Anyone heal from extreme exercise?

[DBCoast]

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve done CrossFit for around 4 years and have stopped for around 5 months. I combined it with low-carb eating and got very sick. I’m still very ill from this lifestyle. Symptoms include: severe insomnia with adrenaline wake-ups, night sweats, inability to rest, wired-but-tired feeling, akathisia, zero libido, zero energy, easily agitated, loss of concentration, no joy in life, decreased performance in the gym despite constantly working out super hard, inability to lose belly fat, tinnitus, etc, etc. This has all greatly damaged my life. I finally came to terms with the fact that CrossFit and low-carb eating put me in this condition - I thought I was being healthy!!

Has anyone else had similar issues due to excessive exercise? And did you heal?

Thanks

 

[redsun]

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve done CrossFit for around 4 years and have stopped for around 5 months. I combined it with low-carb eating and got very sick. I’m still very ill from this lifestyle. Symptoms include: severe insomnia with adrenaline wake-ups, night sweats, inability to rest, wired-but-tired feeling, akathisia, zero libido, zero energy, easily agitated, loss of concentration, no joy in life, decreased performance in the gym despite constantly working out super hard, inability to lose belly fat, tinnitus, etc, etc. This has all greatly damaged my life. I finally came to terms with the fact that CrossFit and low-carb eating put me in this condition - I thought I was being healthy!!

Has anyone else had similar issues due to excessive exercise? And did you heal?

Thanks

Yes you can. I also had a history of tons of exericising combined with undereating and IF dieting, orthorexic diets. Aggressive rest and a nutrient dense diet that covers everything you need is what is needed as well as time. You also likely would benefit from doing some testing such as CBC, iron panel, thyroid panel, CMP, plasma zinc, PTH.

What foods do you typically eat nowadays?

Akathisia are related to elevated norepinephrine which also can cause some of your other symptoms such as insomnia, restlessness, night sweats, feeling wired, low libido, agitation/irritation... Elevated NE likely being caused by chronic stress, nutrient and caloric inadequacies in your case.

 

[foodandtheworld]

Yeah I had the same issue. Take a year or two off from any exercise other than gentle walking and just rest and eat, get sun/Vitamin D/use red light. I recently wrote a comment on a similar topic here: My story. Guidance Needed.

 

[DBCoast]

Yes you can. I also had a history of tons of exericising combined with undereating and IF dieting, orthorexic diets. Aggressive rest and a nutrient dense diet that covers everything you need is what is needed as well as time. You also likely would benefit from doing some testing such as CBC, iron panel, thyroid panel, CMP, plasma zinc, PTH.

What foods do you typically eat nowadays?

Akathisia are related to elevated norepinephrine which also can cause some of your other symptoms such as insomnia, restlessness, night sweats, feeling wired, low libido, agitation/irritation... Elevated NE likely being caused by chronic stress, nutrient and caloric inadequacies in your case.

Thank you for the reassurance. I can’t tell you how difficult this has been. Yes, I’ve had extreme mental work stress on top of the physical stress. I had no idea the two were connected until recently.

I’m going to a functional medicine doctor in January. I will ask about those tests.

My diet has been Weston Price Foundation stuff. Pretty fat heavy. I’ve put on a lot of mid-section weight since I stopped working out. I haven’t eaten SAD diet in 10 years. Mostly paleo, low carb, Weston Price.

 

[DBCoast]

Yeah I had the same issue. Take a year or two off from any exercise other than gentle walking and just rest and eat, get sun/Vitamin D/use red light. I recently wrote a comment on a similar topic here: My story. Guidance Needed.

Thank you! Good to know I’m not alone. I stopped CrossFit around 6 months ago, but did some hard biking after. I just couldn’t let go of not pushing hard with exercise. Once I completely stopped everything I started doing full body Sun exposure daily and my libido came back. Recently, I went back to the gym and my libido disappeared and I felt totally trashed for weeks (still feel bad from it). That was the last time. It took me a long time to realize it was making me sick.

 

[redsun]

Thank you for the reassurance. I can’t tell you how difficult this has been. Yes, I’ve had extreme mental work stress on top of the physical stress. I had no idea the two were connected until recently.

I’m going to a functional medicine doctor in January. I will ask about those tests.

My diet has been Weston Price Foundation stuff. Pretty fat heavy. I’ve put on a lot of mid-section weight since I stopped working out. I haven’t eaten SAD diet in 10 years. Mostly paleo, low carb, Weston Price.

