Why am I so tired!!??

Well, I recently started weight-training, and I love it. I did gain some muscle already, which is the best motivation I can get :)

My problem is, I can't make it to the gym as often as I'd like to because it makes me so damn tired. I do enjoy the workouts, and I don't feel tired DURING workouts (rather revved up ;) but afterwards ... it's a real problem.

I eat enough, so I'm pretty sure this isn't the problem. Even when I make sure I get enough sleep, I can hardly get out of bed the next day.

I'm not talking about feeling sore (though sometimes, that does happen too, of course ;), but about feeling weak and tired for the next days.

What am I doing wrong???

Are you sure you're eating enough?  Do you have enough protein and carbs?

Well I eat approx. 1600-2200 kcal (139lbs, 5 ft 3 inches; I wanted to concentrate on building muscle and training my body, losing a few lbs would be nice, but it's not my main goal) a day, and I always make sure I eat between 60-100g protein. I eat plenty. Probably more than I should ! LOL I really don't think food is the problem :S

I took a week off to see if the workouts are really to blame. I had a LOT more energy. :(

I want to go back to working out tomorrow anyway. Just wanted to know if anybody else experienced the same problem??

I sleep about 6-8 hrs a night.

I do 2-3 sets (depending on exercise and form), and I choose weights so I can perform 12 reps, and about 8-10 on the last set. Is that too much?

I expect melkor will weigh in on this with his usual wisdom but until he does, I throw out some of my personal experience to see if it helps.

I have always found that when starting from a position of relative inactivity, my workouts make me a LOT more tired--at first. After a while (honestly can't remember, maybe a month?? could be more or less), however, I turn the corner and start feeling better rested with the same amount of sleep, or even a bit less.

Just my experience! Good luck.

Ease up on the weight or reps and see if there is a change.  You may be overdoing it and not know it.  If you are doing 3 days a week, cut it to 2 and do something aerobic instead.

Maybe it's not even workout-related. Sure, after exertion (?), you feel tired but I guess it could be something else. With hardly any sun this time of year, it could be a lack of Vitamin D. That used to cause me a lot of fatigue. Or maybe you've been eating the wrong kinds of foods or not the proper kind after your workout. If I eat a lot of sugary things, it wipes me out and I feel like garbage.

I think keeping a log of your physical feelings and what you eat, and your workout might be a good place to start.

Other than some sort of medical condition (which is unlikely, because after a rest week you felt better) there are 3 probable culprits.

1) Poor nutrition.  You weigh about 140 but on some days are only getting 60 grams of protein? sounds pretty low, I'd shoot for 120-150/day.  But adequate nutrition doesn't start/stop at protein intake, you could not be getting enough fat, you could be eating too many processed foods, etc.

2) Poor rest habits. Since you took an extended rest, and then felt better, it seems like rest could definitely be a problem.  6-8 hours of sleep is fine for some people, but may not be enough for others.  I'd shoot for 8-9 and see if anything improves.

3) Too much exercise volume. 2-3 sets of 12 reps is fine, but you could still be doing too many exercises, too often.

Well, you're not getting enough protein in your diet with 60-100g, at 139lbs you should have (139lbs:2.2lbs/kg=63kg, 63*1.8g/kg=) 113g of protein a day. Well, in that neighborhood anyway - call it 100-110g. On your 60g days you're getting barely half what you need while strength training, which would tend to compromise your recovery.

   Not enough attention to post-workout recovery can make itself felt that way - if you can't get to real food pretty fast after your workout it helps to take a hit of chocolate milk as an IOU to your body; it can't build you up stronger if you don't give it anything to work with ;)

It's not magic, but it can help a bit to focusing on getting a bit more zinc in your diet (broccoli!) - it's one of those underrated minerals that are important in the protein synthesis and one that people new to strength training frequently lack a sufficient reservoir of. Some people find that adding in a Zinc supplement or general multivitamin with zink in it helps faster than broccoli would :)

 Never mind the aerobic stuff - if you're going for muscle gain more than 90 minutes of strenuous cardio a week makes it significantly harder to put on any muscle. An energy-depleted muscle activates the AMPK signalling pathway which turns on the cellular mechanisms respoinsible for refilling energy stores and turns off the ones that cost energy - like protein synthesis. Do a lot of that, and you're not going to see any muscle gain at all, since the mTOR-mediated protein-building pathway keeps getting shut down on accound of the cardio side effects ;)

 You're doing the set/rep scheme roughly correct, just go a smidgen heavier on the protein and broccoli ;)

you might be getting plenty of calories in but what is your food quality like??

It's quite possible to be well fed but undernurished, whats your food like? as others have pointed out you don't seem to be getting enough protein, so what are your calories coming from??

You don't sound like your over training, or lacking sleep so food is the likely cause.

give us a break down of what your eating maybe we can spot something going astray?!

Thanks everybody, for the advice!

I guess I'll try to eat more protein (and see if I can get myself to eat more broccoli ;) and log my schedule better to find out if I really get enough rest. Not sure if I can sleep longer :( Can't go to bed much earlier. Or get up later. Hmmm.

I eat a lot of vegetables, so believe it or not, yes AN INSANE AMOUNT of those calories stem from veggies (mostly tomatoes and carrots).

In a typical day, I'll eat a few slices of bread and/or pasta/couscous/rice, 1-2 onions, bagged lettuce, 3-10 tomatoes, a few carrots, green beans, sweet peppers, and maybe an apple or two. I like to eat my carrots with lemon juice and yogurt, and I make a huge bowl of salad, with a bit of (mostly feta, mozzarella or goat) cheese. I try to eat tuna, eggs, chicken breast and fish to make sure I get enough protein, but I don't crave it, so I tend to forget that easily.
So yep, lots of veggies, lots of starchy and fibruous carbs, but I guess I need to eat less vegetables to leave room for more protein LOL

I guess I'm addicted to tomatoes :( The only thing that keeps me from eating kilos everyday is the price!!

When I get fatigued like that, it's usually because I'm low on iron. We women especially seem to have an issue with getting enough iron.

Try eating some spinach or other iron rich foods and see if that makes a difference. I noticed a huge difference in the fact that I would wake up with a lot more energy in the mornings after I started adding iron.

As far as protein goes, I've noticed green lentils are a GREAT source of protein. 1/4 cup has 10 grams!