Fatigue At 3

[seelessofme 63]

Today I'm at my 3 month anniversary. I've noticed I'm super tired and wondering if you have gone through this? What's going on with me.....I'm pooped!

[Gig 27]

I'm 5 weeks out and I'm also very tired. It's to the point that I'm getting on my own nerves yawning all the time! Thinking it's because I'm still struggling with eating enough. When I get that fixed, hopefully the fatigue will go away.

[RickM 1,753]

The first few weeks can be fatiguing - recovering from surgery, catching up on lost sleep, etc., but by now I would expect the energy to be picking up from the weight loss - it certainly did for me after a couple months. My sleep schedule shifted an hour or so earlier from the immediate post-op energy drain and that kept up for several months, but typical daytime energy levels were great.

Are you getting in enough Protein and Water (the usual things!)? What are your carb levels - carbs=energy and not everyone can metabolize their fat stores fast enough to keep up with their body's energy demands, so the low carb diets can lead to lethargy (that's a simple one to test.) There are also a few of the common nutrients that can sap energy if they are deficient, so maybe some early bloodwork would be in order.

[Gig 27]

In not getting many carbs at all what are good carbs to try?

[RickM 1,753]

Generally, the complex carbs (the courser, whole grains and more fibrous vegetables) are the preferred, but the simpler carbs can be worked in as well if combined with your Proteins - a little fruit mixed in with greek yogurt, for example. Carbs in general don't provide much in the way of lasting sataity and can even promote hunger in short order (that's why restaurants often hit you with a bread basket as soon as you sit down - it sells more appetizers and bigger entrees!) but if combined with Proteins, which provide the longest sataity, things average out. Some vegetables mixed in with meat is great - a stir fry or stew, or extra veg added to chili. A few whole grain crackers or half slice of whole grain bread with some sliced meat and/or cheese worked well for me - the trick is to add just enough without going overboard, and watching if any of these things trigger you into overconsuming them - you don't want a couple of crackers to lead to the whole box!

The premise of the low carb diets, whether done intentionally or just as a result of low calorie/high Protein diets that we are typically on post-op, is to keep our body's reserve of glycogen (short term stores of carbs) at a minimum to promote fat burning from our long term fat stores to get the energy that we need. The problem is that some of us don't metabolize those fat reserves all that quickly so we run out of energy easily, or we have fairly high activity levels that burn through the glycogen quickly - it's somewhat like the "good old days" when if we wanted to buy something we had to go to the bank to cash a check rather than just use a debit card. The trick is to keep your "pocket change" of glycogen/carbs high enough for routine living while still low enough to keep burning that fat.