No Energy 1 Month+ In

(Lauren) #1

Hello, I just joined the forum after reading through a lot of the topics and was wondering if I could get some advice?

I started carnivore/ketovore just over a month ago (I have coffee and avocado +meat). After reading about other people’s experiences I realize it’s pretty normal to still have NO energy 5 weeks in, especially coming off a SAD diet beforehand. I get plenty of salts and electrolytes and I have about a 1:1 protein:fat ratio most days. I’m just wondering what else I can do to get my energy up faster or is it simply just a waiting game? I have also incorporated two squares of 95% dark chocolate a day because I heard that could help make the oxalate dumping a bit more bearable. I was thinking about fasting today because I know fasting helps your body detox. Anyone else suffer zero energy for a month or more on carnivore/ketovore? How did you get through it? I have two young kids so I feel like a bad mom not having the energy to really do more with them in the summer, but I’m doing this because I want more energy. Do I just stick with it to get the energy I’m seeking or…? Feeling a bit disheartened that I still have no energy after 5 weeks. Thanks for any advice you can share!

#2

It may be individual. I tend to have lowish energy on every woe, no matter how long I do it (well I never did carnivore for more than a few weeks but I don’t go too far from it, usually). I actually think long term true carnivore may help… But one can do every woe wrong, even carnivore. Maybe you don’t do it in the right style. But there are other factors, woe is one of them, one can mess up their energy level in zillion other ways, I know I can do that. I exercise too little? Live in high humidity? Too much stress? Bad sleep? No matter how I eat, I will feel more or less a zombie then. It’s not all about eating. But that’s very important too. What do you eat and how much? Maybe you need more?
Or maybe something interferes. Some carnivores must be very strict. Not even all meat works…
Some bodies have a harder time to get okay enough to feel energetic, being more damaged due to earlier mistakes…
Maybe the bad oxalate dumping (I don’t know anything about it as I never had negative effects on my on/off carnivore-ish) is a sign you need much healing and it won’t be easy for a while? Hopefully the real and experienced carnivores come and help! I just try to stay close to carnivore most of the time and it does very good to me. I only do this since 1.5 years (on and off), once I got more energy, I am hopeful it will happen again. Maybe it’s better now but I still don’t have MUCH energy.
It clearly doesn’t happen the same to everyone! I know another person who eats close to carnivore and have low energy but she has problems explaining it. But so many people get high energy just doing keto. I never had and I was in ketosis for way longer than on carnivore without a break… People have different experiences on carnivore too especially in the beginning when the body is confused (mine was :smiley: I never ate so little in my life but it’s over), healing, does various things due to the changes. We don’t come from the same background, it can’t be the same.

(Bekir Sivri) #3

first of all everyone reacts differently to some certain diet or food. I did keto 3 month ( and I searched a lot before watch hundreds videos before doing keto) but I didn’t feel energetic especially in the gym. I decided to switch carnivore after that I have been feeling great. more energy, stabil weight, more muscle… I also believe ketosis and fasting are absolutely beneficial. once in a week I do 18 hours fasting sometimes I skip breakfast.
I recommend that you can cut avocado and chocolate. just try fatty red meat, chiken and bone brothe.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Your muscles need to readapt to using fatty acids as their main source of energy, in place of glucose. This takes time. Mitochondria need to heal, new mitochondria need to be born, and certain disused metabolic pathways need to be reactivated. In most people this takes between six and eight weeks, and some people take even longer. The only way to cope is to wait it out. You will gradually notice your endurance improving again, and one day, you will realise that you are back to your old performance level again, or perhaps doing even better.

Try and think of this way of eating as a means of promoting better health, which takes time. It is not an instant cure for what ails you. After all, how many years did it take to mess up your metabolism? Healing takes time.

#5

I’ve had a really hard time with low energy and feeling out of sorts 3 weeks in, I cheated for one day, felt much worse, then I looked back on the previous week and I found out that:

  • I wasn’t drinking enough water
  • I wasn’t eating enough

and, the most important lesson, I need to eat more fat. I’m now eating about 2g of fat per 1g of protein and I feel like an unstoppable machine with tons of energy, even if I’m still not completely adapted.

Try adding heavy cream, butter, fatty cheese (cream cheese is mostly fat). Fatty meat by itself apparently isn’t enough for me, at least at this stage.

Eat more fat.