Farah Dutson - Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach

Why am I still so tired after chemotherapy?

Post-chemotherapy fatigue for breast cancer isn’t just about “feeling tired.”

⭐️Chemotherapy can affect how your body produces energy by disrupting mitochondrial function, and it can also reduce red blood cell production, meaning less oxygen reaches your muscles and tissues.

That’s why fatigue after breast cancer treatment can persist, even when treatment has finished.

⭐️The encouraging news is that research shows appropriately prescribed resistance training and aerobic exercise can help improve mitochondrial function, increase your body’s capacity to produce energy and support your recovery over time.

This isn’t about exercising harder.

⭐️It’s about exercising smarter.

The goal isn’t to push through fatigue, it’s to gradually rebuild your body’s energy systems in a way that supports healing rather than adding more stress.

⭐️Have you experienced ongoing fatigue after chemotherapy?
And does this explanation help make sense of what your body has been feeling, comment below ⬇️

You may disagree with me, but I think every woman on an aromatase inhibitor should have her bone density checked before treatment starts, not after damage shows up.

⭐️Letrazole, zoladex, exemestane all lower oestrogen dramatically and that acceleration in bone loss starts from day one. Right now, most women only get scanned once problem is already visible on a follow-up test. By then you’re managing loss, not preventing it.

A baseline DEXA or REMS. scan before treatment starts gives you and your oncology team a real number to work from. Something to measure against, instead of finding out too late.

⭐️Did your oncology team offer you a scan before treatment started, or did you have to ask?

Follow for clear, science-backed information on breast cancer recovery and osteoporosis.

SKINNY IS EVERYWHERE AND AFTER BREAST CANCER this can feel overwhelming.

The pressure to lose weight fast.
To get your old body back.
To make yourself smaller again.

⭐️But skinny doesn’t protect your bones.

⭐️And being lighter without enough muscle doesn’t protect you long-term either.

Especially when you’re taking Aromatase inhibitors and / or Zoladex or Tamoxifen in perimenopause where the sudden loss of oestrogen already increases the risk of bone loss.

Fast weight loss can mean:

1.Less load through the bones
= less stimulation for bone strength

2.Muscle loss
= lower protection as you age

3.More stress on the body
= poorer recovery and resilience

⭐️And when women are under-fuelling, over-exercising and chasing rapid fat loss
they often end up weaker, not healthier.

Most of my clients don’t need more restriction.

They need:

✔ Structure
✔ Clear programming
✔ Accountability
✔ A sustainable plan that supports muscle, metabolism, gut health and bone health

⭐️Recovery shouldn’t just focus on making your body smaller.

It should focus on making your body stronger.

STRONGER. NOURISHED. SUSTAINABLE.

⭐️Do you feel the pressure to lose weight?

Breast cancer exercise can make a huge difference during treatment, especially if you’ve started aromatase inhibitors or endocrine therapy.

One of my clients came to me before her planned double mastectomy because she wanted to build strength before surgery and prepare her body for treatment.

⭐️Then everything changed.

Her surgery was delayed after an insurance issue the night before, and she was started on an aromatase inhibitor much sooner than expected.

⭐️Within days she experienced joint aches, poor sleep, increased stress and something many women don’t expect…

Her appetite disappeared.

⭐️Because we’d been tracking her nutrition, we could see she was eating around 1,000 calories a day, sometimes even less!!

Instead of telling her to “just eat whatever you fancy”, we created a strategy.

We focused on making her first meal of the day count.

Protein.

Fibre.

Nutrients.

⭐️One simple change was using 0% Greek yogurt. Not because fat is bad, but because I didn’t want such a filling breakfast that she’d miss lunch altogether while her appetite was low.

⭐️We also created a Plan B for movement.

On the days fatigue was higher, she didn’t have to skip exercise completely.

She had a shorter workout, a walk, or a mobility session ready to go.

⭐️Something that made us both smile was that when she searched online for ways to reduce aromatase inhibitor joint pain, the same recommendation kept appearing…

Exercise.

Today she’s managing the aches better, feels mentally clearer and is moving into the next stage of treatment with confidence.

Follow for breast cancer recovery, osteoporosis & menopause help.
DM me if you need some help

Exercise after breast cancer: one session suppressed cancer cell growth by up to 29%.

A 2025 study published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment took 32 breast cancer survivors and randomly allocated them to a single session of either resistance training or HIIT.

⭐️Blood was drawn before, immediately after and 30 minutes after. Then it was applied to live triple-negative breast cancer cells in the lab.The results were tracked for 72 hours.

Both groups raised decorin, SPARC, and IL-6, the anti-cancer proteins your muscles produce when they contract under load, by between 9 and 47% after just one session.

HIIT produced greater cancer cell suppression immediately after exercise, up to 29%.

Resistance training produced a more sustained myokine response at the 30-minute mark, with oncostatin M still elevated when the HIIT group’s had already dropped.

⭐️Neither was superior overall. They worked differently, and they worked together.

Cancer cell growth was reduced by up to 29%.

Not a program. Not months of training. One session.

This is why the women I work with do both. If you’re only doing one, you’re only getting part of the picture, and when you’re in breast cancer recovery, the full picture is the point.

⭐️If no one has told you what your training should actually look like in breast cancer recovery, during treatment and you’ve now been given an osteoporosis or osteopenia diagnosis and you don’t know where to start, I offer a breast cancer recovery and osteoporosis call.

⭐️The £75 consultation is one hour. Your history, your treatment, your body. A clear plan for what comes next.
Comment: Book, the link or look up:

https://farahduston-consultation.lovable.app/

PMID: 10.1007/s10549-025-07772-w

If you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia after breast cancer, it’s important to understand why your oncologist may have recommended a bone medication.

⭐️Bone loss after breast cancer treatment is often very different from age-related bone loss. Treatments such as aromatase inhibitors, chemotherapy-induced menopause and ovarian suppression can accelerate bone loss, which is why many women are advised to start medication alongside lifestyle changes.

⭐️Strength training is one of the most powerful things you can do for your bones, but it takes time to learn good technique, progressively increase load, and build enough strength to provide a meaningful stimulus for bone.

For many women, it’s not bone medication OR strength training.

⭐️It’s bone medication AND strength training, with each playing a different role in protecting your long-term bone health.

If you’re unsure why you’ve been prescribed a bone medication, or you’re trying to work out how to exercise safely with osteoporosis or osteopenia after breast cancer, that’s exactly what I help women navigate in my 1:1 consultations.

⭐️Learn more here below or comment: BOOK for the link
https://farahduston-consultation.lovable.app