Sugar withdrawal?
jtitus311
Posts: 20 Member
I'm two weeks in to my new lifestyle and it is going really well. I'm exercising a lot and eating right. I'm down 8lbs so far. I'm now noticing just how much garbage I was putting into my body (ie sugars, fats and sweets). Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal? I haven't cut it out 100% but I have significantly reduced my consumption of it. I just thought I would feel better right now. Thanks for your feedback
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Replies
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I think it starts off different for everyone but I'm not sure you should be feeling tired and worn down...how many calories are you taking in per day? what's your height, weight, and age? what types of foods are you eating?0
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I'm 34. Weigh 295 and I'm just shy of 6'3. I'm eating between 1700 and 2000 calories a day and exercising for about 1.5 hours a day0
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It takes the body a while to adjust to a new level of carbs. Hang in there0
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I'm trying but I'm moody as hell and that doesn't fly too well with the pregnant wifey0
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If your carbs are quite low, or it is a large difference, consider upping your electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium). When someone goes into ketosis, electrolytes must be (approximately) doubled because so much water is being lost. If your carb intake has changed drastically, your electrolyte imbalance could cause that.0
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When you reduce carbs, you increase fats and oils. Add butter, nuts, eggs, dark meat chicken, bacon.0
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Honestly your diet could be adjusting just fine, two weeks should be long enough to get over the hump of sugar withdrawal. Maybe it's more of your body getting used to a new workout routine. Exercise is a healthy stressor, but a stressor Non the less. Most of the time it takes a good 3 to 4 weeks before you feel energized from working out, until then it might make you drag. I say push through a modest fatigue and rest if you become increasingly tired. You're in a major adjustment and seem to be on the right track.
It took my a good 3 months before I felt the energy boost from working out, now I look forward to it and feel awake and refreshed after.0 -
Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
I wonder how much you are sleeping. When I changed my diet I cut caffeine (diet coke, tried to drink less coffee) and also stopped using sugar/quick carbs as a pick-me-up. What this revealed was not only my over-use of caffeine, but how much I'd been using food to compensate for too little sleep. My body started demanding more sleep, but that was good--I felt so much better. Now I've been falling back into my not sleeping ways (due to stress and life stuff), and find that makes eating properly so much more challenging -- for me it has much more of an effect on how hard this is than what I eat (although I do eat a mostly healthy diet).
Also, what about exercise? Have you changed anything?
If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
Anyway, if you are sleeping well, I think this will pass. What would be an issue is if you were tired but could not sleep.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.0 -
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
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In all honesty, if you are still tired at this point, I would maybe talk to a doctor about it. Then again, when I dropped almost all sugars from my diet and went to 1500 calories a day, I had a headache for a few days and felt weak for about a week and a half. I'm just now starting to get my energy back.0
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
I wonder how much you are sleeping. When I changed my diet I cut caffeine (diet coke, tried to drink less coffee) and also stopped using sugar/quick carbs as a pick-me-up. What this revealed was not only my over-use of caffeine, but how much I'd been using food to compensate for too little sleep. My body started demanding more sleep, but that was good--I felt so much better. Now I've been falling back into my not sleeping ways (due to stress and life stuff), and find that makes eating properly so much more challenging -- for me it has much more of an effect on how hard this is than what I eat (although I do eat a mostly healthy diet).
Also, what about exercise? Have you changed anything?
If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
Anyway, if you are sleeping well, I think this will pass. What would be an issue is if you were tired but could not sleep.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/88/56G31/index.xml?section=topstories
There is in rodents. I guess I have to face facts..I'm a rodent.
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
This. Low carb flu is indeed the body adjusting to using ketones rather than glucose (this is not the same as fat adaption -- people not in ketosis can still burn fat, of course). But that doesn't mean that there was something "addictive" or maladapted about the body's use of glucose. If the keto flu is "sugar withdrawal," than the symptoms of starvation are "food withdrawal" and dehydration is "water withdrawal."0 -
I'm 34. Weigh 295 and I'm just shy of 6'3. I'm eating between 1700 and 2000 calories a day and exercising for about 1.5 hours a day
That seems a bit low isn't it? Calorie wise. If you're working out? I'm not exercising, I'm 5'4" and 190lbs and I am losing eating 1,500-1,700 calories per day without exercise. With some processed food too.0 -
I'm two weeks in to my new lifestyle and it is going really well. I'm exercising a lot and eating right. I'm down 8lbs so far. I'm now noticing just how much garbage I was putting into my body (ie sugars, fats and sweets). Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal? I haven't cut it out 100% but I have significantly reduced my consumption of it. I just thought I would feel better right now. Thanks for your feedback
It can take a good few weeks to become more efficient at utilizing ketones as fuel and being less reliant on glucose.
You are exercising a lot. For the first couple of weeks it is generally recommended that you reduce your exercise until you are over that period.
Increase your potassium (green leafy veg is great for this), even better when it's cooked in butter with salt and pepper and some chopped up bacon (better taste wise).0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
This. Low carb flu is indeed the body adjusting to using ketones rather than glucose (this is not the same as fat adaption -- people not in ketosis can still burn fat, of course). But that doesn't mean that there was something "addictive" or maladapted about the body's use of glucose. If the keto flu is "sugar withdrawal," than the symptoms of starvation are "food withdrawal" and dehydration is "water withdrawal."
