Varying between >50g and <50g carbs – Low Carb Flu? page

[JVib]

So, for quite a while I was typically under 50g of carbs a day. I felt good generally speaking. Lately I’ve been adding more fibrous veggies to my diet to bring up my daily nutrient intake. This began to push up my carb intake. I’ve noticed is varies quite a bit, anywhere from under 50g to around 90g of carbs.

I’ve noticed a change lately. I have days were my carbs are very low during the day (I fast from after dinner 6-6:30pm to 11am + my lunches are reasonably low carb) and I start to experience tiredness, headaches, and general depression/grumpiness. Yesterday was an extreme example. I felt like I was experiencing the low carb flu all over again. Later, when I got home and ate dinner I went off on a carb binge (nothing too bad…fruit, nuts, & coconut) which pushed me to about 250g of carbs for the day. I noticed I felt much better after the binge (headache, tiredness, & depression went away).

My theory is: Because I’ve upped my carbs, I more easily slip into the low carb flu when my carbs are low due to fasting or just not eating as many carbs. The logical solution seems to be either stick with >50g of carbs or stick with between 50 & 100g to prevent this from happening. Opinions are welcome.

Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

[Tom B-D]

I had a period where I was walking a lot and doing plenty of bodyweight exercises (You Are Your Own Gym) while keeping the carbs around 50g, and I started to get tired/grumpy like you say, but also more hungry. Kind of like the carb-flu days. I upped the carbs with bigger salads, more fruit, and sweet potatoes, and found what I think is my sweet spot...I haven't measured it, but I'd guess around 75-100g depending on how hard I'm working out. Are you exercising much?

[JVib]

I had a period where I was walking a lot and doing plenty of bodyweight exercises (You Are Your Own Gym) while keeping the carbs around 50g, and I started to get tired/grumpy like you say, but also more hungry. Kind of like the carb-flu days. I upped the carbs with bigger salads, more fruit, and sweet potatoes, and found what I think is my sweet spot...I haven't measured it, but I'd guess around 75-100g depending on how hard I'm working out. Are you exercising much?

I do exercise quite a bit. I'm following the convict conditioning progression, plus some of the stuff from Convict Conditioning 2, along with some other exercise (walking, sprints 1X per week).

[Fernaldo]

My theory is: you feel like shit on VLC. If you exercise quite a bit, eat more carbs for crying out loud.

[ChocoTaco369]

My theory is: you feel like shit on VLC. If you exercise quite a bit, eat more carbs for crying out loud.

Thank you. This is great.

90g of carbs is a very low carbohydrate diet as well. It's dandy that people that lived in the Arctic subsisted on a diet like that, but we don't live on an ice shelf. We're omnivores and we function best with fat and carbs in our diets for the most part. It's not human to adhere to a low carbohydrate diet just like it's not human to adhere to a low fat diet. Eat real food - meat, vegetables, fruits and starches. If you feel like shit eating a certain way, there's probably a darn good reason for it.

[JVib]

Thank you Fernaldo and ChocoTaco.

I guess I'm just a bit paranoid because I've had such great success with VLC. I'm at my lowest body fat % ever and I want to keep it that way. I'm afraid upping the carbs will drive up my body fat. However, you both have a great point. It's time to move some move carbs into my diet and see how it impacts me.

[Comma]

I just read around on the Gnoll website, and the lady there said that you should either be in Ketosis or NOT be in Ketosis, but not to hang around in almost-Ketosis, because that makes you feel like shit. Any I think she might be dead on. I was in almost- Ketosis for a couple of weeks, and every day was horrible. Eat more carbs, if you work out, and stay away from the Ketosis limbo. That would also explain why you did good on VLC, cause you probably were in proper Ketosis.

[paleo-bunny]

I'd say it'd take regular snacking on small amounts of carbs every couple of hours to achieve hanging around in almost-ketosis for days on end.

I spend a few hours each day in ketosis and it's an easy transition from not being in ketosis. Often I work out while in ketosis.

There's nothing magical or specific to PB about ketosis. Most people on a SAD go into ketosis every night during the last couple of hours or so before awakening, when their liver runs out of glycogen.

[ChocoTaco369]

Thank you Fernaldo and ChocoTaco.

I guess I'm just a bit paranoid because I've had such great success with VLC. I'm at my lowest body fat % ever and I want to keep it that way. I'm afraid upping the carbs will drive up my body fat. However, you both have a great point. It's time to move some move carbs into my diet and see how it impacts me.

The reason why people have issues adding carbs is they do exactly that - they ADD carbs. They take everything they're eating normally and just add a potato or a couple pieces of fruit. While I commend expanding healthy food choices, adding a large potato to your dinner does nothing but add 200 calories to your daily diet, meaning every week you're taking in a caloric surplus of 1,400 calories. That may not only be enough to stall your progress, but totally reverse it and start gaining.

If you're going to start adding carbs, you have to start subtracting fat. That means less butter, leaner meats, less nuts, less olive oil on your salad - whatever it takes. Which is fine, because if you're eating a large potato with dinner, chances are you'll want to eat less steak. It comes down to whatever works for you. You may find out you like steak a lot more than potatoes and enjoy eating a larger steak versus a smaller steak with a starch, and that's fine. The important thing to take away here is if you start gaining or stall, it's a caloric issue, not a carb issue.

[Paleobird]

My theory is: you feel like shit on VLC. If you exercise quite a bit, eat more carbs for crying out loud.

This is so simplistic. YOU feel like shit on VLC. OK. Not everyone does. The OP was talking about feeling yucky after adding some carbs not while VLC.

Personally, I feel awesome in ketosis. YMMV.

I think the OP and the Gnolls article cited by Comma nailed it very well. Either be in ketosis or not. I think a lot of people who say they feel like shit on VLC may actually have been only on that borderline, bouncing in and out all of the time. That's like permanent carb flu. No fun.