Right well its good that the weston price generally does recommend animal products but its too fond of vitamin A and high fat dieting. So I am not sure if you eat liver but I would lay off that. Its too much vitamin A which can cause problems and very high copper intake can also contribute to stress. I would also work on eating at least 2-3 eggs a day if you don't already. Eggs are not only nutrient dense but they are particularly high in choline which will help reduce sympathetic overactivity which you clearly deal with. Intense exercise (especially chronically) can deplete many nutrients including choline which is needed for your parasympathetic nervous system to work properly. Thus even though your body is exhausted, you have trouble being at ease and actually resting.

I would recommend trying to transition to a higher carb diet. Which would mean low fat animal proteins (lean meat, low fat dairy) and starches such as rice, potatoes, etc and some fruit every day. Egg yolks are fatty but their nutrition is too valuable to avoid. And low fat doesnt mean no fat. You diet will still be around 20% fat and 20% protein. It will generally improve many health aspects and should improve stress tolerance and sleep problems. You want to figure out your TDEE (there are free calculators online for that, very easy to use) and 55-60% of the calories you need should be carbohydrates from starches and sugars. Most of it should be whole foods.

Once you get the right foods and get the right macro split, and eat enough calories, you just need to give your body time to recover.

 

[Ned Nederlander]

Lowering adrenaline is the tricky part to recovering from excessive exercise. It usually leaves you in this hopped up tired-but-wired state. I’ve been there.

Replies above are good. I’d also start by taking at least two full weeks off from any formal workout routine if you haven’t already. Walking in nature, gardening, and other light “relaxing” activities are fine.

When you eventually get back to it, obviously don’t go nuts. Three strength training workouts a week (an hour or under), not taking any lift to failure, is more than enough.

 

[DBCoast]

Right well its good that the weston price generally does recommend animal products but its too fond of vitamin A and high fat dieting. So I am not sure if you eat liver but I would lay off that. Its too much vitamin A which can cause problems and very high copper intake can also contribute to stress. I would also work on eating at least 2-3 eggs a day if you don't already. Eggs are not only nutrient dense but they are particularly high in choline which will help reduce sympathetic overactivity which you clearly deal with. Intense exercise (especially chronically) can deplete many nutrients including choline which is needed for your parasympathetic nervous system to work properly. Thus even though your body is exhausted, you have trouble being at ease and actually resting.

I would recommend trying to transition to a higher carb diet. Which would mean low fat animal proteins (lean meat, low fat dairy) and starches such as rice, potatoes, etc and some fruit every day. Egg yolks are fatty but their nutrition is too valuable to avoid. And low fat doesnt mean no fat. You diet will still be around 20% fat and 20% protein. It will generally improve many health aspects and should improve stress tolerance and sleep problems. You want to figure out your TDEE (there are free calculators online for that, very easy to use) and 55-60% of the calories you need should be carbohydrates from starches and sugars. Most of it should be whole foods.

Once you get the right foods and get the right macro split, and eat enough calories, you just need to give your body time to recover.

Thanks for that. I eat eggs daily and will continue to do so. I eat liver a few times a month. I will take your advice.

As a side note - I won my gym’s weight loss contest using the Zone diet, which is basically lean meats, high slow-digesting carbs, and low fat. I lost the most fat and retained the most muscle to win the contest. But I didn’t stick with it because I was craving fat, and I slipped back into low carb high fat. When I look back, I was giving my body the carbs it needed.

 

[DBCoast]

Lowering adrenaline is the tricky part to recovering from excessive exercise. It usually leaves you in this hopped up tired-but-wired state. I’ve been there.

Replies above are good. I’d also start by taking at least two full weeks off from any formal workout routine if you haven’t already. Walking in nature, gardening, and other light “relaxing” activities are fine.

When you eventually get back to it, obviously don’t go nuts. Three strength training workouts a week (an hour or under), not taking any lift to failure, is more than enough.

Yes, for sure. I tried to go back and do a “light” CrossFit workout around 3 weeks ago and it set me back really bad. Only walking in nature here on out until I’m recovered.

 

[Ned Nederlander]

Yes, for sure. I tried to go back and do a “light” CrossFit workout around 3 weeks ago and it set me back really bad. Only walking in nature here on out until I’m recovered.

Yea crossfit is ridiculous. High volume with olympic lifts, short rest periods, etc. is bound to burn anyone out eventually.

