what to eat when you are tired

[killerasp]

i find myself very tired around the hours of 12-4. is there anything i can eat to give myself an energy boost?

[Sailguy]

have that nice cup of joe. No its not healthy, but it works. On a serious note, I think oranges help me out. I alway have a basket of oranges here at work I munch on when I'm feeling tired. The break from the routine and the bit of sugar help out.

[RWTD]

The best approach to avoid swings/drops in energy is to eat small,frequent,balanced meals throughout the day.Skipping meals,eating large unbalanced meals or relying on sugar or caffiene exclusively for energy can all leave you feeling tired .If as in your other post you have weight trained that morning and eaten a good meal around 11:30 eat another similar meal around 2:30 .

[slick1]

i find that licorice works for me. Low fat and quite healthy.

slick1:p

[Dougmt]

Fans of the low-cab way of eating will tell you that it's the sugar bonk caused from your lunch. I do know that when I was eating raw meat for breakfast/lunch/dinner I did not experience the afternoon bonk... but I did want to kill animals with my bare hands and eat them like a caveman :)
Doug

[amerpie]

Ahh. maybe that one multi-vitamin a day isn't doing the trick for you. Consider taking a B50, l-carnitine, and CO-Q10 with lunch. Also, replace that one a day vitamin with something formulated to be taken with each meal.

[juciluci]

are you taking in enough water?.. not enough can make you feel tired too
also you need to eat a snack with carb and protein ..4 hours without food will make you bonk.. especially if you are riding etc.
a good multivitamin is great but you have to watch what you take in the afternoon.. some vitamins can disturb your sleep pattern.. and cause a vicious cycle of tiredness day after day.

.. school studies found that kids who did not have a decent breakfast.. and snacks during the day had low concentration and complained of tiredness during the after noon hours.
hint...... eat....eat...eat.

p.s. altho oranges are promoted at races.. the sugar spike is not enough to get you through 4 hours.. having the orange after a meal of carb and protein is a better choice. :)

[Dutchy]

Let me guess. Are you at work when you feel tired? I bet this doesn't happen on Saturday or Sunday.

I think it is called "I'm stuck at workitis".:crash:

CHEERS.

mark

[Stew]

I agree with all the other posts. Another thing you might want to try is a handful of chocolate chips.

If you're like me though, the real solution is to get more sleep.

[killerasp]

i dont enought sleep is a problem. the more i get, the more tired i will feel through out the day. i can get 12 hrs and be tired within 3 hrs when i wake up. i can get 6 hrs and still feel more energetic.

as for the multi vitamin, i figured a centrum a day would help me since i dont eat right most of the time.

i try to space out my meals. i find myself eating 4-5x a day. mostly snacks like a cookie or a drink to wake me up. i wish food didnt have to cost so much. :(

[RWTD]

At least you have now started to identify what the problem is.It looks like you are trying to rely on youth(and a centrum) to get you through an improper diet and possibly not enough sleep.If you are weight training 6days a week with high intensity to gain size plus the additional ab work etc. you have mentioned you are going to now have to focus on getting the diet (and rest/recovery)right if you want to see any results from your hard work in the gym,avoid the fatigue you describe and even worse falling prey to overtraining which will bring any gains to a standstill.First can you describe your diet a little better,what is the drink you refer to(hopefully not coffee), how much sleep do you get on average and do you do any aerobics currently with the weight training program you have described in other posts?It sounds like you may be trying to eat a low calorie/low carb diet and then tend to binge on sugar as a result none of which is a good idea with high intensity training with muscle gain the objective.Also too much(as you have noticed) or too little sleep can be a problem and with the training you do 6 hrs. per night should be a bare minimum and you should shoot for more like at least 8 .Snacks like cookies will not give you sustained energy but rather a quick boost followed by a crash causing fatigue like you describe.You need to make the frequent meals/snacks more balanced and get steady input of protein as well if you want to gain muscle as you have indicated in other posts.This doesn't have to be expensive in fact healthy foods can be less than many processed foods.For protein whey in 5lb. size is economical as is powered milk,lean cuts of meat and eggs,for carbs oatmeal and fresh fruit and vegis are cheap and for fats go with nuts,seeds and the fats from your protein sources for example the yokes of the eggs.From the above list you have ingredients for a balanced high protein shake for snack and other nutritious meals that will give you sustained energy plus the nutrients you need for growth and a centrum a day will not substitute for this.

[killerasp]

Well, here is my daily routine when i dont have to work.

