[quote]Nate Dogg wrote:
It’s amazing how life’s stresses build up quickly and without you really noticing how it affects you until it’s too late.
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I totally agree! I won’t even know I’m stressed until one day I’ll just start crying for no reason!
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I’m doing MUCH better this week. I’m not exhausted to the point that I was before. I was getting 8-12 hours of sleep and still felt tired and could barely get up for work in the morning or have energy to do anything even when I slept in until noon on the weekends. Now, I’m actually sleeping well and waking up just before my alarm goes off, and I’m not dragging with everything else going on.
I’m also eating cleaner and I switched up my workouts to give my adrenals a break! And I’ve taken steps to help alleviate the stress in other areas of my life so I don’t experience this again any time too soon. [/quote]
I’m glad you’re feeling better - how have you switched up your workouts? I’m thinking of going a different route for a bit - fast paced workouts maybe instead of the strength based routines I’ve been doing? Maybe I can burn off some of the fat I gained!! What do you think?
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
depending on where you are circadian rhythms also get thrown off by less sunlight. You’ll find alot more depressed people in northern areas of the country in fall then summer.
I dont know you but if your not a figure competitor you sound a little obsessive. That will definitely cause all of the things you talked about. Just because you stop working out doesn’t mean you should throw in extra junk,carbs or protein. You can relax and eat but dont’ just go throwing one thing in then the next. soaking up carbs today is not going to have a huge positive effect on your bodies strength and energy tomorrow.
Also introducing or removing thermogenics will throw your body systems off for a few days maybe even a weeks. Have to plan around stuff.
All in all I think some of the quick fixes have thrown you off worse than it should. Remember your body is a system that looks for homeostasis in every aspect. Mentally, physically, hormonally you have to push the boundaries of the cycle to accomplish what you want. [/quote]
Well, I’m not a competitor, but I want to look like one. I’m really shocked at the difference just one week made. It’s rather depressing. I mean, MONTHS of being so so so careful with my diet, and in one week having just a handful of small treats (seriously - I didn’t have any huge meals, just each day I allowed myself to have a protein bar or some sugar free candies, and once some veggie chips) and my BF visibly skyrockets. I actually have an entire fold on my stomach that was not there last week. It’s very confusing. I didn’t think your body could put on fat so quickly, especially when my scale weight didn’t really move…
However, you seem to obsess over your skinfold measurements, which just causes more stress and likely leads you to behave in a counterproductive manner.
Why don’t you give yourself a break and stop measuring weight and body comp for a while and just focus on eating health while taking a break from the gym? You might find that you end up leaner and stronger.
I concur with the advice to take a week off. You should, however, continue light activity for active restoration.
Be careful with your diet, however. I assume that you’ve stripped off fat, correct? When this happens, your body WILL take note and increase your appetite above normal such that you eat more than you normally would. Further, all the hormones are aligned for fat regain.
That being said, you should increase the calories to a reasonable level. Slightly above maintenance should be fine. Don’t just keep eating to satisfy you appetite, because that is a poor guide at this point.
Furthermore, allow your rest week to be free from stressing out over not training. It will do you good to rest. You will supercompensate, come back stronger than before, and return to training with renewed vigor.
J E S U S that is a low body fat in your pics, sarah. You use thermogenics - I question if that is really necessary. Do you keep a food log and count your calories carefully? If so I’m curious to see how you’re doing in that respect, are you even at maintenance?
I just recently went through the same thing you are feeling also. Been lifting for 7 years or so and about 2 months ago just flat did not want to go to the gym at all.
The 2 things I changed which totally turned things around for me, 1. I started using ZMA at night to sleep and 2. I started on the Anabolic Diet. It has done absolute wonders for me…carbs are the enemy, most of the time…they are important at the right times. Look into it…read the dr.'s book.
[quote]cormac wrote:
J E S U S that is a low body fat in your pics, sarah. You use thermogenics - I question if that is really necessary. Do you keep a food log and count your calories carefully? If so I’m curious to see how you’re doing in that respect, are you even at maintenance?[/quote]
Well, not so low like before. I never use fat burners. However, for the last 2-3 months I did use Spike before each workout. And on occassion when I have too much studying to do I will drink an enviga tea.
I do keep a food log. Right now my weight seems to be stable but my BF keeps going up! I started this summer at about 107 lbs - I just gained 8-9 lbs though, so now I sit at about 116 most days (varies from 114-116). My BF didn’t start to go up so drastically until this last month. Then on top of it I had this random run-down week.
I feel much better now - I’ve slept a lot, reduced how much I bike (I don’t have a car, so I bike everywhere, but this week I took the bus to even cut that out.)
I’m now trying to figure out what to do for a program. I’m really annoyed at my BF increasing on my stomach SO much from just the last week or two so I’m tempted to do something with complexes, BUT I don’t want to lose weight. Would a program like that work to add mass and lose a bit of fat if I just kept my cals at or above maint?
[quote]ChrisKing wrote:
You’ve been offered a lot of good advice here.
However, you seem to obsess over your skinfold measurements, which just causes more stress and likely leads you to behave in a counterproductive manner.
Why don’t you give yourself a break and stop measuring weight and body comp for a while and just focus on eating health while taking a break from the gym? You might find that you end up leaner and stronger.[/quote]
Yes, thank you SO much to all of you who have given me such support and good advice. It has really helped me to accept this week as a rest week. The world has seemed to conspire in some ways (first my computer breaks, then I go to try to bike to class and find I have a flat tire - must walk 30 minutes across campus to try to get it fixed while lugging the thing and missing class, …get home to a message that our study that I designed is not working and I MUST fix it before tomorrow when we have 12 subjects signed up…AHHH).
SOOOO taking a break a little on the training side is good.
I am trying very hard to just go back to a maint diet of only healthy food. It’s hard because I feel fat so I just want to cut out food but I’m mostly resisting the urge…
[quote]Dark_Knight wrote:
I concur with the advice to take a week off. You should, however, continue light activity for active restoration.
Be careful with your diet, however. I assume that you’ve stripped off fat, correct? When this happens, your body WILL take note and increase your appetite above normal such that you eat more than you normally would. Further, all the hormones are aligned for fat regain.
That being said, you should increase the calories to a reasonable level. Slightly above maintenance should be fine. Don’t just keep eating to satisfy you appetite, because that is a poor guide at this point.
Furthermore, allow your rest week to be free from stressing out over not training. It will do you good to rest. You will supercompensate, come back stronger than before, and return to training with renewed vigor. [/quote]
Well, no, I’ve actually been gaining…so I’ve put on fat!! In the last 2-3 weeks my body just started putting on more and more fat though and my BW dropped by 2 lbs (I was up to 118, now I’m 116). So SOMETHING is wrong and I don’t know how to fix it!!
[quote]sarah1 wrote:
Well, no, I’ve actually been gaining…so I’ve put on fat!! In the last 2-3 weeks my body just started putting on more and more fat though and my BW dropped by 2 lbs (I was up to 118, now I’m 116). So SOMETHING is wrong and I don’t know how to fix it!!
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That sounds just like overtraining. Take a week off.
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