The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

144. Exploring Fatigue: How the Menstrual Cycle, Autoimmune Disorders & More Impact Your Energy Levels on Your Fitness Journey

• Kristy Castillo

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I don’t know about you, but this time of year has me feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and definitely TIRED. 


I’m often asked about navigating fatigue on your fitness journey. I’m feeling pretty damn fatigued myself right now, so I thought it was fitting to dive into this topic for today’s episode!


For some reason, we beat ourselves up when we feel so tired, and we think something is *wrong* with us if we don’t feel great every.single.day. As human beings, we have SO much happening both within our bodies + in the world around us. Regardless of the season of life you’re in, there’s no way you’re going to feel amazing 24/7.


As women, our menstrual cycle impacts our energy levels and overall well-being waaay more than we probably realize. I’m sharing more about the various phases of our cycle + other hormonal conditions (i.e. PCOS, endometriosis) and autoimmune conditions that can lead to energy levels fluctuating, and yes..leave us feeling fatigued.


My biggest takeaway I want you to have is to really understand YOUR body - start paying attention to what YOU need. What makes you feel good, and what makes you feel depleted? While you can only control so much, you are in control of educating yourself on your health and well-being.


I hope this episode sheds some light on the topic of fatigue and other health challenges + brings more awareness to how important it is to REALLY know your body! 



In this episode, we cover:

  • Understanding that you WILL get tired, and you won’t feel great every single day + not beating yourself up over this
  • How the menstrual cycle impacts women + a breakdown of what this looks like during a 30 day time frame
  • Certain hormonal conditions that affect women + how this impacts energy levels throughout your cycle
  • The physical + emotional toll that autoimmune diseases can take on the body
  • Why it’s crucial that you learn your particular body and what YOU need


Links/Resources:

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed. What's up? Welcome to today's episode.

Speaker 2:

I am having the hardest time recording today's episode, so let's just hope and pray for the best right now, because I'm recording this using my MacBook microphone. It decided my computer decided that it didn't want to recognize my microphone, I guess. So on the software I've been recently recording podcast episodes. It wasn't working and now I'm trying a different way and it's still not registering that my microphone even exists. My computer is like no, we're not going to recognize that today, so I don't know what's happening. Hopefully this sounds okay. Also, this is my second time recording this particular episode and if I listen back to this and it sounds like shit, I will have to do it a third time. So that's just how it is. But yesterday I tried to record this episode and, interestingly enough, I'm going to be talking about fatigue and how to navigate fatigue. I get a lot of questions about this and I was so tired. Yesterday I started my period, started my menstrual cycle like three days ago, and it kind of just knocked me out this time and yesterday I could not hardly keep my eyes open all day. I was so tired a headache, just totally blah, not happening. I recorded it and I knew that I had forgot a couple of things that I wanted to talk about and touch on and I felt like I was just struggling. So I was like, well, this is interesting because I'm talking about fatigue in the episode and I'm actually so fatigued I can't even string together words to make a podcast. So here we are, anyway, just to kind of let you know where my life is at right now. I'm so tired and it's the holidays, so of course I'm overwhelmed, like everyone else and just busy and all the things. But I am excited to talk about this episode or talk about this topic of fatigue, chronic fatigue, different reasons why we're fatigued, what to do about that fatigue, all that kind of stuff I'm really excited to talk about because again, I'm just going to kind of unfuck it for you, like I always do, and just kind of talk to you in a real way and hopefully this will make sense, hopefully it will be helpful.

Speaker 2:

My goal in this episode is to really just kind of bring some awareness honestly, to help you think about things a little more rationally, to help you think about things kind of at all, in a sense of. I think we a lot of times beat ourselves up for feeling tired or not feeling the same every day, not having the same energy. You know, yesterday was full of energy and today I'm just so tired and we beat ourselves up about that and we think that we should feel a different way. A lot of that is expectations on ourselves. So I just want to talk through this in a real sense and again bring some awareness, hopefully allow you to have some transparency here and allow you to be able to think things through and also to be able to plan around fatigue, what that looks like going to the doctor, getting some help, treating ourselves better, things like that. So let's dive in.

