NO ENERGY

[Guest STACY]

I've been on this diet since Oct, love it but am not having the increase in energy like others have. I'm always tires, what am I missing??

 

Thanks

 

[Scott F.]

Hard to say as we all react differently.

I would ask how strict are your eating habits? I eat meats, salt and water. I drink an occasional glass of milk and that is the only thing that has sugar. If you are carnivore with some cheat days or some days where you are not as strict, your body is not becoming fat adaptive. With sugar and carbs you are probably in an out of ketosis. A friend at work says he can tell the lull or the dragging feel when he eats sugars now. Almost the opposite of the sugar high then the crash, he says he feels like he is going straight to the crash. He describes is as more of just feeling flat.

Next would-be fat intake. Personally, I eat a lot of fat and maybe even above some of the percentages that are out there. Sometimes I do have to scale it back if my stool gets loose. Check your diet and ensure your fat content is as high as it needs to be and you may have to make some adjustments based on you, vs. a percentage based on others.

Salts and electrolytes. I dove in headfirst with zero research and as a result I had some issues early on with energy. I didn't adjust or add or even think about salt and electrolytes. I tried a few of the drink packets, LMNT for one, but I didn't like the taste. I make a salt/electrolyte type mix now and use it for table salt, a water additive or sometimes just eat a pinch or two. 

Those are the three things that I experienced the first few months on carnivore. I am a little over 9 months now and I think my energy level is as high as it has been in a really long time. For a number of years, before but especially after 2018 when I was diagnosed, my get up and go had got up and gone. I stayed in a fog between the pain, the inflammation, the medicine and the rotating shift work. 

Best of luck. Hopefully you can find the plan that works for you.

 

Scott

[ketomonster]

totally wild guess...   you are missing meat, salt, eggs, butter only.    

[Geezy]

I have to agree with Scott, evaluate your diet. Are you eating enough salt and are you using any electrolyte supplements?
Those are generally the culprits.


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[Mesa_John]

Malaise, fatigue, tiredness, lack of energy, etc. is perplexing, as others have said and everyone has to work out their own biochemistry.

A few years ago, on my first dive into KETO I learned that dehydration was a big culprit, especially in the winter.  In the cold weather months, when you don't have hot days, you tend to drink a lot less water and you don't even realize you are doing it.  Or shall I say, not doing it.  Forcing myself to drink when I start feeling bad or tired/fatigued is nearly always a 'pick-me-up".

Coupled with water intake is to make sure that I have enough electrolytes.  Not having the right amount and balance of vitamins and minerals always affects me negatively.  For instance, about an hour ago I had a sinking spell (I am skipping lunch today), I immediately filled up my water bottle and added my electrolyte drops and 15 minutes later I felt so much better, despite no lunch food in my belly.

And if all else fails, I go to the coffeemaker!   (a fact, but humor intended...)

[Bob]

We also need to be careful about what we we think of as "energy". A lot of people who go on a proper human diet, whether that's low carb, keto, ketovore, or carnivore lose weight, see improvements in their health, and boast about all this "energy" that they now have. But this is in contrast to how slugglish and drained they felt when eating the standard American junk diet and they were unhealthy and possibly overweight.

If you were fairly healthy to begin with and ate fairly clean, you might not notice such a drastic change from always wanting to be glued to your chair to having the energy to actually be productive. In short, the more UNhealthy you were prior to starting your health journey, the more "energy" you feel like you gain. It's easy to see the contrast, and for some of us who used to be really unhealthy, this contrast is a major motivator that keeps us living this lifestyle.

Since fat is your energy source, make sure you are not skimping on the fat. Eat until you are comfortably stuffed. Drink enough to satisfy your thirst, and you could try a little electrolyte supplementation. This is usually needed early on in your journey, but not so much after a year or so.

[Scott F.]

I think I probably fall into this category. The energy levels are higher than they were before and maybe that is indeed going from bad to normal, which feels/look likes things are a lot better.

Along those same lines I don't think I have had the improvements is mental clarity or focus like some report. The closest I have experienced to that is when I wake up, I wake up. I go from a really good sleep to wide awake and ready to go in a split second. There is no dragging around or lugging to the start of the day.

Somewhat off topic, but this does feel like extra energy after sleeping, compared to dragging off to a start. After better sleep, I feel a better charge, and the quicker start feels like 'more energy'. It might actually be the better diet, the weight loss, etc. allows me to rest/recover better and my 'start point' is in a much better place.

Scott

 

[ketomonster]

2 hours ago, Bob said:

 

Since fat is your energy source, make sure you are not skimping on the fat. 

does this hold true even if a person is already overweight,  won't the overweight body use its own fat reserves for all the energy it needs?

[Orweller]

4 minutes ago, ketomonster said:

does this hold true even if a person is already overweight,  won't the overweight body use its own fat reserves for all the energy it needs?

Fat is primarily used as fuel, not as storage (fat). It would be very hard to get fat by eating fat, because you'll find it almost physically impossible. With carbs on the other hand, we can easily over eat due to the signals that are send to the body. Not long after eating carbs we get signals (ghrelin hormone) that urge (trick) us to eat again. The extra carbs are then turned into fat cells in the body, a perfectly normal biochemical response.

In nature, before the winter, bears gain weight by gorging on berries, the more plant-food they eat the bigger the urge becomes. This is why it's so incredibly dangerous during the fall to come across a bear. 

Now to answer your question, yes the body has now direct access to it's own fat storage as we are fat adapted/in ketosis. If anything, it will be the amount of protein that could stall one's weight loss process, due to insulin (yes, you got it, another hormone!) response (gluconeogenesis)when over-eating protein which can hinder fat metabolism. 

Now that is all cleared up, the true icing on this cake is: drink enough water! Drinking water reduces appetite, you hold on to your electrolytes, and increases lipolysis (stored fat metabolism). It's all about (bio) chemistry! 

[Bob]

1 hour ago, ketomonster said:

does this hold true even if a person is already overweight, won't the overweight body use its own fat reserves for all the energy it needs?

Yes... but... if... lol.

Orweller is correct in that if you eat high protein, low fat, then your body will convert the protein into glucose. You want to eat a moderate protein, high fat diet. A good place to start is 1g of fat for every 1g of protein. This gives you that 70/30 fat to protein ratio (calorically speaking). 

By way of example, I can eat a fatty ribeye for dinner, late in the evening, go to bed and wake up the same weight I was the morning before. But if I ate a few chicken breasts, which are low in fat, then I am up a couple pounds the next morning. 

Now poultry IS carnivore and is okay, but keto and carnivore work due to the focus on getting enough fat in your diet.