So I started Atkins a year ago. Went back to carbs over the holiday season, then since about March have gone back to low carb but not as low as induction levels. Now that I'm off again for the summer, I've tightened things up. Well it's only been since Saturday but I'm down 8 lbs That burst of energy? I think I got it already. Except I got it at night as I'm trying to go to sleep. I've had no problems sleeping and I even did some intense workouts yesterday (finished by like 3:30 in the afternoon, so not even close to bed time). Yet I kept waking up every 45 min - hr. Every time I woke up and even now, I feel like I can get up and get moving. Felt good last year, but never this energized. And no, I haven't had any Coconut oil yet

Let's hope things calm down a bit!

I had that experience. It lasted about a week. I couldn't turn my brain off when I went to bed. I tossed and turned all night. I only managed an hour or two of sleep each night during that week. At the same time I started getting more fidgety during the day if I sitting around too long. It was like my body was saying "get up and move, you've got energy to burn!" Within a few days I started sleeping better than I had in years. I slept deeper. I started going to bed earlier and waking up at dawn for the first time in my life. I used to take an afternoon nap on weekends regularly. I couldn't do it anymore. If I tried I could close my eyes, but I wouldn't dose off. After that week I slept well at night and was awake - really awake - during the day. That was pretty strange week for me. That is when I became a 'morning person'. I remember it well.

What I think happened was some sort of a transition took place and that restlessness at night was just a temporary part of the process. Maybe that was when my metabolism got straightened out. Perhaps that was when my insulin levels dropped enough to open up my fat stores for use as energy -- the transition to becoming fat adapted. What ever it was, it was good. My circadian rhythm synced up with the rising of the sun and I've had steady energy every since. That is when I started a walking routine and I've never stopped. I'm a couch potato no more.

BTW: this didn't happen right off the bat with this WOE. I started eating low carb in February 2014 and this transition week didn't happen until April. All during those first few months volume the of food I was eating each day was steadily dropping. My eyes were often bigger than my appetite. I couldn't clean my plate. Eating low carb I stopped wanting to eat so much. It seems counterintuitive that eating less would result in more energy. But I had plenty of energy stored all around me. Lots and lots of energy. So much so that I think my body had trouble dealing with it once I opened up that resource for daily use. That was when Gary Taubes' theory about insulin really clicked for me. High insulin levels = fat storage. With constantly high levels of insulin, my fat energy was not available for use. Energy rose and fell with my blood sugar. I was feeding blood sugar swings, eating too much, and stuck in a glucose metabolism cycle that had me perpetually in fat retention mode. That was an ah-ha realization for me. I now know why I need to eat low carb for life. It make my body function properly.

I noticed that too, from my first journal entry... http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...85&page=1&pp=15

Take advantage of it. The only suggestion I'll give was that in my case I used to eat before bed. When I did this one low carb I think the food revved me up rather than sedated me. I stopped eating a lot before bed and started to think more of food as energizing rather than a sleeping aid.

See what happens as you experiment. The real restlessness has left me after eating. Now I usually just maintain a more even level of energy thru out the day and, in fact, might have a little sag after eating dinner if I don't move, but if I move there's no stopping

Had the same experience and started my last meal of the day earlier as well. It made a lot of difference. If you have family members who eat dinner later, pour yourself some lime-flavored soda water and enjoy the time with them.

Food=energy for me. I use this weapon carefully at my personal discretion . . .

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I live alone and I have my last meal between 6 - 7. I'm typically a morning person anyhow (getting up between 5-5:30 for work kinda forces that). I'm a cross between moving a lot (gym and teaching preschoolers) and enjoying my vegging with netflix. Normally I sleep pretty well for 7 - 7.5 hours so last night was strange for me. I'll take the extra energy during the day but I do hope it calms down at night

I'm a little envious - although glad I sleep at night! I am in ketosis and losing weight but I have NO energy and feel fuzzy headed a lot.

Well now to go along with the burst of energy...

It is very rare that I remember my dreams. But the last two nights I've remembered them. Odd ones too - the classic teeth falling out the first night and then last night I dreamed my boss gave away my office so I woke up angry lol. Usually I have the teeth one when I'm under a lot of stress but right now i'm mostly stress free so...anyways, I attribute it to the change in diet but find it interesting.

I had similar experiences to Ken and thud. I still sleep better when I exercise more. Less moving during the day equals less restful sleep at night for me.

I can truly say I've never had a dream where my teeth fell out! Although I do sleep with a mouthguard, due to teethgrinding, so maybe the fact that they're held in keeps me from having that dream!

I had the same thing with the odd and well-remembered dreams. I think when we were living in a carb-induced fog we woke up in a fog, whereas when ketogenic we wake up fully alert, like a hypnotist snapped his fingers, and remember the dreams. Some dreams were quite involved, with a smidgen of real occurrences mixed in with people from different decades of my life and TV-show characters all in it together. Once I got more adapted to sleep cycles and stopped using an alarm clock (except to catch early morning flights or meetings), I didn't wake up mid dream-cycle, so don't remember dreams unless I get out of whack with my sleep.

That's fascinating, because for me, going low carb meant bigger, brighter dreams that were more easily recalled. Along with better sleep.