Cutting carbs and dealing with lack of energy

[gamepadawan]

you need to give it time or increase fats, probably both, planned refeeds are also a must and refeeds mean starches not pizza buffets

 

[TheCaptainPower]

The funny thing is the best bodybuilder of all time (Arnold), didn't do any of these diets. Back then they just worked out like beasts...

I wouldn't worry about any of this stuff until you are in good shape...

 

[RichieP]

-Eat carbs sometimes, you could have some after every workout, or just once every 2-3 days. Make it rice or sweet potatoes not wheat/grains. Agree with the sex-drive thing, they make a difference

-Coconut oil does wonders for mental energy and fatigue. Try a tablespoon after each meal, then ramp it down slowly. It got me through the transition to paleo, back when I'd get faint and weak from being non-fat-adapted.

-the "Protein Sparing Modified Fast" is awesome for shredding fat in 2-3 weeks while maintaining muscle-mass. Do it after you're fat-adapted though. It's basically a huge calorie deficit where you just eat chicken/leafy greens and some supplements, and you keep lifting (but no other exercise). It's dietary liposuction, haha.

 

[AlbertoDelMuerto]

What does your macros look like?

 

[Hades]

The funny thing is the best bodybuilder of all time (Arnold), didn't do any of these diets. Back then they just worked out like beasts...

I wouldn't worry about any of this stuff until you are in good shape...

Sure he did. His biography talked about how he did a low carb diet to cut fat and get shredded. He was already a serious bodybuilder and won many contests by then, but low carb took him to the next level.

 

[kbell]

He also was on steroids as well. And his diet was probably pretty strict regardless of what method he used.

 

[Cho]

4 weeks ago I started a high protein diet which was:

Breakfast: PHD Diet whey shake + t6 fat burner

Lunch: 2 chicken breasts

Dinner: 2 chicken breasts/steak/pork

60 mins on bike at the gym followed by some press ups, dips, negative pull ups (couldn't manage pull ups at the time) and sit ups (at the gym 5 days a week) then I had another phd diet whey shake after workout. I lost 9kg in first 3 weeks then stopped the t6 fat burners cause they started making me feel dodgy and was getting pains in my chest, then switched my shake to diet fx cause it has caffeine in it to compensate for the fat burners but weren't as good and only lost another 3kg in 4th week and constantly felt tired. So i lost 12kg in 4 weeks. I'm gonna stop very shortly and start a different routine because the calorie deficit diet and lack of energy is too much. I managed my first pull up the 2nd day of my 4th week able to do 3 in a row now .

 

[Sanblz33]

IMO a better option for the OP is for him to go on a carb cycling regimen. You would go low carbs 5 days & have 2 high carb days to replenish your glycogen stores.

 

[Kieran]

Charles Poliquin has a pretty good carb cycling system that worked well for me in the past, a quick google should bring it up.

 

[Sebastian]

why do you cut carbs? have you been eating excessive amount of carbs? or are you entering a competition?

I eat rice 3 times a day but I am skinny. oh well, asians are born to be skinny right....lol

 

[Vaun]

This summer I'm going on a more aggressive carb cutting diet to trim up for summer. I've cut almost all sugars and carbs from my diet, and while the difference is huge for my body, I feel ridiculously tired every day and struggle to finish my workouts. Sometimes I can't help but nod out at my desk at work despite getting 9-10 hours of sleep. Is this normal for people with a low carb diet? How do you get through? Load up on caffeine or just power through?

power through it, it actually only lasts for a few days or a week at most. What are you using to measure your carbs? I use dailyburn. At this stage you should weigh and measure everything you eat in order to truly know how many macro's(carbs, fat, protein) you are ingesting.

 

[Anon-A-Moose]

I'm 6 foot 185 pounds. Based on my muscle mass if I got down to 170-175 pounds I would be completely shredded. Before I started cutting I was 195 pounds. I'd say I've been cutting for about 2 weeks now, the exhaustion has been getting worse I've just been powering through and then basically passing out after my workouts. I haven't been doing a carb loading day though, perhaps I will try that kbell.

Those are my stats, 175lbs and 6' (actually 6'1, give or take, depending on posture).

My experience with low-carb hasn't been good. Never could maintain the diet either through discipline OR energy levels. It basically just killed me overnight. Going lean and lots of protein I can do though, just need enough carbs to stay coherent.