Depleted energy

On day 30 of the female stack. During a workout I have the energy and stamina and boost. (Basically all the benefits of the female stack) but after the workout I have no energy left. Just want to sleep. Too tired to do anything. On a high protein diet, taking all my vitamins making sure I get all the calories needed. But why do I feel so depleted? What else can I do to get my energy levels up? TIA

What is your current weight, height, age and calorie intake and macro break down. Sounds like mild low blood sugar to me

Weight 56kg Height 155cm age 36. Calorie intake 1200kcal

Protein 96,8
Carbs 12,53
Fat 57,93
Sugar 3,28

Well you clearly aren't eating enough cos those macros right there are 955kcal. So you would need to up your intake from carbohydrates. I was spot on with the low blood sugar. You would most likely be running in a negative energy balance right there, meaning your body is using more energy than you are consuming, driving down most metabolic hormones such as thyroid hormones, you would also be pushing up cortisol drastically.

What are your fat sources? I would def drive fats up for most days, and add 1-2 higher carbs days to start.

She should be in a state of ketosis already running those macros as stated, issue comes in some people just dont handle ketosis and im assuming here, they are most likely doing hiit cardio and a boat load of cardio drilling them into negative energy balance.

There is so much more info needed :
Amount of cardio per week and average heart rate.

I personally wouldn't have her calories low like that especially when muscle gain is the key, as muscle growth usually requires 2 things : milligrams (which she is covered with) and calories(not covered)..

So much that goes into this especially women such as what birth control are you on? How many days per week are you training? Etc etc etc.

It not a fat thing as fat isnt going to raise her blood sugar which she is battling with hence the crash in energy.
Daily step count
Hours of sleep per night
Use of stimulants etc.

How ever based on assumption here, im going for the person is burnt out from doing too much cardio, on minimal calories and the body is hating her.

The fat I would drive up specifically for physical and mental health, especially sources of MCTs, so coconut oil, and a good quality butter and olive oil. MCTs will also help her feel a very quick source of energy, I dont think ketosis is important, but I also would encourage women try more fat and less carbs, at least for some periods of time.


And yeah I agree we need a lot more info. No clue what her goals are but if she has been running this for a while, I would assume she will need a transition period near maintenance to and slowly introduce carbs to find a balance.

Shes at 1g per kg, thats more than substantial.

If she repairs any metabolic damage, she would find herself at prob 1700kcal to lose fat.

I would much rather have her fats go up, for the sole reason women cannot go through glycogen stores like men. I think women under-eat fat, overeat carbs and wonder why metabolic processes go to shit in 5 years when they just regain most of it back. Complicated topic but I think adding fat is only going to benefit someone if the total caloric load is monitored.

I'll give some more info, I do weight training. And cardio as cooldown. Cardio is elliptical walker or brisk walk on the treadmill. My heart rate ranges from 100bpm to 140bpm. After a set my heart rate will be 140bpm. Then I wait between sets for my heart rate to go down to a 100bpm before I start the next set.

My workout total calorie burn was 500kcal for today. Usually try to hit that target everyday. My total steps a day is 15 000. I don't eat carbs because it gives me heartburn. I do have low blood pressure but most days it is in normal range because I try to take in enough salt. My diet is limited to certain foods because most food gives me heart burn. So I am on a high protein diet. My fats usually come from butter/ fat from meats ex steak/ milk/ yogurt. I do not use contraception.

I take omega 3 fish oils, multivitamin, essential, milk thistle, zinc and vit C. I drink about 5 litres of water a day. (Water and coffee also does not give me heartburn) so it is the only fluids I can take in. I make sure I drink a protein shake right after my workout.

Get about 7-8 hours of sleep a day. I am trying to cut and burn off the fat.

Also with that calorie intake I don't include the coffee I drink. So if I do add the coffee it comes to 1200kcal. The calories are just based on the food I eat.

Let me know if you need more info. Happy to provide.

