Exercise and fainting?

[Luciana]

I googled for it but found way too much information and I couldn't wade through those long words. So please keep it simple.

I've been in a 1,200 calorie diet for about 10 days. Quite simple: lean meat, veggies, legumes, fruits and some milk in very small portions. No problems here, I've done this before and it always worked.

Last Wednesday I exercised for nearly 2 hours (water workout + underwater spinning) and about half an hour later I felt dizzy and nauseated. But I forgot about it later. Then on Friday the same thing happened, only this time I got drenched in sweat and was very close to passing out completely. I was in juice shop and looked around to see if there was any hot strong guy to support me if I fell, so that I could sigh and look all delicate and helpless, but there wasn't any, so you see how frustrating the whole experience was. Kidding aside, it's just an overall unpleasant experience and I'm not used to this.

I'm not in any medication and I'm not diabetic or have any heart condition. I had those checked last year when my father had heart problems. That's why it's so problematic to find good info, google just wants to convince me I have to have those to nearly faint after exercise. Oh, and my blood pressure has always been in the normal range.

I gather there is something missing in my diet? Basically, how can I do cardio for two hours without fainting like a Victorian virgin later?

 

[TheChadd]

How are you excercising? is it on one of those treadmills?
The constant attempts to walk forward without moving seem to confuse your brain then when you get off you feel like you're still moving forward / you're dizy.

 

[Luciana]

How are you excercising? is it on one of those treadmills?
The constant attempts to walk forward without moving seem to confuse your brain then when you get off you feel like you're still moving forward / you're dizy.

Nope, it's a bike, because it's underwater, but the strange thing is that both times I felt dizzy some good 30 minutes later (after showering, changing, walking 2 blocks) and it was more than dizziness, it was a distinct feeling of "my legs won't hold me and I'll fall soon".

 

[CFLarsen]

I've been in a 1,200 calorie diet for about 10 days.

...why?

 

[rjh01]

How can you exercise underwater with a bike?

Are you keeping up your fluids? Weigh yourself before and after exercises. You should not have gained or lost any weight. Any weight change is due to water.

If you cannot work out the reason you can go see a doctor.

 

[Dustin Kesselberg]

I don't know exactly why it happens but it happens to me whenever I train for a long amount of time.


What helps is taking breaks every few minutes and keeping your body fueled with the nutrients it needs.

Drinking a gatoraid helps 100%. Also a snack in the middle of the work out like an energy bar helps alot too.


Don't tain a few hours straight drinking only water. Water doesn't have the nutrients that your body has been burning during workout and needs.

 

[Luciana]

Claus - to lose a couple of kilos, that's why.

How can you exercise underwater with a bike?

It looks like this.

Are you keeping up your fluids? Weigh yourself before and after exercises. You should not have gained or lost any weight. Any weight change is due to water.

This is complicated because my swimsuit will be drenched after the workout, but not before. And I always drink lots, lots, lots of water. But maybe not enough! Underwater workout fools you because you don't feel the sweat trickling down your neck, and yet you are sweating. But I wonder if lack of fluids is the whole story.

 

[CFLarsen]

Claus - to lose a couple of kilos, that's why.

Well, duh!

If you lose weight, the police will report you missing.

 

[Luciana]

Drinking a gatoraid helps 100%. Also a snack in the middle of the work out like an energy bar helps alot too.

Man, how can you eat and exercise at the same time?? I can eat only up to an hour before, and it must be sth light, otherwise I get reflux or the food gets stuck and weighs half a ton and I can't bend at all or... else. I could try Gatorade (though I'm unhappy to get those extra calories...) if that's what it takes...

 

[El Greco]

I wouldn't worry, looks to me like lactic acid "poisoning". Basically this means that lactic acid is being produced at a rate higher than it can be cleared, the pH drops and you experience these symptoms. If you are healthy and you can put up with this, then you don't need to avoid it. In fact many athletes strive to achieve this because this is how they improve their "lactate threshold". In a few workouts your LT will have improved (you will be clearing lactate faster) or your lactate tolerance will increase. Ways to avoid it: Drink a few carbohydrates during exercise. Or don't exercise the big leg muscles together with the rest of the body. Or wait longer between sets. Or split the exercise bouts in smaller periods.

I actually like that feeling, but then I'm a pervert

 

[Aardvark]

I am not convined that fluid intake is the full story here.

In your description of your diet, you do not mention any long or short chain carbs.

1 The use of Gatoraid, I would not recommend because although you get a big hit of sugar to the blood, you get a corresponding massive rise in serum insulin level. This may persist past the suagr load, this leads to futher hypogycaemia or low bllod sugar which again may cause fainting. Too much insulin is a bad thing as it acts a littte like an anabolic compound. Look at most Middle age NIDDM or type 2 diabetics and they are often overweight, this is because they have too much insulin and high insulin resistance with poor signalling.

2 Get some urine sticks and test your urine for ketones. On a low carb diet, your blood sugar is not maintained by carbs in the diet but by your liver making them from scratch by smashing up fatty acids tha it pulls from the blood stream. We call this gluco -neo -genesis or new glucose manufacture, the word is actually not hyphenated as I have done , gluconeogenesis. If this is the case, ketone bodies will be excreted in the urine and on the breath, do you have stinky breath like people on the Atkins diet?

