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Thread: Slow recovery: Extreme thirst, headaches, loss of appetite post workouts

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    3

    Default Slow recovery: Extreme thirst, headaches, loss of appetite post workouts

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    Thanks to everyone here who shares their time and knowledge free of charge. I own starting strength and am reading through it. I will probably buy Practical Programming very soon. It's not so much the money but the time but I'll probably buy it today.

    Anyway I'm 38, 6'3 215lbs, in decent shape, never have had real health problems. I started Starting Strength a few years before covid and was up to 275 on squat but I got the symptoms I get now as described below and I got busy at work and took a long break. I started up again but then covid hit and closed the gyms. I built my own basement power rack of 4x4s which works pretty well and started back up from the beginning. Right now I'm squatting about 195, though that's not my max. I could rep them 10 if I wanted but I want to go slow and sustainably. The bigger problem is recovery.

    I know from Rippetoe and others and common knowledge that the principles are DRINK, REST, SLEEP, EAT in no order. I try do all of those. I'm trying much harder this time around than last time and I'm seeing the positive effects of that but still I have issues.

    The problem is after working out- about a day after, I am left with an insane amount of almost unquenchable thirst, along with a mild or sometimes not so mild headache if I don't drink furiously enough, and loss of appetite. When I mean thirst, it is not like I have normally experienced thirst, from the mouth and throat. It's a thirst from the back of the brain (as in headache) and from the deep muscles (pain if I don't drink, and slightly less if I do). I was not conscious of it before but I know I need to drink a ton right after every workout and for the rest of the day. It feels like up to 5 and sometimes 10 glasses an hour if I let myself get too far behind. I have to go to the bathroom all the time, but my body still craves or needs water almost without a bottom. Also as far as eating, I have a reduced appetite so it's sometimes hard to eat as much as I think is recommended.

    I am not squatting an insane amount. I am just following the program. I am not doing auxiliary exercises or other sports. I am getting 7-8 hrs of sleep a night. I don't know how much I eat because I don't track but when I try eat as much as I think I am supposed to, I won't digest it. My digestive system obviously shuts or slows down and I know I have to follow my body or I will pay the price. It feels like a neuro-fatigued state possibly. In the past, I would eat a lot anyway and then have to puke the next morning with a migraine. This is the only time I've ever gotten migraines. They're less intense and common now because I am more conscious of recovery but I still get them and it feels like I need an excess amount of water and recovery compared to others. Is this normal?

    This is just a theory, but I thought perhaps recovery is an area where noobs or beginners actually need to perform better and work harder at than their advanced lifter peers, if they're doing a good program, because they're going to be building more muscle and making bigger physical changes because of where they're at on the curve (beginner gains). Therefore, maybe advanced lifters can recover faster not because of adaptation to the recovery process, delivery of glocuse, etc but simply because they're laying down less fibers or whatnot, because they're nearer to their peak. That goes for food and water and sleep, so maybe as I progress, this will take care of itself, I hope.

    As far as diet, I'm trying to eat clean and healthy, for reasons not completely related to muscle strength. Over the last year I put on a little gut, which I have never had before. It's not huge but it's annoying and I intend to get rid of it, get rid of the visceral fat and any fatty liver condition I may happen to have (Robert Lustig is the main influence). The last few years I consumed a lot of sugar (dirty bulking), sports drinks (to hydrate) and alcohol (for fun and stress relief). This time around I have forsworn all fructose and artificial sugar, so I am eating clean and hope to watch my gut melt. My diet consists of Meats, eggs, whole milk, cheese and butter, Broccoli, omega 3 fish oil, creatine etc as well as starches and glucose based carb and whole fruits. I'm not trying to limit calories, but I won't eat if I have no hunger and I know I'll have problems digesting.

    Yesterday when I went to bed (around 10pm) I felt a scary tingling sensation in my gut and mild dizziness. I don't think I need to see a doctor because I felt fine this morning (90% of full strength). Yesterday was a day I had a low level headache throughout. I still did with my workout yesterday morning. It didn't make the headache any worse, but even just after the first warm up squat of 25lbs on a side, I felt the leg muscles demanding and sucking hydration from my body so I had to drink 6-7 or more tall glasses of water throughout the session, but yesterday night when I hit the mattress it was a little scary. Like I said I fell asleep a little dizzy and tingly like a Novocain sensation all around my abdomen but I woke up fine this morning- not all the way there as far as energy, muscle recovery and head but 90% back.

    Maybe I should slow down my progress. I was also thinking I could maybe given myself 2 days rest between each day and instead of MWF I could do a Mon-Thurs-Sun-Wed-Sat-Tues-Fri-Mon type programming. I do not feel during the workout itself, especially if I start with fresh full strength, that I am lifting the heaviest weights or overloading myself in that regard, and I am not even doing deadlift or cleans right now- just squat, bench, press and pull ups or rows.

    Anyway has anyone else experienced this similar to me? My thirst is unbelievable and it is not a throat thirst, my head feels like it's had better days and at least some muscles in my body are often sore (right now lower back).

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Phoenix, AZ
    Posts
    4,613

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    Why don't you start by tracking your macros and giving a food log so we can see what you are doing. Beginners most certainly do not recover slower than advanced lifters. You are adding 5 lb in 48 hours, I am doing it in a month, if not more these days.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Uk
    Posts
    1,468

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    Have you had your fasted blood sugar levels checked. Severe thirst is one of the symptoms of diabetes.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    3

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    Ok. I will create a food log. It's very hard to eat when in that post workout dehydration/fatigue state and I don't have the appetite. Even when not in that state, it's hard to eat a lot of calories unless I eat sugary stuff, which I don't want to do. I have to listen to my body but today I had 5 eggs for breakfast with a handful of cheese, and a glass of whole milk. It's only mid day but I'm not very hungry. I'll probably have a medium dinner. I've decided to normally take 72 hours between lifts but I'm taking an extra 24 hours because of lower back and general muscle soreness. I went for a run this morning on an empty stomach.

    I don't think newbies recover slower per pound of new muscle but I'd think they're laying down more fibers. Otherwise I'm doomed to encounter this throughout my time as a lifter. Also along the lines of dehydration, if I don't really drink a ton of water, I get rocky poo, but paradoxically sometimes my poo is runny and itchy and this only happens in the few days following a workout with these other symptoms present. I know it's because SS works. It works too well. It's a hard growth stimulus. I'll start tracking my diet for a week. I ordered a food scale that should arrive soon.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Phoenix, AZ
    Posts
    4,613

    Default

    So far as we know we don't add fibers we grow those that we have. Either way, we have established that newbes do this more than advanced for obvious reasons: novice effect. At this point we just need to see some macros.

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