why does my body crash EVERY time I try a low sugar diet?

[Wildcard]

The tiredness that comes with eating low carb is not new to me. Everybody I know who has started a low carb diet has complained of being tired. I only know of one person who does not complain and she has been on it for a long time and is only maintaining right now.

My case is very different though. I crash HARD, even when I am eating 200 grams of carbs (no sugar) per day.

I tried it two weeks ago, and I was losing one lb/ day till one day, after very intense exercise, I just wanted to die.

Of course, the classic starvation response kicked in and I've been eating 3500-4000 calories/day of sugar-laden foods for the last 5 days. I gained 7 lbs(glycogen hopefully) from 246 to 253 and I am only now beginning to feel better.

Why am I doing so badly on a low sugar diet?

I never had this problem eating baked potatoes and sugar coated cereals and I still lost weight.

[VickiR]

With all due respect, perhaps low carbing is not your optimal diet plan? just a thought. It works pretty well for me, but that is just me.

take care!

[CindySue48]

Without knowing what you're eating, and when (especially in relationship to very intense exercise), it's pretty much impossible for any of us to say anything about your reaction.

Also.....what do you mean by crashing?

Post some more details and maybe someone here can help?

[Wildcard]

perhaps a low carb diet is not optimal for me at my level of exercise. I would really like to hear from low carbers who exercise a lot. I was doing a lot of exercise and keeping my calories under 2000.

[Wildcard]

cindy,

I was doing 2000 calories/day, sometimes up to 2200.
6-5 252 lbs

I was running/walking for 40 minutes, then swimming for one hour per day.

My diet was around 30% carbs, 45% fat, and 25% protein

I would eat after running, then go swimming, then eat again. All in the evening. Hope this helps

[VickiR]

well, I exercise, but it's at a moderate level - I'll probably do a day hike later on today, try to walk every day, or at least do Pilates. What do you mean by "a lot"? and hour a day? two? doing what?

also, what is your eating plan?

we need details before we can help.

but I go back to my original statement - if eating high-carb, and intense exercise, worked for you for weight loss, why not go back to it? Might be an idea to trade out the sugary stuff for healthier carbs, though. again, just an idea.

Might also be an idea to see a nutritionist or medical professional - I saw a doc that specialized in nutrition and this is the plan he outlined for me, maybe that's why it is working for me. he did a full assessment, first, too - orginally, this was a liver detox plan for me, not a weight loss plan. the weight loss was a sweet add-on for me. I had to pay out of pocket (insurance wasn't going to pay) - but it was the BEST money I've ever spent in my life.

good luck, take care!

[tagcaver]

Wildcard,


From reading your journal it seems that you have not really tried low-carb the proper way.

When you first started you wouldn't eat anything at all until early evening and then eat meals as late as 2 AM or so. Assuming that you awaken sometime in the morning you should eat fairly soon after rising. That's your first problem, probably contributing to your "crashes".

It then seems that you weren't consuming enough calories. Soon after that you started eating carbs and way too many calories.

Get DANDR, read it, follow induction properly (eat breakfast), and then decide if you are really "crashing" or not.

[VickiR]

you might be crashing because you are not eating enough - that's a lot of exercise. Then you hit the wall, and need to spend three days refueling (and gaining weight). That is what would happen to me. heck, that HAS happened to me.

two ideas, from an old tomboy sports queen who's done triathlons (non-diet related advice, here):

(1) at the weight you list, running is hard on the knees and ankles. I wouldn't take up running again till I've dropped a few more pounds (I'm currently at 158). You might consider a more joint-friendly exercise in the meantime, such as stationary bike riding, or even walking. that's what I would do, anyway. I can't tell you the number of times I've tried to power through stuff and injured myself (or re-injured myself). And then, there is no exercise, or reduced exercise, while I heal. that is a bad thing.

(2) swimming is very joint-friendly, and you will burn a lot of calories. If there is an aerobic class at the pool you go to, you might consider doing it. I find that a class, or coaching, makes me work harding than swimming laps. Although doing laps is good exercise, having someone coach you will help you to swim faster, and a good coach will help with injury prevention, too.

(3) I've had multiple personal trainers tell me that fitness has three basic foundations: aerobic (which you are doing, good), weights (increases muscle mass, and therefore fat-burning capacity), and stretching (generally believed to reduce tendency to injury). Again, a coach or personal trainer can help with these - both with assessment, and showing you how to do these exercises in a way that works for you. I still need to get some weights, but I do Pilates for stretching and walking/hiking for aerobic stuff.