Speaker 2:

First, I do want to talk about the fact that even yesterday, when I was really frustrated with myself, I was honestly so fucking tired and there was really no reason for it. That's not true. Obviously there was a reason for it. There was a reason that. Obviously there was a reason for it. There was a reason that my body was so tired, but in my head I was thinking just that right, still being hard on myself, there's no reason that I should be so tired. Sunday we just kind of cleaned up the house and yes, I mean I worked my ass off around the house doing all the things, but it wasn't like we had a super busy, crazy stressful weekend physically to where I would be so tired I slept okay. So my first thought, though, was like why are you so tired? You shouldn't be so tired, and I think that's the first thing I want to bring up. Is I'm fucking so tired too.

Speaker 2:

So I'm right here with you, and, yeah, I mean, if our bodies are tired and this is aside from, of course, our menstrual cycle I'm going to talk about that, ladies. I'm going to talk about some things that women deal with as far as, literally physically, what's going on? Some autoimmune issues, pcos, endometriosis, just different things that, from a female perspective, what we have kind of going on in a month cycle. Right, guys? Yes, I know you're listening, and hopefully this will also bring you some awareness to what women kind of go through. This could bring you a perspective and I'm not saying that we have it harder than you. I don't want to talk about that kind of a situation but just in a real sense, of what women do deal with. And also for you, men, it's the same thing. You're not going to feel great every single day, right? We all have stress, we all have work, we all have things going on in our minds and in our bodies and as we age and just, is a lot of shit going on.

Speaker 2:

So, to get back to what I was saying, I think we oftentimes beat ourselves up. I know we do. I did the same thing yesterday Like man, I should not be feeling so tired. And then when I get past that point of like okay, why are you so tired? You've drank a little energy, you drank your supplements. Like you're up and around, you had some protein, like we're moving and grooving. What's the deal? Like why are you so tired, christy? The fact of the matter is, in that moment, it doesn't matter. What's happening is that I'm fucking tired and that's all. Like that's it. I could really not function yesterday. And when I thought about it, like Like that's it, I could really not function yesterday. And when I thought about it, like okay, yeah, I did start my period. So, yeah, I am freaking tired, I have some cramps, I have a headache, I don't feel good and I'm exhausted. My body hurts.

Speaker 2:

So I think we need to stop beating ourselves up so much and realize that, yeah, not every day is going to look the same. Not every day is going to look the same. Not every day is going to feel the same, not every week, not every month, right, things are going to be different. We are human beings, we are a physical being with so many different things going on around us, outside us, inside us, physically, inside our brains, mentally. There's so much going on that there's no way we can feel energetic every single day. So I think just taking that pressure off and realizing this is why it's important to have a fitness plan in place and a health plan in place for longevity. Realizing that, because if you're waiting to start a 30-day program, 90-day program, a 60-day detox, whatever, there's not going to be 30, 60, 90, sometimes even five days in a row where you're going to feel great. So that's why, waiting for the perfect time and waiting for there to be a time where all the stars align and you have all the time and all the energy and all the ability, it's not going to happen, because this is life and you are a human being and it's never going to be perfect.

Speaker 2:

So just kind of realizing, like okay, yesterday it was like okay, I kind of talked myself into thinking it would have been good to do a workout yesterday, because then today I wouldn't have to do it. Yesterday was a planned rest day, but I thought, if I can squeeze it in because I never know what my weeks are going to bring if I can get a day ahead of myself and workouts, that would be great. Then I woke up feeling already like shit. I said I was going to work out, possibly, and now I don't feel like I'm so tired. So now my goal is to just hit my steps, hit my protein, hit my water, that's it. You know like I've tried to record podcast episode it was a full day and so many other things but just kind of realizing, like okay, this is the reality of the situation, this is how I feel. I know I won't feel like this in a few days, maybe even tomorrow. Today I do feel better, more awake, a little bit. So just kind of realizing that it's going to be okay. Just because I feel like this today doesn't mean I'll feel this exhausted tomorrow. On the flip side, just because you're having a great energetic day, don't waste it, right. If you're having a great energetic day, freaking, use it, because tomorrow you might feel like shit and you might feel tired. So flip the coin on both sides, right? So let's dive into, though.

