Low Carbs and Anger

brownidgirl35

There is truth to the Snicker commercials!
Low Blood Sugar can make people cranky, irritable or angy. If my husband comes home and I get snippy with him he will immediately ask me when I ate last cause you have the crazy eyes. It's funny afterwards! Since I am basically alone during the day because I work at night I don't realize that I'm cranky. About 15-30 minutes after I eat I feel much better.
Diabetes runs in my family also and I've had a few of the sugar tests where they check your sugar all day after each meal. My sugar would always stay around 90 which is considered low after eating...so I was told. Best thing for me is to keep certs, tic-tacs or gum in my purse so I will at least have something with a little sugar in it to give me a boost.
Hope you feel better!

titletown

What is your BMR?

1200 cals a day is way low, especially if you are working out every day and seeing that you are only 3 lbs from your goal, why not up your cals to at least your BMR and 75% of your exercise cals and see if that helps?

Troy67

Lately I had been up 7 or 8 hours before I ate for the first time. I didn't feel hungry so I did not notice the gradual changes for awhile.
Yeah, I didn't even intentionally go low carb. Just happened by finding all the 100 calorie versions of things and healthier versions of my favorite foods, that they were naturally lower in carbs. I believe you are right that now that I am down to a decent weight I am not metabolizing fat and creating my own supply of Serotonin.
While I was in the process of losing on a steady basis, I adjusted the whole diet to accomodate that. Now I actually have to add things back in in a healthy way to maintain. I definitely enjoy the sensation it gives my body when I eat some starchy carbohydrates. Just have to keep it in moderation.

Troy67

Titletown,
According to the calculators I have tried, my BMR is around 1670. I guess I had been in weight loss mode for so long, it is hard to make my brain switch to eating more. I still have my MFP settings reflecting 2 lbs per week weight loss goal and a pretty active lifestyle. I might change the numbers and see what I can do without gaining. Just scares the crap out of me when I have been in the losing mind set for so long. lol

Helloitsdan

Gluconeogenesis could make you tired since you dont eat enough.


Gluconeogenesis is a ubiquitous process, present in plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms.[2] In animals, gluconeogenesis takes place mainly in the liver and, to a lesser extent, in the cortex of kidneys. This process occurs during periods of fasting, starvation, low-carbohydrate diets, or intense exercise and is highly endergonic. For example, the pathway leading from pyruvate to glucose-6-phosphate requires 4 molecules of ATP and 2 molecules of GTP. Gluconeogenesis is often associated with ketosis. Gluconeogenesis is also a target of therapy for type II diabetes, such as metformin, which inhibits glucose formation and stimulates glucose uptake by cells.[3]

In simple terms it tries to turn down your energy expenditure by catabolizing lean mass.
Lean mass is active tissue and requires energy to operate.
The lower your TDEE the less your body has to work, the more it can hold onto fat mass.

Up calories or you could be setting yourself back.

teagin2002

I do eat a fairly low carb diet, but I eat, exercise and eat back as much of the exercise cals I can.
If I don't exercise I will eat 1600 cals, but I find I am not happy (moody) unless I eat around 2000 cals. SO I make sure to do something to up my calories for the day.

I do eat fruit and veggies and maybe 2 servings of either oats, 1 slice of whole wheat bread, lentils or black beans.
Upping your cals with definitely help with your mood, I know it does with me :flowerforyou:

titletown

I'd bump it up to at least 1670 for a week and see how it goes. You may gain a few lbs right out of the gate but don't let that sacre you, probably just retaining a bit of water.

Once things even out and you start losing again, bump it up a bit more to eventually find the right place you need to be with all the exercising you do.

My guess is that it is fatigue and starvation more than anything else you are feeling.

Best of luck to you...

Helloitsdan

After talking to Troy last night I crunched some numbers....

Okay Troy,

BMR 1596 Eating below this is a metabolism killer. Also eating below this robs nutrients from vital organs like your heart, liver, kidneys, brain etc. catabolism is known to happen in this range because the body doesnt get the nutrients it need nor the energy so it seeks to slow the body down by eating active tissue and dropping TDEE.

TDEE 2473 This is how much energy in calories you use a day. This is AKA maintenance.
Lean mass 125lbs
Fat mass 46lbs
Overweight Range

Eat 2k calories daily to lose 1lb fat per week with minimal to no lean mass lost.
Protein 30%
Carbs 40%
Fat 30%

Do this for 1 month to regulate.
You will gain some water weight for the first week but this goes away.

janegalt37

Troy,
I'm not one to poo-poo anyone's goals, but I'm concerned about your goal weight. My husband is 5'9", 145lbs, age 45, and he's a skinny little Italian with naturally good muscle tone and a quite low bf%. That said, your arms are quite a bit more muscular than his. He currently doesn't exercise at all (but is beginning lifting soon). I can't imagine someone exercising like you do and building muscle can have the low weight you aspire to have.
Then again, I've never met you.....
Good luck with everything, and listen to Dan.

Troy67

Thanks Jane. I think it is the body image thing. When I was at my biggest, I would look in the mirror and my brain would tell me that I wasn't really that big. Didn't help that friends and family said the same thing.
Now I look in the mirror and see the extra flab here and there and the extra roll in my mid-section and keep thinking I am huge and need to loose a lot more weight. Doctors and friends all remind me that is probably 20 or so pounds of flab/skin, etc and there really isn't much actual fat under there to burn, But I see the number on the scale and see that BMI says I should "weigh" 159 at the most for my height.
I can wear 34 pants up over my waist and a medium shirt now, I know that I probably only weigh 150 pounds if the skin/flab were gone. It is just hard to tell your brain that. It never keeps up with the body. lol
I was told to give it a good year once I stop losing for toning up and then if I was worried I could see about having it removed.
I am going to take Dan's advice. I already downloaded the Stronglifts workout, spreadsheets, lifting app, etc and am going to try that approach. Looks like if I can stick to that it should help me tone up a lot. Also tweaked my macros to his recommendations. I have been doing very little strength training and killing myself with cardio for 9 straight months. Will give it a shot!
Thanks, Dan!!

mattemery

Troy,
I think you have a plan including Dan's advice. I'd be REALLY interested to hear if this helps. My history sounds similar to yours... Lost a ton of weight.... now about 20 pounds from goal... eating about 1200 calories a day.

I didn't have the symptoms you were having, but I decided to lose this last 20 slowly, maintaining my lean body mass, and have switched to eating more calories. Over the last couple of weeks, I've added back and I'm at 1,700 a day now, and still loosing a pound a week so far. I eat 6 times a day, and I do feel better.

I'm convinced at 1,200, my metabolism was slowed way down. But I had gotten there over a couple of years of losing weight, so eating 1,700 calories a day seemed nuts to me. Can't believe it's working.

Helloitsdan

Troy,
I think you have a plan including Dan's advice. I'd be REALLY interested to hear if this helps. My history sounds similar to yours... Lost a ton of weight.... now about 20 pounds from goal... eating about 1200 calories a day.

I didn't have the symptoms you were having, but I decided to lose this last 20 slowly, maintaining my lean body mass, and have switched to eating more calories. Over the last couple of weeks, I've added back and I'm at 1,700 a day now, and still loosing a pound a week so far. I eat 6 times a day, and I do feel better.

I'm convinced at 1,200, my metabolism was slowed way down. But I had gotten there over a couple of years of losing weight, so eating 1,700 calories a day seemed nuts to me. Can't believe it's working.

*2 thumbs up*