3 Your symptoms may be due to an electrolite or salt imbalance. It is likley that you are loosing too much potassium.

4 You could make your symptoms better by eating a long chain carb load one hour before excercise. May I suggest a smoothy made from Banana, ice and skimmed milk. The banana will give longer chain carbs and supply potassium. Equally, after excercise this would help to relieve the symptoms.

5 See a physician

 

[El Greco]

1 The use of Gatoraid, I would not recommend because although you get a big hit of sugar to the blood, you get a corresponding massive rise in serum insulin level. This may persist past the suagr load, this leads to futher hypogycaemia or low bllod sugar which again may cause fainting.

Not during exercise. Catecholamines prevent dramatic blood sugar drops.

Too much insulin is a bad thing as it acts a littte like an anabolic compound. Look at most Middle age NIDDM or type 2 diabetics and they are often overweight, this is because they have too much insulin and high insulin resistance with poor signalling.

They are not overweight because of their insulin resistance, they are because they eat too much.

You could make your symptoms better by eating a long chain carb load one hour before excercise.

Long chain/short chain has absolutely nothing to do with bioavailability or glycemic index.

 

[Aardvark]

Chicken and egg on the weight thing.

Which came first, poor insulin signalling or overweight.

Type 2 diabetics are missing the early phase insulin release. It is this spike which switched the liver from output mode to storage mode. They end up with sugar hitting the blood from the diet at the same time as sugar is hitting the blood from the liver, this leads to hyperglycaemia. The second phase of insulin release is then extended and overshoots leading to hyperinsulinaemia and again hypoglycaemia, leading to hunger and eating.

I have seen trilas where early detection of insulin signalling problems has identified NIDDM before they are overweight and before sympotoms would have taken them to consult their Physician.

Are you suggesting that long chain carbs and short chain carbs are absorbed at the same rate from the gut??

What is the physiological mechinsim by which catecholamines prevent blood serum blood sugar drop during excercise??

How would this be impacted upon if liver and muscle glycogen stores are depleted as would occur on a low carb diet??

 

[politas]

Starvation diet?

I've been in a 1,200 calorie diet for about 10 days. Quite simple: lean meat, veggies, legumes, fruits and some milk in very small portions. No problems here, I've done this before and it always worked.

Isn't a normal colorific intake around 2,000 per day? 1,200 is a pretty severe starvation diet, and would quite easily explain faintness after heavy exercise.

 

[El Greco]

Chicken and egg on the weight thing.

Which came first, poor insulin signalling or overweight.

Type 2 diabetics are missing the early phase insulin release. It is this spike which switched the liver from output mode to storage mode. They end up with sugar hitting the blood from the diet at the same time as sugar is hitting the blood from the liver, this leads to hyperglycaemia. The second phase of insulin release is then extended and overshoots leading to hyperinsulinaemia and again hypoglycaemia, leading to hunger and eating.

Wrong causation. If we are to blame hunger for overeating then we can justify every obese person. Others may have disturbed NPY levels, others high leptin resistance, etc. ETA: There are extremely lean diabetics who have completed Ironman events...

Are you suggesting that long chain carbs and short chain carbs are absorbed at the same rate from the gut??

Not only that, they may even get absorbed faster. It depends on a lot of factors, some of them unpredictable. See this page. Long chain/ Short chain is a superannuated categorization as far as the speed of raising blood sugar is concerned. Read the above page.

What is the physiological mechinsim by which catecholamines prevent blood serum blood sugar drop during excercise??

Mainly through hepatic gluconeogenesis, but also by stimulating glycogenolysis in skeletal muscle and liver.

How would this be impacted upon if liver and muscle gycogen stores are depleted as would occur on a low carb diet??

Irrelevant. Depleted or not, with a readily available carb source the lactic acid poisoning effects would be attenuated.

 

[Camillus]

Exercising in water may also be a factor. Water compresses the peripheral circulation and so the normal effects of hypovolaemia (caused in your case by exercise dehydration) are offset to some extent. It also prevents adequate clearence of lactate from the affected areas.

Once you leave the water and your circulation begins to return to normal in the peripheries any dehydration effects and post exercise lactate effects will be exagerated.

This is one of the reasons that crews generally try and rescue people who have been immersed in water in the horizontal position even if they appear well on scene.

 

[rjh01]

Slight derail - For what reason do you do your exercises in water?

 

[NeilC]

Your diet doesn't mention many carbs other than the fruit and veg. Does it contain starches like potatoes, rice, bread etc?

Is it possible you didn't take in many carbs that day?

Also, I used to do some fairly manic swimming training that had lots of sprints and some hypoxic training. I used to really go for it. When I got out of the pool I would get an immediate colourful migrane and feel very hot. I learned to get back into the water to cool off for 10 mins before trying to leave.

 

[Bikewer]

I agree with some of the other posters, this sounds very much like "bonking" as we cyclists say. When you do aerobic exercise for long periods, it's essential to maintain fluid intake and maintain levels of nutrients in the bloodstream. Exercising in water will you give you a false sense of your perspiration, and it's very easy to get to a state where all the symptoms you describe occur.

Happens to highly-trained athletes as well.

 

[Physiotherapist]

I think the purpose of training in water is the increased resistance, so that you get a better training effect. However, surely the same effect could be obtained by going to the gym and using the weights and then doing cardiovascular work?