Mon, Apr-23-12, 15:28
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Registered Member
Posts: 47
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Plan: My own
Stats: 211/179/175
BF:
Progress: 89%
Location: Richland, Washington
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Quote:
Originally Posted by L00ty
(it was suggested I repost this in here)
I might just be an idealist, but I thought that a switch over to a low carb diet would give me an energy boost, but so far I haven't really noticed a difference. I feel tired all the time and it's a major struggle to get to the gym - although when I'm there I do have a little more stamina for the cardio equipment.
I do suffer from depression, and have done for years, so perhaps this is hindering the energy boost I was expecting to get. I also have sleep apnoea which could be another cause of the tiredness. It's annoying though; if I'm not woken up I can quite easily sleep 12 hours straight, and still feel tired afterwards!
I also have the problem of a lowered appetite, which makes it difficult to follow the 3 meals and 2 snacks recommendation. Sometimes I'll only have one meal and a snack for lunch. I know it's wrong but I can't force myself to eat when I'm not hungry, or if we've no suitable food in the house...
Anyone know of any foods or recipes which are particularly good for giving your system an energy boost, which don't take ages to prepare?
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I don't know what Dr. Atkins recommends, so take it for what it's worth, but my opinion is that exercising (other than walking or light cycling) during induction is a bad idea. Fatigue is a common side-effect and forcing yourself to exercise will only make it worse. If you stay in induction, you'll eventually adapt, so if you're determined to go to the gym, I can only counsel patience. (Your exercise performance would almost certainly improve if you added carbohydrate to your diet, but that kind of defeats the purpose.) If you can time your visits to ~2hrs. after a meal, that might help. It's also possible that you're exercising too often. This will cause fatigue in anyone, on any diet.
Having said that, it's a good idea to get thyroid levels checked, especially if you're only able to eat one meal a day. Calorie-restriction can exacerbate hypothyroidism. Low T3 alone is probably just diet-related, but combined with elevated TSH and low T4, it means that thyroid function is impaired.
If your depression is well-controlled (moods are good) it probably wouldn't affect exercise, but SSRI's can cause insulin resistance, and elevated insulin will make fat stores less available as fuel. I've heard that it's common to have non-refreshing sleep with sleep-apnea because of the lack of deep sleep, and that would definitely contribute to fatigue. I don't have any wisdom to offer in that regard other than the symptoms generally improve with weight-loss.
Someone else might know of a way to combine foods or mealtimes in a way that will help.
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