Adrenal Fatigue: Fact or Fiction

Two articles poo-pooing on "adrenal fatigue":

Glenn Beck: Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal Fatigue and Starvation

I'd rather not take a side on it. I just don't know enough. But here is my experience:

Back when I was new to being a trainer and coach, I was also doing the WellnessFX testing. My first test went smashingly, I learned a lot of interesting information about what my body was missing and how I could eat to fix it. Actually, I learned that my lifestyle had me doing a lot of things right.

We (me and the ManFriend) used this as a baseline to then start on our Paleo/Primal eating journey. We even hired a chef to cook our food for the week to make sure there was no chance of slipping.

I was also limiting my carbs at the time because I was trying to stay at 165lbs for weightlifting, and then I just knew that it was about limiting "bad calories". Bad calories were high glycemic index carbs and anything Robb Wolf called bad.

Then the second WellnessFX testing showed me as basically healthy, except for some markers of stress and potentially high cortisol.

"Well, I have been feeling anxious lately. And I don't sleep well," I told the nutritional counselor.

"It looks like your diet here is really good. But you might be suffering from adrenal fatigue. Here are some suggestions and supplements I would have you take to treat that."

So I listened and tried and told myself things were getting better.
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They weren't really getting better. Once I stopped the whole Paleo thing, the random anxiety and feelings of panic definitely subsided. But I was still being restrictive in my eating because I, again, just knew that certain things were "good" and certain things were "bad."

When I decided that I should stop trying to be 165 lbs for weightlifting and just get up to 180 lbs (the top of the middle weight class for strongwoman) I had more good effects. But, again, I was still being super selective about my food (particularly my carbs) because I just knew that carbs would make the bloat and inflammation come on.

Then I got tired of having a meh physique, and hired a nutrition coach to help me out. First thing? Up the carbs A LOT. Double what I was doing (160g/day to 299g/day). And in the first two weeks I lost two inches around my waist without losing any weight. Why? As she explained, when you restrict carbs too much, especially for people who train hard, you're going to see an increase in cortisol, which is a culprit for water retention and fat accumulation

(See also: lack of sleep, cortisol, and body fat.)

I would say that those experiences that led to a "diagnosis" of adrenal fatigue are mostly gone (constant sleepiness, needs for naps, random panic or anxiety). I still have anxiety around waking up when I set my alarm and get poor sleep on those nights, but now I fall asleep faster and wake up later in the night. I don't feel the need for midday naps like I did from earlier in the year. I even try to nap and I get antsy.

So is adrenal fatigue a thing? I don't know. But I'm pretty sure I didn't have it, and like many self diagnoses, is probably way over blown from what actually occurs.

Training Shift to Prepare for the Arnold

I haven't talked much about what's been going on in my own training as the realization that I'm actually going to The Arnold sets in. What also sinks in is that I have a huge discrepancy between what I'm good at (plant my feet and pick something up over and over and....) and what I'm bad at (pick something up and move my feet as fast as I can).

Also, I want to concurrently train my ass off and hide under a rock.

Now I'm trying to juggle not letting my Olympic lifts go to shit, while I get better at the strength and speed necessary to be competitive in Strongman. And it's certainly changed my approach to my event days on Sunday.

First thing I have to do is get my upper body stronger. So I've started a real basic linear progression with my strict press. I've learned through powerlifting that I have the bench multiple times a week if I'm going to make any progress on my upper body (Westside did not work so well for me there). So I do a progression where in one week at one weight I'll do 5x3, 4x4, and 3x5. If I make all my reps, I get to go up in weight the next week. I've moved my working weight slowly from 95lbs to a whopping 110 lbs so far.

