The past 6-12 months I have really been dragging. I went through a painful relocation during that time frame but I've been in my house and mostly 100% comfortable for several weeks now and I've even started eating a LOT better for a solid 2 weeks. But my energy level is always garbage these days. I always do stuff on the weekend, whether its pressure washing the driveway/deck, installing something in the house, wiring something, car/garage work, yard work, or whatever so I'm sure that's contributing to just "being tired" but I'm 27 freaking years old... I feel like I should still have "20-somethings" energy. A couple details about me:

- I'm also 5'7" ish and 170 lbs which is a pretty high BMI. I could stand to lose maybe 5 lbs off my stomach but a lot of my weight is muscle. I still have some good definition in my stomach and chest area.
- I have a wife, no kids
- Good income and no debt so none of that stress really (although I always think about it)
- I also take vitamins daily so I don't think it's a deficiency of any kind?
- I've almost completely stopped drinking the past 2-3 weeks (I used to drink 1-2 beers per night when I got home from work to help relax my brain from the calculations/details and stuff from the day).
- My diet the past 2 weeks has been ~2,000 calories/day, fruits and vegetables, lean protein, a lot of whole grains, rice cakes and natural peanut butter, wheat thins, beef jerky are go-to's, and I've been making fresh smoothies every night...
- I haven't been working out or running lately, and I used to. But trust me, I get plenty of activity in my job and when I get home from work I'm always doing something, like I said. I did buy a treadmill though last week, still waiting for it to come in. So I'm sure that will be good for me
- I also cut out soda from my diet, completely, the past 2-3 weeks and I used to drink about 1 per day
- I drink plenty of water
- Brewed coffee is my goto caffeine, 1-2 cups/day - I cut out energy drinks a long time ago

So what's the deal? This is almost as bad as when I had mono (or maybe half as bad). I'm dead by 9:30-10:30 pm when I used to be able to stay up until midnight easy. But my job is pretty taxing mentally and sometimes physically so I've attributed most of it to that.

Anyone have any advice? Had a similar experience?

 

Have you had a sleep study run? Sleep apnea can cause that. You may think you are sleeping well, yet you feel just as tired after sleeping as before because the sleep is not good sleep. Besides being tired, sleep apnea causes a panic response (aka adrenaline) in your body when your airway closes and is horrible on your heart, and can lead to heart failure at an early age if not treated. So it is worth checking out.

Thyroid issues can also cause loss of energy.

And of course, stress can certainly do it. At my last job it was constant stress for the last year, and even though I work out pretty regularly and am active, it really wore me down. Getting out of that situation helped a lot.

 

agree with everything engifineer said..

when i was 27, i had similar issues.. but i felt more sleepy.. it turned out to be sleep apnea, however i was overweight then.. sleep apnea occurs more often in overweight/obese people but my doc was saying he's had patients who were very thin who had severe apnea..

i got my thyroid checked first and it was fine and then went to a sleep specialist who determined i had sleep apnea..

there are also psychological factors that could be at play as well (i.e: depression)..

 

I haven't had one done but my mother in law just had hers and is now on a CPAP (sp?) machine. But she snored like a passing train. I feel like I sleep well, I wake up no more or less groggy than I have my whole life. And typically on weekends I'm up by 8 ready to start my day (which drives my wife nuts), feeling pretty refreshed and ready to go. But the energy just doesn't last very long I guess.

My last job was more stressful than my new job (I've been hear a little over a year now). I'm a process engineer so I'm basically a support department to production. I wouldn't say my job is stressful, it's just demanding mentally and sometimes physically and there's a LOT going on. But I'm not "on the hook" for anything on a regular basis since my job is primarily just to fix things. I wouldn't classify it as a stressful job.

I'll check into the thyroid thing.

 

I dunno what it is.. But i'm right there with ya. 27 also. Someone mentioned to me it could be low testosterone? I'm pretty stubborn about seeing a doc though.

 

Yea, I may go see the doc about it but this is the type of thing I'd like to go see a doc that I've had for a while about. But since I've just moved to the area recently, I don't really have a good doc yet. I'll probably find someone and go anyways though. But I'm going to wait until after I've gotten my treadmill and have run and eaten well for at least 2 months or so before I do that probably.

 

" I'm dead by 9:30-10:30 pm when I used to be able to stay up until midnight easy. But my job is pretty taxing mentally and sometimes physically so I've attributed most of it to that. "


Prolly majority of the fatigue is this. New job is one of the more stressful events. Change in diet (including reduction of alcohol and colas) can have a temporary effect, as your body adjusts. Just need more sleep, to compensate for extra energy expended.

It's hard to jump into new routines, at the same time.

Good luck with that!

 

Yea, but I don't understand why that would be the case. For the past year, because my living arrangements were "in limbo" (lived out of hotels for a month, moved into 1 bd apartment by myself with none of my stuff, wife moved in 6 months later with some of our stuff and rest in storage, bought a house < 2 months ago and was finally all moved in only about 3-4 weeks ago) my diet was awful, a lot of fast food high fat high carb a lot of fried food ALLLL the time. And every time I finished eating I felt like crap from all that stuff. When I changed my diet 2-3 weeks ago it didn't feel like a difficult change. I'm not sure why my body would need to "adjust" to it. If anything I would think I'm being easier on my body. Maybe I'm wrong though, I'm not a doctor.

I understand it's hard to jump to new routines, but this has been a problem for at least 6 months or more. I only recently changed up my routine though. Unless maybe I'm switching from one routine to another because of all the changes going on and I never get to settle down into a rhythm, which is what I tell my wife all the time. Maybe that's it.

 

It's like a I turned 30 and immediately put on 10 pounds. Im 5'10" and 170, but from high school and through college I could never break 155. I suppose a 24 pack of beer per week probably doesn't help.

 

Have you had your blood sugar checked, lately? Ever go through a radical change in diet before? Some ppl adjust differently to these changes. Have you had any lingering colds or other illnesses?

If this continues, prolly best to get a check-up. Run some blood tests to check for anemia, shifts in white blood cell counts, high or low blood sugar, and electrolyte imbalances.

Good luck! I hope this is only a temporary thing.