Tired page

[ShannonCC]

Help?

I've been eating this way a month now. The first week I felt normal. The second week I had boundless energy and felt fantastic! Then it left. Since then (for about 2 weeks now) I just feel tired. I'm suffering from a real lack of energy.

I eat plenty of fat but I found I wasn't eating enough veggies. I came up with a salad dressing I love (made with avocado, olive oil and balsamic) and now I'm eating salads with meat every day (had one for breakfast this morning with lamb from last night's dinner and a hardboiled egg but then I got full and didn't eat the second egg).

I'm sleeping fine. I'm taking some supplements. Magnesium, vitamin D3 and a multi vitamin/mineral.

And I'm sitting here typing and yawning and thinking about lying down for a bit (I've only been up a few hours).

I don't have any other symptoms. A few weeks ago I was having some problems that I was worried about (dizziness mostly) but those all went away after a few days so I'm guessing that was the carb flu. Now I just feel like I have no energy.

Any ideas?

edited to add I also take fish oil

[bookstorecowboy]

I've been going through the same thing and am waiting for it to lift. From what I've read on this and other sites, this is a pretty common condition when you go Paleo and lasts anywhere from a few days to six weeks, with one to three weeks most typical. I'm giving pretty strict Paleo (97% or so) 40 days and will see where I am then. Google "low carb flu."

[ShannonCC]

Oh blargh, lol! 6 weeks? Ugh. Most of what I've read about carb flu sounds more obvious, like headaches or cravings or whatnot. And yeah, how long it lasts seems to vary widely. I guess since I'm only 4 weeks in, it could be that.

I'm pretty much 100% on primal so far. Not paleo though, since I'm eating dairy. But I'm about to do a 30 day dairy free challenge so we'll see if that helps (or makes it worse - lol!).

Oh well, thanks. That's probably it. Probably still adjusting. So annoying though, that the second week I felt on top of the world and then it all went away. Bummer.

[tumbleweed]

Did you give up caffeine? That could make you sleepy.

[Digby]

How are the carbs? If you are getting enough good rest (?) then the tiredness may be a sign of hypoglycemia. It does not take the huge sugar rush then fall for everyone; even a little too much carb can send some of into hyposglycemic reaction. Lot your food for a few days and see if you find a connection. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

[ShannonCC]

I wasn't a big caffeine person. I try to avoid it in general. The most I regularly have is one cup of decaf black tea a day and even that I don't have every day. I used to get a coke as a treat (like once a week) but that's about it.

For the carbs, I was really, really low for a few weeks. I didn't do it intentionally, but when I logged my food, I was under 50 grams (is it grams? Whatever you measure carbs by, lol!). So a few days ago I made an effort to eat more veggies. I haven't logged it but I'm eating more salad now and I have one piece of fruit a day. But still, I don't think too many carbs is the problem.

[milkycereal]

Yeah honestly I'd go the other way and say add more carbs. Especiailly if you excercise regularly.

I tried low-carbing it for a while and felt like poo. This wasn't the carb flu, this was something else. Like my body was shutting down. It was too stressed.

Remember what works for some may not work for others. I'd say eat whatever you want and go with your gut, but aim for "whole" foods; the least processed foods you can eat.

But remeber that too many carbs can make you sleepy. So eat your daytime carbs with protein and fat and have most of your carbs at night.

[milkycereal]

Also I have a hard time beliving it would take 6 weeks of feeling like shit for your body to "adapt" to this way of eating. I think the aim is to eat whole, real foods regaurdless of macronutrient ratios. Everyone's different.

Unless you really, really ate like crap before this (I'm talking JUNK for breakfast, lunch, dinner) then there's no reason whole foods should make you feel anything less than good. If not, your doing something wrong IMO.

I know there's exceptions, like people who literally ate mostly junk carbs/sugar might have a hard time adjusting...but still...

[bookstorecowboy]

Six weeks was the longest time period I found for anyone discussing this condition or something like it. The most common range was five days to three weeks.

As to how long it might take, I don't think anyone even knows what is going on here within the body that is no longer getting grains, sugar, and dairy. Not really. I certainly haven't seen any evidence that shows anything firm about the process of metabolic adaptation. So I don't know why "six weeks" is inherently less believable than, say, three. Personal incredulity is a poor standard of assessment. A lot of people are incredulous that anyone would feel anything but crappy on a diet without grains and sugar. I don't find their incredulity or yours persuasive. No offense. But your "no reason" is fairly ignorant.

Then again, I'm cantankerous because I don't feel that good...

"When first thrown wholly upon a diet of reindeer meat, it seems inadequate to properly nourish the system and there is an apparent weakness and inability to perform severe exertive, fatiguing journeys. But this soon passes away in the course of two or three weeks. At first the white man takes to the new diet in too homeopathic a manner, especially if it be raw. However, seal meat which is far more disagreeable with its fishy odor, and bear meat with its strong flavor, seems to have no such temporary debilitating effect upon the economy."

The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D. » Lt. Frederick Schwatka and low-carb adaptation

The "white men" in that study were setting out on an Arctic expedition and presumably were in good physical shape when they started, probably fairly young, and probably not used to high doses of sugar, as a look at the link will show.

I know my tone is cranky here...sorry...just to darn tired to nice it up...

[ShannonCC]

I didn't eat utter crap, but it was a very low fat, very carb heavy (lots of whole grains), almost vegan diet.

And I was exercising regularly but honestly, the past two weeks have been pretty sporadic. Some days I feel good and exercise and some days I stop half way through.

I got on the scale today and found that in two weeks I lost a grand total of (drum roll please) - 0.0 pounds. My body *is* changing and yes, I've gained some muscle, but still, it seems a little weird.

But I've been thinking about it and I think it's my thyroid. Ugh, I sound like an idiot here for not putting two and two together, but long story short, I was on thyroid meds and then not on them for a few months (went off them before primal) and I'm thinking now that I really do need them (apparently my levels are "borderline" so doctors tend to not want to give you anything unless your thyroid is totally out of whack).

I'm going to pursue that route and see what happens. In the end, I have had so many good results from eating this way (decades long digestive problems - gone!) that I will stick with it even if I remain fat and tired. But not being fat and tired would be nice too

Thanks for the input everyone. Bookstorecowboy, I hope you're feeling better.