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I am pretty sure I've been over doing it and I need a recover plan. I am wondering if I am over doing it (although going back and reading what I wrote, I now wonder how I could not see it). But more so, since my perception is obviously skewed, I wonder if I could get some feedback if my "recovery plan" is reasonable. This is long so feel free to skip to the end to read the recover plan if you don't need background stuff.
First a little background. I am woman in my late 40s. I am 5'6" tall and weigh an average of 154 pounds. I say average because I weigh myself every day and some days I may weigh 150, others I might weigh 157. 150 puts me in the normal BMI range, 157 puts me in overweight territory. Most of the time I am in the normal range though.
I've been happy with this weight for about three years. The reason is because I used to weigh 230+ pounds. It took me a few years to take the weight off but I beat the odds and kept the weight off with only some very minor ups and down. I feel good and am in perfect health. So I am happy with that.
I want to lose more weight because in April I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in my foot and it hurts. I hope that losing 10 pounds will help ease the pain by taking some weight off the foot. Plus, it can't hurt to be a little more solidly in the normal range of my BMI.
I have a physical every year and I have no health issues aside from my foot pain. Everything about my blood work, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc is great. I am on no medications at all for anything. I take a calcium supplement, that's it. I eat a balanced diet made mainly of whole foods (avoid as much processed as I can).
Okay now to why I think I am over doing it. I've been working hard to lose that last 10 pounds. At first I started slowly losing weight. But it stopped so I kept adding more and more exercise all while whittling back the calories. It seemed to work for a while, but then I started getting very fatigued yet my sleep became horrible. And then my weight loss stalled again and then actually started going up!!!
My wake up call was this past Friday when I finished my workout. Afterwards I was shaky, sick to my stomach, and my hands and feet were a little numb, and I was having a hard time with my vision. My first thought was I must have low blood sugar. I ended up buying and eating a candy bar, taking a big drink of water, resting a bit, and then I felt a little better (at least the shaking and vision issues stopped). I took my blood pressure at the machine in a drug store and it was low, not dangerously low, but it was 90/62. But that was after I was feeling a little better.
I took the weekend off from all dieting and exercising. I rested and ate what I wanted, when I wanted. I feel better today. Although my sleep was still restless last night.
What I was doing/got up to was as follows: I was exercising about an hour and 20 minutes every day (no break days). It's a combination of aerobic which is either elliptical, biking or swimming and weights. The weights are a combination of machines and some free weights that I did three times a week. I was doing yoga once a week for an hour. I also walk my dog for an hour each day, but I really don't think of that as exercise. But I will throw that in there because my doctor seems to consider it exercise. So without dog walking, I was exercising for an hour and 20 minutes a day. With dog walking it was two hours and 20 minutes a day.
I was eating 1400 calories a day. To maintain my weight before all this, I was eating about 1800-2000 calories a day (and working out 5 times a week).
My Recovery Plan is this:
I increased my calories from 1400 to 1600 a day.
For the next month I am also going to only exercise 40 minutes a day, 5 times a week like before I tried to lose weight. For the first few weeks, it will be swimming only since it's not as intense as the bike or elliptical, but it still a little resistance even if it's not as much as the weights. Plus, swimming is my favorite and the pool closes in a month.
I decided top just drop yoga since I never liked it anyway. I still plan to walk the dog twice a day for 30 minutes. She needs it and I really don't feel like it's exercise any more than grocery shopping, laundry, or office work (or anything else that requires walking).
My hope is to still lose that 10 pounds with this plan but hopefully allow my body to recover from over doing it. How does it sound? Is it a good plan or do I need more of a break? I ask because so much that I read said stop all exercise for a month. That seems like it should be for more extreme cases and I don't want to do that. I swam this morning for 40 minutes and have been eating a more. So far, I feel okay. But it's only day one.
With the number of cals you burn, the intake appears pretty low. Do you calculate energy consumed vs expended with an app like LoseIt? Anyway, I'm about your age/size and although yoga burns some cals (esp Power Yoga), I think it's still important to maintain your balance, joint flexibility and provide good muscle stretch. I try to get at least 1-2 sessions a week.
Make sure you get cals onboard before exercising. I've had a few runs where I stopped after 2-3 miles because of getting very clammy, shaky, hungry. Florida running does this as well due to the heat/humidity, so I'm not sure if it was that or no energy on board to expend.
I have a relative who dealt with his plantar fascitiis by rolling a golf ball under his heal/instep. But eventually I think he ended up getting some sort of injection treatment - he's elderly, but walks a ton/golfs and hasn't mentioned having the problem since treatment. But it was very incapacitating.
I use an app, Lose It. I log my exercise in it, but I don't use it to count exercise "calories burned" though as I think it assigns too many bonus calories for the exercise.
