Struggling with Exhaustion

[bkruse]

Hi all! Today is Day 9 of my first W30, and I am still really struggling with I guess (?) fat adaption per the book's timeline. I have been incredibly exhausted from day 4 to now day 9, and it's really taking a toll on me physically and mentally. I do boot camp workouts 2-3x/week, and only been once this week, and performed horribly. I can't get out of bed for work in the mornings, and I crash minutes after finishing dinner and am not properly meal prepping because I am so tired. It's been a struggle to keep my energy up at all, so I have been snacking between meals, which I didn't have a big problem with on Days 1-3. I've added my Log below for the last 2 days as an example of what I've been eating. Is there any way to help my body work through this fat adaption phase more efficiently?

Day 7 Log

Breakfast: Melissa’s chicken hash (chicken, apple, sweet potato, clarified butter, spinach)

Lunch: 1 whole mango, 2 stalks celery, & 2 cups leftover cauliflower rice with 1/2 lb pan seared chicken thighs and leftover ranch dressing on top.

Dinner: Slow cooker brisket (Broth, meat, carrots, celery, onion) - 2 bowls

Evening Snack: 1 tbsp almond butter after coming home from grocery shopping.

 

Day 8 Log (5am workout)

Pre-WO: 1 tbsp almond butter

Post-WO: 2 fried eggs, blackberries, 1/2 avocado

Breakfast: 2 fried eggs, blueberries, coffee + coconut milk (no time for meal prepping) 

Snack: 8 almonds

Lunch: Mashed Cauliflower + Brisket (Both Leftovers) + 1 stalk Celery, 1 large carrot, and a garden salad with mixed greens, raisins, walnuts, olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

Snack: alot of almond butter. Probably 3 tbsp. Also, some coconut cream, banana, walnuts. No protein, so it really didn't help my energy like I hoped. The banana was about 30 minutes after the others, and I did get some type of energy boost from that.  

Dinner: Chicken Meatballs over Spaghetti Squash - Family also had it with pesto, but I forget to read the basil paste label at the store and realized during dinner prep that it wasn't compliant. Brain fog at its finest. Just glad I didn't eat it.

 

Day 9 Log (so far)

Breakfast: Handful blueberries, 3 fried eggs, 1/2 avocado, spinach. 

[ladyshanny]

Hmmm....it sounds like you're definitely still struggling in that no-mans-land of fat adaptation transition. The amount of fruit and fruit/nuts that you're eating between meals might be holding you back a bit. Try and get a good cookup of a tray of chicken thighs or burger patties and some guac or mayo and roast some sweet potatoes that you can use protein + fat as your in-between and post workout. The fruit after a workout replenishes your liver glycogen before muscle glycogen so fruit isn't your best bet. Go for starchy veggie here with your lean protein...if you're using eggs, just use the whites here. Fat slows the protein synthesis.

It's hard to tell from the way you've written it out but review the meal template again. For your active lifestyle you might need 2 palms of protein and two servings of fat to avoid having to snack between meals. The lunch veggies on Day 8 are kind of inconsequential unless the salad was "mixing bowl" huge. Salad greens etc are pretty much chewed down to nothing so you want some sturdier veggies - 2-3 cups. 

See if you can push through and get some food cooked up.

[bkruse]

@ladyshanny Just wanted to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel! I have been replacing some of those fruit/nut/fat combos with roasted sweet potatoes / protein salad instead, and I am starting to come around to having more energy - not 100%, and still struggling with crashing at night/waking up in the AM, but much more energy during the day, better meal prepping, and was able to do fairly well during my workout yesterday. Day 11 now. Thanks for the tips, you are appreciated!