Answers to questions about exercise: Exercise fatigue, menstrual disorders, and nutritional solutions.

Answers to questions about sports

Netizen A: For the first month or two after I started exercising regularly, I felt my energy levels improved, but then they gradually decreased again. Regarding my diet, I don't use oil or sugar when cooking, I eat one medium-sized piece of fruit every day, and half a bowl of white rice with each meal. I go to bed at 11 pm every night and wake up at 7:30 am. I think my lifestyle is very healthy, so what's the problem?

Answer: The reason is that your nutrition wasn't adequate during your workout. Initially, your body has reserves, so you experience the benefits of exercise and feel more energetic. After exercise, you need to build muscle, which consumes nutrients. Because you haven't replenished your body's protein, vitamins, and minerals to the levels it needs, and your total energy intake is insufficient, your body's nutrient reserves are gradually depleted, leading to a decline in physical strength.

Cooking without oil or sugar doesn't necessarily lead to nutrient deficiencies. Even without oil, you can easily obtain sufficient essential fatty acids and vitamins from nuts, fatty fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products. Reducing oil without other foods to compensate for the decrease in fat and energy will lower your overall energy intake. Furthermore, eating only half a bowl of white rice per meal halves the portion size, thus reducing the protein and other micronutrients in your staple food.

I suspect that your protein intake was already insufficient. Without exercise and with low muscle mass, your body could barely maintain its balance even with a small diet. However, once you increase your exercise, you need to increase your protein intake to meet the needs of your muscles, and you need to increase your intake of B vitamins to meet the needs of exercise and fat loss. As a result, your body will feel that the supply of nutrients is insufficient.

Therefore, what you perceive as a "healthy" diet is actually severely lacking in nutrition. It's not impossible to eat half the amount of white rice during a weight loss period, but you must replace it with whole grains or sufficient amounts of fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products to maintain your nutritional intake during weight loss. Otherwise, it's genuine dieting, and your body will naturally protest.

Netizen B: My period hasn't come for almost six months. I recently bought your new book and plan to follow the pre-pregnancy diet plan in it. I compared the exercise levels in the diet plan with my usual exercise levels and found that my current level is much higher than recommended, such as three 1-hour strength training sessions, two 1-hour jogging sessions, and two brisk walking sessions per week. In this situation, should I reduce my exercise level?

Answer: Since you already have a regular exercise routine, you don't need to stop exercising while trying to conceive. However, if you have one hour of high-intensity exercise daily, you need to increase your protein intake by at least 15 grams (one egg plus a cup of milk, or one egg plus 80 grams of tofu) to ensure you're getting enough protein for muscle growth. Remember not to exercise when you're hungry. If you exercise after get off work in the afternoon, it's recommended to eat a small bowl of oatmeal or drink a cup of yogurt beforehand. This will help prevent muscle breakdown and avoid pre-meal hypoglycemia.

Since you haven't had your period for almost six months, you need to pay even more attention to ensuring you get enough nutrients. Your daily total energy intake should be at least 1800 kcal, which is the normal daily requirement for a woman, and you should also increase your protein intake. It's not recommended to eat oil-free meals every time. When drinking milk or yogurt, choose full-fat options, and don't throw away the yolks when eating eggs.

In addition, it's crucial to rest after exercise, aiming to feel refreshed the next morning. It's recommended to exercise four times a week, including two sessions of muscle-building exercises and two sessions of aerobic exercise, with three days for relaxation. Never endure hunger after exercise; eat promptly. Excessive exercise can lead to fatigue, and low body fat percentage can lower estrogen levels. Exercising on an empty stomach or engaging in high-intensity exercise can put the body into a stress state, which is detrimental to conception.

Netizen C: I usually walk around 20,000 steps a day, including going to class, eating in the cafeteria, and taking walks. Occasionally, I'll run five or six kilometers. Will this amount of exercise affect my menstrual cycle? Why do I often feel tired after exercising, and why is my period irregular?

Answer: 20,000 steps a day is a bit much. Normally, 10,000 steps or 4-5 kilometers a day is sufficient. A higher level of exercise is fine in itself, but your diet must be nutritionally adequate. Based on your exercise level, you need an extra 300 kcal of energy and 10-15 grams of protein. That means while others might need 1800 kcal, you might need 2100 kcal. Severely insufficient energy and protein intake can easily lead to menstrual irregularities.

At the same time, exercise consumes more B vitamins. If your staple food is white rice, you must add enough meat, eggs and dairy products. It is also best to supplement with some B vitamins when the weather is hot, because sweating while running will consume these water-soluble vitamins, and the body will feel more tired at this time.

