Nausea when exercising

[foolsfortune]

My wife is doing a bootcamp that involves very rigorous training and during the training she feels nauseous.

What causes that and can it be prevented or reduced?

Thanks
Mike

[mastover]

Originally Posted by foolsfortune

My wife is doing a bootcamp that involves very rigorous training and during the training she feels nauseous.

What causes that and can it be prevented or reduced?

Thanks
Mike

This can be caused by a variety of factors which cannot be directly pinpointed. The training might be too much for her (she could possibly be de-conditioned for the intensity involved). Dehydration and proper caloric intake could also be the issue. Proper pre- workout nutrition and supplementation can also be the cause. Or it can be a combination of all the afore-mentioned. Or it can involve something else entirely. No info on her to provide more accurate assessment.

[foolsfortune]

Very good points Aram. She had been out of the gym for more than 6 months so being de-conditioned seems very realistic.

The bootcamps take place at 6:15 am so she won't have eaten for 8 or more hours but has an orange or banana 15-20 minutes before exercising.

As far as proper caloric intake, I would bet anything that her nutrition and caloric intake is way off and has been for a long time.

She works out very hard but struggles to get the nutrition under control. She's not a numbers/analytical person like I am and honestly seems to shy away from figuring out proper caloric levels, macros etc.

I've advised to just do the math one time and build meals around it as you taught us when you coached us a while back so maybe that's a good place to start.

She asked the question, so I'm doing the research.

As far as coming up with the proper caloric intake, should she just stick with the standard Harris-Benedict formula :

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kgs) + (1.8 X height in cms) – (4.7 X age in years)

Workouts are 3x per week, job is sendentary. I would assume activity factor of 1.55

Macro nutrient values, i have no idea what to advise as there seem to be so many opinions. Picking a starting point and tracking results for a few weeks and then adjusting seems to be the easiest/most effective to me.

Her goal is fat loss and retention of lean muscle but it seems like setting the system (body) up for success would be a big step in curing or minimizing the nausea.

Thanks
Mike

[mastover]

Originally Posted by foolsfortune

Very good points Aram. She had been out of the gym for more than 6 months so being de-conditioned seems very realistic.

The bootcamps take place at 6:15 am so she won't have eaten for 8 or more hours but has an orange or banana 15-20 minutes before exercising.

As far as proper caloric intake, I would bet anything that her nutrition and caloric intake is way off and has been for a long time.

She works out very hard but struggles to get the nutrition under control. She's not a numbers/analytical person like I am and honestly seems to shy away from figuring out proper caloric levels, macros etc.

Hi Mike,

In my opinion, if these four issues are not correctly addressed, she is going to either be burned out, or continue with negative results. In very short order.

The diet is everything when this type (or any type of training) is involved.

I am also not a particular fan of the Harris - Benedict formula. It's too general of an equation and doesn't take into consideration the individual's unique requirements.

I have no idea what her diet and macro's are, but I would increase carbs around the training window if she wants to continue with this overly ambitious routine.

[foolsfortune]

She claims the nausea has subsided.

She's losing weight at 1-2 lbs per week though I have no idea what has been water/fat/lean mass.

It's a delicate subject and I don't want to discourage her. After a couple of rough years we're finally back on track and between this bootcamp and the couples gym membership we sign up for each year, we dropped $1000.

We'll carry on a few more weeks and see how things go. I know I've got to get the nutrition locked down and I've got it close. Deciding weather or not to dig into the details and fine tune nutrition and training seems to be the difference between mediocre results and excellent results.

I hope she sees that so she can celebrate the success she desires and deserves.

Thanks Aram, always love your input.

Mike

[Zilla]

Originally Posted by foolsfortune

The bootcamps take place at 6:15 am so she won't have eaten for 8 or more hours but has an orange or banana 15-20 minutes before exercising.

IMO, this strikes me as atleast a major part of the probem. Then if there isn't enough calories being taken in post workout, it's compounding the problem.

A banana or orange might be fine if she were going for a casual walk, but bootcamp-type workouts are pretty vigorous. This of course depends on how much effort one puts into it. Obviously if a person is just going through the motions and not putting much effort into it, they won't get much out of it.

Calorie calculators and the like are just guidelines. I've tried numerous times to live within the numbers such calculators and found that more often then not that I was undereating. Muscles need food and when the food isn't supplied, it leads to a whole range of issues ranging from poor recovery times to being in the constant state of being irritated even though there was nothing going on around me to cause me to feel that way.

I think people make the whole nutrition side of fitness more difficult than it has to be. In some cases I believe this is done for financial gain, for others is just something to argue about. Calories can be adjusted up or down. If a person is undereating, they can add more. If a person is overeating, they can scale back and or make better food choices.

If she isn't willing to eat, that will eventually backfire. Accountability on her part is necessary....