[mps]

The first two weeks of a LC diet (what Atkin's calls induction) is VERY important.
If you eat LC (<20 grams/day) for a couple days... then cheat... you are right back where you started. For your body to adjust to not needing carbs you MUST stick with it for a couple weaks with no cheating at all.
At about day 5 you will start to feel better... after 2 weeks you will most likely have no need or strong desire for carbs.
When I started a LC diet, I felt like crap. I think most people do. Many people don't stick to the diet because they cheat a few days in and don't realize they will never fully adapt unless they don't cheat for about 2 weeks. I ate carbs after one week of induction... that was a mistake. I basically had to start over.
People who bash LC most likely have never stuck to it properly for at least 14 consecutive days. Your body has the ability to use fat for fuel... but your body has to produce enzymes that allow this to happen. Enzyme production is a slowish process. As soon as you eat carbs, your body stops producing the ones you need to thrive on LC and they are disposed of rather quickly. You must allow enough time to let your body produce a high amount of the needed enzymes. (Don't underestimate the importance of this)
As far as working out... During induction, keep it low intesity or not at all. DON'T limit calories during induction. It will make it psychologically harder to stick with and then you cheat and then you are right back to where you started. After induction you will have the energy you desire and you can start counting calories again.
If you really want to know how people can be happy and energetic on LC you must first go through induction. This is the only way to allow your body to make the switch to primarily buring fat for fuel.
Good luck! Yes, the first week sucks a$$. But if you cheat... you'll have to start over.
(One more thing... after a person has been LCing for a while... they can cheat without major problems... it will only take few days to return the body to a fat burning state... as opposed to two weeks)

[Paleoanth]

You might want to look at the Low Car exercise area. Several low carb plans have tweakes for heavy exercisers. Look at Body for life (BFL), and CKD in particular.

[Saigo]

I am on a diet that is very similar to the warrior diet, except that I eat NO breakfast, NO lunch, and then dinner till I am full, and a late dinner just till I am full.

I think the above type of diet (as you described it in another thread), even without the addition of the excercising that you say you're doing daily, has "I feel tired" written all over it.

I'd have to agree with tagcaver. You don't seem to be on any healthy lowcarb regimen that I've ever heard of before. Reading up on how to properly follow a healthy lowcarb plan, and then doing so, sounds like very sound advice.

I never had this problem eating baked potatoes and sugar coated cereals and I still lost weight.
So why did you stop that way of eating if it seemed to be working for you?

[Built]

mps - once again, a great post.

And absolutely correct about feeling like crap at first, but once your body gets used to it, you feel really good, even with the occasional cheat. Some of us build in the "cheats" deliberately to stimulate thyroid and to build up glycogen stores. mps and I bodybuild on lowcarb this way - neither of us has any energy problems doing this, but we've both gone through induction.

[MyJourney]

Now that I am out of work for the summer I have been devoting a lot more time to exercise. Ive been doing something similar to you every other day.

I get up and have about 10g carbs for breakfast + coconut oil and then I walk to the pool 4 miles away but in between walking I will start speeding up then jogging and then sprinting and jumping rope for as long as I can keep it up (somewhere around 7-8 min) and then I slow down again before I repeat. I do this the entire 4 miles and then I swim laps for about an hour then I eat a snack at the pool and relax for about an hour or so and then I walk run/sprint back another 4 miles.

Later in the day if I can force myself I will also go to the gym and lift, but so far thats been more like every 3 days or so but its a start.

At some points when my carbs and calories were too low I couldnt handle it but now at around 30g a day I seem to be doing much better and no hypoglycemic symptoms.

Ive also been LCing for a very long time and Ive walked every day for miles and miles for as long as I can remember. Not for exercise purposes but just to keep me sane. Something very peaceful about walking outside. The sprinting is more to get my heartrate up a bit and because I find it to be fun and challenging.

If you just started LCing and this intensive exercise program it may be too much for you all in one shot.

Also like mps pointed out, you really need to get past the induction phase and get your body used to it.

Its difficult to break free from a sugar addiction and a lot of it might also be psychological.

