Exhausted after exercise classes, take Huel to see if will help

#21

I’ve also started taking Vitamin D some months ago, following Dr. Greger recommendation. But other doctors recommend caution and they recommend sun exposure instead.

Overall I think the risk/benefit ratio should be favorable if you take a small dose (like 2000 IU) every day. Sun should be preferable but many of us can’t do it. In UK it’s even harder for obvious reason.

Anyway, the ideal I think is to run outdoor every day for half an hour or so, while warning summer clothes (even during winter). This should give aerobic exercise and sun exposure.

#22

From experience I’d say you need more calories, maybe the Huel Bars? :slight_smile:️

#23

Thanks for all this. Will reply to your posts in turn.
I am not on a calorie restricted diet. I enjoy the exercise classes where I want to work to my maximum but if I do so I get this exhaustion. Having thought about it maybe I haven’t got DOMS as my muscles aren’t sore in the sense of soreness to the touch when stroked or messaged - I know this feeling as have experienced this but a diffeent thing to the exhaustion I’m describing and DOMS becomes evident the next day. I want to exercise to keep healthy, that’s my only goal and I enjoy it. I’ll try increasing my carb in take before exercise - but confusing - come on to this when i reply to later post. ps we do cool downs

#24

Thanks for this. I’ve had health check up and they always say nothing wrong. NHS not interested as its not diabetes. I say this as I had a fasting blood glucose test and what it did show was that on the injestion of the liquid glucose my blood sugar went extremely low i.e. reactive hypoglycaemia - the pancreas is over sensitive to insulin which causes too much insulin to be released causing low blood sugar. I bought my own blood sugar monitor but haven’t been able to replicate a low reading maybe as I try to eat healthily - wouldn’t take all this glucose in one go. But also as dietary recommendations I’ve had are to eat little and often low glycaemic index foods . Basically never been able to get to the bottom of this. Concluded years ago I may have mild m.e. or something, but never give up hope.

I am going to try blending a banana into the Huel to see what happens so thanks for this idea

#25

I’m not extremely over weight but have some weight to lose!

#26

My performance is stagnating as I always have the same problem, timing and symptoms almost identical. Will try increasing my calories before exercise. By the way I only spend 20-30 minutes in swimming pool but this is enough for me to feel the ill-exhausted feeling a few hours later. Initially envirgorated.

#27

Thanks very much for taking the time here. It’s confusing as because it was noticed on a fasting glucose tolerance test that I have hypoglycaemia (i.e. because of over sensitivity of the pancreas too much insulin was released causing blood sugar to go far too low which is called 'reactive hypoglycaemia) I’ve been advised by a numberf of dieticians to follow a low glycaemic index diet and eat every 3 hours. This is to avoid over stimulating the pancreas. And to avoid a sudden rush of easily assimilated carbohyrates especially glucose/sugar. So its confusing

Am going to try 3 scoops + banana before exercise . As said I have no appetitie early in the morning - so it’s not to lose weight why I exercise but for health reasons and for feel - good effect - well that is feel good initially. It defeats the object if I have to spend the rest of the day lying on the couch which is what I often do.
The exhaustion I think is in direct relation to the amount of strenuous work

#28

hmcd, the ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’ is very interesting. You haven’t answered to my first question, if you’re following low carb diet already. What’s carb as % of calories you eat?

#29

My advice anyway is to take whole grains, or even better whole beans (beans have lower glycemic index) and eat them before and after exercise. But i mean a LOT of them. You need to fill a salad bowl with them. 400g dry weight. Then eat whatever you can eat until you’re fully satiated before exercise. After exercise, eat again from same bowl until you’re again fully satiated. Then report the results :slight_smile:

P.S: Also it’s recommended to add some spinach or some other veggies in the bowl.

#30

Thanks for this Eli. Yes I take Huel as a pre-workout and post-workout
replacement. At about 11 I start to eat ordinary solid food.I also take
vitamin D 1000iu. But I get the exhaustion after exercise all throughout
the year, not just in winter. I am not doing all this to lose weight but
just to keep healthy and I enjoy it - that is until I get the post workout
exhaustion. I don’t use apps . I have looked into food supplements -
vitamins and minerals ect. and found it a mindfield to work out what to
take, especially as Huel - and I have used a similar product for years -
has something of everything in anyway. I have tried discussing my
’problem’ with PTs but they don’t have a clue and always look completely
blank when i explain as the received wisdom from PTs etc is that people
want to be couch potatoes but that if they make the effort to exercis they
will find dthat they can do it and it will become easier. Which doesn’t
happen with me .What is BCAA? I have a SAD lamp, but as said, i have
this problem with exercise all throughout the year. I have concluded
before i may have ‘mild m.e’ but then where does that lead me, what do i
do? thanks again

#31

About the ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’, my guess is that you have some unhealthy insulin resistance, but you’ve also an healthy pancreas and it does secrete enough insulin to clear the glucose. But then you’re left with an extra amount of insulin in the blood. This is just an hypothesis and it’s your duty to verify it! Do you have diabetes T2 running in your family? To prevent insulin resistance, you need to eat low fat and low protein.

