Extreme Tiredness

I have a question for you folks. I am a fairly new vegan. Just switched over a few weeks ago. Well, I have noticed that I have had a sudden drop in energy this past week. All I want to do is sleep. I come home from work and take a 3 hour nap, get up and exercise and eat dinner, and usually fall asleep again before I go to bed.

Is this cause by my sudden change in diet or am I just eating way too little of an amount of food? I try to take in 1200 calories or less since I am trying to lose weight. Or am I just getting too little of some other thing in my diet now? Should I add more protein or more fruits or something?

My typical food day consists of...

Breakfast: soy protein shake

Snack: Clif bar

Lunch: some sort of thing I fix at home. It is usually leftovers from the night before or a vegan boca burger or something.

Snack: soy protein shake

Dinner: whatever I decide to fix. This past week it's been vegan chili or pasta or beans and rice or whole wheat couscous.

Any advice would be appreciated!

You're probably eating to little, 1200 calories is very little. Try to eat more and see if that solves the problem.

1200 calories is really low and may actually hurt your weight loss as well as your health. I'm not sure of how much you want to weigh, but since this is a life time path, I would suggest taking in the amount of calories it would take to maintain your goal weight and also include exercise. I generally take 1400-1600 calories daily.

I would add to your diet, fresh fruit for the AM, plenty of raw greens as sides for your mealtimes, and something fats and protein just before bedtime. This should help your energy immensely.

Oh no, don't fall into the trap!!!

I think this is the most common reason why people drop veg*ism.

You can't eat the way you ate before, you have to eat often and alot. Eat at laest 1kg of fruits and 1kg of veggies per day, more if you feel like it. You don't ever need to be hungry or tired if you stick to fresh produce. It's lower in calories so you have to eat alot.

Sounds like you have a lot of processed foods, and a lot of soy (you may be sensitive to soy, especially the processed soy isolate and soy concentrate that is in protein powder and boca burgers, etc.).

Get some fresh, organic (if at all possible) produce in their. Fruits in the morning and as snacks, veggies in salads and as snacks.

I'll try to vary my diet a bit more as well as eat more calories. It's tough to eat in the morning though because I already get up at 4:00AM to be at work by 5:00AM. Once I am there (at McDonald's) there's really nothing there for me to eat except a Fruit and Walnut Salad (minus the yogurt) or a side salad. And I only get about 5 minutes around 10:30 to get something to eat, which is why I take the Clif bar. It allows me to make it through until I get off at 1:00PM. When I get home I can do what I want, but unless I want to get up at 3 something in the morning I don't know what else I can do to get in actual food before work.

Oh no, don't fall into the trap!!!

I think this is the most common reason why people drop veg*ism.

You can't eat the way you ate before, you have to eat often and alot. Eat at laest 1kg of fruits and 1kg of veggies per day, more if you feel like it. You don't ever need to be hungry or tired if you stick to fresh produce. It's lower in calories so you have to eat alot.

Don't worry. I am not planning to drop veganism. I should probably keep more fresh produce in the fridge though. Right now all I have is iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, grapes, and parsnips. That's it. Everything else I have is canned or in a box in the cabinet.

I'll try to vary my diet a bit more as well as eat more calories. It's tough to eat in the morning though because I already get up at 4:00AM to be at work by 5:00AM.

Breakfast is important. Maybe make some sandwhiches the night before that you can eat on your way to work?

Once I am there (at McDonald's) there's really nothing there for me to eat except a Fruit and Walnut Salad (minus the yogurt) or a side salad. And I only get about 5 minutes around 10:30 to get something to eat, which is why I take the Clif bar. It allows me to make it through until I get off at 1:00PM.

Hmm, cant you bring some food to work? Or is the time to short to eat anything? If nothing else, maybe add some smoothie or protein shake in addition to cliff bar? Or a handfull of nuts?

Also I agree with the above above eating more fruits and vegs, but I would say its more important that you eat more calories. Of course there is nothing stopping you from doing both .

vegangirl,

make sure you are getting enough iron. Lots of dark leafy greens, and take them with vitamin C as it aids in the absorbing of the iron.

So a baby spinach salad with blood oranges and ponzu sauce, or baby greens salad with glass of oj, or iron fortified beverages, etc.

Me personally I get lazy so I supplement with iron once in a while.

