Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to this site specifically and forum posting generally, so I hope I'm not out of line, please tell me if I am. I'm also new to dieting, in the middle of week two right now.

The dieting is going well so far. I'm starting to battle a bit of a mood issue though. My biggest thing right now is I'm tired. I'm so devastatingly tired, some mornings I get up and want to just give up getting out of bed at all. Ever. Just stay in bed forever. I've been in this slump before but was working as a temp so I ended up wasting several weeks away until one day I woke up with energy and started to put my life back together.

I've now held a full time job for just over two years and don't want to let those years go to waste and give up now and fall back into old patterns but it gets really difficult some days. The last year at least I've functioned on 2-6 hours sleep a night at most, and have been tired but have been able to shake it off and get through my days. My partner pointed out the fact that I'm eating better may be enabling me to sleep better and therefore my body is now trying to get caught up on it's sleep debt but this being so tired I could drop at any second all day, is more difficult to get through than only two hours of sleep with a coffee.

Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions for avoiding the caffeine and sugar to get through it?

-Kay

Well so far the exhaustion hasn't gotten any better. Really hoping for some suggestions on keeping my energy up without caffeine or sugar.

Hi Kay--- Are you working two jobs? You definitely need more than 2 hrs sleep a night. You could try some homeopathic sleep aid. I will post some examples to try.

Well, I'm not a doctor or an expert, and I'm not sure what to go off for here. So, I'll offer various ideas that will be different depending.

First, if it's emotional reasons only (depression can do this) then I highly recommend seeing a professional. I've had a lot of loved ones in your shoes. All they wanted to do was sleep. I was finally able to talk each one of them into therapy. Some were medicated. They are all SO much better now. My sister is happy, energentic, losing weight, and much more stable. She was bi-polar and so her manic phases are under control as well.

If it's not really a depression issue, it could be various things. Personally, consult your doctor but I've read on these forums and have had personal experience with different issues.

Thyroid issues can cause exhaustion. I was medicated for this and suddenly had all the energy in the world. Other things started to fix themselves as well.

I've heard of anemia, low iron, causing issues. The occasional iron pill may do the trick.

Sometimes it's merely more exercise that we need. Often just walking once a day while eating right can help us with stress, depression, and energy. Sounds like dieting is good for you and may help you in the right direction.

My doctor also told me, instead of coffee, to try eating an apple for breakfast. I've started this and I must say, best advice ever.

Thank you for the responses. I am in therapy, and have been for a few years. I'm just working one job. And yeah I definitely need more than 2 hours of sleep at night.

To clarify, I've had the 2-6 hours sleep patterns for a long time. Talked to doctors and therapists about it and it's basically insomnia. It's not that I'm only allowing myself a little time to sleep but I'll fight to get to sleep then when I finally do, wake up really early and not be able to get back to sleep. Sleep aids haven't worked, therapy hasn't worked, I walk to and from work every day so I do get in a bit of exercise. It just got to the point that if I just accepted, alright I'm awake at 3am and started my day I'd get through it alright and if I was really tired I'd have a coffee or chocolate or something to keep me going. Now I've started on Ideal Protein and have almost no sugar or anything. I'm actually sleeping more ever since I started eating better but have to fight to wake up now. And I can't have coffee sugar or anything I used to use to keep me going through the day.

So it's looking like it was my diet that was giving me the insomnia since the only thing that has changed is what I've been eating. I guess I'm curious if anyone else has found that they started sleeping better when they started eating better. If my partner's right and I'm so debilitatingly tired because of the years of sleep debt I've built up then I'm just going to have to get through it until my body adjusts.

The apple sounds like a great idea but I'm not supposed to have fruit right now. I'll be bringing this up with my coach on Tuesday, so maybe I can get some ideas then. Thanks again for the responses and support!

Not sure if you are allowed it but juice some ginger and take a shot of it in the morning, unbelievable. No need for espresso anymore!

Yes, Lady Kay, you are right on track with your WOE affecting sleep patterns. When I think back to when I changed my WOE, I gradually started to sleep better.

Ginger + Apple + sprinkle of cinamon.

Hi LadyKay, I'm in no way a professional but I can maybe give you general tips that help me out! Sometimes when you're changing how you eat, the detox process makes you super tired.
Also, I feel that if I don't get enough protein in a day, I'll most likely affect the next day. Herbal tea is my best friend although I love caffeine. Try to see if you're having caffeine too late in your day (my cut off time is 3PM) and maybe try to reduce it gradually (taking your time is key).
Sugar withdrawal also makes me really tired and lethargic. Maybe that could be it? Don't worry and try to listen to your body as much as possible. Good luck!

You're not allowed it, but whiskey. Seriously. You'll go out like a baby.

You definitely need to be getting more than 2 hours.

With weightloss, I need less sleep to function. I get 6 hours most nights (I wake up early to run). And I can survive on 5.

But just 2? No way.

At my heavier weight, I needed 8-9 hours to function. It was just so tiring carrying all that extra weight around.

