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Day 33 (Reintroduction) But No Energy For the Past Week or so.


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Even prior to beginning reintroduction, I've noticed that my energy level is really low, especially after meals, and I've been having a hard time waking up in the morning. I did add legumes back in on day 31, but was feeling like this beforehand. I'm definitely not getting the tigerblood that I should be.

 

At first I thought I wasn't getting enough carbs, so I've been having at least half a sweet potato each day at breakfast and then sometimes another half at dinner, but there's really been no change from that. I'd love some help if anyone has any thoughts. Thanks!

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The best way for us to help you is for you to post a few typical days of meals (ideally the ones you were eating before the whole30 ended) including portion sizes as related to the template, specific protein, veggies and fat, meal timing, snacks if any etc...

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Thanks for the quick reply! Here's a couple of typical days. I'm also going to keep a log for the next couple of days.

 

Day 30:

Breakfast:

4 Eggs

~1 Cup Sweet Potato Hash

1 Banana

 

Lunch:

3 Aidells Chicken Sausages

Half Dinner Plate of Steamed Broccoli

 

Dinner:

Steak Stir Fry:

-Palm Sized Portion Steak

-A full dinner Plate of veggies (Shitakes, Woodears, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Coconut Aminos)

 

Yesterday:

Breakfast:

4 Eggs

~1 Cup Sweet Potato & Onion Hash in Olive Oil

1 Banana

 

Lunch:

1 Bag Frozen Steamed Veggies(Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots)

1 Cup Pulled Pork

 

Dinner:

2 Cups of Pulled Pork

Half Sweet Potato

1lb of Asparagus (half dinner plate full)

1 Fuji Apple

A small handful of Macadamia Nuts

 

Today:

Breakfast:

4 Eggs

~1 Cup Sweet Potato Hash

 

Lunch:

Chicken, Avocado, Lettuce Cups

-Palm Sized Portion Chicken

-1/2 Avocado

-1/2 Head Romaine Lettuce

 

Dinner:

1.5 Palms Portion of Steak

1.5 Zucchinis

1/4 Sweet Potato

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Oh! I can hear it already!

Where's your fat?

And

You're not eating enough!

You nailed it lady!

OP, where's the fat? Can you take another look at the template and start trying to match your meals to the template... it's really the minimum an adult human needs to survive.

Starchy carbs are great ... a fist sized serving per meal... how many meals a day is up to you.but you need the 1-3 cups of non starchy at every meal....

I would suggest you get rid of the breakfast fruit and do veggies instead... if you want to keep the fruit, that's fine but it should not be a replacement for the veggies so that banana is second fiddle to 1-3 cups of veggies... and since you're complaining of low energy, the higher end of the template for now is where you need to be... if you can do the starchy carb, the protein, fat (which is missing), 3 cups of veggies AND the banana, go for it... but the first thing to go if you can't should be the nanner.

Get the template out (linked below) and start making your meals to match... this is 100% why you don't feel good...

If it was me, I'd go back to Whole30 without the legumes and any other re-intros and really dial in your meals according to the template... you WANT that tiger blood before you re-intro so you have the BEST feeling to compare the tests to...

And yes, to Karen Suep, nuts and their butters are to be limited... one serving (closed handful for nuts, tbsp or so for butters) every other day at the most...the OP seems to be good on this front altho I agree it's a bit fruit heavy where there should be veggies.

Hope that helps!

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Thanks everyone! Yeah, really helpful.

 

I was eating too many nuts early on, and using that as my fat, so I cut back significantly on that and the fruit from the very beginning. Other than that I've using my cooking fats plus some nuts, but I guess I'll have to look for some other fat sources to add in. I've been using A TON of olive oil, mostly for cooking, but should I not be counting this as my fat? (I've gone through two giant costco things in 30 days, plus some avocado oil, ghee, and coconut oil) I had a mishap my second day on the olive front and restarted due to sulfites, so I think that scared me off a bit. 

 

Aside from the energy the last week or so, things have otherwise been great in terms of affect and weight loss/clothes fitting better. I got to tiger blood but then I went to a wedding out of town and think that threw me off, as I was relying upon fruit, epic bars, nick's sticks, or rxbars to get through and don't think I got back into the full swing of things afterwards. 

 

I also think I swapped out a lot of my veggies for starchy veggies. So where I was originally doing kale or spinach, mushrooms and eggs in the am, I replaced that with the sweet potato hash. I also moved from a lot of the kale and things I was doing early on and have been doing a bunch more zucchini (eg zucchini, grass fed ground beef and tomato sauce) or sweet potatoes.

 

Let me know your thoughts on cooking fats, but I'll look for some other sources. I'll also add some non-starchy veggies back to breakfast and check my other meals to the template.

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  • 2 years later...
On 5/13/2016 at 10:42 PM, Karen_Suep said:

Fruit and nuts may not be helping much either :-/

Why do you say this? Shouldn't fruit in moderation add some carbs (energy) and nuts add the fat needed? I'm having the same issue as heishmeish - no energy during reintroduction (day 38), although I haven't reintroduced yet because I'm doing the slow roll. 

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Nuts are generally rough on people's digestion and don't have a really good fat ratio so they're not recommended to be a primary fat source. 

Fruit is provides a quick hit of sugar and then it's gone. It doesn't provide a sustainable source of energy and can cause blood sugar spikes. A well composed meal that has some fruit in addition to the proper amount of protein, veggies, and fat will be able to slow the digestion of the sugar and moderate the sugar crash. 

That said, if you have no energy, I'd guess off the bat that something's not quite right in the amount or proportion of what you're eating. We'd need to see a couple days of meals listed out to troubleshoot. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Coming to this a little late, but thought I'd throw in my ideas.

Sometimes, feeling tired could be because you're not sleeping enough! That sounds really obvious, but time and again I underestimate the power of sleep. If I even get 7 hours instead of 8, I feel so tired the next day. Just a thought! This has definitely been the issue preventing my tiger blood from happening (day 28).

For more fat, I rely on avocado! I eat one every day pretty much (half at breakfast and half at lunch). I have found that avocado sticks with me more than other fat options. I think it's because it comes with some volume and chewing in addition to the fat itself, unlike olive oil drizzled over food which doesn't add any bulk. If I can't think of a plated fat and I don't have avocado, I like to add a large spoonful of coconut manna. Some people have a problem with coconut manna as food with no breaks, but I have no problem with it and it's and easy way for me to make sure there was fat in a meal when I don't feel creative.

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