negative effects on low carb?
liveyourlifex
Posts: 149 Member
i just started low carb high protein last week. i feel like i have no energy, insomnia, and im moody to my family members. anyone else feel this way? and is there anything i could do about my sleeping pattern? i usually go to sleep around 11pm-12am and wake up around 3-4am and cant go back to sleep
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How many carbs, and how many calories? And what sort of research did you do before you started?0
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What sort of carb and protein levels are we talking here? What are your calories?
I suspect this is mostly due to low calories, that's what it sounds like. Although, the first week or two of low carb can be come with some loss of energy and moodiness.0 -
Low carb normally has fair bit fat in the mix, does it not?
Just asking0 -
The first couple weeks suck, but I suspect you may have a hard time with low carb high protein. From my own research and experience you are better off with high FAT and moderate protein.0
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How many carbs, and how many calories? And what sort of research did you do before you started?
i eat about 60g net carbs, 35 fat, 140 protein. im in the "cutting" phase right now so its pretty tough
the reason why im eating low carb is because i gained a bit of muscle from lifting weights, squatting, deadlifts but i still have a lot of fat on my body. so im trying low carb to lose some fat while keeping muscle.You look rather fit and trim judging by the avatar pic you've chosen.
im flexing real hard in my avatar haha. im 140lbs and 5'4 so still on the heavier side. i used to be 120lbs but gained weight from my first 2 years of college0 -
At that carb level, you're making a good quantity of ketones. That level of protein is mildly anti-ketogenic, so your level of excess ketones aren't very high.
For highly-ketotic dieters, the standard recommendation is to supplement with 1-3g of sodium per day. You won't need this much, but you are losing sodium at your level.
Eat a couple dill pickles, and you'll feel much better. Or try some soup, broth, etc.
The sleep thing is likely hormonal. Low insulin makes you more sensitive to melatonin. You'll probably be more sensitive to light affecting your sleep cycle.
You also get a big dose of cortisol in the morning, and that'll wake you up. Increasing calories, decreasing stress (including exercise), keeping the room dark, etc might help.0 -
liveyourlifex wrote: »How many carbs, and how many calories? And what sort of research did you do before you started?
i eat about 60g net carbs, 35 fat, 140 protein. im in the "cutting" phase right now so its pretty tough the reason why im eating low carb is because i gained a bit of muscle from lifting weights, squatting, deadlifts but i still have a lot of fat on my body. so im trying low carb to lose some fat while keeping muscle.You look rather fit and trim judging by the avatar pic you've chosen.
im flexing real hard in my avatar haha. im 140lbs and 5'4 so still on the heavier side. i used to be 120lbs but gained weight from my first 2 years of college
You're aiming for 1,100 calories a day? That's probably a 2 pound a week goal for a mid-20s 5'4" woman who is active. That's much too low. I don't fault you for the 140g of protein, it would be a shame to risk losing that hard earned muscle because of insufficient protein. The carbs are a bit higher than I would personally do, but they're not likely causing the problems. It's almost certainly the low calories. You're already causing your body enough stress by getting keto adapted, throwing a 1,000 calories a day deficit on top of that is bound to make things a little harder than they need to be.0 -
It's almost certainly the low calories.
With all due respect to Goat (and that's a bunch)....
A large calorie deficit over a period of one week in unlikely to have much of an impact IMHO.
A big loss of sodium? Yes. A big reduction in insulin? Yes. Losing a pound or two of fat? No.
I guess anything's possible, but given that we're talking about changes over a single week, I'd focus on the factors likely to have a relatively fast-acting effect.
Edit: the other factor could be dehydration. I usually ignore it because I drink to thirst, but ensure you're getting adequate water.
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A rapid reduction in calories is a shock, temporary or not, to the body. None of these negative effects mentioned are hugely physical and wouldn't require a long time to become apparent. Being tired, cranky, and unable to sleep are all signs of being hungry. Is she starving? Certainly not after a week. I don't think she's at any risk physically, but if she wants to reduce these negatives, then extra calories will help.
