplementing with Iodine.

CFS in most cases is not CFS at all, though most doctors will just write it off as CFS and give a person a pill to down to cover the Symptoms without ever correcting true underlying problem. In this way the doctor gets paid without much work, the drug company gets another user and the patient is happy very quickly for the time being.

The most likely cause(The number one physical reason for fatigue) is a simple nutrient deficiency, such as magnesium or potassium deficiency as well as a few other minerals.
The B vitamins are also very important here.
 
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(Silent) said:
If it was your Thyroid you would experience weight gain(extremely slowed metabolism,near 0 cold tolerance, other usual symptoms are such things as dry skin,depression and obviously fatigue.
Possibly if you are experiencing the symptoms of Hypothyroidism then you might consider supplementing with Iodine.
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Hi, (Silent).

Just wanted to say that some people have low thyroid function without knowing about it. It can come on gradually and it's easy to dismiss the symptoms or attribute them to other things. Thyroid problems are often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Problems with thyroid run in my family. My brother and sister are both hypothyroid (they have low thyroid function); I have graves. The only symptom my brother had was weight gain--he went in for a routine physical and his doctor noticed the weight gain and did bloodwork to catch the thyroid problem. My sister had been gaining weight and she had low energy--she thought both symptoms were because of her diet and changes in her job that caused her to become more sedentary. She never thought of them as symptoms. Then she started to feel a pressure in her throat. It turns out that she had a suspicious nodule on her thyroid and that was affecting normal thyroid function. I know several people who had thyroid problems who, prior to the diagnosis, were symptomless or relatively symptomless (some of them had been feeling "blah" for so long that they mistook it for normalcy).
 
Wow your friend had one of the rarest forms of thyroid problems. last i heard its like a very small % of people who have a thyroid problem are able to feel their parathyroid glands.

You make a good point Zeroth!
Your family obviously has a genetic disposition to this disorder(which im sure you have noticed :p )
 
(Silent) said:
Wow your friend had one of the rarest forms of thyroid problems. last i heard its like a very small % of people who have a thyroid problem are able to feel their parathyroid glands.

You make a good point Zeroth!
Your family obviously has a genetic disposition to this disorder(which im sure you have noticed :p )
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I have noticed that family tendency! :)

I feel my thyroid nearly constantly and when I have stress, I can feel it in a much more pronounced way. I can't feel it with palpations--I mean that I can feel the pressure increase in my throat. It doesn't feel like something is stuck in there, rather, it feels like someone's pushing a finger or two up against my throat from the outside. That sensation is what sent me to the doctor initially and it's what sent my sister to her doctor too--pressure in the throat. Even though my thyroid problem is stable now, whenever I have stress, that's where I feel it and my sister is the same way. At first, I think my doctor didn't quite believe me, but over time, she started to understand that I knew when my thyroid was "up" just based on the pressure that I was feeling in my throat. I think there was only one time when my thyroid levels were up and I didn't know it first. :)
 
see thing is I take a multivitamin every day (that from A to zinc thing) and then I take a calcium/vitamin d supplement as well. On top of that I eat (what I think) is a fairly good diet. With fruits, veggies, carbs, and protein.. I haven't been doing cardio for a few weeks though except when I go to the gym on tuesdays and thursdays, other than that I just mainly sit and study.

Maybe it's because I have cut back on the cardio huh?
 
realworksuks said:
see thing is I take a multivitamin every day (that from A to zinc thing) and then I take a calcium/vitamin d supplement as well. On top of that I eat (what I think) is a fairly good diet. With fruits, veggies, carbs, and protein.. I haven't been doing cardio for a few weeks though except when I go to the gym on tuesdays and thursdays, other than that I just mainly sit and study.

Maybe it's because I have cut back on the cardio huh?
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I do not trust Centrum, any mutli that loads itself with Aspartame,dyes,Artificial Flavors AND Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil. as well as many other man made ingredients found in their multis(chew able and tab) and the fact that likely thats again nothing but synthetic crap Fake vitamins.

Even so, a smart doc will run a blood test (serum) for specific minerals and vitamins to check for possible deficiencies.

There are just so many possibility's.
 
(Silent) said:
I do not trust Centrum, any mutli that loads itself with Aspartame,dyes,Artificial Flavors AND Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil. as well as many other man made ingredients found in their multis(chew able and tab) and the fact that likely thats again nothing but synthetic crap Fake vitamins.
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Yes, why do vitamins have aspartame. :confused: Centrums have transfats? I don't understand that. Maybe they're chewable and the manufacturers are trying to mask the vitaminy taste. I'd rather have that gross taste.

(Silent), you know a lot of stuff!
 
zeroth said:
Yes, why do vitamins have aspartame. :confused: Centrums have transfats? I don't understand that. Maybe they're chewable and the manufacturers are trying to mask the vitaminy taste. I'd rather have that gross taste.

(Silent), you know a lot of stuff!
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Why do they have it? as you said to mask the bad taste i guess. I agree bad taste is much better ;)

Lol not really, i just stick to questions that have something to do with something i know:p.
 
I have zero energy when I have poor post workout nutrition. If I go one day without properly reloading my glycogen stores I'm playing catch up for days. Espcially if you're cutting, I'd say this is important.
 
realworksuks said:
see thing is I take a multivitamin every day (that from A to zinc thing) and then I take a calcium/vitamin d supplement as well.
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Make sure you take the calcium at a different time to the multivitamin as calcium depletes absorption rates of vitamins and iron
 
CCR said:
Make sure you take the calcium at a different time to the multivitamin as calcium depletes absorption rates of vitamins and iron
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hey good to know, I have been taking them at the same time.

Also thanks for the bit on post workout nutrition. I am very new to that. I know I am suppose to have some protein and some carbs after working out right? How long of a window of opportunity do I have before I should have my post workout meal?
 
realworksuks said:
Also thanks for the bit on post workout nutrition. I am very new to that. I know I am suppose to have some protein and some carbs after working out right? How long of a window of opportunity do I have before I should have my post workout meal?
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yes protein (whey is easiest and best for post workout) and one or both of dextrose/maltodextrin. Those are simple sugars and most readily absorbed. You should try to get it in asap but within an hour at the latest.
 
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