I will still do the stretching from yoga, I like that. But I really hated all the child's pose, downward dog, resting on your back, etc. I wanted to keep moving. Maybe I am impatient. haha.
I've been doing all sorts of things for my foot. Nothing really helps. That's why I am hoping weight loss could help.
It could be that you were severely dehydrated. I got dehydrated about a month ago and while my symptoms weren’t as severe as yours, I felt dizzy, shaky, etc and was having many of the same symptoms as you were. I went on a hike where I normally would have brought two bottles of water (a very hot/steamy morning) and only had one. I just recovered the rest of the day and think I did an independent (shorter) hike the next day with no real issues.
That said, I am not sure *why* you would give up yoga of all of the things to give up. No, it doesn’t have a calorie burn component, but if your underlying issue is your plantar fasciitis, yoga can help with foot/calf flexibility and strength without requiring the same level of impact/pressure as 80 minutes on the elliptical. I have foot arthritis and I try to do activities that help with foot mobility to keep it from getting more painful, but I have to be cognizant not to overdo it or to do high impact activities.
It could have been dehydration, it has been pretty hot lately. But the sugar is what really seemed to pick me back up. And I also have the fatigue and insomnia I mentioned.
The reason I stopped yoga is I don't like it and it cost money. It really doesn't challenge me and I planned on quitting it when the class was over. I just decided to quit three weeks early (only had three lessons left). I do more intense leg and foot stretching on my own based on the instructions the doctor gave me for helping my foot. I learned a few new things from yoga that I will use when I stretch on my own, but it seems like most of it was just lying on my back on the floor or child's pose, downward dog, warrior one, sitting cross legged with my palms facing up, etc (all of which did nothing for me).
I am probably the only person who doesn't like yoga. At least based on friends and coworker's love of it.
I understand about paying for yoga. When I first started, I was shelling out $10-15/session for about 6 months or so just to get the basic poses and an understanding of what I was doing. But I put an end to shelling out $$ when I started using a community fitness and YMCA. I find they're not as good as the folks with their own studios, but still do the job. I still hit a studio when traveling.
You really can get good practice by follow-along on Youtube or even doing it alone, but not as fun as doing it w/ others.
I understand about paying for yoga. When I first started, I was shelling out $10-15/session for about 6 months or so just to get the basic poses and an understanding of what I was doing. But I put an end to shelling out $$ when I started using a community fitness and YMCA. I find they're not as good as the folks with their own studios, but still do the job. I still hit a studio when traveling.
You really can get good practice by follow-along on Youtube or even doing it alone, but not as fun as doing it w/ others.
Thanks! I'll check out YouTube. I am a bit anti-social, so I would actually enjoy it more on my own/without a class.
Yeah, my class was the same cost (it was actually $12 a class if you broke it down. I paid $95 for 8 classes). This was at my community rec center so I don't think it's any cheaper elsewhere... other than free YouTube. Great suggestion!
I'm day 2 into my cut back routine. So far, so good. I don't seem to have the extreme fatigue all day long anymore but I still have sleep issues. That might take longer to fix.
Dehydration, for sure. I get that same feeling when I overdo it.
Also, build in at least one full day off every week. By a day off I mean very limited cardio, no classes and no lifting. Just a day to let your joints rest, muscles build and most importantly give your brain a day off.
Sundays are great for that for me but I'm a sports nut and can just "veg" in front of the TV and watch football or golf all day. By Monday a.m. I'm recharged and ready to hit it for the week. I typically try and build in a 2nd day with only cardio (30-60 mins of walking for me) and no lifting.
Dehydration, for sure. I get that same feeling when I overdo it.
Also, build in at least one full day off every week. By a day off I mean very limited cardio, no classes and no lifting. Just a day to let your joints rest, muscles build and most importantly give your brain a day off.
Sundays are great for that for me but I'm a sports nut and can just "veg" in front of the TV and watch football or golf all day. By Monday a.m. I'm recharged and ready to hit it for the week. I typically try and build in a 2nd day with only cardio (30-60 mins of walking for me) and no lifting.
I totally agree with your assessment, probably a combination of dehydration and overdoing it. The body and mind responds well to a rest period in between extreme workouts and that is when muscular growth and healing takes place, not during actual workouts.
Thanks! I'll check out YouTube. I am a bit anti-social, so I would actually enjoy it more on my own/without a class.
Yeah, my class was the same cost (it was actually $12 a class if you broke it down. I paid $95 for 8 classes). This was at my community rec center so I don't think it's any cheaper elsewhere... other than free YouTube. Great suggestion!
I'm day 2 into my cut back routine. So far, so good. I don't seem to have the extreme fatigue all day long anymore but I still have sleep issues. That might take longer to fix.
These are some of the best that I've followed. They have a lot of sessions that you can go through:
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