I am interested what coffee you are drinking that's pushing up your calorie intake by 250-300, most black coffee is about 20kcal at most, so if you are having a touch of milk you still getting in 40kcal at most.

Ok as i suspected, negative energy balance.

15000 steps, its about 40kcal burn per 1000 steps at your current body weight.

So you are doing roughly 600kcal from that, say 120kcal from your cardio post training, plus 300kcal from your workouts, plus the process of living which is about 1000kcal for you = 2020 kcal plus you are consuming only 1100kcal at most meaning you are in a 900kcal defecit.

Which is going to make muscle building pretty much IMPOSSIBLE.

Not only that, your thyroid hormones are going to crash completly, which is going to slow down all metabolic functions etc.

So based on your current info you are telling me, and if i was coaching you, id drop the steps down to 10 000, id stop the cardio post workout, and id add in more food coming from fats.

The issues with 0 carbs is that it doesnt help the conversion of t4 to t3, and carbs lower cortisol levels and are incredibly protein sparing.

So all carbs give you heart burn? Or only certain ones. Rice and cream of rice seem to be incredibly well digested.

Also of course you are going to have low blood pressure as high protiein and fats and 0 carbs have a very big diuretic effect and if you are also following low sodium you will have plenty of low blood pressure issues as well as 0 pump to speak of.

Remember muscles are 80% water, so having 0 carbs means 0 Muscle glycogen so you will look flat and stringy no matter how much gear you are on, and will have minimal thyroid conversion becuase of it.

Also insulin secreted when eating a bolus if carbs is incredibly anti catabolic too.

Im not anti keto as I've done it many times, how ever fat loss, muscle retention and muscle building with carbs in your diet is going to be far superior and give you a much better look and make you feel a ton better.

You may need to see a doctor and get on to nexium for the heart burn, or potentially the issue could be low stomach acidity, so something like betanine hcl with pepsin maybe beneficial to you aswell.

Ascorbic acid aka vitamin c wont be doing you many favours either with regards to potential heart burn.

As i say, you may suffer from low stomach acidity and that is seen with bloating after meals as well as heart burn..weird i know.

But your best bet would essentially be nexium.

Have you had recent blood work?
DHEA blood values?
This really sounds like it is worth looking at adrenal function.

That would explain the heartburn or acid issues.
Do you by any chance have IBS, or difficulty digesting foods - strange bathroom schedule etc.

Heartburn comes from my gallbladder I had to remove. I try to control it with diet.

Coffee is maybe 1/2 lattes which equals to 135kcal. Also probably not the correct coffee to drink. Normal coffee with milk and sugar equals to 30kcal.

I will try to incorporate rice into my diet. To see if that helps. Really taking the advice seriously because I want the most out of this cycle.

I was only under the impression I burn 800kcal a day because my smart watch tells me only 800kcal. That is why my calorie diet is low because I know you need to be in a calorie defect to burn fat.

Wait, so you look at the watch that says 800, use that to make a deficit?

Your body would need like 1500kcal minimum just sitting at home. You are expending energy on top of that.

And you are taking an anabolic on top of that?
I think your goals maybe to just lose some fat and tighten up? Improve composition?

I am not sure why you took an anabolic or what the long term plan is here.

Also gallbadder removal, can cause low thyroid issues as well as sex hormones. Hopefully the issue is just lack of kcal but otherwise I think finding the cause would be better than treating the symptoms.

My goal is to be lean with muscle definition. Get rid of stubborn fat. The end goal is to look like a female bodybuilder.

If your gall bladder was removed you dont produce bile which makes fat incredibly hard to digest.

You need to get on to an oxbile supplement. That will sort out your issues.

I would honestly change the way you are doing things completely. Mphil is on the right track being 1500kcal is where i would have your calorie consumption to be honest with less steps, and more progressive overload training.

I dont think gall bladder removal will affect thyroid as you may think. I think the low energy availability will have more impact as lowering thyroid is a metabolic adaption.

