I am a 29yo white male 5'9" 180lbs@8-9%BF. I strength train 3-5 days a week following a program designed from Coach Sommers new book. I don't currently do any met-con workouts. My basic diet consists of eggs/bacon for breakfast with mostly red meat and green leafy vegetables for my other meals. My daily caloric intake is usually 1800-2200 with cheat meals on the weekends. I supplement with a daily vitamin, 1tsp Carlson fish oil twice a day, creatine, and some Utrition Liquid Glucosamine/Chondroitin Sulfates. My FitDay journal can be seen here http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=scottkane.
I donated blood yesterday and found out that my hemoglobin was pretty low. The first reading on the Hemacue was 12.7 and the second time was 13.3. Normal for males is supposedly 14-17 from what I understand. My body temp was 97.1 also. My fingers/toes get cold, I never really feel refreshed after sleeping (even 10-12hrs), I get tired in the middle of training, and have other "anemic" symptoms. I have also noticed (even when on straight 18-20 block Zone parameters) that my legs often feel "heavy" and "slow" if that makes sense. Basically they were always sore and seemed to lack explosiveness.
I understand that Vit C and B12 help the body to absorb iron. My Vit C is 260% RDA and B12 is a whopping 1126%. My Calcium is only 72%, Magnesium 97%, Manganese 80%, and Potassium 62%. Three days ago began ZMA supplementation in the evenings. Also, I drink quite a bit of tea, which supposedly can interfere with iron absorption, but I'm not sure to what extent.
I hope that you can make sense of some of the information I have provided. Please let me know if I have any ambiguities.
Do you think my calories are too low? Should I reset back to maintenance? My goals are to drop down to 5-7% BF to help with my strength to weight ratio.
