No Energy
 

Hi all
I have been doing low carb off and on for several years.
One thing that I have noticed after being in ketosis
for a couple of weeks is that I have absolutely no energy.
It makes me tired sometimes to just hold my arms
over my head to wash my hair in the mornings.
I have absolutely NO stamina to do things
like lifting heavy things, etc

Any ideas of what this could be?

Thanks,
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Three thoughts:

1. Are you eating enough calories? Sometimes after being in ketosis for a few weeks people's appetites drop way down and they aren't eating enough. That could lead to tiredness. You might check fitday.com to see how many calories you are consuming each day. There are various opinions in this forum about what the minimum should be, but I think most people agree it should be at least 10x your goal weight (some people think it should be higher than that).

2. Are you eating at least 20 grams of carbohydrates a day including at least three cups of low carb vegetables? I think that is important for energy levels.

3. Is your eating centered around filling real foods -- vegetables, meat, fish, chicken, cheese, olive oil, etc.? Some people do a lot of bars and shakes and I don't think that our bodies can sustain themselves that well without the whole foods that are the center of most lowcarb plans.

If none of these things are the issue, you might try adding a few more carbs in the form of more vegetables, lowcarb fruit (berries and melon), or nuts. In particular, peope who exercise a lot often need more than the minimum 20 carbs a day.

Thanks Liz,
I will calculate the calories and see how many I am eating,
will too low of carbs drain energy too?

I do tend to eat more "real" food that I do shakes
and stuff, so that isnt it.

Thanks for the reply,
Lisa

When your body begins to low-carb, it doesn't want to.

It's telling you, "Damn you! I want carbs, not this meat crap! I'm going to refuse to burn it properly, thefore refuse you energy! (cravings big). I may even make you have a hard time in the bathroom because I refuse to digest it properly too!"

When your body switches to fat burning mode, it forgets that you use carbs as fuel, and you get a HUGE boost in energy all of a sudden. You sleep better, you feel better, you think better. You stop craving.

If you cheat, you remind your body of the good old days of eating carbs, and it will try and switch back. Cravings will begin again, and you will lose energy.

Stay with it, and you will learn to enjoy it. The hard part is getting the plate to spin on the stick. The easy part is holding it there.