P.S: To test if this theory is right, you can try to eat only bread for a few days. With zero oil and zero protein shakes. For best result, only pure bread. If your symptoms go away, then you can slowly reintroduce the other macronutrients in small steps until symptoms returns. It’s called elimination diet. In this case we’re eliminating the potentially troubling macronutrients to attempt to diagnose the problem.

2nd P.S: Only potatoes is the same. Perhaps better because potatoes have even more vitamins and minerals. The macro ratios are similar. They’re very low in fat (perhaps even too low, but if you do this only for a few days this is not a problem) and minimal in protein. And they’re also high GI, but this doesn’t matter that much.

#32

It definitely sounds like a calorie problem, good luck, let us know how you get on x maybe lots of small meals?

#33

The fact that you have been taking Vitamin D supplements tells me that I may be onto something here haha but please check User3532’s theory first because that should take precedence.

Given that you don’t use apps and local PT’s have been unhelpful I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you probably haven’t checked exactly how much Huel you should be taking per day or meal. Now as you’ve pointed out, it already has “something of everything in any way”, but too much or too little could be the cause of your tiredness. My suggestion is to use at least an online website where you can input your details, i.e. gender, age, current kg, desired kg and level of activity and then it will tell you how many calories per day you should be consuming. Once you have that number, you can divide it into a specific number of Huel scoops that you can distribute in 4 or 5 (preferably equal and in fixed intervals) meals. Alternatively and if you only have two Huel meals per day, decide what proportion of your diet should be covered by Huel and then estimate what the remainder is that ought to be covered by conventional food. The problem could well be that because you’re doing a mixed diet (and you’re perfectly entitled to do so), you may not be getting the correct amounts. Once all of this is done, you can make a few easy calculations either on a piece of paper or again on a website whereby you can see the total of the nutrients, micronutrients and macronutrients. You compare those results against what is recommended for people with your details, and then you add or reduce accordingly.

It’s entirely possible to avoid taking any supplements whatsoever. However, given that it’s a mixed diet and you don’t get the 100% of “something of everything in any way” (haha love it) you still need to find what’s left once you’ve taken your Huel and cover that through conventional food.

As someone who has been working with people who do have mild m.e, chronic fatigue and some forms of depression, I can tell you that the fact that you’re here discussing this issue with strangers is a positive sign that you may not have mild m.e (good news!). You may, however, have mood swings because of other factors like your work/home environment, emotional distress or merely stress about some things. You’re quite right, the journey is about being healthy and happy, so perhaps you need to invest a bit more in your happiness. I don’t mean that you should go out and buy 1207123 pairs of shoes haha! But maybe you have been neglecting what makes you happy and focused too much on what will potentially make you content in the future. I’m no expert myself on this topic as I struggle with depression every now and again, but I find that a combination of good sleep, healthy eating, frequent exercise, specific kinds of music and pursuing my hobbies help keep my energy levels high and mood on the positive side. But what works for me may not necessarily work for you, which is why everyone could benefit from learning more about themselves either by visiting their doctor or through self-awareness, or a combination of both. Good luck with your journey and keep us posted on your findings!

#34

it’s interesting you put sleep first. i also suffer from sleep deprivation. and it’s self-inflicted. it seems many of us are out of control and we can’t avoid staying up at night! i’ve heard this again and again!

i think in the past they didn’t have this problem because no computer and no lights! they were lucky!

#35

Thanks very much for your lengthy reply. I would willingly pay someone if I could get to the bottom of my physical problem. As have had it for so long have already done quite a lot of investigation but with no avail. Would take a while to explain.