Netizen D: I have a tendency to gain weight easily, and I'm trying to lose weight to be a beautiful bride. I've been dieting for over a month now. Every night I skip dinner and run 5-6 kilometers on the track. I cook myself multigrain porridge every day, and I feel my mornings are quite nutritious. I eat lunch at the cafeteria, but there are no leafy green vegetables. I skip dinner. Recently, I've noticed my blood pressure is low and my heart rate is slow. Yesterday my blood pressure was 98/57 mmHg and my heart rate was 58 beats per minute. Today my blood pressure is 97/55 mmHg and my heart rate is 56 beats per minute. My blood pressure has been a bit low before, but my systolic blood pressure has always been above 100 mmHg. Could this be due to skipping dinner?

Answer: The lower limit of normal blood pressure is 90/60 mmHg, so you don't need to worry too much right now. However, your blood pressure is showing a tendency to drop to an abnormal level, which should be taken seriously. It could be due to poorer nutrition and a decline in your physical condition.

Running 5-6 kilometers without eating dinner clearly makes it impossible for your body to be in a state of adequate nutrition. Reduced nutrition, coupled with increased energy expenditure from exercise, will inevitably lead to a shortage of nutrients in your body.

Chinese people generally don't eat a high-quality breakfast, and dinner usually provides more than 40% of their daily nutritional intake. You're skipping the most nutritious meal. While multigrain porridge is better than white rice porridge in the morning, it's still just a staple food and can't possibly make your breakfast nutritionally complete enough to compensate for the lack of nutrients at dinner.

Remember, exercise consumes energy and nutrients. Muscle movement requires energy, and muscle building requires increased protein and iron. When you increase your exercise, your food intake must increase accordingly, at least maintaining the same level of protein, vitamins, and minerals as before. However, compared to before your exercise, you haven't increased your food intake, and you've even deliberately reduced your dinner portion. How can your body meet all these needs simultaneously?

Running when hungry can damage your body, easily leading to hypoglycemia and gastrointestinal discomfort. Over time, it can also cause muscle loss and a decrease in basal metabolic rate. For you, in addition to lowered blood pressure and heart rate, you may also experience anemia, amenorrhea, and malabsorption.

Marriage is far more than just wearing a wedding dress and being the center of attention; it also means having a marital life, and for most, having children. Skipping dinner and then exercising excessively, leading to malnutrition and decreased energy, could negatively impact the quality of your future marital life and even the health of any future child conceived. This is putting the cart before the horse.

She desperately dieted to be a bride, but conceived before she could replenish her nutritional reserves after the wedding. During pregnancy, she suffered from poor appetite and couldn't improve her nutrition, causing the fetus to develop under malnourished conditions. After four months of pregnancy, her appetite returned, leading to excessive weight gain on top of malnutrition and gestational diabetes. To control her blood sugar, she then went on a diet, restricting the fetus's nutritional supply, resulting in a weak child who was very prone to illness after birth. The mother was exhausted... Don't you think this cycle is tragic?

Many people ask, "Why do Westerners rarely have these problems?" Indeed, compared to other countries, there are fewer reports of women in Europe and America experiencing menstrual disorders after dieting or exercising. This may be because they have good nutrition from childhood and are well-muscled. In contrast, young Chinese women are often physically weaker from childhood, with underdeveloped muscles, poor digestion and absorption, and many even have mild anemia. Therefore, they are more sensitive to dieting and increased exercise.

I suggest you don't skip dinner. If your weight is within the normal range, you can eat normally. You can achieve a slimmer figure simply by running and exercising to lower your body fat percentage.

If you are slightly overweight, you can reduce your dinner portion size. For example, halve your staple food and reduce the amount of cooking oil, but you still need to ensure adequate protein intake. For instance, eat 50 grams of braised beef, drink a bowl of oatmeal porridge, and eat half a pound of blanched spinach. It is recommended to take a multivitamin and mineral supplement with your breakfast or lunch. In any case, it is essential to ensure a supply of basic nutrients. Although this will slow down weight loss, it can prevent menstrual irregularities and is more beneficial for fat loss and muscle gain.

I'm glad you're monitoring your body's changes and reflecting on your nutritional deficiencies. This shows you're a rational person and responsible for your health. Our bodies belong not only to ourselves but also to our loving parents; as the saying goes, "Our bodies, hair, and skin are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them." After marriage, you should cherish your body even more, being responsible for yourself, your family, and your future children.

Finally, I hope you take good care of your health and greet your happy marriage and sweet honeymoon with a rosy complexion and a toned figure!