I haven't talked much about what's been going on in my own training as the realization that I'm actually going to The Arnold sets in. What also sinks in is that I have a huge discrepancy between what I'm good at (plant my feet and pick something up over and over and....) and what I'm bad at (pick something up and move my feet as fast as I can). Also, I want to concurrently train my ass off and hide under a rock. Now I'm trying to juggle not letting my Olympic lifts go to shit, while I get better at the strength and speed necessary to be competitive in Strongman. And it's certainly changed my approach to my event days on Sunday. First thing I have to do is get my upper body stronger. So I've started a real basic linear progression with my strict press. I've learned through powerlifting that I have the bench multiple times a week if I'm going to make any progress on my upper body (Westside did not work so well for me there). So I do a progression where in one week at one weight I'll do 5x3, 4x4, and 3x5. If I make all my reps, I get to go up in weight the next week. I've moved my working weight slowly from 95lbs to a whopping 110 lbs so far. A video posted by Kristin Newman (@strength_geek) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:28pm PST Yes, I can barely press 110lbs for a set of 5, but I can jerk more than 230lbs. Just add legs. Other than adding strict pressing, I'm doing a lot more deadlifting, mostly adding in the trap bar to practice a more upright position. I think I am more upright with a trap bar deadlift than I am with my squats. Fucking femurs. On event day, I'm being a little more "reckless" with my work. By that I mean, I'm not playing it safe anymore. Like I said, moving events are my worst, and on event day training I would be super careful and mindful about my positions, steps, grip, set up, etc. I wanted to make sure I got everything JUST right. But that also meant that I moved more cautiously and slower than I normally would. So now, I just grab the fucking handles/yoke/keg and take off. As long as the implement is on my body, I'm trying to accelerate. This means I drop stuff more often right now, but I'm getting a much better sense of where that edge is.

I haven't talked much about what's been going on in my own training as the realization that I'm actually going to The Arnold sets in. What also sinks in is that I have a huge discrepancy between what I'm good at (plant my feet and pick something up over and over and....) and what I'm bad at (pick something up and move my feet as fast as I can). Also, I want to concurrently train my ass off and hide under a rock. Now I'm trying to juggle not letting my Olympic lifts go to shit, while I get better at the strength and speed necessary to be competitive in Strongman. And it's certainly changed my approach to my event days on Sunday. First thing I have to do is get my upper body stronger. So I've started a real basic linear progression with my strict press. I've learned through powerlifting that I have the bench multiple times a week if I'm going to make any progress on my upper body (Westside did not work so well for me there). So I do a progression where in one week at one weight I'll do 5x3, 4x4, and 3x5. If I make all my reps, I get to go up in weight the next week. I've moved my working weight slowly from 95lbs to a whopping 110 lbs so far. A video posted by Kristin Newman (@strength_geek) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:28pm PST Yes, I can barely press 110lbs for a set of 5, but I can jerk more than 230lbs. Just add legs. Other than adding strict pressing, I'm doing a lot more deadlifting, mostly adding in the trap bar to practice a more upright position. I think I am more upright with a trap bar deadlift than I am with my squats. Fucking femurs. On event day, I'm being a little more "reckless" with my work. By that I mean, I'm not playing it safe anymore. Like I said, moving events are my worst, and on event day training I would be super careful and mindful about my positions, steps, grip, set up, etc. I wanted to make sure I got everything JUST right. But that also meant that I moved more cautiously and slower than I normally would. So now, I just grab the fucking handles/yoke/keg and take off. As long as the implement is on my body, I'm trying to accelerate. This means I drop stuff more often right now, but I'm getting a much better sense of where that edge is.

A video posted by Kristin Newman (@strength_geek) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:28pm PST

Yes, I can barely press 110lbs for a set of 5, but I can jerk more than 230lbs. Just add legs.

Other than adding strict pressing, I'm doing a lot more deadlifting, mostly adding in the trap bar to practice a more upright position. I think I am more upright with a trap bar deadlift than I am with my squats. Fucking femurs.