 

[Buckian]

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve done CrossFit for around 4 years and have stopped for around 5 months. I combined it with low-carb eating and got very sick. I’m still very ill from this lifestyle. Symptoms include: severe insomnia with adrenaline wake-ups, night sweats, inability to rest, wired-but-tired feeling, akathisia, zero libido, zero energy, easily agitated, loss of concentration, no joy in life, decreased performance in the gym despite constantly working out super hard, inability to lose belly fat, tinnitus, etc, etc. This has all greatly damaged my life. I finally came to terms with the fact that CrossFit and low-carb eating put me in this condition - I thought I was being healthy!!

Has anyone else had similar issues due to excessive exercise? And did you heal?

Thanks

I appreciate this thread. Many relatable and helpful experiences and insights.

I also have a similar story. Did Crossfit for a few years. Got to 6/7% bodyfat while my BMI was close to 30! This is with trying to eat all that I could.
Eventually, my body gave in and I started getting injuries as well as my skin breaking out with eczema. Also was very irritable and short-fused.
I stopped intense training for a while from the end of 2019 and this lead to weight gain from 90kg to 110kg (over the last 3 lockdowny years - which added further stress).

I did a lot of walking this year (tried for 10'000 steps a day - not intensely, more to get outside and listen to podcasts or call friends) and a strength-training program. Feeling a lot more relaxed and weight is down to 97kg (slowly losing about 1kg per month on average). Following a Peaty/Bioenergetic outlook for the last number of years (with quality protein, animal fats, and sugars, among other items).

What I realised is that the Crossfit (and work stresses) left me functioning off stress hormones. It's taking a while for me to not default to adrenaline and cortisol functioning but definitely getting there. I am less moody and a lot more compassionate with more 'patience' versus a few years back so there is progress!

My input from this is that I think that one may need to find what relaxes them and lets them function at ease (to restore this as a baseline). This may be a quality meals and/or sleep, or possible walking/gardening (as mentioned above in another post). For me a n important consideration is doing things with a 'play' mindset. For example, I go snowboarding and just have fun and laugh while doing it.

Hope that the healing is going well!

 

[-Luke-]

Yea crossfit is ridiculous. High volume with olympic lifts, short rest periods, etc. is bound to burn anyone out eventually.

Yeah, doing technically extremely demanding exercises like olympic lifts for ~50 repetitions per training session in the fastest time possible has to be one of the most Darwin award deserving ideas ever.

I second what @foodandtheworld is saying.

 

[DBCoast]

I appreciate this thread. Many relatable and helpful experiences and insights.

I also have a similar story. Did Crossfit for a few years. Got to 6/7% bodyfat while my BMI was close to 30! This is with trying to eat all that I could.
Eventually, my body gave in and I started getting injuries as well as my skin breaking out with eczema. Also was very irritable and short-fused.
I stopped intense training for a while from the end of 2019 and this lead to weight gain from 90kg to 110kg (over the last 3 lockdowny years - which added further stress).

I did a lot of walking this year (tried for 10'000 steps a day - not intensely, more to get outside and listen to podcasts or call friends) and a strength-training program. Feeling a lot more relaxed and weight is down to 97kg (slowly losing about 1kg per month on average). Following a Peaty/Bioenergetic outlook for the last number of years (with quality protein, animal fats, and sugars, among other items).

What I realised is that the Crossfit (and work stresses) left me functioning off stress hormones. It's taking a while for me to not default to adrenaline and cortisol functioning but definitely getting there. I am less moody and a lot more compassionate with more 'patience' versus a few years back so there is progress!

My input from this is that I think that one may need to find what relaxes them and lets them function at ease (to restore this as a baseline). This may be a quality meals and/or sleep, or possible walking/gardening (as mentioned above in another post). For me a n important consideration is doing things with a 'play' mindset. For example, I go snowboarding and just have fun and laugh while doing it.

Hope that the healing is going well!

Thanks for this! Good to know others have been in the same situation and have healed. I’ve had the exact symptoms - short fuse, moodiness, etc. I was definitely running on adrenaline and I feel like I began to crave it to feel normal, almost like I had to push to a certain level in the gym to get the feeling. I think I was addicted to the stress hormones. Crazy. And, my knees are definitely messed up from so much repeated jumping. Hard lesson to learn.

Walking outside in nature is my plan for the next year as far as exercise goes. That plus a lot of Sun. Luckily I live at the coast so I’ll be taking full advantage.