Wouldn't that be:
The symptoms of food withdrawal - starvation
The symptoms of water withdrawal - dehydration
?
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Verity1111 wrote: »I'm 34. Weigh 295 and I'm just shy of 6'3. I'm eating between 1700 and 2000 calories a day and exercising for about 1.5 hours a day
That seems a bit low isn't it? Calorie wise. If you're working out? I'm not exercising, I'm 5'4" and 190lbs and I am losing eating 1,500-1,700 calories per day without exercise. With some processed food too.
That should be plenty to the required vitamins and minerals and depending on the output of the activity level, at 295lb the body has probably a few million calories to draw on for fuel.
OP once you are through the carb flu period, if you do find any of your workouts are lack luster, it may just mean a change around of meal timings.
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tennisdude2004 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
This. Low carb flu is indeed the body adjusting to using ketones rather than glucose (this is not the same as fat adaption -- people not in ketosis can still burn fat, of course). But that doesn't mean that there was something "addictive" or maladapted about the body's use of glucose. If the keto flu is "sugar withdrawal," than the symptoms of starvation are "food withdrawal" and dehydration is "water withdrawal."
Wouldn't that be:
The symptoms of food withdrawal - starvation
The symptoms of water withdrawal - dehydration
?
Nope.
Starving is your body reacting to not having food. The unpleasant symptoms associated with it (hungry, weakness, weight loss, eventual death) are not, of course, normally considered a form of withdrawal, but it would make as much sense to call them such as it does to call the keto flu "sugar withdrawal."
We normally apply "withdrawal" to the body's reaction to being without something bad for us. But the reason you get keto flu isn't that you were "addicted to sugar" or that sugar (here, glucose) is bad for us or we are dependent on it in a way that is contrary to our well-being. It's a normal reaction due to the fact that the human body normal runs on glucose and seems to prefer to do so.
I don't think we've established that OP is likely to have keto flu, as it's not clear that he's gone low carb, just that he's cut down on junk food.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
This. Low carb flu is indeed the body adjusting to using ketones rather than glucose (this is not the same as fat adaption -- people not in ketosis can still burn fat, of course). But that doesn't mean that there was something "addictive" or maladapted about the body's use of glucose. If the keto flu is "sugar withdrawal," than the symptoms of starvation are "food withdrawal" and dehydration is "water withdrawal."
I would disagree. You are exaggerating to try to make a point.
Withdrawal is the removal of something, often a toxin, when referring to health, or at the very least a less healthful, unnecessary substance, from your system and acclimating to a healthier set point. Sugar can be a toxin, diabetes wouldn't be as much of a problem is it wasn't.
Water and food are essential. Removing them is not what most would consider to be a withdrawal, but more of an attempt damaging one's health, not improving it.
JMOlemurcat12 wrote: »tennisdude2004 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
They're only contradictory if one presumes that "sugar withdrawal" == "low carb flu." It's certainly possible that "low carb flu" is not, in fact, "sugar withdrawal."lemurcat12 wrote: »Even though I'm putting really healthy and nourishing things in my body, I feel extremely tired and worn down. I'm sleeping better than I ever have before. Is this sugar withdrawal?
No, there's no such thing as sugar withdrawal (no more than there's food withdrawal just because starvation is unpleasant). Especially if you are eating sugar (which is in fruits and vegetables also).
....If you have actually cut carbs dramatically, it could be low carb flu, too.
.
Those two statements are a bit contradictory, IMO. There is a sugar withdrawal for many as there body adapts to a new way of using fuels. It is called the low carb flu when carbs are dropped a great deal. It is also called fat or keto adaptation.
This. Low carb flu is indeed the body adjusting to using ketones rather than glucose (this is not the same as fat adaption -- people not in ketosis can still burn fat, of course). But that doesn't mean that there was something "addictive" or maladapted about the body's use of glucose. If the keto flu is "sugar withdrawal," than the symptoms of starvation are "food withdrawal" and dehydration is "water withdrawal."
Wouldn't that be:
The symptoms of food withdrawal - starvation
The symptoms of water withdrawal - dehydration
?
Nope.
Starving is your body reacting to not having food. The unpleasant symptoms associated with it (hungry, weakness, weight loss, eventual death) are not, of course, normally considered a form of withdrawal, but it would make as much sense to call them such as it does to call the keto flu "sugar withdrawal."
We normally apply "withdrawal" to the body's reaction to being without something bad for us. But the reason you get keto flu isn't that you were "addicted to sugar" or that sugar (here, glucose) is bad for us or we are dependent on it in a way that is contrary to our well-being. It's a normal reaction due to the fact that the human body normal runs on glucose and seems to prefer to do so.
I don't think we've established that OP is likely to have keto flu, as it's not clear that he's gone low carb, just that he's cut down on junk food.
For close to half of the population, the bolded is indeed true. Sugar is bad for us, we are dependent on it until fat adapted, and it is contrary to our well being. I do not think that human bodies run best on glucose, but I do believe it uses glucose first because it needs to get the glucose out of the blood stream before damage is done.
I don't know of a single health issue that could be partially caused by a ketogenic diet, but I know of many health problems that may be caused (partiall) by too much glucose.
I know OP is probably not eating a ketogenic diet, but he is cutting sugar and feeling it. I doubt it is in his head.0
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