Still not feeling it! page

[betty74]

I have been doing this for a few weeks, I think 3, and I am not experiencing the energy, weight loss, etc that others are noticing. I am doing p90x, in week 7 right now, and I feel that my workouts are much harder than they were. Some days I can barely make it through. I am also getting dizzy again. I have done this in the past, but not in quite some time. What am I doing wrong?

[kuno1chi]

What are you eating?
How's your sleep?
Stress level???

[betty74]

Breakfast is almost always eggs, some kind of meat (bacon, chix sausage, pork sausage), and sometimes veggies

Lunch is varied: spinach salad w/ berries and some meat or romaine salad w/ various veggies, meat and goat cheese or some meat w/ veggies

Dinner: meat of some kind, veggies

I eat coconut oil daily, also coconut butter on the spoon if feel fat is low, coconut milk in my coffee and smoothie, avocados usually in a salad or with my eggs.

I have never slept great, but am sleeping better than normal as I have been taking a Chinese herb called Melazandra for a while now. Lately I have been sleeping later than usual.

Right now stress is okay, but it was high before I started and right at the beginning.

[jo]

Some people take longer than 3 weeks to adjust to using fat as fuel not carbs. Don't worry about your workout being harder, this is a good thing. I was reading about it somewhere on the leangains site I think. Your body is working harder and this will be having a positive effect. Just like running up a hill makes you feel like you are working harder than running on the flat. If it feels like you are working hard, you probably are, it's just that you are not fueling it with rocket fuel (i.e. carbs). You are still getting significant benefits. I think once your body is more effective using ketones as fuel it will become much easier. In terms of dizziness, if it is a real problem it might be worth easing back a bit until you are fully adapted.

I'm in a rush right now, if I can find the leangains link later I will post it.

[Darthash]

I feel the same way, i am not feeling the energy everyone is speaking of, and i have tried uping my fats, and then having no veggies, then veggies, and i have tried everything, i get heaps of sleep, i am never stressed, and I am not loosing the fat like everyone else. But i keep at it in hope that its going to change, I have been doing this for 5 months now, and pretty much primal, except the occasional birthday party i go to and eat some crap. It's starting to annoy me only cause i want to feel good. I have felt good in years, since i was a youngin so i want to feel it again. :S

[MikeEnRegalia]

I haven't done P90X myself, but it's rather strenuous. I wouldn't recommend trying to both put your body to the limit with strenuous exercise and wean it off of carbs at the same time. Also, you're saying that you're not sleeping well, so that doesn't help either.

You may have to pause your P90X for 1-2 weeks, make sure that you get plenty of quality sleep *and* food, and then try again from a point where you have high energy levels to begin with. And when you do P90X, I would suggest to eat a lot, especially after the workouts. And add some PB-compatible carbs to those menus, like fruit or sweet potatoes. Strenuous exercise *will* deplete glycogen, and you're not doing your body a favor if you insist that it builds glycogen from protein and/or fat, when you could simply eat 50g of carbs to speed up the process.

Of course my real recommendation would be to opt for a less strenuous program. I just finished reading Strength For Life, which is at it's core a 12 week (about 90 days) fitness program (with a preceding 12 day preparation phase and suggestions for maintenance afterwards). If you do that one right it will be quite intense and challenging, but as it seems to me, quite a bit less strenuous.

[Roach]

Hmm...I'll just echo some of the already expressed sentiments. Iagree that 2-3 weeks may not be enough time for your body to switch to burning carbs to burning fat as your primary fuel. Also, while I haven't done P90X myself, I know it is quite intense. It could be that it is too intense and isn't allowing your body to properly recover. Give it a little more time.

Darthash,

Have you incorporated some Intermittent Fasting? Many report it helps break plateaus. It's helped me for sure.

Cheers

[cillakat]

marks made some comments on p90x and how it's not primal. In his opinion, it requires simple carbs following the workout to replace glycogen stores.

also, exercising that intensely increases your potassium, sodium and zinc needs fairly dramatically so I'd consider that as a possibility too.

[Darthash]

Darthash,

Have you incorporated some Intermittent Fasting? Many report it helps break plateaus. It's helped me for sure.

Cheers

Yeah, I've tried it, I just feel well hungry, and tend to feel like crap when i IF lol.

[tooround]

I want to try to explain how I feel ... but we all know how hard that is.

Three months in now ... I feel good. I'm not jumping with energy but I'm not wearing out too quickly either. Most of the time, I simply have enough energy to work through until I'm finished.

I am seeing a correlation between "off plan" occassions and energy dips. I was not good on Monday and on Tuesday needed a spare "break".

I think because I'm so "experienced" with dieting, I thought I had a handle on how to cheat responsibly. But primal is different. Scarfing a handful of candy is not really a cheat, it's more like a surprise poisoning Probably the several times that I've had just a bit of grain, have slowed my progress.

I'm not anywhere near how I used to lift! Not even close! But I'm gaining muscle without it. I think this would be an extremely difficult concept for folks who love to lift.

I wonder if someone could address that. CW is all about gains and we're used to making progress ... another plate, another notch ...