8:00- Wake up
8:30-10:00 - gym (30min weight lifing, 30 min cardio)
10:30 - eat (1 toasted hollowed out bagel with chicken salad, lettece, tomato, onions; protien shake; salad)
2:30- i usually get hungry around this time so i eat lunch (turkey sandwich, lettece, tomato, onion; water)
5:30- usually get hungry around this time so i eat dinner (turkey sandwich, lettece, tomato, onion; water; some fruit)
9:00- eat snack (crackers, juice or yogert, what ever i got in my fridge)
1am- sleep

i dont drink coffee very much, maybe once a week. im not sure if im eating a low cal diet, im not even counting cal when i eat. i just eat something non fat or too much carb till im not hungry anymore. when i seriously work out during the upcoming months ill usually eat 2-3x more a day with 2-3 protien shakes a day with skim milk.

[RWTD]

ok Sounds like your in a cutting fat mode now and generally that all sounds pretty good but there seems to be some descrepency between your last two posts.If you limit both carbs and fat the diet will be fairly low calorie and you will tend to use protein as fuel rather than for building/maintaining muscle,you may experience fatigue/low energy and further your meals will not seem as filling and you will have a tendancy to binge on sugar/cookies etc. as a result which sounds like might be happening.I would add in a small amount of unrefined fats which will help satiate your appetite to eliminate the binging and also will actually help make it easier for your body to utilize fat as an energy source which is what you want.Also I would drop the crackers and juice in the evening and stick with the yogurt and perhaps add some whole fruit if desired. The key question though is what kind of results are you seeing?

[killerasp]

To be honest, i dont see much results of my work out for the last 2 months. I feel better, but i dont see any physical results. I dont seem to be gaining wieght, but i dont seem to be losing weight. But i think ive been putting on more muscle b/c im down to 190 from 200 in the last month.

I dont think im burning enough to even see a weight loss. I cant even do stationary bike for more than 20 mintues before my ADD kicks in. I know i will start to burn more when the weather gets better and i can bike for real.

I think my main problem lies in my diet. I dont know what i shoudl be eating to maintin my health and yet still loose weight.

[RWTD]

The key is to eat for your activity level so that you maintain a small to moderate deficit in calories in vs. calories out.As you indicate you are losing weight you sound on track here.You should eat low carbs for low activity levels and more carbs(complex)for higher activity levels.At low activity level it would be helpful to add some fat like I said before to satisfy your appetite and keep you from binging on sugary carbs which tend to become addictive causing you to overeat. Losing 10 lbs. in a month or so sounds excellent to me so you must be doing something right.Just keep going at a gradual but sustainable pace.

[RWTD]

Let me expand on my last post as I am not sure this is clear.Sounds like your lack of energy is from a low calorie diet creating a large calorie deficit and possibly binging on sugar to narrow the deficit.If you are losing fat and can stay with it I always say go with what works.However if your fat loss is stalling and it will at some point with this approach I suggest you up the calories somewhat and up the activity level as well as you will now have more energy to do this.If you take this approach what I suggest is you add in a complex carb source(a small bowl of oatmeal works well here)and up the weight training to 1 hour followed by half hour on the trainer.Do the weights with a three way split not 5 or 6 way and work at a fast pace with higher reps and less weight. Also on the weights go 2 or 3days on and then a day off.You can do an hour of trainer on off day if up to it or just rest.This all will up your metabolism burning more fat .The idea is to create a more moderate calorie deficit like 500 calories max and lose weight at a more gradual but sustainable pace like 4 or 5lbs a month rather than 10.

[shokhead]

I eat the single servings of apple sauce and oranges,great pick me up and a boost an hour before you ride.

[killerasp]

usually when i do work out, once i get the blood flowing, im not tired anymore. but later in the day, its catches up to me.

[RWTD]

Well the turkey sandwich with vegis at 2:30 sounds like it should be a pretty good energy booster.However I do seem to recall turkey is high in an amino acid that can cause drousiness so you may want to try chicken or something else and see if this helps.If you want to stay with the lower calorie/lower activity approach just remember to make every calorie count nutritionwise which means no refined junk.Cookies or sugar on an empty stomach will cause all that more of a yo-yo effect with your energy levels.One other idea you may want to try a short 5-10 min. power nap if able particularly if your sleep has been at the lower end of the needed range it can catch up with you later in the day.Also as amerpie mentioned you might want to try more B-complex vitimins as they help with energy production and you may be low on them if your avoiding whole grains.