I don't have enough energy

td82394

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Everyday, I come home from school and sleep. I'm always tired, but I want to workout so I can lose weight/body fat. I looked it up on Google, and it told me maybe my diet is messed up. Tell me what I'm doing wrong, Sherdog.

I have Breakfast Essentials for breakfast. It's basically a protein drink. I wrestle at about 12. Then I eat whatever is left over from dinner the night before at about 3 when I get home. And then I have dinner, which varies.

Why am I so tired?
 
Are you saying you don't eat between breakfast ("breakfast," in your case) and 3:00, with hard training in between, and you wonder why you're tired at that time?
 
How many hours do you sleep at night?

^this as well as when you actually eat (a "protein drink" which by its name sounds like its probably full of sugar/corn syrup TBH is not a meal BTW) what does the meal contain ?

Saying "Then I eat whatever is left over from dinner the night before at about 3" & "And then I have dinner" tells us next to nothing about your diet other than you are starving your body between your nonexistant garbage breakfast shake & 3pm which iss too long without your body receiving fuel especially considering your last real meal was dinner the night before.

So since you have no breakfast & say your dinner is at 6 or 7pm that means you are effectively going without adequate sustenance for 20 hours or so between 7 pm and 3pm the next day. Not good, no wonder you feel like shit your body is starving & likely is in famine mode too which will not help your weightloss goal.
 
seems like your short on your diet but you would need to give us more info. if its that bad that its worrying you i wouldnt be posting it here id be at my doctors office eh.
 
Everyone has posted good comments so far; your little info makes it sound like your not eating enough. But under the premise you have a great diet and get enough sleep, I'll add that maybe you could use a cup of coffee? I know that sounds glib, but I/most people don't have enough time to truly get 'enough' sleep (whatever that is for you) to go through the day without drinking coffee. Its how the world gets by...

I also have problems with being tired all the time unless I take my B12 vitamin. I have to because I'm a vegetarian, but if somehow your diet isn't giving you enough B12 it will make you feel sluggish and sleepy.

Edit: Yea its ridiculous you don't eat any real food until 3 PM, and wrestle before then. I think that would make most people feel like they needed a nap. It actually only sounds like your eating one meal, plus a protein shake a day (if we consider dinner/dinner leftovers one meal, unless your actually cooking enough for dinner for it to be 3 meals).
 
I will assume you get enough sleep (6-8 hours every night, usually closer to 8 is best), if not then this is the absolute first thing you need to change. It doesn't matter if you're the healthiest eater in the world, sleeping for 4 hours a night will make you feel like crap.

I don't condone the consumption of pre-made protein and energy drinks because they are usually full of sugar, artificial sweeteners, colouring and thickening agents. Breakfast essentials milk chocolate drink has over 20 ingredients in it, 15 of which aren't necessary. This is personal preference and I am a hands on person when it comes to food. On most days I begin by making a protein smoothie from a ripe banana and at least one other type of fruit with 25g of whey protein in soya or goats milk, skimmed cow's milk is OK too. On the days I don't do intense exercise I drink a fruit smoothie (usually no banana) with a teaspoon of psyllium husk in a fruit juice base. The psyllium husk makes you feel fuller and you can get it at any Wholefoods, Trader Joe's or health food store. It's not that important but helps.

Try to get a mid-morning snack in before wrestling. Something healthy with sugars, an apple, cereal bar, fruit bar etc. I believe it helps to keep your metabolism going and the natural sugars will give you a quick burst of energy.

Lunchtime should be around 1-2pm. I don't know how long you wrestle for but let's assume it's for 2 hours and you finish at 2pm at which point you start to head home and don't want to eat until you get home at 3pm. I would suggest drinking a small bottle of low fat chocolate milk (homemade if at all possible) or eating a banana or an apple, something that's easy to take with you to school. You can make chocolate milk at home with skimmed milk, a teaspoon of pure cocoa powder, teaspoon of sugar and pinch of salt. It's like a natural isotonic drink and will replace essential salts lost through sweating. It's probably not a good idea to try and squeeze a full meal in before wrestling. It can upset your stomach to eat and then exercise immediately after.

