Excessive sleep

(Lindsey) #1

I’ve seen a lot of posts about insomnia and people struggling with too little sleep but how about too much sleep? A couple of times recently I’ve gone for a nap in the afternoon and not woken up until the next morning; I’ve just woken up after twelve hours when I expected it to be about two. I also think I might not be eating enough, could that be the cause? I’m just not that hungry. I’m taking electrolytes after it was recommended to me in another post.

(Michelle) #2

You’re still fairy new to keto - your first month by your posts, right? When I was in my first few weeks I would get so tired in the afternoon. I have kids at home or I would’ve gladly fallen asleep after lunch and woken up early the next day. This feeling passes. For me it passed at about week 5 or 6.

(Lindsey) #3

I’m in about six weeks. My second week onwards I didn’t need much sleep, I was waking pretty early and was fine with it. But last week and this week I’m tired a lot and seem to be sleeping a crazy amount. Adding electrolytes hasn’t really helped.

(Michelle) #4

Maybe hormonal? If you have the luxury, I say sleep. Your body knows what it needs.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #5

Do you feel lathargic during the day too?

(Chris W) #6

I would say if you have to ask us you are probably not eating enough. But do share you specs and macro otherwise we can only assume.
Things directly related to energy while being keto waking hours are salt, electrolytes, fat ingested, fat stores. If you are not eating enough and you don’t have enough fat to mobilize yes you will get tired all the salt in the world will not help if you are not properly fat adapted. If you have decreased in body fat you need to increase your fat ingestion, every 10 pounds of loss you should recalculate your macros.
Long term deficit eating will also lead to decreased energy, eating at maintain will allow you heal, loose weight, and have energy. You cannot do all of that if you are below your TDEE or BMR rate. Hunger signaling is often broken, some people don’t know when to start, others don’t know when to stop.

(Lindsey) #7

I usually only record my carb amounts (always under 20g) rather than everything. Is keeping track of all macros necessary? I’m much better at writing down my carbs on paper as I’m cooking than typing everything into an app, though I can do that if it’s likely to be beneficial.

I’m female, 34yo, 5’1 tall, and weigh 8 st 13 (113.8lb), my goal is 8st (112lb). I know the fact I don’t have a huge amount to lose means it will be fairly slow, but because I’m so short being a stone overweight is very noticeable. For the last two weeks I’ve been putting on weight instead of losing.

On an average week day I eat:

1 large coffee with double cream as breakfast
1 babybel cheese for lunch

When I get home I’ll either cook a curry from scratch, which usually comes in at about 10 carbs, or I’ll have a tuna/salmon salad with a mound of homemade mayo, which is about 7 carbs.

Later in the evening I’ll often have a piece of cheese and a fat bomb. I’m not eating a huge amount, but I’m not hungry and am keeping my day low to do IF.

On the weekend it’s usually similar except I’ll make a cheese and mushroom omelette for breakfast.

(Sybella) #8

it could be that your body is in that kind of limbo phase where it has to learn to adapt. It took me a good couple of months to get fat adapted. Maybe try to eat more at lunch for a week or two and see if it makes a difference.

(Chris W) #9

Ok so you have the carbs counting down and that is a good thing, but you realize that your energy is coming from the fat now don’t you? So yes you should be keeping track of what you are bringing in on the other macros as well. Until you feel right, and done so for a while.

Also I will be perfectly frank, you are below your ideal weight already. So if weight loss is a goal I think you expecting too much from this WOE, if feeling good, having energy, and being metabolicly well is your goal then you need to start eating more. You ate in your whole day what I have at one meal assuming you are eating normal portions. I would assume you should be right around 1600 calories, it sounds like you ate about 800.

(Lindsey) #10

I’m definitely not below weight, I look very chubby. My BMI is in the healthy range, but I don’t look slim - I have been 8st in the past, so I know it’s doable and is definitely when I look and feel my best.

My evening meal contains a LOT of fat - if I make a curry, which is my usual dinner, the sauce is usually made out of double cream and butter, with a load of spices thrown in. Followed with a fat bomb I consume most of my fat and calories in the evening, so it’s a fair bit higher than your 800 estimate.

I take your point though of tracking everything until I have an exact handle on how much fat/protein is in everything rather than just the carbs. I was hoping to avoid having to type in every little thing, especially when I know there aren’t any carbs, but it seems unavoidable. :confused:

(LeeAnn Brooks) #11

  1. ditch the snacks. Make your meals larger so you don’t need to snack. Everytime you eat you raise insulin levels. The whole point of Keto is to keep insulin as low as possible.

  2. IF does not mean restricted calories. It means you keep your meals to a limited window of hours during the day. You should still be eating enough calories within that window.

  3. I have a hard time believing you’re getting enough to eat from the description above. I’m not far from you height wise (5’2”). This would definately be starvation levels for me, and I do IF. With your height and weight, I would estimate 1300 calories should be the lowest you should be at.