Irritability from cutting carbs/clean eating?

Grey_1

Hi folks - I'm in the same boat, roughly, as the OP with some minor differences. I eat roughly 1800 cals a day, pretty much what I want be it steak or pizza, but I stay away from pastries, candy etc. I'm pretty active all week - have hit my weight goal of 176lbs after 3 or 4 months and feel twice as fit as when I started.

So all that is well and good, but here's the rub. I'm miserable when I'm hungry. Cranky and high strung. And I'm using "hungry" loosely here. There's no such thing any more. I'm either full or famished, no in between.

The tired that randomly hits is the worst part. I know there's a lot that goes into what a body needs for nutrients, and after lurking here a bit, there's a good amount of knowledge here that I hope can answer my (our) questions. I'm pretty certain my nutrient intake is lacking somewhere, I'm just clueless about what that might be.

So thanks for making the post OP - if you didn't I would have lol.

NicoleHaki

Hi all - thanks for all of the helpful comments! A few things:

1) I'm not cutting carbs that drastically! I looked at my MFP logs and it looks like I am having about 120g of carbs a day. But none of it comes from bread, pasta, cereal, rice, etc. - except for one piece of buckwheat bread that I eat (and thoroughly enjoy!) with my daily lunch salad. Does that seem too restrictive?

2) When I say "eating clean", all I'm really talking about is cutting out overprocessed foods. I used to eat frozen meals for dinner every night, and sometimes lunch too. Now I only eat frozen food every once in a while. I also try to make sure everything I eat has some nutritional value. Ex: my lunch today was over 500 calories, so not particularly a small lunch, but it was a salad so it's probably a lot healthier than having 500 calories worth of pizza or pasta.

3) I am a 5'4 female, around average weight. I envy all of the big tall men who can have 2,000+ calories a day! I think my calorie consumption is about right for me.

4) I am trying not to eat back the calories I burn working out. So MFP counts my steps and says I walk about 10,000 a day, but I don't know how reliable that is (for example, does it count steps while I am on the bus, or does it know I am on a bus? lol). So that's like 200-300 calories a day that I don't eat back (sometimes less). My daily workout is usually yoga, pilates or barre, and those things really don't burn much calories (maybe 150-300 an hour. I don't want to eat that back since it's already so little. Other days I do cardio, cycling, strength training or HIIT (for my body, that probably burns less than 500 an hour). When I do those workouts, I have closer to 1400-1500 calories a day.

5) A year ago I lost 20 lbs (around 1-2 lbs a week) by having 1200 calories a day and exercising (moderate intensity) for 30 minutes a day. I did not eat any of the calories back, because on days/weeks when I did, I maintained or even gained weight. So, I really don't believe that someone with my height and weight can create much of a calorie deficit while eating back calories consumed from exercise.

RoxieDawn

NicoleHaki wrote: »

Hi all - thanks for all of the helpful comments! A few things:

1) I'm not cutting carbs that drastically! I looked at my MFP logs and it looks like I am having about 120g of carbs a day. But none of it comes from bread, pasta, cereal, rice, etc. - except for one piece of buckwheat bread that I eat (and thoroughly enjoy!) with my daily lunch salad. Does that seem too restrictive?

2) When I say "eating clean", all I'm really talking about is cutting out overprocessed foods. I used to eat frozen meals for dinner every night, and sometimes lunch too. Now I only eat frozen food every once in a while. I also try to make sure everything I eat has some nutritional value. Ex: my lunch today was over 500 calories, so not particularly a small lunch, but it was a salad so it's probably a lot healthier than having 500 calories worth of pizza or pasta.

3) I am a 5'4 female, around average weight. I envy all of the big tall men who can have 2,000+ calories a day! I think my calorie consumption is about right for me.

4) I am trying not to eat back the calories I burn working out. So MFP counts my steps and says I walk about 10,000 a day, but I don't know how reliable that is (for example, does it count steps while I am on the bus, or does it know I am on a bus? lol). So that's like 200-300 calories a day that I don't eat back (sometimes less). My daily workout is usually yoga, pilates or barre, and those things really don't burn much calories (maybe 150-300 an hour. I don't want to eat that back since it's already so little. Other days I do cardio, cycling, strength training or HIIT (for my body, that probably burns less than 500 an hour). When I do those workouts, I have closer to 1400-1500 calories a day.

5) A year ago I lost 20 lbs (around 1-2 lbs a week) by having 1200 calories a day and exercising (moderate intensity) for 30 minutes a day. I did not eat any of the calories back, because on days/weeks when I did, I maintained or even gained weight. So, I really don't believe that someone with my height and weight can create much of a calorie deficit while eating back calories consumed from exercise.

1) The 120 may be too low..

2) By eliminating those processed foods, you are now limiting sodium, perhaps sugars and a whole host of things in your diet that were getting before. Overtime I would think you would feel better with the food choices you are making now.

3) Eat back some of those exercise calories, you need energy to burn energy..