Buffyangel wrote:

My goal is to be lean with muscle definition. Get rid of stubborn fat. The end goal is to look like a female bodybuilder.
 

then you aren't going to be doing that with the way you are doing it.

I have female clients who are just plain bikini athletes dieting on 1650 kcal with 6500 steps a day and 20mins of cardio 4x a week and lean and pretty muscular.

You want to Grow muscle but you are eating like a toddler and doing activities of a marathon runner. Not going to work.

MPhilosopher wrote:

If she repairs any metabolic damage, she would find herself at prob 1700kcal to lose fat.

I would much rather have her fats go up, for the sole reason women cannot go through glycogen stores like men. I think women under-eat fat, overeat carbs and wonder why metabolic processes go to shit in 5 years when they just regain most of it back. Complicated topic but I think adding fat is only going to benefit someone if the total caloric load is monitored.

i disagree. Because of the way women are built with slow twitch Muscle fiber etc and the presence of estrogen they actually utilize more carbohydrates for energy during the day and during intense activities they utilize more fat. Men are the otherway around.

But also her fat at 1g or roughly 30% of calories is more than enough fat. At 1700 kcal, 450kcal from fat is 30% of her daily calories from fat, which in my experience is where i go with women who suffer from pcos, insulin resistance and progesterone dominance. 

even at a higher protein intake of say 150g a day that would still need to have carb intake of roughly 160g per day. She will utalize that daily pretty well. Right now because she is using dht derivatives in female stack that pretty much gives her a male hormonal pattern making her utalize more carbs than a natural athlete. Remember androgens make women process fuel more like men. Not 100,% the same, but way better than a natural athlete.

Im very confused by the processes going back to shit in 5 years as you state. Maybe break that down. Majority of the time women do over eat carbs, yes. But also they under eat protien and fat, but she is fat from doing that. And usually what happens in 5 years is they stop training as intensly, start becoming more sedate, and hormones start to shift to where progesterone is more dominant, which sets them in a space of insulin resistance, which doesnt mean you cant eat carbs at all, but better if it is lower, protein higher and fat higher too, Then menopause happens and then they become massively insulin resistant due to low estrogen and high testosterone. 

Estrogen makes women utalize carbs very effectivly, hence why women who use estrogen based birthcontrol generally have 0 issues with fatloss.

also there is a reason why keto or 0 carb diets are terrible for not putting on muscle is due to a lack of glycogen, thyroid out put and insulin. 

We can debate this till the cows come home, but fat isnt a good muscle building macro, slow to digest, has little to no effect on thermic effect of food, and not a good way to drive up intensity during workouts..even the keto gurus like dan ducaine had a 3 day carb load to replenish glycogen and stated to build muscle and iso caloric diet is best (33% of each macro) even dave palumbo, another keto guru still has carbs in off season for the fact its needed for many processes. 

How can I get into contact with someone or become a client to get the correct advice and training program to reach the goals I want to achieve. This would be greatly appreciated.

If you ask admin nicely via email, he can hopefully put you incontact, if not you may have to be a social media detective and find me that way.

I'll ask admin nicely. Thank you. Really appreciate the advice.

So after a month of making a few changes with my diet and exercise. My energy levels have risen and my strength has gone up. I was spending way too much time in the gym and not eating the correct amount of calories. With the increased calories and less time in the gym I have lost cm and body fat. Went from14% body fat to 8.5% body fat. I have now learned how important food is to increase strength and building muscle. Thanks for all the advice Empire. I don't crash anymore and my sleep is so much better. Never knew how important food can be to reach your goals.

all for a good ending,

but 6% loss??

you sure? thats alot!

She is doing a 4 site caliper reading, and all those sites have come down, if it was a 9 site reading different story, how ever, her sleep has improved drastically, strength gone up massively too, and water retention has come down quite a bit as now she is actually recovering. Shes up to about 1650kcal a day, from her 1000 average, and making great progress.