Hi,
I have completed the 8 weeks 800 and lost 13.5kg, now no longer obese. I have just over 10kg to go so have stayed on the 800 for a couple more weeks.
I decided to up my exercise today as I am not longer worried about damaging my knees! I was able to do a 10 minute bike warm-up, run/walk (fartlek) on a treadmill 15 minutes prior to a session with weights October/November last year when I was a lot heavier. I have only been walking for 60 minutes (usually evenings) recently a couple of times a week, plus I do an hours pilates every week.
I have started jogging a number of times in my life so I know what I need to do to build up and have completed a 5k fun run plus 2 10k’s for charity a few years ago.
I got up and went straight out 7.30 this morning (no food or drink since 9pm yesterday), walked to a nearby park (6 football fields that are not used at that time of day – grass and paths that you can go round) then did jog/walk 100 paces each around the park and walked home as a cool down. Stretched start and finish. Comfortable, no breathlessness, legs fine. Haven’t yet managed to get Garmin loaded, so can’t see my heart-rate, but it beeps at me when I get into the dangerous range and it did not do that. It was about 2.4km in 25 mins 40% jog, 60% walk, so a very easy ‘run’.
I went up-stairs and started to feel queasy. As I got ready for the shower, I was a little light headed, as I was during the shower. When I came out I had to lie down for a few minutes as I was still dizzy (I never have dizzy turns normally). I got myself dressed, and back downstairs still not feeling great and had breakfast – full fat yogurt, blueberries and seeds plus a cup of cocoa, half milk.
Started to feel better, and now fine. Could not get a BP reading on my HR monitor – error only. Did get one an hour ago 109/70. It is a wrist one so liable to be low. Pulse when I was having breakfast was about 80 – fine given I had just exercised. Now 65.
I used to go out first thing with no breakfast or just and small glass of orange, and never had an issue, so I assume it is some thing to do with available sugars in my blood and if my body is needing energy it is fat converting which is slower or worse – using protein? Anyone any ideas? I assume I also need to eat something before I go out in future – will nuts work or are they also too slow release?
Sorry for the ramble…. any background that you can point me at will help! I did a search on MM’s book, but nothing came up.

Hi Orchid
not an authorative reply, cherrianne will do better, but, that sounded a lot like a hypo to me.
If you have cleared out your liver to the point where there is little sugar in storage, that may have caused it.
It may be an idea to have breakfast pre exercise now if you aren’t testing your blood.

Hi Bill, Thanks for that. Logically it felt like that, and if I had sat and had breakfast before I went up for my shower, I may have prevented it. I test my blood weekly – Tuesdays now and it is normally 5.1 ish. I will definitely try to have some thing before I go out. It may also be that the last thing I had to eat on Sunday was at 6pm and that was a ratatouille with beans and some parmesan cheese on top, with a splash of milk in tea, so 13.5 hours since any sustenance.
Lets see what Wednesday brings! I may take along a couple of square of 85% chocolate with me just in case :-).

Orchid on ‘trust me I’m a doctor’ mm carried out an experiment on eating before exercise or not. In the 5:2 book it states it is more effective to exercise before eating. However the experiment through up an unexpected result:

MEN exercise is more effective BEFORE eating

WOMEN exercise is more effective AFTER eating

I can’t remember all the reasons but that was the finding. 🙂

Thanks Hashimoto. I do remember seeing that on the series in January and thinking I wonder if that is why I used to need a glass of orange juice before I went out. I decided to ignore it this time as sometime I was ok, other times I needed the juice as I just struggled for energy. I never got faint tho’, that was a whole new experience!
The challenge is until I can jog a bit faster, I start going out early around the park – 50% grass so better for the joints than the pavements. I can’t go there later on as it is too busy with school kids playing football, so the window to use it is 7.00-7.45 or earlier as the mornings lighten. Having my breakfast before that means I need to be up before 6am to have had time to let it digest prior to jogging and I suspect I will be looking for something else to eat once I get home again – so double breakfast.
I will try a glass of milk before I go out. I had planned to do that today, but I have had a niggle since Wednesday (Achilles) that reminded me of a problem I had a few years ago that I thought ‘rest’ had fixed. Been researching all morning to understand what might be the root cause and how to fix it. I’ve worked out a series of strengthening exercises to do for a few weeks, and I will go swimming and do an aqua classes for a few weeks to build up strength.
I’ll report back how I get on with the milk approach in a couple of weeks.

Hi orchid, I wonder if a boiled egg might be better, hardly any carbs, no sugar and only 66 calories for a medium egg. You could boil it the night before and put it in the fridge. You should be OK to run after eating that small bit of protein. What I was thinking re milk is the sugars and carbs in it could spike your blood sugars. You could still have some yoghurt and berries for brekkie when you get back in!

Hope your Achilles problem clears up fast 🙂

Thanks Hashimoto, that is a good idea. Feta cheese would probably also work similarly to the egg. Do you think that my body could process the protein and fat fast enough to make up for the missing sugars? I seem to remember both protein and fats take longer to breakdown, but I have not checked so may be wrong.

Hi Orchid, I have just copied and pasted the info on a new thread called ‘Fat burning – different for men and women’.

You may want to google to see all the photos and graphs. They used carbo drinks in the experiment so your milk idea is probably much better than my idea!! 🙂

Brilliant thank-you for researching this I’ve read the new thread and will go back to find the clip of the programme and the graphs :-).

Hi Hashimoto, I’ve just been thought the website again and been thinking through how to get it to work. One of the things it totally kills are any of the rehydration drinks at the end of a run to replenish fluids. They are also meant to help rebuild the glycogen stores and minimise muscle pain. ! I never did take them, as there is good research that says the best rehydration for rebuilding the muscles is chocolate milk!! I used to take a half pint of milk to drink after I had been training for a 10k. You need to take it within 30 minutes of completing the run – so the 90 mins break before you eat for women knocks that on the head.
Once I am able to do more than a fast amble to the park I will experiment!
thank-you again.