Am I doing the right thing?

[TooHeavy]

New to the board and am trying to absorb the tremendous amount of information that is out there on health and fitness. It can be overwhelming with often times seemingly contradictory advice. Need some ideas on how to combat some significant fatigue I've been experiencing lately.

First some background data. 6' 4", large framed, 330lbs., 38 year old male. About 100 lbs. overweight near as I can tell. Type II diabetic. Well controlled with some diet changes and lite meds immediately after diagnosis. Recently was able to drop the high blood pressure meds as well. Taking Lipitor for high cholesterol. Although recent blood tests indicate that we may be able too eliminate that med with continued work on the diet. Also have sleep apnea, which has been successfully treated with one of those damn air machines for a number of years now. Other then that I am in pretty good shape.

Have been working a bit on my diet and exercise since the beginning of the year. But only recently have gotten very serious about it. Over the last two weeks I've tried to significantly cut down my calories and record what I'm eating. The data looks like this for the last two weeks:
Averaging 2500 calories per day. Protein 20%, Carbs 45%, Fat 35%. Not sure what my rmr is but I am trying to run at a calorie deficit to loose the weight. Drinking 96-120 oz. of water per day.

Spend 2.5-3 hours at the gym 5-6 days per week.
60 min. of cardio Mon. - Fri. and often times Sat. as well. Resistance (machine) weight training, No free weights yet. Lower body on Mon., Wed., Fri. Upper body on Tue. and Thur. and often times Sat.

Taking no supplements. Don't know if I should be?

So, while my weight is going down, blood sugars are well in control, bp is good, cholesterol is better. The problem? I have felt terrible the last couple of weeks. Lots of fatigue. I'm not talking about general everyday type tiredness. Serious fatigue and just not having the energy I used to have on a daily basis. In addition, I've been having trouble getting to sleep or waking up in the early am and not being able to get back to sleep.

Suggestions for improvements to this program would be greatly appreciated.

Tooheavy

 

[bignate73]

serious fatigue? i would say you should shift your ratio of food. fats need to come down some. shoot for around 20% or less fats. i know it will be rough but the carbs will be more readily available for energy. 2500 seems a bit low on cals even if you are trying to stay in a deficit. remember you probably have a considerable amount of muscle as it is. even for myself i stay at 2500 when cutting and i weigh half what you do. (not being mean)

here is my from the hip suggestion, up your cals a bit, maybe 300 more or so and see how you feel. as for cardio 6 days a week. wow, thats a bit much. OR, stick to the 2500 on your off days but up your cals a bit on the days you train so that you will have the extra fuel to work hard. remember if you cant work hard, you burn less calories so fuel yourself so you can maximize your workout. just getting back into a serious regimented program, you may be needing a bit more recovery time. i would say to give yourself a day off midweek to rest/recuperate. an hour of cardio can take its toll rather quickly. i would suggest less than an hour, probably 40 minutes tops at a more aggressive rate. an hour tends to be more of a droning mind numbing cardio vs. something that will force you to focus to keep going. you might want to look into interval type cardio sessions which will allow you to shorten your time but still work hard and burn calories. at the same time it will help boost your metabolism throughout the day too (afterburn).

supplements, of course they will enhance what you are doing.

first and foremost a multivitamin. you need it to make up for the diminished food intake.

with all the exercise you are doing, a good lipotropic would hasten the process of fat metabolism.

currently im using this:
http://products.apexfitness.com/cgi-bin/24hourfitness.cgi/2115.html

all in all it sounds like you have a good plan going. try to up your cals a bit by adding carbs and you should be fine. by adding a multivitamin with some good b vitamins you may notice a different. also an antioxidant formula would be a good idea too, due to all the free radicals you have floating around from working out so much.

hope that helps.
peace

 

[MidwestJ]

would like to commend you on the lifestyle improvement *exercise* and the challenge you've chosen to undertake.

1 suggestion I might make is to up the protein intake over the fats/carbs. I have relatives who did the atkins diet and while many on here disagree with the atkins methods, the results prooved the diet worthy of notice.

2nd...I know that you're lifting the free weights which is good but don't neglect the effects that heavy weight training has on your metabolism. When lifting regularly and taxing your system, while sedentary (like resting and taking it easy) your body will use more calories in trying to build muscle than had you just done heavy cardio and a little lifting.

Continue your strenuous cardio but up the weight training and it will help you considerably.

Good luck

 

[bignate73]

would like to commend you on the lifestyle improvement *exercise* and the challenge you've chosen to undertake.

1 suggestion I might make is to up the protein intake over the fats/carbs. I have relatives who did the atkins diet and while many on here disagree with the atkins methods, the results prooved the diet worthy of notice.

2nd...I know that you're lifting the free weights which is good but don't neglect the effects that heavy weight training has on your metabolism. When lifting regularly and taxing your system, while sedentary (like resting and taking it easy) your body will use more calories in trying to build muscle than had you just done heavy cardio and a little lifting.

Continue your strenuous cardio but up the weight training and it will help you considerably.

Good luck

1) was bodyfat as well as lean body mass monitored or overall weight? many people who undertake the atkins program do so at the expense of muscle AND fat AND water, so their "results" are a bit more "impressive". (sarcasm) by losing muscle your metabolism follows and leaves you requiring less calories to maintain weight, so you plateau very easily. now with low carbs, energy is low and you have plateaued so it is difficult to increase intensity. better to stick with a balanced ratio of carbs proteins fats, in that order of importance. less of the imbalance side effects to deal with, and will prevent the rebound of weight from coming off a high protein diet due to decreased energy demands and percieved elevated BMR.

2) you must be confused with post exercise oxygen consumption (afterburn) which serves to elevate metabolism. its an elevated state of oxygen consumption induced by anaerobic training, not muscle recovery. the body will use calories to recover but it wont be due to extreme hypertrophy as you allude since there is a calorie deficit. there can be some muscle gain but not to the degree that one would get training and eating specifically for growth.

again the cardio is a bit much but is manageable if you get a break midweek for recovery. shifting the emphasis a bit onto the resistance training portion is advisable which will allow for less time doing cardio.

 

[TooHeavy]

all in all it sounds like you have a good plan going. try to up your cals a bit by adding carbs and you should be fine. by adding a multivitamin with some good b vitamins you may notice a different. also an antioxidant formula would be a good idea too, due to all the free radicals you have floating around from working out so much.

hope that helps.
peace [/B]

Thanks bignate. I forgot to mention I am taking one multivitamin a day. I will look into adjusting the cardio some. Currently the 60 min. is a type of interval I think. 3.0 mph slow and then it kicks up to 3.6mph for a bit. Part of the reason I've been going for 60min. is that I find it difficult to maintain a higher pace then 3.6 for any decent amount of time. So I thought I would extend the overall time out in order to burn ~600-700 cals per day. Acording to the machine anyway. I'll try cutting the overall time back to 40min. and see what happens. I think the shorter the overall time, the shorter the "rest" part of the interval is on these treadmills. I've got to find different cardio methods though as the dreadmill is getting old. Can only go about 15min. on a bike before my ass and balls go to sleep. Can't seem to get used to those elipticals for some reason. Did try the rowing machine the other day and while it kicked my ass, it may be a good alternative to the treadmill.

What is a good antioxidant? How much vitamin B?

Thanks again

Tooheavy