Bad fatigue..or something
 

Hi All! Happy Easter!

I wanted to post the problem I am having, and see if anyone else has had the same thing and knows how to make it better. Every single day, about 4-5 hrs after I wake up for the day, I suddenly get SO tired that I can't keep my eyes open. I crash really bad, and when I'm at work, it's especially hard because I can't keep my eyes open to do my work. On the weekends, I try to fight it and keep myself busy and going, but the only thing that seems to help, is if I give in and actually sleep for 30-45 min, then I'm wide awake again and good for the rest of the day. If I don't sleep, then the fatigue lasts about 2 hrs, then I'm wide awake again. I asked my mom today (as I was trying to keep from falling asleep lol) and she thinks it might be really low blood sugar. This has only been happening since I started Atkins, and other than this bout of fatigue that sets in everyday, I feel fantastic. I hope someone can help!

Yes, I was having EXACTLY the same problem. Someone on this site provided me with some excellent advice that worked for me so I'll pass it on to you. DON'T EVER SKIP BREAKFAST. That was one big culprit. The other was my unusual desire to eat until totally stuffed, so I'd hoard all of my calories/carbs for 2 large meals. Once I read more about the subject and tried to "tweak" my eating habits, I found that spreading out my food over AT LEAST 6 mini-meals works best. For instance, having a sausage link for breakfast, some cheese around 10, a small portion of tuna salad for lunch, some pepperoni & cream cheese at 2:00 (hey, don't laugh till you've tried it), some chicken & spinach at 5:00 and some nuts around 8:00. I found that not only did my fatigue disappear, but the weight started coming off even more quickly because my metabolism was constantly in gear.

Let me know how this works for you!

Hi Paula. I usually have 4-6 small meals per day already. I will try to pay attention to see if it is worse one day than the next. My typical menu is:

6am - 2 eggs w/2 pieces of bacon
9 or 10am - pepperoni w/slice of cheese
12 or 1pm - salad with tuna or salmon
3pm - boiled egg
5 or 6pm - veggies and meat

I am not usually hungry between meals and I have stopped eating in the evenings competely (yay me! this was a hard habit to break!).

My mom is suggesting to have a small piece of fruit in the morning (to get some sugar), but I am pretty adament that I don't want to do that because I have been faithful to the induction phase of atkins for 3 weeks and don't want to do anything that will set me back.

I know how you're feeling I get so tired to even more so since I've started Atkins, I was told it was the change in our bodies going into ketosis and usually it ends after the first week and then I was also told that it could be because of the weight coming off which I suppose is hard work for our bodies. :) Just thought I would offer up what I had heard.
Happy Easter!!

I was exhausted for about 2 weeks when I started Atkins. If you remember how our bodies work, they will primarily burn carbs. So, when you take the carbs away, then your body may go into this tired mode until it finally gives up and starts burning fat. If you can help it, DO NOT add sugars! Just understand that your body is going through a big adjustment right now and it's gonna take a little time. You'll feel great soon - just hang in there for the switch. ;)

Try adding a multivitamin and some Vitamin B to the mix if you havent already! Like Star said you dont have the carbs in your system anymore adn your body is trying to adjust. The B vitamins especially will give you a bit of a boost. DONT add the fruit! Seriously! That will mess it up! Check out the book or the atkins site too.. they may have an answer there for you!

But the Vitamin B helps me out!