Have you ever felt unusually tired and didn't know why? Not the workout kind of tired, rather the loss of motivation, dragging yourself around, feeling like you need a sudden jolt of caffeine or adrenaline, the barely getting out of bed kind of tired.
There is a chance that you are suffering, in part, from what doctors call "childbearing fatigue." This "syndrome" or fatigue can begin during the early years of motherhood and not really every go away. We, as mothers, give large amounts of our own physical building blocks such as protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, without even realizing the need to replace them. And with each additional child, the deficit can get bigger and bigger until a mom will fall into the darkness of bare survival.
So how do we fix this problem??? NUTRITION!!! Your diet is key to your everyday success. You can dig yourself out of this pit and it may be as simple as adding more protein or even overall calories to your daily diet.
A woman's body becomes fatigued and will start to struggle when they don't have enough protein to meet the demands of cell replication. In other words, your body will begin to fall apart inside out if you are not careful and pay attention to your diet. Besides fatigue, a protein or any other deficiency for that matter can lead to more serious illnesses.
If asked how many times they ate protein yesterday, most women will answer once or twice. However, that is NOT enough!! Or if asked how much did you eat yesterday, a woman can remember all the times she forgot to eat because she was involved in other activities or caring for children or a home. Missing meals doesn't add up to enough calories to sustain all the activities we want to do on a daily basis. Different nutrition requirements are different for everyone depending on your age, activity level, height, current weight, etc. A great resource to see where you should be at on all the different levels, visit www.choosemyplate.com. This is a great place to see and track what you need to be eating vs what you are and see where you need to make adjustments. But pay particular attention to protein intake. The daily protein requirement is one gram of protein for each pound of 80% of your body weight, ESPECIALLY if you exercise regularly! Therefore, a 120-pound woman should consume 96 grams of protein a day. These daily doses of protein will keep the amino acids in your blood stream ready to repair, rebuild and grow a better and stronger body! Who doesn't want that!?!
How can you make changes to your daily diet? A simple way is to plan your meals around a protein source. The easiest way to add 2 servings of protein each day is to make a morning and evening shake with protein, flax oil and fruit. Also, be sure to have high quality protein at your three main meals of the day. Eggs, Cottage Cheese, Fish, Poultry are ideal. And to enhance your meals even more, pair that protein with produce, especially the dark leafy greens!
I have noticed that I needed to make some changes. I didn't have the energy I wanted, and on top of being pregnant, I had the mindset that I didn't need to consume as much "food" because my workouts weren't as intense because I was pregnant and training and they are just different. However, I am still consistently working out and my body is under a lot of stress as it is being pregnant. So I have made some adjustments with my diet to ensure that I am getting the needed daily nutrition requirements to have consistent energy and feel great!! If anyone is interested in the meal plan I set up for Debbie and myself, send us an email, 4corefit@gmail.com, and I will send you what it is. It will hopefully give you some ideas of meals or things to add to your daily diet!
In the end, doing these small and simple things, such as adding in more protein or more total calories to your daily diet, can and will bring about a dramatic change for the better. Try this for at least 3-4 weeks and we promise, you will feel different!! Take care of you so you can better take care of the ones you love and the ones that need you!
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