What is your current weight and how many pounds are you setup to lose each week? Also your weight loss can be different than it was when you lost before. A lot of things can be different, like you are year older, sleeping habits, stress level, the amount you move can be less or more than before, etc... etc..

kgirlhart

I would look at your protien intake and then your fat and make sure you are getting adequate amounts of these two. And you should be eating back at least a portion of your exercise calories.

lemurcat12

cwolfman13 wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with carbs...and there are tons of "clean", highly nutritious carbs...not eating carbs would make me miserable too.

This.

lemurcat12

NicoleHaki wrote: »

Hi all - thanks for all of the helpful comments! A few things:

1) I'm not cutting carbs that drastically! I looked at my MFP logs and it looks like I am having about 120g of carbs a day. But none of it comes from bread, pasta, cereal, rice, etc. - except for one piece of buckwheat bread that I eat (and thoroughly enjoy!) with my daily lunch salad. Does that seem too restrictive?

2) When I say "eating clean", all I'm really talking about is cutting out overprocessed foods. I used to eat frozen meals for dinner every night, and sometimes lunch too. Now I only eat frozen food every once in a while. I also try to make sure everything I eat has some nutritional value. Ex: my lunch today was over 500 calories, so not particularly a small lunch, but it was a salad so it's probably a lot healthier than having 500 calories worth of pizza or pasta.

3) I am a 5'4 female, around average weight. I envy all of the big tall men who can have 2,000+ calories a day! I think my calorie consumption is about right for me.

4) I am trying not to eat back the calories I burn working out. So MFP counts my steps and says I walk about 10,000 a day, but I don't know how reliable that is (for example, does it count steps while I am on the bus, or does it know I am on a bus? lol). So that's like 200-300 calories a day that I don't eat back (sometimes less). My daily workout is usually yoga, pilates or barre, and those things really don't burn much calories (maybe 150-300 an hour. I don't want to eat that back since it's already so little. Other days I do cardio, cycling, strength training or HIIT (for my body, that probably burns less than 500 an hour). When I do those workouts, I have closer to 1400-1500 calories a day.

5) A year ago I lost 20 lbs (around 1-2 lbs a week) by having 1200 calories a day and exercising (moderate intensity) for 30 minutes a day. I did not eat any of the calories back, because on days/weeks when I did, I maintained or even gained weight. So, I really don't believe that someone with my height and weight can create much of a calorie deficit while eating back calories consumed from exercise.

This is helpful. My guess is that you are eating too little -- when you are closer to goal you often don't want to cut as deeply, and 1200-1400 with the activity you describe is not much. If you really don't want to eat back some calories, go to a TDEE calculator and get an estimate based on activity. (I agree that exercise calories can be overstated on MFP, but an alternative approach is to eat half.) I am 5'3 (so shorter than you, most certainly older although I didn't check your age, and about 125 currently) and I lost lots of weight figuring in workout calories one of these ways. If you were losing 1-2 lbs/week with 1200 and 30 minutes of exercise (and maybe less walking), you can certainly lose on more than that or by adding in some of the exercise (more, it seems) you are doing now. And you will do it more sustainably and in a way that best maintains muscle and keeps you energetic enough to make fitness improvements, which is what matters most if you are already of a healthy weight.

I don't think 120 g is that low (although more is fine too -- I did 40% when on lower calories), but if you are feeling strong cravings for favorite foods, you might want to add more in so you can fit them in. Having some bread or pasta isn't "unclean" or bad for weight loss. I eat lots of pasta since it's such an easy base for a healthful dinner (I use lots of vegetables and lean meat or some other lean protein when making a sauce, and some olive oil), and it's never been a problem -- I find it filling too. Same with things like roasted potatoes and beans. (I don't eat a ton of bread since it's not all that filling for me and not a personal favorite food, but if it were I'd fit it in.)

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

NicoleHaki wrote: »

Hi all - thanks for all of the helpful comments! A few things:



3) I am a 5'4 female, around average weight. I envy all of the big tall men who can have 2,000+ calories a day! I think my calorie consumption is about right for me.

4) I am trying not to eat back the calories I burn working out. So MFP counts my steps and says I walk about 10,000 a day, but I don't know how reliable that is (for example, does it count steps while I am on the bus, or does it know I am on a bus? lol). So that's like 200-300 calories a day that I don't eat back (sometimes less). My daily workout is usually yoga, pilates or barre, and those things really don't burn much calories (maybe 150-300 an hour. I don't want to eat that back since it's already so little. Other days I do cardio, cycling, strength training or HIIT (for my body, that probably burns less than 500 an hour). When I do those workouts, I have closer to 1400-1500 calories a day.

I just want to address these two things:

I am also a 5'4 female and am losing weight eating 1500-1800 calories per day depending on my activity level.

Your FitBit or other activity tracker will be able to tell that you're on a bus. However, it may count other things you do as "steps" that aren't exactly "steps". The important thing to realize that even if you did not walk 10,000 straight steps that day, you were probably still pretty active on a day when your activity tracker logged that many steps.