Fatigue

i am two months out. All,is okay but I am so tired. All the time. Physically feel like I have no energy, and my muscles also have strong sense of just not working.

i get my liquids, protein and vitamins, and my surgeon at my two month appt. yesterday said, you are doing great. Maybe eat more calories if you are tired.

Well, I guess I will try because I need to be more active, and even exercise. For the moment I just rely on steps and get ~ 5k to 10k. But I know weight loss will slow f imdont get more cardio etc.

Did any of you get intensely tired and have insights?

Hi

Yes I definitely suffered fatigue and a lot if it had to do with the hormone dumping taking place with the weight loss.

I have also suffered from major depressive disorder and although this was in control at the time of surgery I had a relapse a few months out. I'm only mentioning this as I don't think many people get told about the effect losing weight so quickly can have on hormones, adrenal function and brain chemistry. Please keep that in mind.

In terms of helping with the fatigue I found adding a greens drink like Vital Greens or something similar that contains spirulina and other cellular boosting nutrients was a game changer in helping my body get the energy back. Rest as much as you can too. Never underestimate the seriousness of the surgery and changes to your body, it will take quite some time to recover and you deserve to be gentle with yourself during the process.

I hope this helps somewhat, wishing you great success and more energy in the months ahead :)

Thank you for responding. I was heavier and felt much better even with the weight. Now I wake up and think, got to get out of bed. Or feel my thigh muscles complain as I go up the stairs in my house. Even now, I'm sitting and my body feels just completely fatigued. I'm fighting it! You could be right about greens etc., as with eating protein all the time and tracking, I rarely get greens and salad, which I used to eat all the time before. I thought vitamins would be filling the gap, but know they aren't the same. I'm trailing taking extra b12 but that does not seem to be having any effect, at least so far.

I am exhausted whenever my vitamins are deficient and whenever I don't get enough salt and potassium. If you are having muscle issues and are on a low carb diet, most likely it's your electrolytes.

I noticed that I was dragging butt too. Once I changed up my breakfast to more calories it made a huge difference. I went from 100 calories to 250+ and it was amazing. My typical breakfast is 4 slices of bacon or 2 slices of bacon and 2 eggs or 4 ounces of sausage.

It's definitely a thing! Anesthesia affects everyone a bit differently and it takes time to recover from that. Plus, basically, your body is cannibalizing itself :P That takes energy too! The low calorie diet doesn't help. However... being active does help! So it's great that you're getting in walks.

Don't worry too much about the exercise right now. Here's a great article (that is well sourced even if it's Vox) that you should read. https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise- myth-burn-calories Everyone should read it, actually. :)

Let yourself take an afternoon nap if necessary. It's okay!

I'm 2 months out as well and feel exactly the same way that you do. I haven't started exercising but plan to next week and i use my fitbit trying to get in a many steps as i can but haven't been hitting 10K too often. I agree with what others have said, it will take time and we are eating so few calories no wonder we aren't feeling like our old selves! I also have weird aches and pains...the heating pad is a good friend.

I'm sure we will both improve with time!

I think it rarely has to do with calorie consumption and more to do with healing, general stress on the body from losing and electrolyte levels. I ate ridiculously few calories and felt like superman.

Give yourself time to heal and stay with your activity level, you have time to increase your cardio and honestly, exercise is great for health but not great for weight loss.

It's probably too early for your labs to be taken. Are you taking B12?

You're definitely not alone here. I am three months post op and I'm very, very fatigue all the time. Eating such a limiting diet would probably fatigue any one weighing an average weight, let alone someone who has a substantial amount of weigh to lose.

I take Bariatric Advantage, which is loaded with B12, but my surgeon recommended that I also take some more B12; 5000mg every other day. It's helped a bit, but for the most part I just deal with it. I'm hoping the more the weight drops, the more energy I will have.

I've been allowing myself to sleep more which helps a bit.

Also, do you know how many calories you're at? It may be beneficial to squeeze a few more in there, I feel better on days where I'm at 800 calories for sure.