Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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I've been paleo since around July. Not 100% but all my proper meals are totally paleo. I've been supplementing with vitamin d in varying amounts since September and at the moment I take 5000iu a day. I usually do 3 kettlebell workouts a week but I havn't done any since October 31st because I've had back troubles. However I walk the 3.5-4 kilometres to and from college everyday so I am still getting exercise.

I am always tired. Before, even when I wasn't eating paleo, I was fine on eight hours sleep and I never had problems getting up in the morning. Now even with 9 or 10 hours I wake up tired. Also Twice in the last week I've had pretty bad nightmares which is extremely rare for me, I don't know if this could be related.

From tracking my food intake on fitday before I know I'm always significantly below my vitamin e requirements but everything else looks fine. I am starting to track my food intake again just to see that I'm getting enough calories as I havn't used fit day since September.

The only other thing that could be a factor is that 3 days a week, sometimes more, I will only eat at breakfast time and dinner time.

This has been a problem since at least mid October. Has any one else experienced this? Any ideas on what to do?

Edit: (Just for anyone that finds this thread through the search function!) One week on: I have gotten over being exhausted all the time. I started eating potatoes again and probably went a little overboard, probably eating a couple of medium sized ones a day. This upped not only my carb intake but also upped my calorie intake. Unfortunately all the extra carbs seems to have brought back my acne so I am going to cut back on carbs again but try to keep the extra calories by trying to eat 3 meals a day and increasing the amount of butter an oil I use. I think low calorie intake was the problem.

edited Nov 28 2011 at 20:55

asked Nov 21 2011 at 13:43

aoife
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	how much carb are you eating? – gydle Nov 21 2011 at 13:54
	50-150 grams depending on the day. – aoife Nov 21 2011 at 14:43
	Have you had a blood test lately? It's worth having your iron levels checked to see if they are hovering in low numbers. Could be an indication that something is definitely going on, especially if you're eating a well rounded diet. – jesuisjuba - paleorepublic.com Nov 22 2011 at 21:21

Nutritionator · Answer 1 · 2011-11-21 14:38:35Z UTC

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I went through almost exactly the same thing, still looking into why but I started sleeping and feeling better when I upped my carb intake (sweet taters, white rice.)

Big fan of safe starches.

answered Nov 21 2011 at 14:38

Nutritionator
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	How many grams of carbs a day would you say you eat? – aoife Nov 21 2011 at 18:25
	Same problem, still looking for an answer. I upped my carb intake to 40% of calories which helped, but still not 100%. – Wisper Nov 21 2011 at 21:43
	150-300g if I had to guess. I don't track any sort of numbers though, too stressful. – Nutritionator Nov 21 2011 at 22:37

Erin · Answer 2 · 2011-11-22 17:33:24Z UTC

Please check to see if you are beginning to have candida overgrowth. This happened to me and another very fit woman who I'm friends with. The more I dropped my carbs/sugars, the worse it got. I was very very fatigued and soon could not even climb stairs. It took 3 months to get back to normal with a careful diet and some yeast fighting supplements that I was religious about.

You probably are confused about me dropping sugars and that feeding the yeast. The candida actually preferred ketones and so I was ketogenic (under 30 g of carbs/day) this made the candida thrive. Now I eat about 60 g of carbs a day and I'm great.

UncleLongHair · Answer 3 · 2011-11-21 17:58:29Z UTC

After being paleo and low carb for about 3-4 months and losing a bunch of weight and feeling great, things changed, and one day I lost the energy and began to get more moody, sleep worse, and etc. I was eating very low carb, about 25-50g per day. I started to add more carbs and started to feel better. I gained a few pounds back, but nothing more, and actually continued to get leaner.

Now, I can't say that my energy levels are back to where they were while losing weight, but I do feel a little better. Recently I have been stressed out, and have been reacting to it very poorly, losing lots of sleep and being very moody, and I wonder if my diet is a contributing factor. I think burning stored fat gives you a lot of energy, and when that stops, it's like being unplugged.

I also read a lot of reports here about people adding back carbs in order to improve mood/energy. I am so used to eating a low carb diet and generally avoiding carbs, that I have trouble adding back a bunch, but am thinking of consciously trying to eat more to see if energy and mood improves.

I think some people do well on a low carb diet long term; for others it is good for a while to lose weight or adjust their metabolism; and for others it just doesn't work for them. It might have something to do with what the body uses for energy.

Ben · Answer 4 · 2011-11-21 14:32:10Z UTC

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How much are you eating? I understand your meal frequency, but how big are those meals? You may not be getting enough food.

answered Nov 21 2011 at 14:32

Ben
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To be honest I'm probably not quite making up for the calories I would have had at lunch time. Definitely less than 1600 calories, Maybe about 1200-1400 calories (I'm female, 20, 5'4"). I'm going to try to eat 1600 calories everyday and see how it goes. – aoife Nov 21 2011 at 14:42

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That sounds like a good idea. 1200 is SUPER low. Although I advocate watching calories, you definitely don't have to watch them as closely on paleo. – Ben Nov 21 2011 at 15:18

Ryan Wilder · Answer 5 · 2011-11-22 19:09:57Z UTC

What is your fat intake like? I had a similar problem and found that adding in WAY more saturated fat sent my energy levels through the roof. I typically start my day with a mug of coffee and a quarter cup of heavy whipping cream; 4 scrambled eggs with at least 3 TBLS of butter, and a slab of something dead. This usually tides me over to dinner where I eat an equally fatty meal. The best part of all is that I have started loosing my stubborn abdominal weight eating this way. Who knew?

Ryan Parker · Answer 6 · 2011-11-22 17:39:51Z UTC

Although I wasn't on a 100% Paleo I too experienced it. I figured this much, that after all your "allowable" fat is burned, you body decided that it has to keep some of its fat for safety. Like a safety net. It then turns down your metabolism like mad and you end up getting all tired, moody etc. Its kinda like you're starving, who wouldn't be down on energy and mood?

Throw in a bit of carbs and your body thinks all is well again and you'll feel better.

Zdiets.net - Lost 170lbs, No more Diabetes, No more Hypertension, No more Cholesterol Issues.

Krisha C. · Answer 7 · 2011-11-22 17:46:02Z UTC

I know that thyroid is everyone's answer to everything, but if you're feeling super exhausted all of a sudden, and no amount of sleep seems to help, you may be developing a thyroid issue. According to the internet (as reliable as that is, I guess), nightmares can be a sign of hypothyroidism. http://www.levelfooting.com/factsheets/factsheets/hypothyroid.html#signs

Also, there are a bunch of great threads in here about it that might be useful.

Dorado Galore · Answer 8 · 2011-11-28 22:16:32Z UTC

I didn't note any mention of your age. You walk to college. This could mean you're student age or a teacher. There are different contexts for "tired" at different ages.

Also, male or female?

Have you had a full blood work-up lately? Had your hormone levels measured?

Nightmares: do they pertain to life issues with which you happen to be dealing at the moment?

Or perhaps: life issues with which you're not dealing? Maybe your unconscious is trying to get your attention. Trying to flag you down.

All of a sudden tired all the time

8 Answers