Brain fog with diets

kimmmm1234

I'm a 200 pound, 20-year old female looking to reach 140. I've been dieting for a few days at this site's recommendation of 1200calories/day.

Every time I start a diet, my brain gets all fogged up, and I usually give up the diet to keep my grades up because the brain fog makes it difficult to focus and remember things. Does this happen to anyone else?

Is it possible I'm not getting enough nutrients? (Recommended DVs seem impossible to reach at 1200 calories...) I wish I could afford a multivitamin, but alas, I am a poor college student living on bulk frozen goods and end-of-stock english muffins.

All help is appreciated, I really want to stick with the diet this time!
Thank you!

Branstin

Reduce your weekly weight loss down to 1.5 lbs. and see if having more calories to eat resolve the issue. Otherwise, go see your doctor.

jaynerebecca1

Without knowing all of the details, like your height, and what you've been logging (you can open your diary so people can see and help), I am still fairly certain at 200 lbs, 1200 a day is too low. You can find your TDEE and eat 20% less than it and see how that goes. Also, make sure you eat enough protein to keep you full!

SueInAz

Brain fog is usually about not eating enough. Try setting your goal on MFP to a more modest weight loss like 1 pound per week. That should give you more calories.

Keep in mind that if you're eating less calories/food it's cheaper. Look for in-season or frozen veggies to supplement those English muffins.

nsalley99

Hey Chica, I'm 23 and trying to get to 130. I also get dreary when calorie restricted. A good method is lower your weight loss to 1lb a week. Eating good quality food. Also, if you get some exercise in you'll be able to eat more. Add me as a friend if you like.

MinnieInMaine

You may be restricting calories, and therefore nutrients, too much. While MFP gives you the opportunity to set your goal to lose 2 pounds per week, even with those that have a lot to lose, it's not necessarily the best setting for you. As Branstin recommended, I'd suggest resetting to 1.5 or even 1 pound per week. You may not be getting enough fat in your diet, which is pretty vital to vitamin absorption and brain function. Add some full fat dressing or some olive oil and herbs to those veggies and put some peanut butter on those english muffins. Hope you feel better!

AliceDark

I would absolutely have brain fog if I tried to survive at 1200! (Actually, "brain fog" is putting it mildly. I would be a freaking zombie). Set your goal for 1 or 1.5 pounds per week, and make sure you're getting enough fat. If I'm too low on fat, I can't concentrate at all.

independant2406

It may be a blood sugar issue. Have you ever been tested for Hypoglycemia/low blood sugar?

Try and eat protein AND healthy fats AND carbs with every meal. Also eat small meals every 2-3 hours. Boosting the amount of fiber you consume will also help stabilize your blood sugar if this is the cause of the "brain fog". I know this sounds like a difficult task, but its possible. I do this on 1200 calories a day (I'm 5ft 3 and 196lbs). It really does help my symptoms.

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetes-hypoglycemia
Note: its possible to have hypoglycemia without having diabetes/prediabetes... its just most commonly associated with diabetics since they have issues with controlling blood sugar and hypoglycemia is a side effect of some diabetic medications.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/carbohydrates-and-blood-sugar/

If the symptoms ring a bell for you, definitely ask your doctor to give your fasting blood sugar levels a check (usually they'll do a blood draw after you've fasted overnight... then ask you to eat a big meal and then do another blood draw a few hours after the meal. When I had this done they found my sugars were lower after the big meal than they were after a whole night of fasting.)

kimmmm1234

Thank you for the replies guys! ^^
I'm 5ft 7.5in, and have a medium bone structure (wide effin' hips and man wrists).

I cut back the weekly weight loss to 1.5lbs, and hopefully it'll help.

I'll try eating more fiber.. any low-cal suggestions?

Thanks again!

cwolfman13

You're getting 1200 calories per day based on your inputs...which I assume that you chose the most aggressive approach possible and set yourself to sedentary. You probably don't realize that this tool also provides you with a calorie goal sans exercise...so exercise becomes an unaccounted for activity that needs to be accounted for when you do it...so you log it and get calories to "eat back" from exercise. You just have to be careful not to overestimate.

If it were me, I'd just dial back on the calorie restriction and do some exercise so that I could eat more...not only would I do that...that's what I did way back when.

bokaba

You can get multi vitamins at Walmart or the like if you have one nearby for less than $5 that will last more than 3 months. Vitamins will not compensate for a poor diet though.