Lethargy and a Weighty Issue

Workout: 3 miles, 10:41 average

"A Weighty Issue"-a title I imagine has been used by every blogger at one point or another.

I didn't run yesterday as planned because there's something up with my health. I seemed to feel better this morning so ventured out for a planned 5 miles that turned into 3 as I realized I wasn't quite up to it. More on this below. For now, some pictures of where I ran taken a few weeks ago because frankly, I was just too tired for pictures today.

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So my energy levels are really wonky and I can't figure out why. The last couple of days I've been pretty lethargic, light-headed, shaky, and in kind of a daze. My muscles aren't tired, but if I do something suddenly like run up some stairs, my heart starts to beat much faster than necessary and I feel faint. I've also had a hard time sleeping because for whatever reason, my heart has been beating really loudly (not quickly, just loudly, if that makes sense). Before we continue, I'll say that following the holidays, I made a concerted effort to stop eating anything and everything in sight, as had become my custom, in order to lose some LBs. It was more "only one piece of chocolate tonight" as opposed to severely restricting caloric intake, but it was enough that I should have noticed a difference after a few weeks. It seemed to me, however, that not only was I not losing any weight, but I actually seemed to have gained a bit. That is, until I was suddenly 5 pounds lighter. I don't know the exact timing because I only weigh myself every three or four days, but it seemed to be almost literally overnight. This corresponding with the whole shaky "tired" thing.

I feel like I should insert my "history with my weight" story here because that's what bloggers do, but I really don't have one. I used to be adorably and hilariously chubby until I suddenly wasn't (I guess that's what happens when you grow seven inches over the course of a summer), put on some weight in high school (apparently eating fries and a muffin every day for lunch isn't "clean" eating?), and then became probably the only person ever to go to college and lose 15 pounds (that's what happens when "moving" becomes part of your lifestyle). For the past six years, I've hovered around almost the exact same weight, regardless of whether I'm pounding beer every night or eating well and running a lot. If I were cheesy I'd call it my "happy weight"-you know, my equilibrium, the weight to which my body gravitates naturally. It seems that a three-month all-I-can-eat buffet has caused me to leave this equilibrium, however, leaving me about 5-6 pounds above where I'd like to be. Hence all this nonsense about not eating every See's Candy bordeaux I can get my hands on, which had become kind of a mandate.

There she is! Soccer-playing Jeano! Love this picture (and this girl).

That extremely long and unnecessary history is my way of saying that I don't think my low energy levels are the result of trying to drop a few, although it's possible that the massive amount of salt I consume on the reg was making me bloat-y until suddenly it wasn't, at which point my efforts caught up with me. I don't know. I'm leaning more towards an iron or thyroid issue.

I have an extreme aversion to doctors since their track record with me is rubbish (we can talk about this another time), but I'm going to get some blood tests done to make sure everything's cool inside this aged body of mine. It's actually a great time to do it, regardless of my energy issues, since I'm about to start marathon training and it would feel great to start off with a clean bill of health. I've been on the verge of getting a cold for what feels like months now, so hopefully that's all it is.

Questions, questions, questions:

• Have you ever been anemic? Did you have any of the faintness/fast-beating heart issues I seem to be having? Or was it just an energy level thing?
• Have doctors been pretty successful in treating you in the past? Or have they gotten it wrong every single time like mine have? That's not to say that doctors are useless, of course not, just that I've had extremely bad luck with them.
• Chubby childhood pictures are awesome, right? Funny story: I didn't even realize I was a large child until a good ten years later when I happened to see this picture.