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Day 26 and still struggling with fatigue


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It's day 26 for me and I feel I'm still struggling with low energy, depression and mood swings. I suffer from bipolar type 2 with mainly depression. This is my second round and I did it to feel better and have energy! Weight loss is an added plus! I've done a lot of reading and feel like I should continue doing whole 60 and see if mood levels out! I was just hoping to feel better by now! Anyone else experiencing this too?? 

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I am on day 27 and I also have mental health issues. They have generally been better but the past few days I haven't felt great. But i am putting it down to hormones rather than MH and hoping it'll pass in a few days.

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23 hours ago, Agrissom31 said:

It's day 26 for me and I feel I'm still struggling with low energy, depression and mood swings. I suffer from bipolar type 2 with mainly depression. This is my second round and I did it to feel better and have energy! Weight loss is an added plus! I've done a lot of reading and feel like I should continue doing whole 60 and see if mood levels out! I was just hoping to feel better by now! Anyone else experiencing this too?? 

Do you want to list out what you've been eating and we can see if there are some easy tweaks there to make you feel better?

Unfortunately while Whole30 can improve many things, it's not curative for things like mental health (oh how I wish it was!).  It can make symptoms more manageable in some people but everyone's experience with mental health is different and food does not cause or prevent clinical depression.

Please do list out what you've been eating and meal timing, portion sizes etc... and we'll try and help.  And so you know you're not alone, I also suffer from BP2 and my symptoms are a lot like yours I imagine... my highs are never actually high... they're just 'normal' and my lows are brutal... I do notice that I'm less swingy when I eat properly but it never goes away...  

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Today is day 30 for me, hurrah, I did it.  This is my 4th Whole30 and I am soooo tired and dizzy almost every time I stand up.  I'm 58 years old and I do  crossfit 4 days a week.  I am so very tired this time around, not sure what it's all about...any feedback?  I don't feel like I did anything different this time....I was unhappy with the amount the sugar I ate over the holidays, so getting the sugar out was part of my goal....but man, I'm dragging and this dizzy thing is just weird....

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58 minutes ago, Twirly said:

Today is day 30 for me, hurrah, I did it.  This is my 4th Whole30 and I am soooo tired and dizzy almost every time I stand up.  I'm 58 years old and I do  crossfit 4 days a week.  I am so very tired this time around, not sure what it's all about...any feedback?  I don't feel like I did anything different this time....I was unhappy with the amount the sugar I ate over the holidays, so getting the sugar out was part of my goal....but man, I'm dragging and this dizzy thing is just weird....

Give us the past 3 days or so of what you ate at each meal & pre or post-WO meals,  how much sleep, stress, water ... and we'll try to help.

 

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Friday - Pre workout - handful of almonds - water, water, water

Crossfit

Breakfast:  2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 avacado

Lunch:  Restaurant:  plain hamburger, salad with vinegar & oil dressing

dinner:  Ate later than usual due to an appointment, Turkey meat and some left over roasted veges cooked in olive oil.  I did snack after dinner, sunflower seeds, dried apricots.\

Sat - No work out

Breakfast, 2 eggs baked in proscuitto

Lunch:  Kind of a snack afternoon, raw jiccama, left over turkey meat, an orange and 1/2 avacado

Dinner - T-Bone steak....I ate more steak than I should have and no room for anything else.

snack later- dried apricots.

Sunday:  Banana w/ almond butter, 1 egg baked in proscuitto

Lunch:  Sunflower seeds, orange, lara bar, (too lazy to make a lunch)

Dinner:  Moose burger, compliant coleslaw.  1/2 avacado Later - dried apricots.  (I dried the apricots last summer, compliant)

 

that a fairly good example of food...I may have snacked on some almonds in between.  Again, I've felt more sluggish and tired, especially when working out this time around...I don't really lose weight anymore, which is fine, I'm at a good weight.  My body fat did decrease 1% this past month. 

I'm better at drinking water on work days then weekends, but I feel like a do pretty good.

I sleep great!  At least 8 hours per night, if not more and sometimes I get a little nap in the afternoon.

