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I have been a regular exerciser for about 3 years now. I'm a 25 year old female weighing 121 lbs at 5'5" (just in case any of this will be pertinent). I typically like to run, bike, speed walk or use the elliptical for my cardio anywhere from 30-60 minutes 5 times a week. I then do about 30-45 minutes of strength training 2-3 days a week.

Now here's the problem: if I wake up and do this first thing in the morning, before eating, I'm perfectly fine. However, if I do this in the afternoon or early evening I will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS get very, very nauseous. The only way to fix this is to curl into a little ball until it is gone, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It is SO annoying and also a little worrisome.

I've tried many things to fix this, eating before, eating after, drinking water, not drinking water, eating something salty, something sweet, so on and so forth and nothing works. I know the solution is exercise in the morning but that's not always possible. I would just love some ideas on what it could be or would like to know if anyone else suffers from this.

A few other things, I eat very healthy (am a vegetarian, moral reasons, not health), drink lots of water and rarely eat poorly, so I don't think it's diet induced especially since it never happens in the morning, whether it's before my breakfast or after, I'm always fine.

So after my life story, can anyone help at all?

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  • Paragraphs... :/ Nothing intrinsically healthy about being a vegetarian, so that part is almost certainly irrelevant. Could be acid reflux or other GI issue, could be anything. Jun 5, 2012 at 21:52
  • Yep..or cortisol and/or maybe thyroid related (levels fluctuating according to time of day). What if you just exercise and don't eat at all that day, any help?
    – Casper
    Jun 5, 2012 at 23:35
  • @Casper You aren't really recommending someone do a cardio workout in addition to not eating that day... are you?
    – Moses
    Jun 5, 2012 at 23:51
  • @Moses - Heh :) Well not on a regular basis no, but for a one day test to perhaps see if it's correlated with some GI-issue it should be no problem whatsoever. No need to go all "superman" (or woman) that day though.
    – Casper
    Jun 5, 2012 at 23:53
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    It may actually be diet induced. Perhaps you eat something (or some type of food) for lunch/dinner that you never eat for breakfast. Another variable is the timing of your lunch/dinner in relation to your evening exercise (I know this was a factor for me when strength-training).
    – Moses
    Jun 5, 2012 at 23:59

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Sounds to me like your body doesn't cope with having food in the stomach while exercising. Are you able to exercise without feeling nauseous at any time other than pre-breakfast?

How often do you train and feel nauseous? What I would suggest is to eat your lunch regularly at say 12 PM, then go do exercise at a regular time a while after lunch, like 5 PM. Start off with very light exercise, e.g. a walk. Increase the intensity gradually.

With a lot of "incorrect" body reactions, like throwing up after exercise (or blacking out with free diving... for any free divers out there), it's important to not let it happen so that your body doesn't get into that habit. That's why I think increasing pace slowly, so that you feel minimal nausea, should gradually solve this.

Also try to make sure that your meal before you exercise is something simple and easy to digest.

Lastly, maybe try a sport that isn't so nausea-inducing. Hard cardio in the sun definitely brings on nausea. Swimming tends to have lower levels of nausea, probably because you have coolant all around you.

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