[Chubbykins]

So I've been loosing weight for 9 full months now. It has been slow, steady and not as tiresome as I expected. This is my first diet ever and I was pleased with my slow results until two weeks ago.

I've been eating steadily 1800 calories and excersizing daily all these months without side-stepping even once.

Two weeks ago I suddenly begun not waking up correctly anymore. I could not reach full alertness no matter what I did. I could not read, play and 4 days ago it was so bad I was too tired to eat/drink. So I went to the hospital.

Bloodwork and x-ray say I am perfectly healthy. I get home and I have only eaten 400 calories the whole day and it is 12 midnight. So I decide I am too tired to eat and head for bed.

My fiance was so worried about me that he ordered take-out food (I was way too tired to cook and he can't boil an egg without ruining it). I didn't want it as I haven't eaten out once in all this diet time. In the end I was too tired to argue and I ate all 1500 calories of that fatty, salty and far too filling stuff.

Now I told myself "Ok, you wake up tommorow a bit fatter and the diet last a month longer". I was ok with the concequenses.

Now here comes the weird part. I woke up and I was not a gram fatter, My stomach was as flat as it hasn't been in years and... I was AWAKE!!!
I have had the best three days of my life since that meal.

I thought of plenty of explanations but nothing makes sense. I should have water retention not loss after eating all that salt, I should have been heavier and I sure as **** should not feel like I'm in heaven after eating something so unhealthy compared to my veggies. I don't think I've been undereating since 1800 calories are a lot...

So what is it? What made me feel better and made my stomach flat?

And even worse... what made me feel so crap in the first place? Because I sure can't function like that.

Any ideas are welcome.

[Lucky72]

What fast food did you eat exactly? Maybe that might provide a clue.

[runningfromfat]

Yeah, I'm also wondering the type? You say you eat a lot of veggies, are you getting enough fat and protein? I know I get dizzy/nauseated if I'm not eating enough of those.

[DezziePS]

Are you exercising a lot? 1800 calories seems pretty reasonable, but if you're exercising a whole lot it might not be enough. And 1500 calories of junk plus the 400 you had earlier is only 100 over your goal- not bad at all! Also, as tempting as it may be, our brains are wired to make correlations into causations- something else could have caused you to feel better other than the junky food. Did anything else change? Maybe you had a weird little virus or something? Are you getting enough vitamin B? If you've recently cut out meat or animal products in an attempt to lose weight, you could have a B vitamin deficiency that the hospital probably wouldn't have tested you for. Are you depressed?

[kelly315]

I agree with some of the others, maybe there was something missing in your diet and the deficiency was what caused the problem. If you're eating healthy, it's actually not uncommon to have too little fat in your diet so maybe that was it. Or, you could be mildly allergic/sensitive to one of the staples in your healthier diet- the symptoms could include stomach bloating and fatigue.

[Mimi123]

Interested in knowing what the takeaway was...

[H82Sweat]

I am not a betting person, but if I were I would bet on an electrolyte imbalance.

SO glad you are feeling better!

[Esofia]

What's your blood pressure like? Many people have high blood pressure, especially if they're overweight, but not everyone. Mine tends to be low, so I need to eat more salt to feel better and to bring my blood pressure into the healthy range. Maybe you just needed the salt for some reason. I'd also agree that it sounds like some kind of strange virus. Rest, keep well hydrated, make sure you get enough to eat, and don't worry too much about the diet for a few days.

[TooManyDimples]

I would tend to go with the idea that you've not been getting enough Fat in your diet. On top of the fact that not getting enough fat can make you feel tired and down, having enough fat in our diets is important. When we don't have enough fat in our diet, we don't get the full benefits of the healthy food we do eat. Fat is necessary for the digestion and absorption of many essential nutrients.

[Rana]

The same thing happens to me if I don't take "breaks" or have a cheat meal. I don't know what causes it, I was thinking an electrolyte imbalance too, but I also exercise a lot.

I've been trying to be conscious of my food intake when I am feeling low energy to figure out what causes it. But I definitely have days like that when I haven't eaten enough carbs and I exercised for a long time (like when I go on bike rides that are over 22 miles).

[racrane]

Hmn, this sounds like me. I really need a cheat meal once a week and somehow I feel awesome after said cheat meal. Maybe that's it? For me the "cheat" meal was at the cheesecake factory. Veggie burger with fries, still reasonable, but not like I eat at home. This is interesting.

[Chubbykins]

Thanks for replying everyone

So... the meal was a hamburger with fries and a soda, pretty classic.

It is true I have become a vegetarian and this was the first meat I ate in months. I also excersize daily 10 miles on my home-bike, 40 sit-ups and 10 minutes weight lifting.

By the way they did count my electrolytes on the bloodtest and everything was perfect, as in right smack in the middle of normal. I also take a vegetarian vitamin & minerals supplement daily since I stopped eating meat, since I knew it would be hard to keep up with iron and B12 very well.

Also my blood pressure is ok. I check it personaly every other day and the hospital did so too.

My diet is pretty much 2 fruit a day, 3 portions of veggies, two portions of something with carbs (noodles, rice, bread all as brown as possible), 3 portions of low fat milk products and one egg. I only drink water and once in a while sugarless juice.

What I don't add at all to my food is salt and oils/butters. I thought the egg fat and the cheese fat was enough, since low fat dairy still has about 16-20% fat content.

Do you think it actually could be salt or fat missing in my diet?

I know it might not have been the meal, but my only symptom was this terrible drowziness. No coughs, sneezes, fevers or anything. I didn't miss sleep since I sleep 10 hours per day usually. So the meal was pretty much the only thing that changed.

I immediately went back to my diet since that night and today I started to feel drowzy again. I think I'll go get my hormones checked. It is the only thing they could not check on the bloodtest at the hospital.

I hope it is the diet... I could easily fit more fat/salt or whatever within my 1800 calories, but hormones would be bad news...

[JessLess]

I hope you are OK and I'm glad your husband is there to take care of you. I hope you get your answer.

[Chubbykins]

Originally Posted by JessLess

I hope you are OK and I'm glad your husband is there to take care of you. I hope you get your answer.

Thanks! I really hope so too

[Lucky72]

I think you are missing protein. Can you boost your protein consumption? Beans, quinoa, nut butters, tofu, etc. are all really good sources of protein. From your list of what you have been eating, it looks like the only real protein source is 1 egg. The meat in the hamburger might have given you a boost.