Low-Carb Crash

When I get home from work at 5:30 I eat dinner and I just get extremely tired. I missed my workout last night because I fell asleep after dinner and didn’t wake up until the morning. My diet is low carb right now, but I felt this way when eating regular amount of carbs too. If I was overtraining before I’m sure not now, missing 2 or 3 workouts a week.

I don’t understand what the problem is, because I am getting enough sleep even without the long naps and it’s not like my work is that tiring, it’s in an office. It’s worrying me because I’m sure fatigue is a warning sign of some pretty bad things.

What does your entire nutrition plan look like? List it.

Are you going long periods without food during the day? Are you dieting severely? Are you loading up on caffeine or other stimulants while dieting?

When you say you are getting “enough sleep”, are you sure? Things like sleep apnea and excessive snoring can really chew up your rest.

Yeah, I know, nothing resembling a useful answer, just questions…

I’m not sure why they changed my subject. I gurantee it isn’t because of the carbs. Exact same thing was happening when I ate tons of carbs. This has been going on for 3 months.

Calorie wise I am around maintenence. Hopefully a little over.

I get around 6-7 hours sleep on weekdays and 10 hours on weekends.

When I sleep I dream and I don’t feel very restless, so I don’t know if that means I am getting a good sleep or not. I was assuming it did.

[quote]vroom wrote:
Are you going long periods without food during the day? Are you dieting severely? Are you loading up on caffeine or other stimulants while dieting?

When you say you are getting “enough sleep”, are you sure? Things like sleep apnea and excessive snoring can really chew up your rest.

Yeah, I know, nothing resembling a useful answer, just questions…[/quote]

Yes, answer those questins so we all can help out from a more informed viewpoint.

[quote]T234 wrote:
I’m not sure why they changed my subject. I gurantee it isn’t because of the carbs. Exact same thing was happening when I ate tons of carbs. This has been going on for 3 months.

Calorie wise I am around maintenence. Hopefully a little over.

I get around 6-7 hours sleep on weekdays and 10 hours on weekends.

When I sleep I dream and I don’t feel very restless, so I don’t know if that means I am getting a good sleep or not. I was assuming it did. [/quote]

Off the bat, I’d ask what “low carb” means. My opinion is that “low carb” sucks.

I feel you may be trapped in the Hell that exists between low carb and virtually NO carb. Your currently in a carb-burning metabolism yet undersupplying that energy source.

If you drop your carb level (while compensating with increased fat and protein) you will switch over to a fat-burning metabolism and feel increaed energy. Either that or add in some carbs in the form of berries, apples etc until your energy increases.

But like I said, you may be simply undersupplying energy.

Also look into taking a B complex. I’ve used them with great results energy-wise.

[quote]T234 wrote:
I’m not sure why they changed my subject. I gurantee it isn’t because of the carbs. Exact same thing was happening when I ate tons of carbs. This has been going on for 3 months.

Calorie wise I am around maintenence. Hopefully a little over.

I get around 6-7 hours sleep on weekdays and 10 hours on weekends.

When I sleep I dream and I don’t feel very restless, so I don’t know if that means I am getting a good sleep or not. I was assuming it did. [/quote]

Like I said before “LIST EXACLTY WHAT YOUR NUTRITION PLAN IS”.

Everything you eat in order.

We can’t help you if you don’t give specifics.

Ok here is what I had yesterday:

7:30 am: 5 Eggs, 2 slices low carb toast w/almond butter, 2 scoops casein

10:30am: 4 slices turkey bacon

12:30pm: Ground Beef/Feta/Olives not sure of the amount but it’s from the recipe in JB’s gourmet nutrition so around 700 cals for one serving.

3:30pm: Rest of the ground beef another 700 cals.

5:30pm Chicken stir fry w/brown rice

*This is when I was planning to workout but fell asleep instead.

Wokeup at 11:30pm

Had a cup of cottage cheese and went back to bed until 6:30am.

Honestly though, I don’t think this is because of diet. Like I said, this has been happening for a while and my diet was totally different before.

[quote]T234 wrote:
Ok here is what I had yesterday:

7:30 am: 5 Eggs, 2 slices low carb toast w/almond butter, 2 scoops casein

10:30am: 4 slices turkey bacon

12:30pm: Ground Beef/Feta/Olives not sure of the amount but it’s from the recipe in JB’s gourmet nutrition so around 700 cals for one serving.

3:30pm: Rest of the ground beef another 700 cals.

5:30pm Chicken stir fry w/brown rice

*This is when I was planning to workout but fell asleep instead.

Wokeup at 11:30pm

Had a cup of cottage cheese and went back to bed until 6:30am.

