"Carb Flu" ?? Feelling Horrible

Thanks everybody. I think you are all right. My calorie deficit is huge but I though you needed a deficit of at least 500 to loose weight. I think Im going to start bumpijg my calorie intake. I really cant stand this feeling.

I think you might just be a little confused on the way myfitnesspal works - I find that a lot of people do at first so don't feel bad. When you set it up and you say, I want to "lose 2 lbs per week," MFP sets you up with a calorie goal that is ALREADY at a deficit that will likely help you lost 2 lbs per week. So you are right that you need a deficit to lose weight, but MFP has already set you up with that deficit so don't eat EVEN less.

There is also lots of opinions about eating exercise calories back, and I think you should. Say your BMR is 2200, so mfp put you on a 1700 calorie diet that gives you a 500 calorie deficit every day. 2200 is what your body would burn if you just lived your day and didn't hit the gym. So when you DO hit the gym, you should fuel your body more with healthy food to give you the energy you need. So when you burn 500 calories at the gym and don't eat them back, you are now at a 1000 calorie deficit which is just too low.

Hope that made sense --

Also, protein shakes - yeah, why the heck not? If you have a decent protein shake, it shouldn't have a lot of carbs. All my whey proteins have like 1 carb per scoop...

If you up your food and continue to feel ill with this "carb flu" (never heard of this either), then change your goals and eat more carbs. Your body knows best! For example, I feel pretty darn good when I follow a diet of 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein so that's what I aim for.

OP...just wanted to also acknowledge your burnt out feeling, which is a very valid concern...

I think it's important to remember that this is life. It's not a diet, a fad, or something you do occasionally. If we ever do what got us here in the first place, we will ALL be back to square one. This isn't a mad dash to the finish line. We didn't gain weight over night, and we're not going to lose it (and KEEP it off) that way either.

Be kind to yourself. You only have one body. Extreme dieting won't solve your problems. You are going to have to tweak your diet and exercise constantly as you lose weight. There's going to be a LOT of trial and error until you learn what YOUR specific body's needs are. If you feel like crap, that's your body telling you it can't sustain itself.

You need to think more long term. What are the little changes you can make AND live with comfortably right this very moment? Do those things. A real lifestyle change is done slowly....comprised of those accumulated little changes you can live with.

Remember to story of the turtle and the hair? Be the turtle.

In the time I've been here, I've seen a lot of people crash and burn. You know why I'm still here? Because I've made the decision to work this into my life. Good days, bad days, binge days....it doesn't matter. In January, there was one day I ate an entire medium sized pizza. I nibbled on it all day until it was gone. I have MFP friends that have quit over a mistake like that. I didn't because tomorrow is another day, and I haven't truely lost until I give up. Now, I'll be honest. I had to bust my *kitten* for over a week to undo what I did in one day. But I DID recover, and now I'm still losing. I lost ONE battle, but not the war.

Bottom line is: Don't push yourself further than you are willing to go. That is self-defeating. Just try everyday to do better than yesterday....and if you fail, remember that life happens. Take the hit, get UP, and move on.

Edited for stupid typos :happy:

P.S. You might want to check your cholesterol before hitting the bacon real heavy. I know this high fat idea is all the rage, but it matters what kind of fat, too. I thought the cholesterol going out the roof due to a high animal fat diet was just a "girl thing" (I made the mistake of trying Atkins 7 years ago), but then I talked to a guy friend who had the same thing happen to him on Atkins.

Word - I did a super low carb week for like a week and I happened to have a blood test at the end of that week. 25 and borderline high cholesterol - not good!

I still limit my carbs, but I don't indulge in bacon and fatty meats! I eat healthy, lean proteins most of the time and get my fat from nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc. The good stuff.

If limiting carbs makes you feel bad, please know that you can consume a high carb diet, lose weight and have incredible energy. It works for me and has reversed ALL of my medical conditions. I enjoy eating a ratio of about 80% carbs, 10% protein and 10% (or less) fat. I am fully satisfied and feel like I can eat this way forever.

Best wishes which ever way you choose to eat. :-)

What you are describing is "die off". We all have candida in our bodies and it should be there, however, most people who are overweight have an overgrowth of it (particularly in their stomachs) due to the fact that candida feeds off of sugar and carbs. When you take its main food source down to a minimum, some of the candida will starve and will die (this is good). When candida is dying off it releases up to 79 toxins into the system. Some of those toxins are formaldehyde, alcohol and acetlyaldehyde. What you can do is increase water intake to help flush the toxins out. In a few days this will subside and you will have more energy. Just don't give up. You are doing something good for your body.

Does anybody know about this topic? Today has been a real hard day. I am having major crash and feel terrible. I have not been able to eat but half a salad today. Headache, fatigued, shaky, flush, anxious, and just out of it. I think it may be what they call a "carb flu" because today is day 8 with lowering my carb intake to only 50 grams a day. If you look through my diary you can see that I am also on a calorie deficit diet as well. Do you guys think skipping the gym tonight would be a copout or because of the lack of energy and calorie intake I would probably wind up feeling even worse justifying the miss and making it up another day? I would appreciate any help. Also, what do you guys think about protein shakes being on a low carb diet at night after the gym to replace dinner? Thanks!!

"Carb flu" will eventually go away after about a week or so, or at least it did for me personally. I would have to say though that your crash is related to not eating nearly enough, not the lower carbs. I think you should not be working out until you get an appropriate amount of calories in, you are well below BMR, you don't want an even higher deficit. As long as the protein shake is lower carb it should be fine. Good luck to you, take care of yourself :flowerforyou:

I eat lots of eggs and my cholesterol is fine

I eat a lot of eggs too! I didn't say eggs cause high cholesterol, unhealthy fats like the fat found in bacon does!

Eggs may be high in cholesterol, but I've done lots of research on it and have found many studies that suggest they don't CAUSE high cholesterol.

And also, everyone is different and different genetics make people more susceptible to different things.

Yep. I eat bacon every single day and my cholesterol is great. I must have the lottery genes. lol