Brain fog ever go away

angelakl2016
angelakl2016 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
About a month ago I was seriously miserable. I was tired all the time and mentally brain fogged all the time and couldn't concentrate in any aspect of my life. I have fmp set for 1.5 pounds which put me at 1580 calories per day. I was losing an average 2 plus pounds a week even with cheat day at around 2300 to 2500 calories. When i was struggling i looked onto tdee calcutor at a calorie defecit was 1700 so I manually changed my calories on fmp to 1650 leaving a 50 calorie for error. I am doing much better on this calorie amount but I am still suffering with brain fog a few times a week especially on the days after I workout. Does this always happen when on a caloric defecit?

Other information

5"7
243 pounds
Still averaging 2 pound lost with current 1650 and one large cheat day of around 2500 calories
Workouts- 2 to 3 hiit 20 to 30 mins long(Jillian Michaels) most weeks only 2 per week
Cardio once weekends- treadmill 30 mins walking only if I have time. But i clean and have small kids so dont always do this every weekend

I do not eat back exercise calories . I use those foe cheat days or on days o am suffering on diet and i go over 100 calories

Thanks for any inoit

Replies

  • astridtheviking
    astridtheviking Posts: 113 Member
    Are you sure your brain fog is from a caloric deficit and not something else? I had really bad brain fog when I stopped using as many dairy products, until my doctor diagnosed me with a vitamin D deficiency and had me start a supplement. It could be a vitamin deficiency, or it could be stress, or it could be sleep.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,227 Member
    edited January 2020
    You're still losing on average 2lbs a week. Your actual deficit is more than 1000 Cal a day.

    If you have young kids and clean etc, you are not sedentary even if you think that you are.

    While 2lbs a week is within the "safe" range for weight loss for someone your size, this doesn't make it optimal for you, personally.

    Long term sustainability and adherence to the process is what will get you to normal weight

    Eat a bit more. 1 lb a week is 52 a year. 1.5 is 72.5. The year will go by anyway.

    I don't recall brain fog.... unless my brain was too foggy already to make a difference!!!!
  • angelakl2016
    angelakl2016 Posts: 15 Member
    astridtheviking wrote: »
    Are you sure your brain fog is from a caloric deficit and not something else? I had really bad brain fog when I stopped using as many dairy products, until my doctor diagnosed me with a vitamin D deficiency and had me start a supplement. It could be a vitamin deficiency, or it could be stress, or it could be sleep.

    I think I will ask for a work up next time im at my doctor. It would hurt to check out if I have deficiencies
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,227 Member
    Somewhere above.... 78 because of math. 72.5 sticks to my mind due to personal significance :lol:
  • angelakl2016
    angelakl2016 Posts: 15 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    You're still losing on average 2lbs a week. Your actual deficit is more than 1000 Cal a day.

    If you have young kids and clean etc, you are not sedentary even if you think that you are.

    While 2lbs a week is within the "safe" range for weight loss for someone your size, this doesn't make it optimal for you, personally.

    Long term sustainability and adherence to the process is what will get you to normal weight

    Eat a bit more. 1 lb a week is 52 a year. 1.5 is 72.5. The year will go by anyway.

    I don't recall brain fog.... unless my brain was too foggy already to make a difference!!!!

    When checking out these tdee calculator I did put in lightly active becuase I work a full time desk job. After work and weekends I am busy mommy but didn't think that would make me more active than anyone without kids.

    I totally agreed thay slow and sustainable is key here. Like I did a month ago, maybe ill play with my calories and up slightly and see how I do.

    Thank yoy
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    You have not increased your calories enough. The difference between 1.5 and 2 pounds per week is 250 calories a day. If you are still losing 2 pounds per week you need to up your calories by 250 calories give it a month and then lower it back down if needed.

    And don't make a judgment that lowering it back down is needed after just a few days at the higher calorie level. Give yourself at least a week, and preferably two weeks, before thinking you have enough data to judge what's going with your weight trend at the higher calorie level.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,089 Member
    astridtheviking wrote: »
    Are you sure your brain fog is from a caloric deficit and not something else? I had really bad brain fog when I stopped using as many dairy products, until my doctor diagnosed me with a vitamin D deficiency and had me start a supplement. It could be a vitamin deficiency, or it could be stress, or it could be sleep.

    It could be. But since the situation improved with a small increase in calories (and possibly the onset was correlated with the calorie restriction as well, since something made OP suspect the calorie deficit), it seems like a good idea at a minimum to give a further calorie increase a try, especially since OP is still losing 2 lbs a week, and hence is at a fairly steep caloric deficit.

    This doesn't seem like the most sensible approach: Oh, I have symptoms A that I don't like. A and B seem to correlated. I change B a little and symptoms A improve a little. Instead of trying to see if a further change in B will improve symptoms B more, I'm going to go look for something else to try.
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
    cupcakesandproteinshakes Posts: 1,125 Member
    It’s a matter of trouble shooting to see if the steepness of the deficit is causing the brain fog or something else, possibly medical. So yes, see your doctor. And at the same time increase your calories so the deficit is not so steep. Wait a few weeks and reassess.

    We are all different. For some people 2 pounds a week is not sustainable as a loss and you may fare better losing more slowly over a longer period. Many of us here have lost too quickly in the past and rebounded badly and ended up having to start all over again at an even higher weight. You want to avoid that.
  • Scarlettriestorun
    Scarlettriestorun Posts: 40 Member
    If you don't mind me asking your age?? Peri menopause and menopause causes chronic brain fog due to hormones
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    angelakl2016 wrote: »
    About a month ago I was seriously miserable. I was tired all the time and mentally brain fogged all the time and couldn't concentrate in any aspect of my life. I have fmp set for 1.5 pounds which put me at 1580 calories per day. I was losing an average 2 plus pounds a week even with cheat day at around 2300 to 2500 calories. When i was struggling i looked onto tdee calcutor at a calorie defecit was 1700 so I manually changed my calories on fmp to 1650 leaving a 50 calorie for error. I am doing much better on this calorie amount but I am still suffering with brain fog a few times a week especially on the days after I workout. Does this always happen when on a caloric defecit?

    Other information

    5"7
    243 pounds
    Still averaging 2 pound lost with current 1650 and one large cheat day of around 2500 calories
    Workouts- 2 to 3 hiit 20 to 30 mins long(Jillian Michaels) most weeks only 2 per week
    Cardio once weekends- treadmill 30 mins walking only if I have time. But i clean and have small kids so dont always do this every weekend

    I do not eat back exercise calories . I use those foe cheat days or on days o am suffering on diet and i go over 100 calories

    Thanks for any inoit

    yes. if the deficit is too large, this can happen.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Just based on the math you've provided, your TDEE (including exercise) is approximately 2771 calories/day. [(1650*6 +2500)/7 = 1771 -> +1000 for losing 2 lb/week and you get 2771] Which agrees with the TDEE calculator that I use putting your between "light" and "moderate" exercise by it's metrics.

    Upping your calories to 2000/day at the same level of activity should still yield a weekly loss of 1.5 lbs for the time being. Those extra 350 calories don't seem like much but it could be the difference you're looking for.

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