Yesterday I went to a pilates class 8.30am. Find it reasonably easy and enjoyable to do at the time but the muscles I particularly worked very disappointingly ached afterwards. If this sounds good and positive I wish it was , but I have learned from experience that its when I’ve worked muscles I get this exhaustion which comes on a few hours later. Also observed that the exhaustion is in direct relationship to the amount of physical work, which means unless I make a conscious effort not to work as hard as I woud like to as suffer for it later and probably the exercise had been to no effect as more sedentary when exhausted. Had 2 scoops huel before, starting sipping at 7.30. Drank some during and a scoop afterwards. walk there and back, 15 minutes there and back. Had healthy very light meal at about 10 and another healthy light meal at about 12. Frustratingly the exhaustion came on, ended up eating unhealthy sweet stuff in the afternoon as so tired and needed to keep going to some extent as sorting friend’s house out for sale. To give an example my arms ached terribly putting curtains up. Its now next morning and still feel a bit lousy as a result of what happened yesterday. If a just have a low grade exercise day such as walking and housework I feel fine, but crave the exercise and stretching

\I have checked the calories in every scoop of Huel and I do have sufficient calories per day. As said when I don’t do any exercise that taxes me physically I feel well. Just yearn for exercise as wanting to keep fit and healthy and enjoy it mentally. That’s until my energy goes downhill which I know if a physical thing.

I’ve had this for absolutely years, maybe 20 or more. The reason I say m.e. maybe is that I’ve very reluctantly had to come to this conclusion after its been suggested to me. I don’t have mood swings and its completely unrelated to life events and stress. I already invest in my happiness , and have massage twice a month as I enjoy it as very much into body awareness and bodily things to deal with life Also very much enjoy the exercises at the time, really its part of my social lilfe the people I meet on a regular basis. That s one of the reasons I persist with it and really don’t want to give it up.

Will just send this for now as getting wordy. Thanks for reading

#36

Did the tests include thyroid hormones?

#37

Have you tried cutting out whole food groups, such as dairy or gluten, to see if that makes a difference?

Could you be low in something like iron or another mineral which the exercise is depleting further, thus causing the exhaustion?

#38

Okay, a couple of bells rang, and lights flashed while I was reading your reply.

I did start writing a more detailed response, but it got way too lengthy. To make a long story medium, your timing is off. It could be some things that keep you low on energy and in pain but, your timing is wrong by default, and therefore you’re not helping your body distribute and conserve energy very efficiently. Now I know that no one likes to be told that they’re wrong and by all means, I could be wrong. However, if you’re willing to try something different after suffering through this condition for 20 years or more, here’re a few suggestions:

  1. Try to finish a meal at least one hour before your exercise, as to allow your body to digest and produce enough energy for your exercise.
  2. Dedicate at last 10 minutes on appropriate warm up before your exercise and cool down after exercise as to avoid injuries and muscle pain. By all means, they should make you do it in the class but if they don’t, it is easy to learn a few self-myofascial release exercises and perform them with a foam roller. This is the equivalent of a free massage after every session.
  3. Avoid eating food during the exercise. Limit yourself to some water to keep you hydrated during exercise.
  4. Try to distribute your meals evenly throughout the day, with your last meal being between three to four hours before bedtime. i.e. if you wake up at 06:30, have a meal at 07:00, one at 11:00, one at 15:00 and one at 19:00 or one at 07:00, one at 10:00, one at 13:00, one at 16:00 and one at 19:00. In both cases, your total intake should be the same, but the per meal intake should be distributed differently.
  5. Half pint of water after every trip to the toilet, before, during and after exercise, before each meal and before bedtime.

These are my suggestions as far as timing goes. As I said, it could be a few different things that keep you low on energy and some of them would explain your cravings for food. But as far as I can tell, most if not all of your complaints could arise to anyone who eats at the wrong times and doesn’t warm up/cool down when exercising. Again, I don’t claim to be an expert, and I only speak out of my personal experience and learning so feel free to tweak these suggestions to suit you better, within reason. The only thing I will insist on is to avoid eating during exercise. There’s no need or reason for you to eat during exercise. Professional athletes who have to spend hours training are justified to have something but not if you’ve already had breakfast and will be home 15 minutes after the class.

Good luck and please have a read on here if you get the time.

#39

Sorry if this has been mentioned earlier, I just skimmed through the thread, but have you checked your blood iron levels? May want to supplement iron to see if you get more energy.

#40

@hbmcd I felt compelled to reply, as your first post describes my reaction to exercise, perfectly. Have been the same for the 15-ish years I’ve been regularly exercising - not in pain, but shattered after about two hours post-workout.

For practical reasons, I simply switched my routine around, starting work before 08:00 to give me enough time to get to the gym and then home by 19:00. This means I have JUST enough time to cook my tea (yep, always have a conventional meal in the evening), and sort stuff out for the next day before crashing on the sofa. Doesn’t leave much time for TV as it’s unusual for me not to have dozed off by 22:00!

Similar to you, all health checks gave come back fine, and as my other half is a registered dietitian, I know that my nutrition intake is about right.

Huel has helped a little in that on my gym days, I have an extra 250kcal of Huel mid-morning, and a 250kcal Huel post-workout whilst showering. This makes the effect less severe, to the point that I will now workout during the morning on a day off if I’ve not much planned for the rest of the day.