 

[Sefton10]

I have a similar background. My biggest advice would be to be aggressive with rest and eat enough as @redsun says.

When you have days when you feel more energetic and your symptoms are reduced, don't fall into the trap of exercising too hard. I found that this can knock you back to square one very quickly—the body is very quick to remember that stressed-out, depleted state. It takes time to return to a stable baseline.

As well as nutrient density, another key is finding foods you can eat enough of to get enough calories in without causing any digestive issues, etc. This is likely very individualised. For me, I've found a bit more fat than others might recommend via cocoa butter helps with that.

 

[eimearrose]

Hello, I’m new here. I’ve done CrossFit for around 4 years and have stopped for around 5 months. I combined it with low-carb eating and got very sick. I’m still very ill from this lifestyle. Symptoms include: severe insomnia with adrenaline wake-ups, night sweats, inability to rest, wired-but-tired feeling, akathisia, zero libido, zero energy, easily agitated, loss of concentration, no joy in life, decreased performance in the gym despite constantly working out super hard, inability to lose belly fat, tinnitus, etc, etc. This has all greatly damaged my life. I finally came to terms with the fact that CrossFit and low-carb eating put me in this condition - I thought I was being healthy!!

Has anyone else had similar issues due to excessive exercise? And did you heal?

Thanks

I am also healing from around 7 years of running. Not jogging everyday, but lots of speed work, long sub max efforts. Up to 170k a week during big training blocks all while working full time. I crashed a few times in the last few years, took short rests but went back to it. I was accumulating problems mostly gastrointestinal because I also had coeliac disease but didn't know. I looked healthy in that I was lean but still had reasonable muscle for a female distance runner, but my skin was blue, my guts were a wreck, my bone density is low and I couldn't sleep.
I stopped training this summer and initially kept my strength training up but it was exhausting me too. I stopped altogether in October. I have put on a lot of weight and I'm still very tired, but I am sleeping better and have better body temperatures. I do some walking and yoga but that's it.

I think it can take longer for women to recover from heavy training so don't be discouraged by me. Also I had the coeliac going on in the background which led to pancreatic insufficiency so my body has a lot to recover from.

Lots of the food advice is good here but if you have had a long history of restrictive diets alongside the exercise I wouldn't worry too much about macronutrient numbers for now. Eat what you enjoy. That's what I did, all I avoided was high pufa (and gluten but that's particular to my coeliac disease). I do think supplementing thyroid can help, it seemed to help improve my sleep.

 

[DBCoast]

I have a similar background. My biggest advice would be to be aggressive with rest and eat enough as @redsun says.

When you have days when you feel more energetic and your symptoms are reduced, don't fall into the trap of exercising too hard. I found that this can knock you back to square one very quickly—the body is very quick to remember that stressed-out, depleted state. It takes time to return to a stable baseline.

As well as nutrient density, another key is finding foods you can eat enough of to get enough calories in without causing any digestive issues, etc. This is likely very individualised. For me, I've found a bit more fat than others might recommend via cocoa butter helps with that.

Yes, I agree. I’ve tried a few times to workout again during my time away from CrossFit because I felt like I should. I was set back every time. I tried biking, but went too hard, did kettlebells too hard, etc. Every time it was too much.

 

[DBCoast]

I am also healing from around 7 years of running. Not jogging everyday, but lots of speed work, long sub max efforts. Up to 170k a week during big training blocks all while working full time. I crashed a few times in the last few years, took short rests but went back to it. I was accumulating problems mostly gastrointestinal because I also had coeliac disease but didn't know. I looked healthy in that I was lean but still had reasonable muscle for a female distance runner, but my skin was blue, my guts were a wreck, my bone density is low and I couldn't sleep.
I stopped training this summer and initially kept my strength training up but it was exhausting me too. I stopped altogether in October. I have put on a lot of weight and I'm still very tired, but I am sleeping better and have better body temperatures. I do some walking and yoga but that's it.

I think it can take longer for women to recover from heavy training so don't be discouraged by me. Also I had the coeliac going on in the background which led to pancreatic insufficiency so my body has a lot to recover from.

Lots of the food advice is good here but if you have had a long history of restrictive diets alongside the exercise I wouldn't worry too much about macronutrient numbers for now. Eat what you enjoy. That's what I did, all I avoided was high pufa (and gluten but that's particular to my coeliac disease). I do think supplementing thyroid can help, it seemed to help improve my sleep.