On event day, I'm being a little more "reckless" with my work. By that I mean, I'm not playing it safe anymore. Like I said, moving events are my worst, and on event day training I would be super careful and mindful about my positions, steps, grip, set up, etc. I wanted to make sure I got everything JUST right. But that also meant that I moved more cautiously and slower than I normally would.

So now, I just grab the fucking handles/yoke/keg and take off. As long as the implement is on my body, I'm trying to accelerate. This means I drop stuff more often right now, but I'm getting a much better sense of where that edge is.

More updates and videos to come as the months progress!

Three Week Update: Nutrition Coaching with Joy Victoria

Even coaches need coaches, and I hired a nutrition coach. You can read about my introduction to it all HERE.

So now I'm looking at about week 3. Two and a half, kind of, since I got the macros on a Monday and it wasn't until mid-week that I was actually getting anywhere close to hitting the right proportions. But it's been a couple of full weeks now, and the numbers, logic, and intuition are getting easier and easier.

A sampling of macros from the last week. Mon-Thurs

Progress

My goal was to stay around 183 lbs and work towards recomposition. We all know that calories in and and calories out is the main key to weight changes, but to get started she put me on a maintenance diet to get me used to following rules. Since I would just eat when I was hungry, and therefore usually make not the best choices, this part was all about getting my habits to line up with my goals.

What surprised me was that things seemed to be changing even though I'm on a maintenance level diet. This is around 2650 calories divided up to 45% carbs, 35% fat, and 25% protein. My scale weight hasn't budged, which was expected, but my waist is down 2 inches, my thigh down 1 inch, and my butt and chest/back haven't changed.

It's like my body is thanking me for the surge of carbs.

Changes I've Had to Make

Protein
This one wasn't hard. At 166 g a day (0.9 g/lb body weight), I was already getting about that much anyway. Eggs, chicken, fish, milk, protein powder to fill it in. The hard part was how much of my preferred protein sources (salmon, steak, eggs) also come attached to significant quantities of fat....

Fat
This is where I had to make some changes I never thought I'd make. For instance, I drink a lot of coffee. And in every cup of coffee I usually put in about 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. THAT ADDS UP TO A LOT OF FAT! So now I use a fat free half and half. It's not quite as tasty, but I'm not cutting back my morning coffee runs. After all, I'm stopping at noon.

Out of the question.

Other changes I never thought I'd make and did:
 - Skim milk instead of whole milk
 - Low fat cheese
 - Removed nightly avocado
 - Using a combo of whole eggs and egg whites for quiche

Carbs
 This one was a big change, too. Since I was told to put the bulk of my carbs in the evening, I was trying to shove something around 250 grams of carbs into my facehole before bed. This didn't work. I decided to add potato to my morning quiche to make the number a little more attainable.

Even still, I'm having about 1.5 cups of white rice with my dinner, then finishing the night off with 2 cups of blueberry frosted mini wheats with skim milk for dessert. Dessert. I'm eating "dessert" of sorts!

A BIG part of my diet right now! 

The hardest part of all this is that you don't really get any one macro in isolation of another. My cereal has a little protein and fat in it. My protein powder has a little fat. My skim milk is carbs and protein. So I have to really plan my day out ahead of time and fiddle with the proportions to get it as close as I can. Then I have to commit to eating both ALL of this and ONLY this.

I had one off binge, and that was last night.

After a particularly heavy session at strongman training that both went really well and felt really really draining. I had other things I had to do on Saturday so I still had to cook on Sunday. ManFriend comes home and I get him to help me out with the food prep, but still. I'm exhausted and want to bask on the couch in my happy exhaustion.

So I think... "I've barely had any drink since I started this meal plan, I'm having a freakin' glass of wine as I cook!"

Which led to.... "WINE IS DELICIOUS! I'M DRINKING ALL THE WINE!"

Which then led to... "I'M DRINKING THE WHOLE BOTTLE OF WINE AND EATING THIS HANDFUL OF CHEESE!"

Classic story of feeling deserving of a "treat" and then things snowballing from there.