Speaker 2:

When you think about from a female perspective kind of what we go through in a month cycle, in this 30-day menstrual cycle which is considered normal, a 30-day menstrual cycle is considered normal. The average is between 25 and 30 days. So typically when people refer to a menstrual cycle, they refer to it in a 30-day time frame. It can, of course, vary from person to person and it can also change from month to month. Mine used to be all over the place and now I'm pretty much a 30-day cycle gal. But when you think about what happens in that 30-day cycle, what our bodies go through, what our brains go through, I'm going to break that down. And when I think about when you can actually plan your workouts a little bit around your cycle, when you can kind of give yourself some grace, when you can think like God, why the hell am I so tired? Could be because you're ovulating, right. Could be because you're going to start your period that day. Why am I feeling so great and energetic? Well, because I'm in the second half of my phase and I'm feeling great, right. So that's really nice to think about. It sucks that we have to go through that, but if you have that information at hand, it is a little more helpful and I wish this was talked about more when I was younger to just kind of realize this is what your body is going through every 30 days. So kind of plan on your weight fluctuating, kind of plan on your mood fluctuating. Frigging sucks but it is what it is right. So let's kind of dive into these facts really, really quick.

Speaker 2:

The menstrual cycle is the time from the first day of a period to the day before the next period, so that's the 30-day cycle. Ovulation usually occurs about 14 days before the start of the next period. So in a 30-day cycle, 14 days before your next period is when ovulation would happen. So usually around day 16 is when ovulation occurs. So halfway through. The average menstrual flow lasts between four and six days, but it can range from two to eight days. So God bless us out there going through this eight-day menstrual flow. The average amount of menstrual blood is 30 milliliters. More than 60 milliliters is considered abnormal. So the average amount is 30. That means some is like we're losing 20 milliliters, some of us are losing like 50. So we're all over the place.

Speaker 2:

Menstrual cycle has three phases the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase. So there's three different phases of our menstrual cycle and our energy levels and what our bodies are dealing with. Right, our hormone levels change throughout the menstrual cycle and can affect other health issues such as depression, anxiety, asthma, ibs, bladder pain syndrome. So, as our menstrual cycle is happening, other things are happening too. We are actually changing physically and mentally in these 30 days. So, yeah, you're more hungry. Yeah, you're more grouchy. Yeah, you actually are. That's kind of why, right, if I'm so freaking tired, well, my body needs some rest. Okay, the follicular phase is the beginning part of your period and can last for about two weeks. Most women feel more energetic and happier during the follicular phase so I'm waiting for that to happen to me right now than other phases of the menstrual cycle. So usually the first two weeks is kind of when you're the happiest, feeling more energetic.

Speaker 2:

Ovulation is a phase in the menstrual cycle when your ovary releases an egg. Signs and symptoms may include bloating, cramps, increased sex drive, mood changes, tender breasts and more. So ovulation is that really really short time frame? We're all over the place then as well. Right, I'm always like my freaking boobs hurt, I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm tired. It's crazy, no-transcript, do that again and then we do that again and again.

Speaker 2:

Okay, a lot is happening in this 30-day cycle. Our hormones are crazy, our bodies are literally changing and we have to give ourselves some grace. Also, to talk very, very quickly about different things that are going to fluctuate your weight, the water weight that you hold on to. Different things are going to happen to where your body physically looks different from your luteal phase than your follicular phase. Your body will literally look different when you're like, oh my God, I don't recognize myself right now. I felt so confident in my body two days ago and today I feel like I don't even know this person in the mirror. Yes, you literally look different. You will fluctuate weight, you will fluctuate water weight. You will look different, you'll feel different, you'll carry muscle difference. So physically, yes, it's normal for yourself to fluctuate.

