HELP! 5th day in & can't stay awake.

Try eating more complex carbs!

It's potassium deficiency I bet you! Do you have the iphone app? If so your potassium level is on the 1st page.
Try switching your regular table salt to Morton's Lite Salt.... it has less sodium and added potassium.

Seriously, not getting enough potassium can really make you feel weak and tired.
Best of luck!

Are you anemic? I had the same thing, always tired and then I had blood testes done that showed I had anemia. Ever since I was put on iron pills I feel so much better.

It may have been too much of a shock to your body when you reduced your calorie intake. Seeing as you ate 2300 on Saturday and felt fine you could try to consistently eat 2000 cal for a week then reduce that to 1800 the next week, 1600 the week after and finally to 1500. Also, are you drinking enough water? Tiredness is often a sign of dehydration (among a multitude of other things).

It sounds like you're from Western Australia? I'm in Perth myself.

I forget to log water all the time. You're diary isn't public so I was just throwing it in there as a "possible". I think it may be more a case of too much too soon though. Supplements may be a good idea but please be careful when it comes to iron. It is one of the few minerals our bodies can not excrete if we have too much. Instead the excess iron is stored in various tissues and organs. If this goes on for an extended period of time it can cause damage to the organs. I have hereditary haemochromotosis (I naturally absorb more iron than "normal" people) so I know all about the downside of too much iron.

It kind of sounds like low blood sugar, but without seeing your food diary I wouldn't be able to tell you. 1500 cals/day is a good balance between what you were consuming week days then weekends, so I wouldn't think that would cause a problem? I could be wrong. My advise is to eat small 200-300 calorie meals, lean protein, complex carb & maybe a vegetable or fruit every 2-3 hours. This helps to stabilize blood sugar, curb cravings and binge urges. If you don't start feeling better soon get into the Dr's office for an evaluation. :flowerforyou:

Well said! And very true! Good luck~

Shelled,

Okay, here are some numbers for you if you like that sort of thing..

If you use the Katch-McArdle equation:

BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM)

and LBM= [total weight (kg) x (100 - bodyfat %)]/100

*~~~ So that would put your BMR at 1375 cals. ~~~~*

Then take a look at your activity, which you said is some days doing stuff, some days not... these are the activity factors...

Activity Factors:
1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise and desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

You said you are active some days, but not so much others....

*~~~ So we'll use an activity factor of 1.3 ~~~*

---> So 1375 cals, multiplied by your activity factor, is 1788. So if you ate 1788 calories, you would maintain your current weight.

To cut calories, it's not recommended to just use a blanket number (you so often hear- 'just cut 500 calories out') but it really makes more sense to look at it as percentages, not just a number. (After all, you wouldn't tell someone on a 1500 cal diet to cut 500 calories to lose weight, because then they would only be at 1000 calories).

So what makes more sense, is to use a percentage. So to lose weight, subtract about 10-20% of calories. So that means eat around 1430 to 1609. For your protein, if you do 1 g of protein per lb of bodyweight, you would be eating about 157g of protein (about 628 calories from protein), but that's the higher number - the number you'll see when people are more concerned about not losing muscle mass while cutting bodyfat. The actual FDA recommendation is only 60g of protein a day (about 240 calories from protein)... so take your pick, or you could even split the difference.

So, in my opinion, if you are feeling extremely sluggish, try bumping up to 1600 calories- which is around a 10% deficit. As others have said, too, also try stairstepping down. It can be really hard to go from a really high amount of calories, to suddenly a low amount of calories. If anything, by the math, as long as you are eating under 1788, you should be slowly losing some weight (provided your activity factor is actually accurate).

Furthermore, a doctor visit/blood work is never a bad idea. You could get your blood sugar checked, cholesterol, blood pressure, hormones, thyroid- things like that. Sometimes fatigue can be a symptom of something else. I do think, however, that starting a new fitness regime and cutting calories, initially, will result in a bit of sluggishness- but it shouldn't be debilitating, just a bit of a challenge at first.

Hope that helps.