Honestly though, I don’t think this is because of diet. Like I said, this has been happening for a while and my diet was totally different before.

[/quote]

Ok man I know exactly where you are coming from I was on a low carb Atkins crap diet for a long time before I found T-Nation.

  1. Your diet is not balanced at all, you not getting the nutrients you need. Where is the fruit, veggies? No one ever got fat from eating fruits and veggies, only constipated and malnutrient.

2)Your rice at night is causing you to crash. You need carbs but since you only really eat a good abundunce of them at night you are causeing an insulin spike that is putting you right to sleep, I know I’ve been there.

  1. You need carbs, I know its scary but you will feel a hell of alot better, just stick to good carbs, brown rice, oatmeal, whole wheat bread ect. Also eating the majority of your carbs durning the day instead of at night will help keep the pounds away AND keep your energy up all day.

Serioulsy man you are eating the same way I used to, it was great at first but then after awhile you hit a wall and your energy levels drop and so do any gains. Low carb diets are “Diets” not long term lifestyle nutrition plans.

I know carbs have been made out to be all scary, but they are not, just stay away from the sugary crap and bleached flours.

I suggest you read the following:

7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs
http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459493

Also read every single Article written by Dr. John Berardi on the site. He is a genius and will really open your eyes.

Good luck

[quote]Panik (akajbodzi wrote:

Serioulsy man you are eating the same way I used to, it was great at first but then after awhile you hit a wall and your energy levels drop and so do any gains. Low carb diets are “Diets” not long term lifestyle nutrition plans.
Good luck[/quote]

There are many here including myself that believe that low-carb (cyclical) diets ARE lifestyle nutrition plans.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=658379

“My experience on the Anabolic Diet” now has over 4,000 posts. It’s very good reading.

[quote]derek wrote:
Panik (akajbodzi wrote:

Serioulsy man you are eating the same way I used to, it was great at first but then after awhile you hit a wall and your energy levels drop and so do any gains. Low carb diets are “Diets” not long term lifestyle nutrition plans.
Good luck

There are many here including myself that believe that low-carb (cyclical) diets ARE lifestyle nutrition plans.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=658379

“My experience on the Anabolic Diet” now has over 4,000 posts. It’s very good reading.[/quote]

Yes that is true but I am only refering to a straight out low to no carb plan not a low carb cycling nutrition plan.

[quote]Panik (akajbodzi wrote:
Yes that is true but I am only refering to a straight out low to no carb plan not a low carb cycling nutrition plan.

[/quote]

Yeah, I kinda knew that. Sorry if I came across as argumentative. Straight no-carb does suck IMO.

One thing that I have found helpful is to eat canned tuna fish on whole wheat bread with some light mayo and EVO. The bread is about 150 calories a slice, and the tuna is around 100 calories. Have one of these around 10a and 1p. It’ll get you moving throughout the office if you didn’t hit the oatmeal.

Oh, do you walk around the office much, or do you sit in your office all day? How is your stress level at the office? Year end is happening right now, bills from the holidays, etc. There’s a lot of things happening that can be causing you stress. How are you managing it?

It also looks like your fiber intake is low. You might want to think about adding some Metamucil to your diet. Peanuts are also an option if you’re not allergic – just becareful not to eat too many. Peanuts are very calories dense, but I like to snack on them throughout the day.

Go see a doctor, you may have fatigue problems(endocrine system may be on low).

[quote]T234 wrote:
I get around 6-7 hours sleep on weekdays and 10 hours on weekends.
[/quote]

You need more sleep on weekdays. It’s that simple. Your body has already figured this out.

[quote]T234 wrote:
Honestly though, I don’t think this is because of diet. Like I said, this has been happening for a while and my diet was totally different before.
[/quote]

The simples explanation is still that you just need more sleep during the week then you are getting. Any thing else change in your life over the past few months? New job? School? Lots of partying? Family? Calorie Counting?

[quote]derek wrote:
Panik (akajbodzi wrote:
Yes that is true but I am only refering to a straight out low to no carb plan not a low carb cycling nutrition plan.

Yeah, I kinda knew that. Sorry if I came across as argumentative. Straight no-carb does suck IMO.[/quote]

No problem, although I cried a little at first. lol :slight_smile:

[quote]T234 wrote:
My diet is low carb right now, but I felt this way when eating regular amount of carbs too. [/quote]

What do you consider a regular amount of carbs is the question. Because if you were getting in what actually is a regular amount of carbs and still feeling the same way then your problem isnt nutrition it is overtraining. Overtraining isnt just pushing yourself to hard on a few workouts, its chronic, and it could take weeks to months to completely recover from. I would have to look into ways to help your body recover from overtraining…