Speaker 2:

So, ladies, when we are taking progress photos, take it during the time of your phase when you feel good, probably about a week after your period starts. Use your judgment, it's different for everyone, but probably right around then is when you're going to feel the most lean, you're going to feel the best energy, happy, right, that was probably when you want to take your progress photos. I have clients come to me all the time like I'm on my period and I'm scheduled to take my progress pictures. Do I have to take them? No, if you feel gross and you feel like shit physically, don't take a picture. That is a terrible idea. Don't weigh yourself. Maybe during those weeks if you're kind of having a relationship with a scale that you're not really comfortable with yet because it's not going to be great, mentally you're not in a great place about feeling good about yourself and physically you're probably holding on to a few pounds. So when you compare yourself, ladies, we have to compare a week overview and then we have to compare month to month. We're not going to compare week one of your cycle to week three and four of your cycle, because you look and feel and are completely different as far as your hormones, as far as what you're holding on to physically, water weight wise so we can't judge ourselves in that sense.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so that's another way where that's a tangent there and we're talking about fatigue in this episode. But just a little side note there, based on your period. I also want to mention as far as females go. Since we have these female reproductive organs, we can also develop things such as PCOS, such as endometriosis, which I'm not going to dive into those fully but I have a lot of clients that deal with issues and symptoms and pain, discomfort, fatigue, all the things that PCOS and endometriosis cause, and it's the same for men. You have obviously different bodies, different reproductive organs than women, so you have different things that you deal with. As far as that as well. Women, we deal with these, and these are just and again with men too. These are specific things to you that could make you have more fatigue. So, if you struggle with a certain whether it be your reproductive, whether it be due to your hormones, things like PCOS, endometriosis, or whether we're talking about something like autoimmune disease, which is what I'm going to talk about next we have parts of our bodies right always that we struggle with. But as far as our cycle goes, ladies, there's a lot that goes into that, so keep that in mind. As far as you feeling fatigue, plan your workouts around that, plan your food around that, pay really good attention to that and just know where you're at in your cycle.

Speaker 2:

The next thing I want to talk about is autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disease occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly, unfortunately, attacks healthy tissues, organs or cells. Autoimmune diseases are terrible in the sense that the symptoms are all over the place and they're very, very, very different from person to person. So common symptoms of autoimmune and I think I struggle with every single one of these even now, and definitely have in the past as well pain and swelling. So redness, heat, pain and swelling in one or more part of your body, fatigue, feeling tired all the time yes. Joint issues, joint pain and stiffness yes. Muscle problems, muscle aches or weakness yes, joint issues, joint pain and stiffness yes, muscle problems, muscle aches or weakness yes. Skin issues rashes, sores and dry or scaly skin. I don't really deal with that too much. Breathing issues shortness of breath or trouble breathing Sometimes, yes, a fever, a fever that can come and go and loss of appetite. So those are really terrible things, honestly. That can affect every single day.

Speaker 2:

If you have an autoimmune disease, something else that kind of goes along with that. When I was trying to get diagnosed with something because I was struggling with so many of those symptoms that I just mentioned feeling like something isn't right here I was diagnosed with IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome, which in my opinion, is a very, very fucking broad label for a doctor to say, basically, we don't really know what's happening specifically, so we're just going to call it this and there are ways to get around this, of course, and help. But irritable bowel syndrome is a very common long-term syndrome is a very common long-term, more of a digestive condition that causes abdominal pain or discomfort, bloating changes in bowel movements such as diarrhea, constipation or both mucus in your stool. You have to go to the bathroom very, very quickly, sometimes lack of energy and feeling sick. So a lot of times also, ibs and autoimmune diseases, I think, are like hand in hand. Maybe one starts before the other, I'm not sure. It kind of seems like that in my own history and then I've talked to so many people that are like I have IBS. The doctor told me I have IBS or I have autoimmune disease, but they're not exactly sure which one, and they have like every single like IBS and autoimmune disease symptoms all lumped together, which I feel like I had a lot of too. And so when the doctor says like it sounds fitting because yeah, all these random symptoms make sense. So those are just a couple of things, literally just a couple of the wide array of things that could be causing us to feel fatigued and that's what I kind of want to get back to is anything that your body is struggling with.

