There is no diet that will do what eating healthy does - a turning point in this journey
Almost all of my life, I've always been tired. I've had very few days where I felt completely GOOD and where I wasn't suffering from something. I've grown tolerant of it and just accepted that it is what it is. I've been focusing on my calories for the last few years and ensuring that I wasn't eating too much so I could lose weight. I thought that if I kept doing that, I'd eventually feel better. Doesn't really work like that, calories aren't the only factor here and if I'm going to practice what I preach, then I really needed to pay attention to the bigger picture. Let's go through how I feel on a daily basis:
Wake up: Exhausted and just not able to shake this "out of it feeling".
8-9 AM - Have 2 cups of coffee and slowly start to wake up and feel better
10-2pm - feel good! Energized and able to get stuff done!
2PM on - Start to feel tired, headache, foggy brain, lose motivation/energy/irritable
I have been dealing with this for many, many years. The other day I just had enough, I just wanted to feel like a normal person and not have this mind numbing exhaustion. I just didn't want to be snapping at my husband and son anymore and be happy! So I posted about it in a group and a girlfriend of mine asked me how much protein and omegas I'm getting.. I was like "ehhh what?" she sent me an article and this prompted me to do some further research. I found that lack of protein can lead to this things: Hair falling out (check), brain fog (check), exhaustion (check), memory loss/forgetfulness (check), headaches (check), hypoglycemia (check), cravings for sweets (DOUBLE CHECK). It was like a lightbulb went off in my head, this is IT. This is what has been wrong with me. After that I went back into MyFitnessPal and looked at my food diary, not only did I do that but I also went and looked at my NUTRITION. I had previously only been paying attention to my calories and only caring that those were within range, but now I was looking deeper into it. Well, I never hit my protein goal - at all and I ALWAYS went over my sugar and carbs for the day. This explains a lot. It was painful to me to think that I've been suffering for all this time and the answer was RIGHT in front of me. I preach this whole "being healthy" thing and.. I wasn't actually doing it. The amount of times I've missed because I've felt so awful and just haven't been able to muster up to feeling OK just hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm sad for myself that it took this long for me to realize it, sad that I didn't take my own advice and actually put it into play.
So what do I do now? I had this information and I couldn't ignore it because what good would that do? I started really looking at what I ate and stopped thinking in terms of the calories, if I go over on my calories for a day I'm not worried about it too much as long as I'm getting the right amount of nutrition for the day. It's now been 3 days and I've been paying close attention to my protein/ sugar levels. I've been looking more at labels instead of just seeing how many calories are in something..I ask myself "does it have a good amount of protein and low amount of sugar? " It's only been three days but people, when I tell you I feel like I different person, I am being completely honest. I have energy. I went to bed early last night because I had a headache, but it wasn't like before when I had a headache and felt this numbing feeling, it was just a headache (likely caused by the pressure in the air). I've been cutting way down on my sugar (or trying to as best I can anyways) and I'm not constantly craving sweets anymore. I have 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in my coffee and I am fine with that. I've never felt so..alive as I do lately.
My plan now is to go to my nutritionist to get a further detail of what should be my macros and making sure I stay on point. I know one thing is for sure, I never want to feel the way I did before. I also have turned a corner on how I feel about my weight, I of course want to be healthy and in shape, I'm still overweight and I don't want to be. However, I am more paying attention to how I feel as opposed to how I look. I'm proud of how far I've come and happy that I've gotten to this point, but I'm not as worried about the number on the scale as long as I'm being healthy. I feel like this is a new chapter for me in my journey (I always hate using that word because it sound so corny, but it's true).
If you are struggling with the things I listed above, I strongly suggest to start logging your food for a few weeks, then look at your nutrition, not just as your calories but what you're actually eating. You don't have to suffer and feel the way you do (I type that with tears in my eyes because I know how it is). If you need any help getting started, please, please reach out to me and we can do this together.
Wake up: Exhausted and just not able to shake this "out of it feeling".
8-9 AM - Have 2 cups of coffee and slowly start to wake up and feel better
10-2pm - feel good! Energized and able to get stuff done!
2PM on - Start to feel tired, headache, foggy brain, lose motivation/energy/irritable
I have been dealing with this for many, many years. The other day I just had enough, I just wanted to feel like a normal person and not have this mind numbing exhaustion. I just didn't want to be snapping at my husband and son anymore and be happy! So I posted about it in a group and a girlfriend of mine asked me how much protein and omegas I'm getting.. I was like "ehhh what?" she sent me an article and this prompted me to do some further research. I found that lack of protein can lead to this things: Hair falling out (check), brain fog (check), exhaustion (check), memory loss/forgetfulness (check), headaches (check), hypoglycemia (check), cravings for sweets (DOUBLE CHECK). It was like a lightbulb went off in my head, this is IT. This is what has been wrong with me. After that I went back into MyFitnessPal and looked at my food diary, not only did I do that but I also went and looked at my NUTRITION. I had previously only been paying attention to my calories and only caring that those were within range, but now I was looking deeper into it. Well, I never hit my protein goal - at all and I ALWAYS went over my sugar and carbs for the day. This explains a lot. It was painful to me to think that I've been suffering for all this time and the answer was RIGHT in front of me. I preach this whole "being healthy" thing and.. I wasn't actually doing it. The amount of times I've missed because I've felt so awful and just haven't been able to muster up to feeling OK just hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm sad for myself that it took this long for me to realize it, sad that I didn't take my own advice and actually put it into play.
So what do I do now? I had this information and I couldn't ignore it because what good would that do? I started really looking at what I ate and stopped thinking in terms of the calories, if I go over on my calories for a day I'm not worried about it too much as long as I'm getting the right amount of nutrition for the day. It's now been 3 days and I've been paying close attention to my protein/ sugar levels. I've been looking more at labels instead of just seeing how many calories are in something..I ask myself "does it have a good amount of protein and low amount of sugar? " It's only been three days but people, when I tell you I feel like I different person, I am being completely honest. I have energy. I went to bed early last night because I had a headache, but it wasn't like before when I had a headache and felt this numbing feeling, it was just a headache (likely caused by the pressure in the air). I've been cutting way down on my sugar (or trying to as best I can anyways) and I'm not constantly craving sweets anymore. I have 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in my coffee and I am fine with that. I've never felt so..alive as I do lately.
My plan now is to go to my nutritionist to get a further detail of what should be my macros and making sure I stay on point. I know one thing is for sure, I never want to feel the way I did before. I also have turned a corner on how I feel about my weight, I of course want to be healthy and in shape, I'm still overweight and I don't want to be. However, I am more paying attention to how I feel as opposed to how I look. I'm proud of how far I've come and happy that I've gotten to this point, but I'm not as worried about the number on the scale as long as I'm being healthy. I feel like this is a new chapter for me in my journey (I always hate using that word because it sound so corny, but it's true).
If you are struggling with the things I listed above, I strongly suggest to start logging your food for a few weeks, then look at your nutrition, not just as your calories but what you're actually eating. You don't have to suffer and feel the way you do (I type that with tears in my eyes because I know how it is). If you need any help getting started, please, please reach out to me and we can do this together.
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