When I tried to go on the meat fast I felt sick after breakfast and got worse all day and I honestly believe its because I was thinking about it. Chicken has always been my favorite breakfast, but suddenly when I was doing a meat fast I started feeling sick right away.

you can try some l-glutamine to help get past the first few days, and I would reccomend a good virgin coconut oil to help boost your energy a bit, especially before you work out.

You may also want to cut back the exercise a little, at least while on induction and build up to a higher intensity or look at plans like CKD (but the way you claim sugar impacts you, it may not be the best idea)

good luck.

[Lisa N]

I would eat after running, then go swimming, then eat again. All in the evening.

Wildcard, aside from not really giving low carb (following it correctly) an honest shot, it seems to me that your "fast all day and eat only in the evening" plan isn't working out too well for you.

I am on a diet that is very similar to the warrior diet, except that I eat NO breakfast, NO lunch, and then dinner till I am full, and a late dinner just till I am full.

You have to fuel your body regularly to keep it going. Not doing so gives you the results you are getting (feeling tired and out of sorts) because your body can only absorb so many nutrients at one time.
How about giving low carb an honest shot, eating 3 meals a day (going no more than 5 waking hours without eating) plus snacks at a higher than induction level of carbs to support your intense excercise program (perhaps starting at 40 grams of carb per day and working up from there based on how you are losing weight) and going easy on the excercise until your body has a chance to fully adapt to buring fat for fuel instead of glucose (about 2 weeks). Dr. Atkins did not recommend intense exercise during the induction period (or when beginning low carb at most levels) so that the body would have a chance to adapt before such huge demands were placed on it.

Of course, the classic starvation response kicked in and I've been eating 3500-4000 calories/day of sugar-laden foods for the last 5 days. I gained 7 lbs(glycogen hopefully) from 246 to 253 and I am only now beginning to feel better.

Wildcard, I think you know that this kind of pattern is not good for your body.

[Built]

My diet was around 30% carbs, 45% fat, and 25% protein


This isn't low carb. Carbs are too high and fats are waaaay too low for it to be low carb.

[AtkinsBOY1]

perhaps a low carb diet is not optimal for me at my level of exercise. I would really like to hear from low carbers who exercise a lot. I was doing a lot of exercise and keeping my calories under 2000.

Hey I excerise a lot Iam on mantiance I exersize about 3 hours a day. I cant do it anymore becuase I have school and have to study but when I was in the 2nd phase around june I was doing around 3 hours a day and I felt great even in induction I fell great doing a lot of excersize (but that was after two weeks). Just make sure your eating enough saturated fat and a lot of fat and little carbs. Its actually to be more effective than carb loading thats what the reasaerch on atkins.com stated. Also It seems that your not eating enough fat. Get your fat from a lot of butter and cream. They just introduced the new whip cream no carb I eat the whole can everyday. :p

[arc382001]

Wildcard, I also experience extreme tiredness when I go extremely low carb...there have been a lot of good responses to your original post -- numerous suggestions to try -- the bottom line is whatever you try, the key is to give it a true go and be sensible. Throwing the body into the extreme of very low carbs, few meals AND heavy exercise is a lot at once.

I like to think of my whole eating/exercise/weight loss thing as a science experiment. I don't change too many variables at once so that I can see the effect of the thing I have changed. Then I can evaluate the result properly and tweak that change appropriately. Then I go onto the next variable I want to change.

Using this approach, I have been able to develop a good understanding of what generally works with my body IF I pay attention.

By paying attention, I have learned what amount of exercise I need to incorporate (I learned this by over-training). I have learned what level of carbs I need to eat in order not to feel hungry and yet still have sufficient energy (learned this through good old journalling). And, unfortunately for me, I have learned that I have to count calories in addition to carbs (again, learned through journalling during my low carb diets, not losing and then tracking cals to see what was going on).

I also see and accept that with each diet, it is harder to get the momentum going and of course, as my age/hormone/stress levels change, that plays into things as well.

The message is that I by learning how my body responds to the variables we are told to work with in a low carb lifestyle, I learn how to develop what works for me. We are so conditioned to listen to something external for answers (including reading low carb books or attending good, ol' weight watchers), that we are less inclined to trust ourselves a bit and to look within for our own answers and develop a partnership with the approach we are working with. I continually refine my own process -- not just because I keep learning stuff but also because my body becomes conditioned and will stop responding (esp. true of exercise). I really look at the whole project of getting into better health as just continually refining my approach with the refinements getting smaller and more subtle as I go along.

Arlene