Since you might not be able to get your lunch in until 3pm but you've been consuming small healthy snacks to keep you going during the day you should feel more energised than in the past.

There's nothing wrong with eating leftovers but if you're doing that every single day then I would suggest that either you or whoever's cooking for you rethink how much food they cook each day. The problem with eating leftovers is that you don't have control over what you eat, you have to eat what's there and in the quantity that's available to you. If there's too much you may overeat on the pretense that if you don't eat it now it's going to be 2 days old by that time tomorrow. If there's not enough you'll still be hungry and become tempted to find a quick and likely unhealthy snack to bulk the meal. So it's best to cook your meal fresh. That way you can eat a properly proportioned meal, something you WANT to eat that is prepared to your standards and requirements. You seem young but there's no time like now to learn to cook for yourself.

Now you may think that it's not necessary and counter-productive in losing body fat but it's quite important to eat 3 full meals a day. Some people eat as many as 5 or 6 smaller meals. I don't have time for that but I always eat 3 meals a day. If you're eating lunch at 3pm and it's your largest meal of the day (lunch should always be the largest meal) you still need to get one last real meal in before bedtime. Usually the earlier the better but because your lunchtime is late, you dinnertime will also be late. I think in a late dinner you should try to exclude grain and starch based carbs (that means potatoes, rice, bread, pasta etc.) because you don't need the sugars. Lean protein is a good idea, chicken breast, fish, turkey with a salad or veggies.

I know it seems like you're eating way more than you ought to but you're exercising every single day and your body needs fuel. The right diet will not only help you me much more energized but will also be a great aid in losing body fat.

Hope that helps. The guys on here know a lot about nutrition and dieting so hopefully lots more people will come along and give you some tips too.
 
Are you saying you don't eat between breakfast ("breakfast," in your case) and 3:00, with hard training in between, and you wonder why you're tired at that time?

i-lol-d-did-you.jpg
 
I think that quality sleep and eating more are your best bets. If you're looking at supplements, I feel that Geraniamo and Burn from TrueProtein have been a lot of help for me in the energy department
 
I will assume you get enough sleep (6-8 hours every night, usually closer to 8 is best), if not then this is the absolute first thing you need to change. It doesn't matter if you're the healthiest eater in the world, sleeping for 4 hours a night will make you feel like crap.

I don't condone the consumption of pre-made protein and energy drinks because they are usually full of sugar, artificial sweeteners, colouring and thickening agents. Breakfast essentials milk chocolate drink has over 20 ingredients in it, 15 of which aren't necessary. This is personal preference and I am a hands on person when it comes to food. On most days I begin by making a protein smoothie from a ripe banana and at least one other type of fruit with 25g of whey protein in soya or goats milk, skimmed cow's milk is OK too. On the days I don't do intense exercise I drink a fruit smoothie (usually no banana) with a teaspoon of psyllium husk in a fruit juice base. The psyllium husk makes you feel fuller and you can get it at any Wholefoods, Trader Joe's or health food store. It's not that important but helps.

Try to get a mid-morning snack in before wrestling. Something healthy with sugars, an apple, cereal bar, fruit bar etc. I believe it helps to keep your metabolism going and the natural sugars will give you a quick burst of energy.

Lunchtime should be around 1-2pm. I don't know how long you wrestle for but let's assume it's for 2 hours and you finish at 2pm at which point you start to head home and don't want to eat until you get home at 3pm. I would suggest drinking a small bottle of low fat chocolate milk (homemade if at all possible) or eating a banana or an apple, something that's easy to take with you to school. You can make chocolate milk at home with skimmed milk, a teaspoon of pure cocoa powder, teaspoon of sugar and pinch of salt. It's like a natural isotonic drink and will replace essential salts lost through sweating. It's probably not a good idea to try and squeeze a full meal in before wrestling. It can upset your stomach to eat and then exercise immediately after.

