Lost my mojo?

danelutza19

I'm about mid point in my fat loss goal (aiming for a healty and strong 180lb). I've been doing stronglifts 5x5 for the last 3 months but lately I'm feeling sluggish, lazy, not looking forward to hit the gym, the weights seem really heavy and kinda lacking energy. I'm eating low carb for health reasons since I discovered I don't tolerate grains. The weight loss is pretty steady but that just isn't my main concern here, I'm really paranoid about falling off the wagon with training.
After brainstorming some I have some ideas as to why this is happening but what I want to know is how you guys that were in my shoes dealt with this problem.
As a side note, I eat around 1640 cal a day, eat back some of my exercise calories and I have been working out seriously since the end of March.
As of today, I decided to up my daily calories to 1870 and see if that can fix the slowing down of my metabolism and to compensate that by not calculating exercise calories. I'm not a cardio bunny, I lift 2,3 days a week, followed by slow walks, yoga on rest days and maybe once a week sprints( hiit on the elliptical for 20 min).
What are your ideas?

wheird

Bumping this so that others with more information on low carb "flu" can possibly chime in.

TheRealNoodlette

How much fat are you eating? How much sodium? Those would be my first questions.

I'm also interested in this topic because I eat low carb and I've been feeling wiped out lately. Currently I'm at the gym 5x/week, doing a 60-90minutes cardio day, followed by a lifting day, cardio day, rest, lifting day, cardio day, rest or something like that. I had actually been thinking earlier today that maybe I needed an extra rest day.

danelutza19

I'm eating about 60% fat, 25% protein and 15% carbs. My sodium is a good amount( I'm not shy about salt) and I drink plenty of water.
I just seem to have changed in a manner of weeks; I couldn't handle not working out M to F but these days I'm almost looking for excuses not to make it to the gym.

Kalikel

Cocky people are more likely to fail than those who worry they'll screw up.

This half-way mark, where you realize you still have halfway to go and this half will be harder...it's intimidating.

If you count based on how hard it is, I think the first half is 1/3 of the work and the next 40% is 1/3 of the work and the last 10% is 1/3. That's how I have it worked out in my head. And this 40% is the third where I'll see the greatest results. ... Dumb, I know. It helps me. It's kind of crazy, though, and might not help anyone but me.

You'll get there if you're determined to stick it out. Determination isn't always peppy and "Woo-Hoo! I'm going to do this!" Sometimes it's doing it when it sucks.

Good luck.

MagnumBurrito

Up your carbs. Switch programs. Get excited again with some energy.

Simple macros are 1 gram protein / lb of lean mass. .4 grams fat / lb of BW. The rest go to carbs. 25+ grams of fiber too. Try to eat a bulk of the carbs after lifting.

I don't eat much bread either. Sweet potato fries have become a staple in my diet. Simple easy and delicious.

http://cookieandkate.com/2010/baked-sweet-potato-fries/

Protein pancakes with berries are also the ridiculous and amazing. A little flour won't mess up your stomach most likely.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/991227-ultimate-protein-pancakes-omg

Try having a piece of fruit everyday with PB too.

For programs, maybe switch to strong curves or 531. Or stay with strong lifts and do one heavy day 5x5, one medium day 3x10, and one light day 3x15.

Check out exrx.net and pick a new lift to switch in or add on occasionally. Say you hate the bent over row, switched to the inverted row.

danelutza19

Thank you LeadingMuscle for voicing out some of the options I was considering. The idea of changing up stronglifts with some hypertrophy parameters seems great and I'm really excited about trying it out.
The recipes are welcomed as well because I figured I need more food to fuel the workouts and the recovery, even if the fat loss will be slower.
On a side note, I will eat more fruit but I'm confused about how you guys seem to get so much fiber in, I love raw vegetables or cooked ones but never really get past 10-11 g a day.

Kalikel, thanks for mentioning the mental part of the process because without that it won't work either.

You guys did get me thinking about possibly having a keto flu. I guess keto is great for fat loss but it might slow down my strenght gains so much that I couldn't perform in the parameters of the training program.

All good ideas.
My new plan, eat more, do new stuff to get excited and just change things up a bit.

Thank you all so much!

meshashesha2012

grains arent the only things that have carbs ya know?
probably eat more than those