I would go and get a blood test done though to see what your iron is - iron supplementation shouldnt be taken lightly, as too much iron can be toxic i think.

But there is no need to supplement , you can get all that you need from good whole nutritious foods. I am just lazy.

In addition to what has been said above, I think you should stop worrying about losing weight until you feel well again. Just eat considerably more and when you feel less tired you can make up a more balanced eating plan for losing weight if you feel like it.

I agree with all the above. It looks like you're relying a little too much on soy, also you're getting alot of protein with 2+ shakes. Definitely eat more fruits and veggies. I'm sure there isn't a great variety of produce in Fqargo, so maybe you can buy frozen, I know everyone will bash me for saying that(particularly the raw people here but it's better than none.

Also, consider a relocation to a more exciting place.

*LOL* I just relocated from Atlanta to Fargo in December 2004. Fargo rocks and I don't think I'll ever move anywhere else.

I upped my calories to 1400-1500 a day and am feeling much better. Even after just 2 days of increasing my calories, I have much more energy. In fact I didn't even have the urge to nap yesterday. Maybe that's all it was. I was just eating too little.

I have to keep reminding myself that I didn't get fat overnight and I won't get thin overnight either I guess.

2 soy shakes are ok but remember to eat whole f00ds....... the body does not register liquid vs whole food the same...... thats why when you read about shakes some people actually say to chew before swallowing the shake (i know it seems weird but thats what im hearing)

also add hemp and maybe try a greens supplement into your shakes in the mourning ... you may not have enough minerals/vitamins ..... i used to feel sluggish at the start too sometimes ... added my greens and now im all over the place.... sometimes im doing pushups on my exercise ball at 1am .... not the greatest idea but what else can you do when you're hyped up and sitting around watching tv at 1am??

I am just lazy.

Very.

2 soy shakes are ok but remember to eat whole f00ds....... the body does not register liquid vs whole food the same...... thats why when you read about shakes some people actually say to chew before swallowing the shake (i know it seems weird but thats what im hearing)

 

also add hemp and maybe try a greens supplement into your shakes in the mourning ... you may not have enough minerals/vitamins ..... i used to feel sluggish at the start too sometimes ... added my greens and now im all over the place.... sometimes im doing pushups on my exercise ball at 1am .... not the greatest idea but what else can you do when you're hyped up and sitting around watching tv at 1am??

I don't know where to buy hemp. I've never seen it in my grocery store. Maybe I should try to natural foods store down the road. It's a little pricey but the people are very friendly and probably could help me out. Until then, should I just take the "one a day" vitamin? My mom bought them for me but I'd terrible about remembering to take pills. *LOL*

We go through cycles. Times of high energy, and then times of low energy. It is natural. What nobody has mentioned, is that perhaps your body is just going through a cleansing phase (since you are quite new to veganism)

Trust your body! if you're hungry, eat! if you're not hungry, don't eat! and stop worrying about "calories" they really have NOTHING to do with food, or how your body processes it.

I don't know how many calories a day I eat, nor do I even worry about it. Eat well, workout hard, and your body will take care of the rest.

A "Calorie" is defined as:

A unit of measurement of heat. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of water from 14.5 C to 15.5 C.

What does this have to do with food??

Right on Raw Ambition!!!

I think society in general spends way too much time being concerned with calories.

I never count calories but I know that if I eat clean and exercise, I should have very little to be concerned about.

We go through cycles. Times of high energy, and then times of low energy. It is natural. What nobody has mentioned, is that perhaps your body is just going through a cleansing phase (since you are quite new to veganism)

Perhaps nobody mentioned it because eating too little seems like a far far more likely cause for the tiredness?

Trust your body! if you're hungry, eat! if you're not hungry, don't eat! and stop worrying about "calories" they really have NOTHING to do with food, or how your body processes it.

 

I don't know how many calories a day I eat, nor do I even worry about it. Eat well, workout hard, and your body will take care of the rest.

 

A "Calorie" is defined as:

 

A unit of measurement of heat. The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of water from 14.5 C to 15.5 C.

 

What does this have to do with food??

Well, I agree that it's not good to worry about calories, but to say that they have nothing to do with food or how the body processes it is plain ignorace.

Calories are for some reason the preferred unit for measuring the energy content of food. The energy content of food might well be interesting to know, since it indicates how much energy the body can get from the food. Do you now see the connection between calories and food?