Help! Low Energy and I hate it! page

[JKC]

Hi!
BACKGROUND
I have been doing this nearly 8 weeks now, and the first month I had great energy and lost weight. I am 5'7" and down to the low 130s now. I have been working out, 2 LHT, 1 sprint and the 3-5 hours of low level cardio each week. Over the course of the last 2 months, I have tinkered a little bit with things, and I have found my appetite decreasing a lot. When I count, I usually end up with maybe 1300 calories, 80-100g protein, carbs between 40 and 90 and the rest fat (say around 55% average).

I have been having dairy until yesterday - I found it hard to remove it without decreasing my calories down to 1000 or 1100, which is just way too low. I am lactose intolerant, and I think I really want to get rid of it except things my body can naturally handle, which is very aged cheese. I eat a little nuts (sometimes 10 or 15 a day, sometimes none) and berries, but most days no fruit other than that.

I have thyroid issues, and I went hyperthyroid (too much) in the last couple of months and have adjusted my medication back down, so this is probably part of the issue, anyways. As well, at home things have been much more busy than normal - my husband was working 70+ hours a week for the last month (finished now - whew!).

THE ISSUE
First month I had great energy and was losing weight. This month - maintaining weight and dragging my butt around trying to get things done. I like the weight loss, but honestly I would take the extra poundage if it meant more energy. I'd be happy to lose another 10 from here if I could (I am very small framed), but it is really not a huge deal. I want to get back to having better energy. I am on cytomel (T3) for my thyroid, so it usually bounces back fairly quickly (within days), and I do not feel bounced back yet, even though the dosage changed about 2 weeks ago.

If anyone has any insights or ideas, I would really welcome them.

Thanks, and have a great Mother's day weekend, everyone.

[belinda]

Can you put up a sample day's eats?

[JKC]

breakfast (around 10am)
1 egg, half can of salmon, 2 c spinach, half tomato, 3 mushrooms and 2 slices bacon
Tea with HWC

may snack on veg and 2-3 oz meat during afternoon, possibly nuts but not every day

Dinner
Usually chicken beef or pork, leafy green vegetables with coconut milk or butter, some other veggies too

I was doing a snack of berries and greek yogurt at 7 or 8

The last couple of days have been different - but that was my pretty basic diet for the last month or so

[Grumpycakes]

Have some white rice and/or sweet potato. You sound like you're really close to where you ought to be weightwise, and at that point, it's not so important to keep carbohydrates low, as long as you continue to eat natural foods. You could easily get away with 200g of carbs a few days a week. 150 or more every day, even. Give it a try.

[milkycereal]

yeah, more carbs. Just enough to fill up your muscle glycogen after excercise. For example today i'm going to play basketball before work, aftwords i'll eat a meal with a sweet-potato. Sweet potato will fill up my glycogen, and anything leftover wont turn to fat since i'll burn through it at work. Rinse and repeat, all day.

SImpler carbs like fruit are good to get up and running quickly again, say on break at work or in the middle of a game.

[JKC]

Yeah, that was what I was wondering about. I had rice yesterday, which was a nice change. I may need to up the carbs a bit.

[jammies]

Do you have any symptoms other than the low energy? How is your sleep quality?

If you are not eating liver, marrow, etc, it can be difficult to get all the vitamins you need, even with a healthy primal diet. I find that including bone marrow in my diet once a weeks keeps my energy up.

Magnesium and/or potassium are also commonly deficient. It seems that a lot of people need to add Mg. I use the oil that you rub on your skin. It dramatically improves my sleep quality and my energy levels as well.

ETA: Don't forget about your B vitamins too. A good quality B vitamin that contains methy B12 is great for energy too.

[healthy11]

Have some white rice and/or sweet potato. You sound like you're really close to where you ought to be weightwise, and at that point, it's not so important to keep carbohydrates low, as long as you continue to eat natural foods. You could easily get away with 200g of carbs a few days a week. 150 or more every day, even. Give it a try.

+1

[JKC]

Sleep is fine and micro-nutrients look good on the days that I track. I am taking a magnesium pill, multi, cal/mag+D, and iron, which I need to take. Nothing sticks out that I can think of in terms of nutritional deficiency. Even all the trace minerals look like I am getting enough.

[Sue]

Try eating higher calories for a week. Maybe low energy from excessive dieting in long stretches.