Thanks, @eimearrose . I think one of the biggest challenges for me will be to just let go and accept that I will gain some weight. I’ve been overweight my entire life and I finally felt comfortable with my body through CrossFit. But unfortunately it made me sick. I will put the ego aside and focus on recovery first though because the pain from this lifestyle has been severe.

 

[LadyRae]

Thanks, @eimearrose . I think one of the biggest challenges for me will be to just let go and accept that I will gain some weight. I’ve been overweight my entire life and I finally felt comfortable with my body through CrossFit. But unfortunately it made me sick. I will put the ego aside and focus on recovery first though because the pain from this lifestyle has been severe.

When you quit exercising too strenuously, and after a period of time with regular, small meals (signalling to your body that calories are plentiful and danger has passed), it has been my experience that appetite will regulate and your body composition will even out at a healthy place. Likely, ghrelin and leptin levels are all out of balance following over-exercise and calorie restriction. This is why the "all-in" crowd report extreme hunger for some time.

I don't believe "All-In" is a healthy approach for anyone.

Stephanie Buttermore documents her all-in journey on her YouTube channel. Her experience is fascinating. She gained quite a bit of weight her first year, and it was psychologically traumatic, but then her hunger dropped off and she slowly lost most of it over the next couple years.

During recovery from anorexia, many patients are cautioned to re-feed slowly because if the anorexic gains weight too fast, it is so damaging mentally that there is a very high probability of relapse into severe restriction.

The binge/restrict mentality takes time to heal. More time- slower and less weight gain= sustainable health. Dr. Paul Saladino says it best- "don't put yourself in calorie prison! Everyone breaks out of calorie prison eventually..."

 

[DBCoast]

When you quit exercising too strenuously, and after a period of time with regular, small meals (signalling to your body that calories are plentiful and danger has passed), it has been my experience that appetite will regulate and your body composition will even out at a healthy place. Likely, ghrelin and leptin levels are all out of balance following over-exercise and calorie restriction. This is why the "all-in" crowd report extreme hunger for some time.

I don't believe "All-In" is a healthy approach for anyone.

Stephanie Buttermore documents her all-in journey on her YouTube channel. Her experience is fascinating. She gained quite a bit of weight her first year, and it was psychologically traumatic, but then her hunger dropped off and she slowly lost most of it over the next couple years.

During recovery from anorexia, many patients are cautioned to re-feed slowly because if the anorexic gains weight too fast, it is so damaging mentally that there is a very high probability of relapse into severe restriction.

The binge/restrict mentality takes time to heal. More time- slower and less weight gain= sustainable health. Dr. Paul Saladino says it best- "don't put yourself in calorie prison! Everyone breaks out of calorie prison eventually..."

Thanks for this @LadyRae . I will check out Buttermore’s channel. I’ve been in a battle with food/weight/self image my whole life. Hopefully I can adopt a healthy approach that is sustainable long term.

 

[EvanHinkle]

Same history of under-eating, (omad at one point) and over-exercising here. Took me two years to finally figure out how much food I needed and how much exercise my body really wanted. I’d also mention that re-learning how to exercise was a process for me, so try to be gentle to yourself while you re-learn. I moved from 5 days a week to 3 days a week to 4 days a week to 3 days a week until finally I was able to recognize that I was nowhere near being rational with exercise. But I just want to say that all of that experimentation was part of the process of letting go of that stress I was addicted to.

Mike Mentzer’s work, (which I absolutely mocked outright as a teenager) became a foundation for me. Obviously you don’t want to model your healthy exercise off anyone who takes very large doses of anabolics if you’re not on them yourself, but Mentzer at least got me to think about working out in terms of doing the least amount possible to generate a response.

I’ve finally whittled down to a two day split, (working out only Monday and Friday) using the principle of 5,3,1. It’s a fantastic methodology that keeps you very far from failure while building strength. I never experience DOMS, and I eat significantly more, (an extra meal) on days I lift. I perform 3 exercises Monday, and 4 on Friday. I have a ton left in the tank on both days and force myself to stop because the workout is over and it’s now time to recover.

All that said, (sorry for the long post) I now wake up with good temps, better heart rates, better blood pressure, better mood, better blood sugar, etc etc. but while I spent tweaking everything on earth about my diet and physical environment when I discovered Peat’s work, I didn’t start to heal until I took a very good hard look at my addiction to exercise, my body image, and my self worth outside being strong.