If you take anyone and cut the amount of food they're eating by more than half, they'll likely have a similar experience. These negatives are signs of hunger. I wouldn't suggest this level long term, either, but that's a different matter.
Edit: If someone is keto-adapted, they may be able to lower their calories to a level like this without negative effects. But, that's one of the benefits of staying in ketosis. You can't just jump right there and expect it to be easy and pleasant. In 2-3 weeks, she could probably go this low (if she wanted) without these negatives because the hunger will be blunted.0 -
I'm eating 60g net carbs 5 days a week, 90g net carbs once a week and 120g net carbs once a week to carb cycle. I have a history of binge eating so sometimes, I do eat more than 120g but I'm going to continue this "cut" for a couple more weeks (maybe 4-6) to see if anything changes (amount of fat on my body, sleep pattern, energy, etc).It's almost certainly the low calories.
Edit: the other factor could be dehydration. I usually ignore it because I drink to thirst, but ensure you're getting adequate water.
water is not a problem for me! I aim for a gallon a day
If you take anyone and cut the amount of food they're eating by more than half, they'll likely have a similar experience. These negatives are signs of hunger. I wouldn't suggest this level long term, either, but that's a different matter.
You can't just jump right there and expect it to be easy and pleasant. In 2-3 weeks, she could probably go this low (if she wanted) without these negatives because the hunger will be blunted.
thank you for your input! I am not cutting long term, just for a couple weeks so hopefully these negative effects slowly diminish. and my body is probably not used to eating around 1100-1200 calories so it's prob hungry but after 2 weeks, I should be fine (hopefully
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Well, you have a couple of theories now, so do some self-experimenting.
If you're just hangry, try eating more while keeping carbs constant and see if your symptoms go away.
But your symptoms are classic signs of the "low-carb flu," which has been shown to be caused by low sodium.
From wikipedia:
Signs and symptoms of hyponatremia include nausea and vomiting, headache, short-term memory loss, confusion, lethargy, fatigue, loss of appetite, irritability, muscle weakness, spasms or cramps, seizures, and decreased consciousness or coma.
It's an easy experiment to try adding sodium to your diet. A little salt shaken on your food won't do it, though. A bowl of soup with a full gram of sodium will definitely help.
I usually eat at your higher range of carbs, around 100g. As soon as I experience any symptoms (usually light-headedness or fatigue), a single cold kosher dill pickle will fix me up in about 5 minutes.0 -
Well, you have a couple of theories now, so do some self-experimenting.
If you're just hangry, try eating more while keeping carbs constant and see if your symptoms go away.
But your symptoms are classic signs of the "low-carb flu," which has been shown to be caused by low sodium.
From wikipedia:
Signs and symptoms of hyponatremia include nausea and vomiting, headache, short-term memory loss, confusion, lethargy, fatigue, loss of appetite, irritability, muscle weakness, spasms or cramps, seizures, and decreased consciousness or coma.
It's an easy experiment to try adding sodium to your diet. A little salt shaken on your food won't do it, though. A bowl of soup with a full gram of sodium will definitely help.
I usually eat at your higher range of carbs, around 100g. As soon as I experience any symptoms (usually light-headedness or fatigue), a single cold kosher dill pickle will fix me up in about 5 minutes.
ok I'll try added more sodium and see what happens! won't that lead to water retention? or is that only in cases where a lot of sodium is consumed
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Your body is shedding a lot of water weight because of the lack of carbs. Most water weight is related to carbs, that's where most of the rapid weight loss of low-carb initially comes from. The extra sodium won't cause you to retain any more water than your body actually wants/needs. It's not important because water is not fat. And, you're focused on losing fat.0
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Yes, you'll need more water to deal with the sodium, but you're showing symptoms of low sodium, and it doesn't get better by itself. As you lose even more sodium, your body will start wasting potassium in an effort to hold on to the sodium. So you'll end up deficient in more electrolytes.
I assume you've lost a lot of water weight in the last week? That's due to both low glycogen and low sodium. You may get some of that water back, but it's worth it.0
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