Is my diet decreasing my energy levels, or making me more tired?

[JoeFahey]

I have been going on a low carb high protein diet for about two weeks now. The main goal is to lose fat, but to maintain as much muscle as possible/lossing as little as possible. The exercising is based out of Bill Phillips "Body for Life" book. I workout my upper body on Monday/Friday, legs on Wednesday, and I do cardio on all the days in between. I have missed more days of the exercising than I was hoping for due to being busy, but I have worked hard lifting weights. My diet consists of more than the 3 meals that I used to have, although they are smaller than the 3 "square" meals that I traditionally consumed. I will try to eat around every 3-4 hours.

My breakfast will typically be 3 egg whites with one whole egg scrambled, with a piece of wheat bread mixed in.
My other meals will be something like tuna fish with minimal mayo on some low carb wrap bread, lean turkey or chicken, and I will try to throw in a portion of almonds with some of my meals. For inbetween stuff, I will normally have some almonds or a banana or something.

The reason I made this thread is no because I am tired all day, or I have low energy levels, but because my body keeps telling me that I need more sleep. I used to never be able to sleep until noon even if I wanted to. Now it is an occurrence almost every day for me. I either sleep straight until noon, or I fall asleep very quickly after I try to wake up earlier (around 8 or 9). I haven't been forced to get up much earlier than this because most of the thing sI need to do are later in the day. Also, I am a student on summer break, so my time is more flexible and I have less things to worry about.

I wish this wasn't happening, and I hope my diet isn't causing this because I am seeing my weight drop.

Thanks, input is welcomed.

 

[MegaVovaN]

So how many hours out of 24 you sleep now and how much you did earlier? Maybe if you didn't sleep enough before and now you exercise, the sleep is good? Although anything over 9 hours seems excess.

When you go to sleep?

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
So how many hours out of 24 you sleep now and how much you did earlier? Maybe if you didn't sleep enough before and now you exercise, the sleep is good? Although anything over 9 hours seems excess.

When you go to sleep?

During the school year, around 10:30, and wake up around 6:30. Now during the summer I will typically fall asleep around 12:00am-1:30am. The biggest problem is, once I get this ridiculous amount of sleep, I want to sleep even more.

Also, it is not like I wasn't exercising before summer.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I don't know then...I guess if all else fails you can start eating carbs in normal amounts and see what effect that would have on your sleep.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

How "low carb" is this diet? When people remove carbs or nearly remove carbs from their diet, the result tends to be lethargy, tiredness, etc. You may want to bring some good carbs back in, which would be fine and wouldn't hinder your progress whatsoever.

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
How "low carb" is this diet? When people remove carbs or nearly remove carbs from their diet, the result tends to be lethargy, tiredness, etc. You may want to bring some good carbs back in, which would be fine and wouldn't hinder your progress whatsoever.

Although I know that I am exceeding it, my carb intake is around 40-50 grams. For adding carbs, I was thinking of adding some complex carbs like brown rice. Any other suggestions?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
How "low carb" is this diet? When people remove carbs or nearly remove carbs from their diet, the result tends to be lethargy, tiredness, etc. You may want to bring some good carbs back in, which would be fine and wouldn't hinder your progress whatsoever.

Although I know that I am exceeding it, my carb intake is around 40-50 grams. For adding carbs, I was thinking of adding some complex carbs like brown rice. Any other suggestions?

Brown rice, all kinds of beans, whole grains, fruits, etc. I know several people who have had trouble with energy when dropping carbs out so bringing at least some of them back will probably be your best bet.

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: JoeFahey

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged
How "low carb" is this diet? When people remove carbs or nearly remove carbs from their diet, the result tends to be lethargy, tiredness, etc. You may want to bring some good carbs back in, which would be fine and wouldn't hinder your progress whatsoever.

Although I know that I am exceeding it, my carb intake is around 40-50 grams. For adding carbs, I was thinking of adding some complex carbs like brown rice. Any other suggestions?

Brown rice, all kinds of beans, whole grains, fruits, etc. I know several people who have had trouble with energy when dropping carbs out so bringing at least some of them back will probably be your best bet.

What makes complex carbs different/better for you?

 

[brikis98]

It is certainly possible that a very low carb diet would make you tired and the simplest way to tell is to temporarily toss more in and see what happens. However, there are some other possibilities - disclaimer: I'm not a doctor and as always, if you're worried, it's best to see one. Not to make you paranoid - and I'm assuming you have no other symptoms - but you could be sick. Many diseases, such as Lyme disease (been around any animals w/ ticks?), mono, etc. can make people extremely sleepy & lethargic.

Another possibility is that if you did not exercise much before and all of a sudden added a whole bunch, it's possible your body actually needs a lot more sleep to recover. After hard exercise days, I'm out the second my head hits the pillow and can easily sleep 10 hours or more. On days I do nothing, it takes me MUCH longer to fall asleep and I can rarely stay asleep past 8. It does sound like you're a bit on the extreme end of this, but it's worth considering.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey
What makes complex carbs different/better for you?