Since you might not be able to get your lunch in until 3pm but you've been consuming small healthy snacks to keep you going during the day you should feel more energised than in the past.

There's nothing wrong with eating leftovers but if you're doing that every single day then I would suggest that either you or whoever's cooking for you rethink how much food they cook each day. The problem with eating leftovers is that you don't have control over what you eat, you have to eat what's there and in the quantity that's available to you. If there's too much you may overeat on the pretense that if you don't eat it now it's going to be 2 days old by that time tomorrow. If there's not enough you'll still be hungry and become tempted to find a quick and likely unhealthy snack to bulk the meal. So it's best to cook your meal fresh. That way you can eat a properly proportioned meal, something you WANT to eat that is prepared to your standards and requirements. You seem young but there's no time like now to learn to cook for yourself.

Now you may think that it's not necessary and counter-productive in losing body fat but it's quite important to eat 3 full meals a day. Some people eat as many as 5 or 6 smaller meals. I don't have time for that but I always eat 3 meals a day. If you're eating lunch at 3pm and it's your largest meal of the day (lunch should always be the largest meal) you still need to get one last real meal in before bedtime. Usually the earlier the better but because your lunchtime is late, you dinnertime will also be late. I think in a late dinner you should try to exclude grain and starch based carbs (that means potatoes, rice, bread, pasta etc.) because you don't need the sugars. Lean protein is a good idea, chicken breast, fish, turkey with a salad or veggies.

I know it seems like you're eating way more than you ought to but you're exercising every single day and your body needs fuel. The right diet will not only help you me much more energized but will also be a great aid in losing body fat.

Hope that helps. The guys on here know a lot about nutrition and dieting so hopefully lots more people will come along and give you some tips too.

I agree that he needs to get more sleep, eat decent food, and eat more frequently (there are certainly ways to train hard while doing some form of intermittent fasting, but none of them start with "Eat a Carnation instant breakfast...").

However, I disagree with a lot of your more specific recommendations.

The threadstarter needs to read the FAQs, BTW.
 
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I agree that he needs to get more sleep, eat decent food, and eat more frequently
However, I disagree with a lot of your more specific recommendations.

I second this opinion. But I suppose we can all on sleeping more, eating more, and eating better.
 
I agree that he needs to get more sleep, eat decent food, and eat more frequently (there are certainly ways to train hard while doing some form of intermittent fasting, but none of them start with "Eat a Carnation instant breakfast...").

However, I disagree with a lot of your more specific recommendations.

The threadstarter needs to read the FAQs, BTW.

You actually read that? :icon_lol:
 
Yeah, I stopped when it began talking about adding soya or skim milk to you your protein powder.

This is in no one meant to contradict or disregard what you're saying but what's wrong with protein & milk or soya? :redface:
 
You actually read that? :icon_lol:

LOL! The punctuation was on point so I went a head and read it too.

This is in no one meant to contradict or disregard what you're saying but what's wrong with protein & milk or soya? :redface:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with mixing your protein powder in milk. I'm pretty sure his comment was directed toward skim and soy milk. What he doesn't know is you maybe lactose intolerant and aren't able to drink regular diary milk...?

To the TS: Start eating a real breakfast and bring some bananas with you to school.
 
LOL! The punctuation was on point so I went a head and read it too.

I consider anyone who writes that much to be an over-achiever, or brown-noser; take your pick.

I mean to deliver that information over the course of several posts; sure. But to unload it all at once.... Lol... Sounds to me like someone felt as though they needed to say something. Then once it came out, it didn't stop. I got through the first paragraph and said, "no fucking way I'm reading this whole post".
 
This is in no one meant to contradict or disregard what you're saying but what's wrong with protein & milk or soya? :redface:

I don't have a problem with mixing whole milk with your protein, I'm just against soy and skim milk.
 
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