Speaker 2:

If you are struggling with IBS, if you're struggling with autoimmune diseases, if you're struggling with anything with hormones, pcos, endometriosis just really long, tough periods where you have a lot of cramping and a lot of bloating and maybe they're really irregular and a lot of pain. A lot of that is very, very physical and it takes a lot of toll on your body. You also, if you're stressed, if you're working too much, if you're too busy, if you're not resting enough, if you're not eating well and fueling your body, that is all stress on your body and eventually our bodies get fucking tired. And if we don't rest at the time, our body's tired and we're like I'll sleep when I'm dead, right, and all these things like and I love an energy drink, so don't get me wrong here, but I'll just keep slamming these energy drinks and we're drinking, you know, two, three a day to stay alive and stay awake and push through. Our bodies hold on to all of that fatigue and then eventually it comes out in ways where we don't have a choice but to slow down right.

Speaker 2:

So I just want to bring awareness that, because these are a lot of every woman deals with a menstrual cycle and a lot of us deal with these autoimmune disease. Those are very there's a very, very wide array of autoimmune issues, diseases, things like that, and IBS. You know, as far as inflammation, bloating, like different stool issues, that we're having different issues with our bowels, that is digestive, and when your gut is essentially the brain of your body, if the brain of your body is not working correctly, you're going to be tired, you're going to be struggling. So I kind of want to just bring awareness because a lot of times, people are just like I'm so tired because of my IBS and I'm so tired because of my PCOS, and yes, that is not an excuse. You actually are, so you need to give yourself some grace.

Speaker 2:

What I want to talk about is, on top of that, there is, in a sense, nothing you can do about it and there is a sense, a lot you can do about it. This is per person. We've got to start learning our bodies all of those things above mentioned. I hope that you're thinking to yourself wow, I'm going through a lot. My body is going through a lot every single day, every single month. No wonder I'm freaking tired. And maybe the different phases of your menstrual cycle, maybe that, to you, is a red flag of like oh, I am exhausted this particular week, every single month, and now it makes more sense. Okay, we've got to start learning our bodies.

Speaker 2:

All of the things I mentioned above will play into how you feel, and you've got to start paying attention to what you need and what is good for you. You've got to start learning what your body likes and what it doesn't like, and what the cycle is and what your body needs. I cannot stress that enough. This podcast isn't going to give you all the answers. No coach, no reel, no Instagram post, no one, no doctor, is going to give you exactly the right plan for you. You have to start learning your own body, you guys. This is the only way, because we keep looking to other people on how to fix our bodies. You can't do that. You have to look within yourself. So you have to start paying attention to what you need and what is good for you. We have got to start controlling what we can, because so much is out of our control. All the things I kind of mentioned are out of our control above, right, yeah, we can start controlling them. But if you're like, oh, right, now I do feel out of control about that, you have to start controlling what you can your food, your water, your walking, your mental health right, because you can't control.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes if you're going to be so fucking tired like I was yesterday, I could only control certain things yesterday. We've got to stop comparing our days. They'll all look different. That's why it's so important to keep track and push when you feel. Well, if you can keep track literally for 30 days and write down felt like shit, felt like shit, got some energy back, feel great, feel great, feel great. If you can just keep track of 30 days and then do that for 60 days and then do that for 90 days and notice your pattern, you'll feel so much better about. Okay, this is when I'm going to do a max out week. This is when I'm going to do a deload week. This is how I'm going to work out this week. Maybe I'm going to take these three days off, because I consistently feel like shit every single month. For those three days. I'm just going to go for a walk. Those days, right, work with your body.