They have a lower glycemic index. And they are typically way more nutritionally dense meaning you get more vitamins/minerals/proteins per calorie than you would with simple carbs like sugar and refined wheat products.

Btw, low carb diets are not the way to go. A diet complete with the appropriate amount of complex carbs is way better for you especially if you are physically active. Your multiple days a week of cardio exercise practically demand carbs... I do 5 days a week of cardio (at least) so I eat a TON of carbs (60% of my calories are from carbs), but I'm pursuing different goals than most here.

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: JoeFahey
What makes complex carbs different/better for you?

They have a lower glycemic index. And they are typically way more nutritionally dense meaning you get more vitamins/minerals/proteins per calorie than you would with simple carbs like sugar and refined wheat products.

Btw, low carb diets are not the way to go. A diet complete with the appropriate amount of complex carbs is way better for you especially if you are physically active. Your multiple days a week of cardio exercise practically demand carbs... I do 5 days a week of cardio (at least) so I eat a TON of carbs (60% of my calories are from carbs), but I'm pursuing different goals than most here.

Yup. Your body really does need a balanced mix of fat/protein/carbs. You just need to learn to eat the right kinds.

Being a runner and training for a marathon, I'd be dead if I cut my carbs down to 40-50gm a day. Hell I eat more than that for breakfast.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: JoeFahey
What makes complex carbs different/better for you?

They have a lower glycemic index. And they are typically way more nutritionally dense meaning you get more vitamins/minerals/proteins per calorie than you would with simple carbs like sugar and refined wheat products.

Btw, low carb diets are not the way to go. A diet complete with the appropriate amount of complex carbs is way better for you especially if you are physically active. Your multiple days a week of cardio exercise practically demand carbs... I do 5 days a week of cardio (at least) so I eat a TON of carbs (60% of my calories are from carbs), but I'm pursuing different goals than most here.

Yup. Your body really does need a balanced mix of fat/protein/carbs. You just need to learn to eat the right kinds.

Being a runner and training for a marathon, I'd be dead if I cut my carbs down to 40-50gm a day. Hell I eat more than that for breakfast.

Yeah, there's absolutely no way you can get around carbs if you're an endurance athlete. Sometimes I would eat in excess of 350g of carbs a day while training for cross country. The body has certain demands and carbs really help. I'm not saying you need 350g, but 20-30% of your calories in should probably be carbs.

 

[spamsk8r]

Or, instead of adding carbs, wait it out. In a ketogenic diet, it takes a while (2 weeks to a month) for the body to adjust to using fat as fuel (see here for details). You've gotta be lower than 50 grams a day for that to happen, though. It's up to you, personally I couldn't hang with the extremely low carbs, although I do believe it to be very healthy.

 

[nervegrind3r]

Originally posted by: spamsk8r
Or, instead of adding carbs, wait it out. In a ketogenic diet, it takes a while (2 weeks to a month) for the body to adjust to using fat as fuel (see here for details). You've gotta be lower than 50 grams a day for that to happen, though. It's up to you, personally I couldn't hang with the extremely low carbs, although I do believe it to be very healthy.

I thought it was supposed to be under 20 grams of carbs for keto to kick? I read that stupid atkins book for nothing I guess.

I do remember when I did atkins, I couldnt do anything without feeling really tired, even when well rested. It was hard to adjust, but it worked after like two weeks. Boy that atkins diet was a joke even though I lost alot of weight.

 

[skace]

Ok, let's talk about a ketogenic diet briefly. If your body consistently remains at a low level of carbs (10-15g, but varies as evidenced by the various methodologies) then it will eventually enter a ketogenic state where it utilizes fat as an energy source. Once you've entered ketosis energy levels should stabilize as long as you remain in ketosis and stay properly fed with fats and protein.

Now, the period before ketosis is basically a starvation state, your body has a very limited source of energy and is trying not to utilize it. In this state it will attempt to conserve energy which most likely means you will feel tired and spend more time sleeping. In a ketogenic diet, this period lasts for 2 weeks, however if you are hovering around this point you may never leave it until you either increase your carbs or decrease them and enter a ketogenic diet.

There is one last thing to mention, most people lack sleep on a regular basis, so it is entirely possible that you actually need more sleep and there is genuinely nothing wrong with that, especially since you actually have the time right now. For instance, I get about 5 hours of sleep a day, but on the weekends I can easily pull off 12 or 13 hours because of the lack of sleep my body operates normally under. If I take a vacation or a holiday, I can usually sleep 12 hours each day no problem, however if I set my alarm clock for 8 hours, I usually wake up easier and have enough energy throughout the day. One thing I notice when I get 12 hours, is my days "float". For instance: monday I stay up until midnight, sleep 12 hours, tuesday up until 3am, sleep 12 hours, weds up until 6am, sleep 12 hours. If I didn't have to work and lived by this schedule, eventually my days would continually move. Everything here is not necessarily a problem other than sleep etiquette, most doctors will tell you to ensure a consistent sleep schedule, although there are studies against that as well (such as studies where people slept 2 hours at a time throughout the day and never truly got a full nights sleep).