Suddenly struggling with energy levels

[EverLast]

Hoping someone can maybe advise as to what i could be doing wrong here. Ive been eating carefully and exercising for roughly 5 weeks, ive been doing well and lost half a stone and 3 inches from my waist and 3 inches from my hips ive been having breakfast, lunch and dinner and im a healthy weight with a relatively low bmi at 20 but i seem to have a LOT of fat around my middle good handful that im trying to budge. Twice this week ive had to stop exercising within 5 mins of starting as my energy levels have just crashed, dizzyness, shaky, literally cant continue ive also felt EXTREMELY hungry all of a sudden like i want to consume everything in sight especially in the evenings my stomach is grumbling away its becoming hard to resist as i know eating before bed is a no no any ideas why ive went from coping fine to feeling so drained?

I feel like that if I havent eaten enough.....maybe you need to up your sugar level a bit.

I remember a few months ago was playing DH at badminton and I had to stiop because I honestly thought I was going to pass out, felt like I was floating along. I had to have a snickers and after I ate that I felt fine again.

So yes, its def something in your diet needs adjusting.......maybe for breakfast have something slow releasing like porridge?? Put some fruit in there to get sugar levels up.

thanks i usually have weetabix in the morning could maybe add banana or something will try porridge never actually had it before so not sure if i like it its strange how ive been fine all these weeks and then when i weigh less and likely need less calories i suddenly want to eat more. I managed to do 30 min workout dvd after lunch but took a funny turn a half hour ago and grabbed a bag of crisps! they were velvet crunch though so not too bad lol im awiting my 30DS dvd to arrive so need to get my energy back up

When you say you have been eating carefully, what would a typical day's food be?

I'm not diabetic (yet) but definitely have 'issues' with blood sugar. Weetabix for breakfast would have me weak and shaky by 11am. I would always opt for a protein based breakfast personally, and make sure I included a good amount of lean protein in every meal.

Hi, definitely sounds like you are not eating enough. Sounds that you are quite slim and that's why you could be feeling funny when excercising without fuelling properly. I would recommend uping food intake and eating something carby 1-2 hours before excercising to provide you with enough energy.

You can still lose weight by eating a balanced diet (3 meals containing protein, complex unprocessed carbs, veg plus 2-3 snacks) as long as you go for healthy options and excercise. Plus, you need to find out what works for you. I personally hate going to bed hungry so always snack before bed (cereal, or rice cakes with cottage cheese, peanut butter or an apple etc.) and it definitely never caused issues with my weight. So work out what works for you and above all, listen to your body, i.e. when hungry, eat.

Nooo, don't start eating more sugar, that will only make it worse.

Sounds like you're not eating enough, but don't make up the shortfall with rubbish carbs.

If your BMI is only 20 then you're obviously not overweight. How many calories are you going through a day? Make sure you're not going under your BMR

a typical day would be, breakfast 2 weetabix with little semi skimmed, lunch of sandwich with ham or turkey slices and small bowl of fruit (about a handful), then dinner of whatever im cooking for the family i.e pasta, curry, stews, etc i eat a slightly smaller portion than i used to. Occassionally i will have a few grapes or something mid afternoon if im struggling i have no idea about calories though as i dont know whats in my evening meal as im cooking for 4. im pretty inactive generally though except roughly 45 mins of dvd per day 5 days per week.

My bmi is low and weight is too but i DO have a lot of fatty areas especially around my middle below navel mesures 36" yet above only 27' for example

I have had my blood sugars checked in the past i do tend to drop quite drastically after meals.

Go on My Fitness Pal and log your calories for a few days to get an idea of what you're having. DOesn't sound like you're having anywhere near enough and if you're eating below BMR your body will hoard fat and that might actually cause you to gain weight.

If that's a typical day you're having a lot of carbs and that's only going to make the blood sugar problem worse. Try replacing breakfast with 2 scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast perhaps?

Can you be more active?

Belly fat in particular is also linked to sugar/ insulin levels, when these are higher then your body clings on to fat in that area.

I would do as cumberdick says re MFP and also try and cut out sugar and processed carbs...eg replace the weetabix with porridge or eggs or fruit with greek yoghurt. No white bread or pasta/rice. When you do eat carbs go for low GI ones. Eat lots of veg. Add more lean protein as snacks in between meals, eg a few nuts, a boiled egg, some cheese, turkey or tuna.

Also it definitely sounds like you should be doing resistance(weight) training to build muscle, you don't sound overweight, but "skinny fat". Exercise, including weights and a healthy diet (not one designed to help you lose weight) should burn off the excess fat and give you some nice firm muscles instead. you will look slimmer and healthier and you measurements will shrink but you won't necessarily weigh less - in fact you may even weigh slightly more!