Speaker 2:

As women, we should know this stuff about our menstrual cycles. We should know this stuff about our bodies. That's our job to educate ourselves. I go into my doctor earlier this year and I'm talking to her and just saying I think I'm having some perimenopause symptoms. I don't feel right. I know myself pretty well physically and something is not right. And she's telling me no, I'm way too young to be in perimenopause. I'm 43, mind you, so I'm perfect age for perimenopause. And then I'm thinking to myself why am I letting her tell me that I'm too young for that, if I feel my body's different and I've researched and I know what's going on with my body? I know this is my period cycle, I know this is what's going on and it's no longer going on. Something's changing with my body. That's on me. It's on me to not just diagnose myself, of course, and say like this is exactly what I have. I'm not a doctor, but I can stand there and say like no, I'm not taking that for an answer. I know myself, something is wrong. I can't expect a doctor to know everything right. I can't expect my doctor to help me if I'm not even trying to help myself and educate myself and treat my body better and move my body better and feel my body better.

Speaker 2:

We have to put in that work, you guys. Making good choices adds up quickly. So even if you're feeling exhausted, you can still do certain things. You don't have to give up on the whole day or the whole week because, oh, I started my period, try again next week or next month. No, you can control certain things. Choose better foods, choose better environments, choose to do something for your mental or physical health that day. You can always do something.

Speaker 2:

This is the only way that we know when to push through a workout or to push through the day is to know your body really really well. A lot of my clients will say to me like I'm feeling really tired and I don't want to take a rest day. I don't know if I'm just being a freaking baby or if I'm actually, if I actually need a rest day and that's part of the problem is you don't know your body well enough to know. Am I being a little bitch here or do I really need to take a rest day? I know when my body is saying you had better lay down or the rest of this week is going to suck for you right, I've hit enough walls to know better. But pay attention, pay attention. It's your job to know you and I'm here to encourage you through that.

Speaker 2:

And I talk to my ladies about this all the time. Like, how do you really feel? Have you eaten enough today to fuel a really solid workout? If not, you're not going to be doing your body any good If you work out today. Do you feel like it's going to benefit you? Because your workouts should be like training sessions. You should be lifting weights, you should be lifting heavy and feeling strong, and the goal is to be strong, not just to do cardio and not go for a run and not exhaust yourself. If you feel like you could go to the gym, crush a workout, build some muscle, refuel your body afterwards, great. If not, then wait two days and see if you feel better. Maybe your body does need rest.

Speaker 2:

So I'm here for you and I'm here for my clients all the time to say, to walk them through those questions of how do you really feel? Like, how do you really feel? You don't have to feel bad all the time for getting sick. You don't have to feel bad for feeling tired, for wanting to play with your kids for wanting to do other things besides working out. Yes, they have to be a priority, but sometimes we do need other things, sometimes we do need rest. But, most importantly, that's what I've got for you.

Speaker 2:

If I could kind of recap and give you some tips on, like, what to really focus on here know yourself, keep track of your cycles, keep track of your months, keep track of your weeks and fucking know yourself. It's your job and, honestly, it's the least you can do for yourself is to get to know yourself. And then, secondly, there's a lot that's going on inside your body, male or female. There's a lot going on. Honor that, figure it out. And if you are freaking so fatigued, give yourself some rest. And then, if there is anything you can do about it, right. If there's something in your control medications, doctor's appointments, change your food, if you need to get on medications, do it. There's nothing wrong with that. Okay, but really try to prioritize your health.

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of us are just oh, I have X, you know, I have Y, I have this, I have this problem, I have, you know, x disease, I have whatever, and we're not really trying. And then it's just like oh, I have this period. You can still do things, you can still be better, you can still reverse it sometimes. That's not an excuse. You don't just get to lay down and die, and lay down in the mud and just be stuck there.

Speaker 2:

I have autoimmune disease, but I'm going to figure out how to live my best life with that. I have PCOS, but I'm going to try to research the shit out of it and figure out what foods I can eat, what I can do to help myself. Yeah, I'm going to have flare-ups and it's really going to suck, but on my good days, what am I capable of? Okay, so that's my thoughts on fatigue. I don't know if that's what y'all were expecting or not, but it's how I've learned to navigate and hopefully this resonates with a lot of you and I will talk to you next week.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time, future episodes, and I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time. Bye.