Over the last couple of weeks I have found it increasingly difficult to get up in the mornings for work. I just feel constantly drained with a repetive "I'll just stay in bed for 5 more minutes" syndrome.
To combat this I have eased of my training and been getting an extra hours sleep a night (normally 8 - been having 9 recently). I do a crossfit style workout (3 on/1 off) which I've been doing for several months now. I had a complete 5 days off this week and I'm still not feeling any better in the mornings.
^^^that's me for a few years now. Workout recovery blows, always tired and hurts for couple days. So I gotta time when I lift the 35lb clubebll, Dumbell, kettlebel or sandbag so I have some rest to train Jits and Judo. Really screws up workouts if I teach privates cause I'm so burnt out afterwards.
Went to the doc a couple years ago, ran tests, only thing that showed anything was t-count on the lower end of scale. Not out of the scale, just the low end. This makes people who know me laugh, they just can't believe I'm low on test. :D
My suggestion would be to first take a look at diet/hydration and possible overtraining. If you're training with a lot of volume/intensity, try just taking about a week off. Let the batteries recharge. You'll probably come back stronger and faster.
yes one must eat a lot of dietary protein that causes the body to expend much energy to digest as opposed to eating foods that are easily digested and spur the bodies own protein synthesis. and if you must eat high amounts of dietary protein make you sure consume that which is easily assimilated like red meat and dairy protein especially casein. avoid egg and soy protein as these will just gum up your digestion. fiber too has little place in the diet of an athlete
Why would I care how much energy it takes to digest food?
Because the energy your body is using to digest the food you eat means it won't have the energy to do the work you wish to perform. Eat light throughout the day and heavier when youre done working/performing/training. Think about it in this light. You eat a big thanksgiving meal of turkey, taters, pies and all kinds great stuff. Do you think youll be out running and grappling an hour later...i doubt it.
How much energy do you think it takes? Let's say it takes an hour to digest your food. A moderately tough bout of cardio is about 10 Cals/minute. If I keep that intensity going for 1 hour I'll feel tired but anything less and I'm good. So if you think that it takes more than 600 calories to digest a good meal you are crazy.