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how to tell if im burning muscle tissues

Shady Kaity

Bluelighter
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Jun 3, 2009
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dirty jersey
i've been restricting my eating and basically pushing my body to its limits exercise wise. I am so sore. I noticed a darkening of my urine ( gross i know ) and a stronger smell...is this a sign of burning muscle? how do i exactly tell if i am.

Also, another quick question, i take vyvanse and also drank around 5 cups of coffee...my hands are really cold and kind of numb and tingling. is this vasoconstriction? is is dangerous? how do i make it stop, its quite annoying.
 
^ For urine to change colour due to muscle damage, you need to do a lot of damage (termed rhabdomyolysis) and exercising alone absolutely will not cause that. It will be dehydration, as NT says, especially if you are restricting your intake and exercising a lot. In theory exercising while on amphetamines can cause rhabdomyolysis but this is very rare. Drink a lot of fluids; if it doesn't improve, go and see your doctor and explain your concerns..

Cold hands/feet and tingling can be a sign of vasoconstriction, yes. It isn't dangerous at the level you are experiencing; annoying and unpleasant, yes, but not dangerous. Again, I would mention it to your prescribing doctor, and lay off the caffeine while on Vyvanse :)
 
Okay, I myself have been dieting for the past three months and I can tell you some really useful stuff that I've learnt so far. This of course if you really care for my advice, because asking if cold hands means vasoconstriction sounds kinda like trolling. That being said, take note:
1- Your body burns both fat and muscle when resorting to it's reserves, in fact muscle tissue is much more easily available and better energy burn so if you restrict your calories in excess you will loose more muscle weight (which is always good weight) than fat weight.
2- It depends on your size but if you eat under ~1400 cals/24hs your body will think you're in a famine which means that no matter what you do you will start gaining weight even from one apple a day (your body will use the minimum amount of energy for anything you do and start saving EVERYTHING)
3- caffeine ups the glycemic index of the food you eat (google glycemic index or GI), metabolising what you eat into higher amounts of carbs (I.E. not good). So if you want to get thin/healthier/increase muscle mass, then no caffeine for you.
4- You need to drink 2 litres of water a day in a normal calorie intake diet (around 2000 cals if you don't move your butt, around 2500 if you move it 3 times a week, around 3500 if you move it everyday) - That is to maintain your weight. Most of the water you actually get into your body comes from food, not from what you drink, so if you are eating less than what you need (i.e. hipocaloric diet (i.e trying to loose weight)) you will have to drink MORE than 2 litres of water a day or you WILL damage your kidneys. No kidding, you WILL damage your kidneys.
5- eat before you exercise or you won't loose as much weight nor make the most out of the session nor feel as good after.
6- healthy and big muscles burn fat just to breath (that means 24/7) so don't just do cardio, get yourself a good anaerobic routine and DO IT after you do cardio, it's just as important to be both healthy and thin.
7- move. 1 hour of cardio a day plus 23 hours of browsing the internet will not make for a good body, walk everywhere and make up excuses to go to places, get to know your city.
8- a balanced diet will do much more and much faster than any vegan, atkins or whatever that you might find online. eat absolutely everything, but just a little.
9- counting calories can be a good thing, to stop you from eating too much and to stop you from eating too little.

I'm not sure if what you're trying to do is loose weight but a lot of this is good for more than that. I started for loosing weight and now I'm loving exercise and being fit that I wouldn't stop for anything.
I lost 22 pounds in 2 months and that's more than 22 fat pounds because I also gained a lot of muscle tissue.

Drink water. Good luck.

PS the urine thing is dehydration (both from lack of water plus extra urination from the coffee. ugly shit man take care of yourself.)
 
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Wow, thank you for all that information...Yeah I lost six pounds in two weeks and 4 inches total from my body, but now i cant seem to lose anymore. I definitely eat wayyyyy less than 1400. I also noticed a different smell to sweat if that means anything, and also im on a stimulant medication as well, if that even matters.
I've been restricting a lot and exercising everyday, run in the morning do cardio, yoga, or both in the afternoon then go for a walk at night. mind you i have an almost two year old to run after all day as well so i'm always pretty active, i just dont know why im not losing weight anymore.
 
No problem, I've been asking around plus reading a lot, feels good to spread the word. Google "Body mass index"-calculator (to find out your healthy weight) and "Basal Metabolic Rate"-calculator (to find out how much you need to eat) if you didn't already know those.
Be very careful with the super low calorie intake, you can really fuck up you metabolism for a long time if you don't take care. Yep, I'm sure that being on amps you can still function on almost no food (add 5 cups of coffee a day and you can make it trough monday and a baby with no more than half an apple but it's no good in the long run, no questions you will gain it back or hurt yourself sooner than later).
If you haven't been eating carbs (almost at all) your body might have started doing "ketosis" (burning fat and protein instead of carbs for quick energy). This is not healthy at all and it's a clear indicator that your body has realized that you are not eating right and starts to defend itself. This is not good at all! Those stupid blonds on the movies that you hear saying "I don't eat carbs" are lying! Carbs are supposed to be about 70% of your diet and that is OK. Apples are almost 100% carbs and no one nowhere can argue that an apple is darn healthy.
And once again, you're not losing weight because your stomach believes that you are off in a deserted island somewhere starving to death and it's just trying to keep you alive. If you want to loose weight, eat :)

edit: PM if you want to, I'd love to help!
 
Also, when I sweat, it smells different. i dont know how to describe what it smells like but its definitely different. is that also a sign of severe dehydration?
 
Is it possible to become so dehydrated that it becomes difficult to drink water? For some reason, I cant seem to tolerate much with out feeling nauseous. Is that bad, should I just force myself to take it in?
 
You might want to try something that has electrolytes in it to be easier for your body to absorb. Hydration of your body depends on water intake as well as your electrolyte levels (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc). You'll notice if you drink a ton of water but haven't eaten anything you'll pretty much just pee it right out, and your pee will be extremely clear.

Try having coconut water, a sports drink like gatorade or vitamin water, or some 100% pure fruit juice watered down. That might help you feel a little better.
 
You should take it a bit easier on yourself. Don't be focused so much on losing weight very quickly because that is normally pretty unhealthy and causes the body a lot of stress. The average female in a temperate should be drinking about 2.2 liters a day. This also depends on activity level, and amount of water lost through various ways (sweating, peeing, breathing, simple evaporation through skin). Normally, the more dehydrated a person is the thirstier they are.

It sounds like in general you are going about your weight loss in an unhealthy way. Restricting eating/pushing body to the limit is not good for you. Your body needs healthy food and water in order to maintain itself.
 
Also, when I sweat, it smells different. i dont know how to describe what it smells like but its definitely different. is that also a sign of severe dehydration?

If you're on amps, the likelihood of you getting adequate rest/sleep is nill. The aroma that you are smelling is your body's reaction to lack of sleep. When you go days on end with little or no sleep, the body secretes an odor that is usually unfamiliar to a person, similar to a perfumed ammonia of sorts. It's a common misnomer among amps users that you're "sweating out the meth" or "it's coming out of my pores" which is true to an extent, pretty much anything you put in your body is going to go throughout your ENTIRE body, so it is a half truth, however, the smell is from exhaustion.
 
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