I don't deal with a ton of stress (yes, I'm one lucky woman! :))

Geeze, I'm sure I should mention this, duh....  I have collagenous colitus, which means constant diarrhea, (the reason I started the Whole30) - I seem some improvement, but I suffer with the diarrhea most of of the time (But this is the same this time as the other times I have done the Whole30)

 

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  • 2 months later...

I felt awesome days 14  - 22, and then less good for a few days, and now on day 26 I feel like I've hit a wall with depression/anxiety symptoms back in force. Why such a change? Is there anything I can tweak or is this an understandable change? Thanks in advance for any feedback. 

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10 hours ago, Bailey14 said:

Is there anything I can tweak or is this an understandable change?

Difficult to say without knowing what you've been eating... Can you list out 3-4 days worth of typical food/liquid intake, along with sleep/stress/activity levels?

Also, how's the weather where you are?

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Jmcbn,

Thanks for your quick response. 

Food:  Thursday- b: 2 scrambled eggs with salsa and a Granny Smith apple with almond butter. L: piece of leftover whole30 twice baked Mexican (beef, cauliflower, potato) with salsa and cilantro, 2 cutie oranges. D: spinach salad with red pepper, red onion, grilled chicken and hard boiled egg with olive oil. 

Friday- b: apple with almond butter. L: salad with kale and other greens, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries with olive oil. D: more leftover twice baked Mexican potato with salsa and guacamole and salad greens with olive oil. Midnight snack: carrots and guacamole  

Saturday- b: apple with almond butter. L: ditto Friday dinner. D: baked salmon with parsley, basil, oil, almond flour, roasted broccoli, baked sweet potato. 

Sunday- brunch: grilled ground sirloin with onions, baked sweet potato, green salad with tomato, cucumber,onion and olive oil. 

I drink decaf coffee in the morning and sometimes after dinner.  I eat carrots a lot in the evening while I'm cooking and as a go to snack along with cutie oranges. Usually when I have a carb craving - working on that. I drink compliant kombucha with soda water most evenings at wine time. 

I added an iodine supplement this week as recommended by my doctor after lab results showed super low iodine level  

stress level not any different than the week before, no additional stressors.  I'm guessing I drink 40-48 oz of water, soda, coffee, tea. I sometimes have trouble falling asleep- maybe once every couple of weeks. I can't get comfortable, feel restless. I usually get up and get water and something to eat and then I'm fine. Once I'm asleep I sleep well for 8 or 9 hours.  Activity, energy level is bad.  I do a good 5 mile hike a couple times a month and my job as a caregiver is active, and I walk the dog on occasion (husband usually takes care of that), yoga when I can.  But most days only about 2000 steps. I am fit and have no other health issues beyond depression/anxiety.

The weather is beautiful in western North Carolina!  Sunny and 75 today.

Hope this is helpful. Thank you. 

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Low iodine levels often go hand in hand with hypothyroidism - has your Dr tested for this? Fatigue/low energy is another common symptom....

Other than that I'd work on your breakfasts - an apple and almond butter really isn't adequate, nor is skipping the meal entirely/combining two, especially with skewed hormones - you want to be eating a full template meal within an hour of wakening. You could probably also do with a little more fat at each meal too. Eating breakfast will help resolve any raised cortisol issues which will in turn help with the appetite hormones as well as balancing out with the body's production of melatonin.

Water-wise, 50oz is fine if you weigh 100 lbs - you want to be aiming for a half an oz per pound of body weight, daily. Coffee in particular won't contribute to this as it's thought to be dehydrating, and by soda I'm assuming you mean sparkling water. A lack of hydration will contribute to feelings of fatigue, as might a lack of salt. Are you salting your food?

Activity wise, try to focus on non exercise activity. Set a reminder/alarm on your phone (or there are apps available such as 'stand up') so that you're reminded to get up and move every 30/45 mins - this type of movement, referred to as NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) is just as beneficial to your body as other types of formal exercise.

And if the sun is shining then spend time outdoors - many people with hypothyroidism are also deficient in vitamin D (plus the older you are, or the heavier you are the harder it is for your body to absorb it), but either way your body will thank you for it.

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