hi
I’ve been LCHF since around June 2016. This probably isn’t the right place to post since i’m not really Keto but need help & no one else has seemed to be able to figure out what’s going on with me. Please delete if this not allowed:
OK so the following happens most days but really bad yesterday: woke up & had a fatty coffee (collagen & coconut oil). got hungry around 10:30am but had plans for lunch so i waited. Ate lunch at around noon & had fatty brisket, cucumber salad & coleslaw. Felt fine but a little tired on the way home. At night, took a 2.5 mile walk & then came home & ate the following:
some baked chicken skin
2 grilled chicken thighs
2 handfuls of grape tomatoes
1/2 cup of green beans with ghee
here’s where it gets bad
almost an entire pint of blueberries with about 1/2 cup of heavy cream & 2 handfuls of coconut flakes. (i was still really hungry)
now, like almost every night i started feeling woosie. Sorry but that’s the only way i can describe it. i get really sleepy, my brain gets foggy & all i want to do is lie down but i usually push through till my evening chores are done. I always end up thinking i need sugar so, like last night I ended up also eating an an entire dark chocolate candy bar. Finally i just went to sleep. This has been going on for months now where i feel fine during the day, eat a lot at night & then feel woosie. i don’t think it’s a sugar reaction since i don’t feel “shakey” but it’s definitely not right. I also have very low blood pressure but that’s an all the time thing, not just at night.
sorry this post is so long but any insight you folks could offer would be much appreciated.
thanks
Feeling woosie at night
Well, it could be a few things. One is the same thing people get called afternoon slump, you know, eating a high carb meal at lunch and then getting tired after. A spike and drop in blood sugar. You’re eating most of your carbs at night and then experiencing it. The other consideration would be in electrolytes. It could be both problems. I’m not entirely sure why you aren’t keto since you’re pretty much there until your carb binge at night. It’s not even that crazy high in carbs but, if you are insulin resistant, it might be too high for your body. You might actually be keto without quite realizing it and your carb habit cuts your fuel supply. Still being really hungry in keto would tell me you also aren’t eating enough fat so, you end up running out of energy at the end of the day. If you’ve been eating similarly for so long, I’m wondering if you aren’t dipping in and out of keto often enough where you’ve never gotten fat adapted so you end up not using produced ketones efficiently. You could also have an insulin response that is too well received. As in, even just a small amount of insulin will lower your blood sugar but your body releases too much insulin at that time of having more carbs than before and really lowers the blood sugar more than intended, this type of insulin response can sometimes be seen in people that are thin and can eat anything. Have you had problems with blood sugar in the past like pre diabetes or diabetes? And, you can react to sugar without shaking. It’s not the only sign of high or low blood sugar. Other signs can include fatigue, headache, dizziness, confusion, eye pressure, sluggishness, brain fog, exhaustion, nausea. And, you’re welcome here. We aren’t the keto police and this forum is much more laid back than other places. We obviously support keto here but, there are many versions of keto and there are some LCHF people here as well.
Anyways, actions you can take now:
Do not eat all the carbs all at once, spread it out through the day.
Intake more fat for more energy and satiety
Check into your electrolytes and make sure you are getting decent amounts of salt, potassium, and magnesium
Consider checking your blood sugar soon after eating something more carb heavy and then, when you feel the slump, check it again to see if it’s had a sudden reduction
Make sure you are getting enough calories for your activity levels and daily functioning
Check your food logs and see if you might actually be putting yourself into ketosis and then going in and out constantly. If you are doing this, consider either going fully keto or making sure to spread out your carb intake to stay further out of ketosis. This may prevent dips from when you spike insulin and can’t access ketones.
hi Jay,
thanks for the warm welcome & quick response. I never thought about the fact that maybe i’m dipping in & out of ketosis. I don’t think i’m insulin resistant since i’ve never had a problem with my weight till I hit menopause. It took me a while to get down to my 120 lb goal & now that i’m finally here, i’m crazy worried that i’ll put it all back on if i eat carbs during the day (vs later when my cortisol is lower & i won’t have such a spike in insulin) but maybe i should try. This feeling crappy at night is killing me! I also don’t test my blood sugar but think i should start. The only testing i do is keto pee sticks which i know aren’t great but all i can afford (to test ketones) for now.
so far this morning i’m only having black coffee as i was gonna try to fast till around 1pm but i’ll try to have some carby veggies at lunch & see if that helps.
again, thanks for the quick response. Glad to hear no keto police here…some people can be so rigid you don’t even want to be a part of that group!
