During my cardio workouts, I sometimes just run out of gas.

I get kind of weak and shaky. It happened yesterday after only about 18 minutes.
I ate breakfast of cereal, strawberries and milk at about 9:30 am. Had a protein bar at 12 noon, got to the gym at about 12:50. I usually eat lunch after I work out.

You think it could be low blood sugar? I was kind of hungry when I started my workout.
Maybe I should just try to eat more protein before I go to the gym? I usually have a piece of fruit too before I work out, maybe at 11am. But I wasn't that hungry then so I didn't.

Do you think I should have my blood sugar tested? What kind of doctor specializes in this, or will my internist be ok to see about this? It doesn't happen often, twice a month or so.

Also, someone suggested a nutritional biochemist. I looked some up but they cost around $700 for a work up and I don't think insurance covers it.

What you described sounds like low blood sugar to me. It happens to me every once in awhile, especially if I work out at an odd time compared to when I normally exercise.

Depending upon your size and how much you workout, that sounds like it might not be enough food to get your body going and keep it going up until the 12:50 workout.

Divin'Hoosier:

What you described sounds like low blood sugar to me. It happens to me every once in awhile, especially if I work out at an odd time compared to when I normally exercise.

Depending upon your size and how much you workout, that sounds like it might not be enough food to get your body going and keep it going up until the 12:50 workout.

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The thing is, I usually go later! Like at about 1:15 or so. I went earlier because I had to give a presentation and I wanted to make sure I had enough time to work out and eat lunch. And another rub is I'm trying to lose weight too so I try to limit how much I eat. I try to stick with about 1500 calories a day. I guess if I have some chicken or turkey (1 or 2 ounces) before I workout, that might help with the blood sugar problem. You think about 30 minutes before?

fairybasslet:

You think it could be low blood sugar? I was kind of hungry when I started my workout.

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I don't know if you have low blood sugar, but I'll bet your regular MD could tell you that from your yearly blood test. I hope you'll go soon.

As for being hungry before your work out I can relate to you there. I was always hungry.

Then I started taking these GREAT vitamins everyday along with Fish Oil pills too. I can't believe the difference. I am hardly ever hungry now, and just eat because I should.

You can get the vitamins at any health store. They are called Solgar Formula VM-75.
Hope that helped.

fairybasslet:

I get kind of weak and shaky. It happened yesterday after only about 18 minutes.
I ate breakfast of cereal, strawberries and milk at about 9:30 am. Had a protein bar at 12 noon, got to the gym at about 12:50. I usually eat lunch after I work out.

You think it could be low blood sugar? I was kind of hungry when I started my workout.
Maybe I should just try to eat more protein before I go to the gym? I usually have a piece of fruit too before I work out, maybe at 11am. But I wasn't that hungry then so I didn't.

Do you think I should have my blood sugar tested? What kind of doctor specializes in this, or will my internist be ok to see about this? It doesn't happen often, twice a month or so.

Also, someone suggested a nutritional biochemist. I looked some up but they cost around $700 for a work up and I don't think insurance covers it.

Click to expand...

Try eating carbohydrates instead of protein before working out. A sandwich an hour before and a banana just before you start. If I'm not mistaken your body can make energy from carbohydrates more efficiently than protein.

R..

You were going good on the carbohydrate recommendation before working out, but the bananas would give me bad indigestion.

Eating 1500 calories/day and trying to work out will not be easy and might be too few calories, depending on your work out and your size...

The timing of your eating might be the problem, combined with the sugar content of the protein bar. Unfortunately, when protein bars are independently tested, many have much more sugar and much less protein than is on the label. If this is the case with your bar (nobody has the guts to post a truly complete list on this), then you could be experiencing "rebound hypoglycemia." This is not a medical condition that a doctor's blood test looks for, but is rather a normal phenomenon due to how our bodies regulate blood sugar.

What happens is that your blood sugar spikes after eating something sugary, usually when you're already hungry. Your body overreacts, pumping too much insulin into the bloodstream to tame the spike. This suppresses your ability to access glycogen and fat stores when exercising, leading to exactly the kind of early-workout bonk you're describing. I see this frequently with clients who drink a sports drink on their way to the gym because they hadn't eaten anything in a while.

It's best to just eat a normal or small lunch an hour before a mid-day workout, not something that comes in a wrapper. Then, follow your workout with a piece of fruit to top of your glycogen stores for your next workout.

Cameron

fairybasslet:

During my cardio workouts, I sometimes just run out of gas

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Well my suggestion would be to eat more beans. :lol: Ok sorry I had to do it, childish brain and all. It sounds to me like what my father refers to as vasovagal (spelling?) attack. From what I have been able to gather, I believe it is basically an issue of sugars getting to the brain or something like that, so it causes the whole shaky feeling. But I am clearly just regurgitating conversations between my doctor father and mother and I have no idea if what I got from their conversations is correct or if it is the LSD speaking.

But if you think it is a blood sugar thing why not at the next occurance check your blood sugar levels with one of those diabetic blood sugar things. Or you could just go to a doctor for a checkup and have him see if it is something to worry about.

Fine print: Use this advice at own risk, as always you should get your doctor to check it out to see if there is a bigger problem at hand

I think Cameron nailed it, and gave a lovely description of the phenomenon to boot.

When I hit this wall, it is my signal that I need to keep pushing. (I am a hard headed old grunt) Is it ok to push passed that or am hurting myself? I don't want to undermine the rest of my workout.