I have sleep issues but it has no connection to what I eat. I only drink coffee in the morning, so the caffeine should be out of my body by bedtime. I take a Benedryl sometimes and it helps, but I won't do it every night because I don't want to become dependent on it. Sometimes I can fall asleep by taking deep breaths and clearing my mind...just concentrate on my breathing. Sounds corny, but it relaxes me.

My Fiance takes Benedryl on occasion to sleep.

And it's not corny that you clear your mind and concentrate on your breathing.

When I was in College, I took a stress management class. It wasn't just ways to reduce stress but also what causes it, theories, some studies involving Baboons... It was actually very informative and did help me with stress that I have.

One thing that I took from it, was meditation. Particularly when I can't sleep.

First, this takes practice. It doesn't not work the first time you try it, in fact it took me over a week to get it to work, and perfected in a month of constant practice. But I swear it works.

Once I get comfortable, I think about how everything feels. The sheets on my heels, the blanked on my legs, the pillows. I really concentrate on every inch of my body and what it's feeling, really think about how I'm comfortable, warm, and have soft blankets. After this, I try to imagine I can't feel the bed anymore, that I'm floating up, I try to imagine the blankets are gone, that I'm gone... and then I'm literally passed out.

The first few nights I did this, I repeated that a million times, after a while I would sort of start to feel like I was "floating" but something would always distract me or I'd realize I was uncomfortable and adjust and start over.

I think part of the reason it works so well for me now is just conditioning. It's what I do every night so I barely get into it and BAM, asleep.

Some people count, I picture myself floating away.

It pisses my fiance off. He will take Benedrly, avoid food, go for a walk 2 hours before bed, count, can't sleep. I hit the bed and I'm out. He's tried my trick, says he can't get it to work. My sister got it down though.

I've only been back on Weight Watchers for about 5 days, but I've definitely noticed that I'm sleeping better. My problem wasn't really getting enough hours, it was that it wasn't restorative sleep. I'm sleeping much deeper now and also having a problem getting out of bed sometimes. Although it's annoying, I'm grateful for the rest.

You need to sleep at night. That's what will keep you from feeing tired during the day.

I was reading not long ago that the current way we sleep is different from the way we naturally sleep, and that 8 hours in one go is actually a product of electric lighting and 9-5 jobs and other factors.

I'm not sure how true that is, but I can vouch for one product of that conclusion: it's not necessary to get all of your night's sleep at once. It is perfectly fine to wake up at 2am, putter around for an hour or two, and then go back to bed until morning.

I am a pretty good sleeper (although I wasnt when I was suffering from depression)... But now and then I will wake up too early. The key for me is not to try to go back to sleep, and not to stress about it, because that makes things worse. If you just go lay back in bed after a while, it's okay just to rest and not fall asleep. You're still doing a good thing for your body by resting. And if you don't get enough sleep it should be a bit easier tomorrow. Just let yourself rest without sleeping if that's all you can do.

With that said: I get really off track sometimes by staying up too late. This is the single biggest problem in my mind when it comes to my sleep patterns. There is so much to do, so many shows to watch, games to play, laundry to do, lunches to make... And if I don't get in bed early enough it gets harder and harder every night. But of course it's tough to go to bed early if you haven't already been doing that for weeks. For me I just need to listen if I get to 6pm and my body says its sleep time now. Sometimes you need to just drop everything and go to sleep to get your system back on track.

Anyway, I hope you find what works well for you, and that you start feeling better and more energetic soon.

Thanks everyone, I tried to clarify once but just realized the clarification was buried in the middle of my last update. My bad. Wasn't thinking very clearly with how tired I was lol.

I don't sleep 2-6 hours only anymore. Since I started eating better I easily was getting in 8-12 hours a night depending how early I went to bed. My frustration was I had lower energy and was feeling more tired than I was when I wasn't getting much sleep. I had to fight to wake up after sleeping a good solid night which felt backwards. Felt I should feel more tired with less sleep than more.

My coach fiance and I have chalked it up to sugar withdrawl, and catching up on sleep debt. I cut all the things out of my system that were keeping me going, so my body took that as it's que to catch up on some rest. If anyone else out there encounters this problem, I'm sorry to say I never found anything that helped with feeling more alert during the day, it just started to get easier until it passed after a couple weeks. I feel more level now it was just that adjustment period that was a bit of a shock to my system.

Caffiene was completely cut out of my diet. My diet is very protein based so it's unlikely I was lacking protein. I appreciate the suggestion of meditation but that is something I had tried extensively through my years of therapy and is just something I've never been able to do. Being alone with my thoughts is a scary place lol. I know that's something that can and does work for a lot of people which is great! Just doesn't work for me. *shrugs* And yeah no apple or alcohol allowed on IP. I really do appreciate getting suggestions and feedback. Hopefully some of them will help others experiencing the same thing that I was that don't have quite so many restrictions that I do.

Now I'm a little over a month into the diet (got a little held up with being very sick recently) and I'm getting a nice balance of 6-8 hours a night. The only time I really feel tired in the mornings are when my sleep's been disrupted. Started waking up a minute before my alarm again so I feel much more on track. Better than before even. Just took a bit of time to get there.

Thanks Suz for the feedback, nice to know it's not just me. I hope it gets easier for you too!