Yeah, this forum is pretty supportive and tolerant! : )
Can you explain your LCHF concept a bit more clearly?
What does “low carbs” mean for you? Is there a certain amount of carbs per day you’re aiming for?
You should be aware that there’s a “crappy middle zone” where you’re not eating “enough” carbs for your body to use that as its fuel and not “few enough” carbs for your body to use fat as its fuel.
If you’re just generally aiming to eat “as few carbs as possible” during the day, then you may be getting yourself into exactly that crappy middle zone.
What’s the reason you think it’s better to consume carbs at night than during the day? (I’m no expert here, but you will probably get a lot of knowledgeable feedback here if you explain this more closely.)
Given the limitations of a low-carb diet and given the problem of landing in the crappy no-man’s-land of “too much and too little carbs”, is there a reason why you’re choosing to do whatever low-carb diet you’ve chosen as opposed to Keto?
Just trying to work out what your food choices are and what your diet looks like, so we can work out what could help you re evening woosy-ness. 
Don’t worry about testing for ketones anyways, many of us don’t and, you’re right, urine strips are useless for tracking. They show ketones you waste, not ketones you use which are the important ones. Carbs will cause the same insulin response at night as they will in the daytime and your cortisol levels can be high or low at any time. You can even get cortisol spikes in your sleep. Cortisol levels aren’t something that can be determined at home beyond knowing stress can trigger it. I’d say being so hungry you feel the need to eat a bunch of carbs and then being stressed about the crash later is probably enough to trigger cortisol rises.
I would think that what you’re feeling is your body switching back and forth between burning ketones and carbs. I know that on the days when I eat a few too many carbs I don’t feel great. My best days are when I’ve been very strict keto.
Yup. From the information you’ve provided so far, this is my thought too.
I feel super crappy when I eat too many carbs too.
Not that I want to advertise for Keto or talk you into it, but I think you may truly find it easier and more comfortable because you’re not getting those negative effects from too-much carbs…
wow, thank you all for bringing things to my attention that i never thought about before. That crappy middle zone or switching back & forth really does make sense.
so Sugar Addict, you asked why i thought it was best to eat carbs at night…i’m certainly no expert either but something i read once made sense to me. it said that when you get up in the morning your insulin is low because you’ve been fasting. If you then eat carbs in the morning you’ll have a bigger response than if you waited & introduced the carbs slowly during the day. Sorta like if you’ve been in a dark room & then went out into the sunlight…it would hurt your eyes but if you were out in the sun all day & someone shined a light in your eye, it wouldn’t be that drastic. Now that i’m writing it, it does sound kinda dumb but it’s what i always went with.
as to my LCHF vs Keto it’s just cause i was NEVER able to only eat 20 grs a day. no matter how hard i tried i just couldn’t go that low. The only veggies i like are peas/carrots/string beans/maybe some broccoli & sometimes spinach. Since there aren’t many veggies on my plate, i eat alot of protein as well. Finally i have a hubby who’s not keto & loves to shop. There’s always crap in my house & i’m just too weak to walk away from it. I only have about 7 more pounds to loose but it’s a real struggle for me
so i fasted for about 16hrs today & now lunch is grilled chicken, string beans & tomatoes. i’m gonna try to keep to keto tonight at dinner & see how i do. If i still get woosie guess it’s back to the drawing board.
thanks so much for ya’ll’s help