Overtraining Recovery?

After experiencing the symptoms of overtraining for a couple months, I finally caught on and realized it was due to working out. I was on edge and irritable all the time but also very tired. The worst part was probably the sleep: I would wake up very early in the morning (like 4am) in a cold sweat, wide awake, and not be able to get back to sleep. I thought it was just stress and didn't make the connection right away, but now I'm trying to recover.

My workouts were more or less 5 days per week of heavy weights, split up by muscle groups (chest, legs, arms, lower back, shoulders) for about 1 hour, followed by 20-30 mins of medium cardio. Also, I wasn't eating enough (not intentionally, I just didn't realize)

My question is about recovery, I want to do this right. Here's what I have done so far:

• I have stopped weight training completely, it has been 2 weeks.
• I started some light cardio, trying to keep my heart rate at 60-65% of max for 30 mins, 2-3 times per week
• Started drinking tea instead of coffee.
• Have been eating at maintenence levels, 1500 cals/day (I'm 110lbs, 5'2")

I'm still waking up early, but it is usually just for a second or two and I can just go back to sleep. I am waiting for these little symptoms to subside before going back to weights. Am I doing this right? Can anyone offer any advice?

Also, this is probably a minor point, I haven't been as hungry since I haven't really been working out, should I reduce my calories if I want to maintain? Some days I feel like I'm stuffing myself just to reach 1500.

I've experienced this ... I'd suggest taking a whole week off doing no exercise at all, then the second week take it very easy as well. After that you should be feeling back to normal. If you don't rest enough, you won't be able to recover fully.

As for eating, 1500 is not very much ... you should eat at least this amount, and more once you begin exercising daily again.

overtraining can be so hard on the body.  i'm a recovered exercise bulimic...if you aren't familiar with the term it's where you binge and then exercise off the calories........i would run 15-17 miles a day/weight train.........it was absolutely insane. 

it was extremely tolling on my body - pulled muscles, lighter periods, sleep problems (not being able to fall asleep, waking up in the middle of the night)

i limit myself now to an hour of exercise 6 days a week.

it sounds like your schedule is pretty good so far - make sure that you drink tea that is herbal (sometimes tea can have more caffiene than coffee) as well i limit any caffeine to before 1pm -- found this has helped.  try going to bed at the same time everynight

as well--- supppper important if you have exercise induced insomnia...make sure you are working out EARLY in the day - exercise releases stress hormones (you can look this up theres some pretty good articles on it) stress hormones keep you wide awake for about 4-6 hours after a workout so if you exercise late you can actually be kept awake...i used to go running at night and it would keep me up for hours/wake up at all hours.  i started working out in the morning and all my sleeping problems are gone.

if you drop below 1500 youll go into starvation mode - my recommendation would be calorie fluctuations and small meals throughout the day. 

Thanks for the responses. It was actually CC that said my calories needed to maintain were 1440 at a sedentary level (I rounded up), and I just eat extra depending on whatever calories I burned at the gym, so my net calories every day are at 1500 or so. My BMR is 1200, so as long as I stay above that I should be fine, right?

Runner, I think you're right about the late-night workouts. I noticed that morning workouts would throw off my entire day, it was really hard to concentrate, so I switched to nights, which caused me to wake up early. I'll experiment a bit with the times once I recover and see what works best.

Also, I do eat small meals throughout the day, but I haven't tried zig-zagging calories. I will give that a shot, thanks!

Oh wow, it turns out my symptoms were actually due to my birth control, it was elevating my cortisol level and my intense late-night workouts were only making it worse. I'm posting this so that maybe someone who is having similar problems can benefit.

I would recommend getting more calories of the right foods. At least 2000 or so. More times than not, people actually need to eat more than they actually are. Especially when you are trying to recover from overtraining. If you stick to the right foods, you don't have to worry about gaining fat from eating more calories. Also, getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night is key.

I am curious, what time of the day are you working out? It is best to workout earlier in the day so you have all day to unwind. If you work out at night, it makes it harder to fall asleep. In regards to weight lifting, I wouldn't cut it out all together. Just cut back the frequency. Lift three days per week instead of five.