Fatigue from new diet?
So in the past few weeks, I've been trying to truly shift my diet into more reliant on veggies, fruits, and proteins, and removing processed foods, especially bread and pasta (which I easily ate 2x a day, sometimes 3x). So I'm going on a big homemade smoothie with a little oatmeal for breakfast plus my multivitamin, a salad with cheese or veggies and some lean protein for lunch, and the same for dinner but usually with a potato or another small starch (like 2 tortillas).
I'm getting the same, if not more sleep per night, and I've been doing lazy what I want to do type workouts since IMWI. And all I can say, is I'm so tired all the time ~ like exhausted I just did a Saturday ride I need a nap tired (minus the aching muscles 
).
Anyone else done this transition and have a comment? I expected to feel better after a week or two, and I just don't. I'm pretty nervous to start the OS in November feeling this off.
Comments
J- are you recording food to get n idea on calories? Maybe to little?
Ever have issues wit low iron in past?
I'm not a nutrition expert at all, just some thoughts
Hi Jen:
I went through this a couple of months ago when I moved into the Paleo eating realm. I was sssoooo lethargic. For me, it was just too few carbs and too much of a caloric deficit. What Tracy said. Counting calories (in and out) using LoseIt app or another service will help with that. For carbs, I started really eating Quinoa, eating green apples and the like. Brown rice is also good. I like homemade sweet potato fries also.
On training days, I just eat like I always do. Gels, Infinit, etc. But only as needed.
Hope this helps.
John
Thanks everyone!
JB, my observations from using LoseIt:
So far, her 'warnings' have been 50/50 accurate. It's just so individual. For me, the lethargy is the biggest obstacle.
Remember, if you get your iron levels checked, there's two different values (can't remember either name right now) - and both are important.
Maybe I'll adjust my calorie deficit in the LoseIt. I wish it had a place for daily notes so that I could keep the food log along with notes about how I'm feeling and what I did. Everything is a little all over the place which is making it harder for me to target potential solutions. I'll definitely try to target my carb intake for after workouts and see how I feel.
The headaches could be due to not enough carbs.
Rule of thumb for carbs: 5 - 10 g/kg per day. To convert your weight from pounds to Kg, divide it by 2.2. That will give you your grams of carbs per day. If you want to convert it to calories, multiply by 4 (4 calories per gram of carb).
I can post on the tests for iron status later.
I was on a very, very low carb diet last year for a medical issue. Honestly, all I wanted to do was sleep on the couch all day. When I was able to start incorporating more carbs, my energy level came up.
That is right. During the off-season you can even go down to 4 g/kg or so since your calorie intake is less. You may not reach 10g/kg. You want to calculate your total calories (or get it measured). I like the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation. I recommend using the activity factor for your daily life/job then adding to that your workout calories to get the total calories per day. You can google "Mifflin-St. Jeor" to find websites that calculate it for you. Then, take the carbs g/kg and convert it to calories by multiplying by 4. Then divide by total calories to get a % total daily calories. I usually put people in the 45 - 65% range depending on how they feel and where they are in their training.
Jennifer, I switched to a 90% paleo diet.......the remaining 10% is my strong desire, appetite and lack of will power for sweets and carbs! I did not experience the chronic lethargy, however what I did experience was a decrease in severity related to after noon drops around 3 PM and 6 PM. I still get a dip at 6 PM and most days I bypass the 3 PM. When I stray off the diet I tend to feel bad the next day, probably just psychological.......anyway.....back to you. How about your daily hydration? Are you taking in enough water throughout the day? I notice lethargy when I don't drink enough water. Also, are you eating 5-7 times per day rather than three meals? Spreading the protiens throughout the day? Are you timing your food calorie/type intake with your weekly workouts? Meaning, the EN plans kind of ramp up in volume and length of intervals towards the end of the week (long run Thursdays and long bikes/bricks on the weekends) so your food plan (both calories & type) should be in parallel with effort as the week progresses. Maybe a more variable diet in relation to workout effort and duration might help? I think I read a comment in one of the threads that diet rxn (and training for that matter) can have person specific results and symptons. I realize I did not provide answers and just questions, however I am hoping the questions help you troublshoot and come up with a "diagnosis" or solution. I am not a nutritionist either, just a guy experimenting and trying to learn about diet for endurance training.
Cheers, Greg