Losing weight but battling fatigue

I don’t think I’m eating quite enough. Or at least, eating the right foods. That’s my verdict after several days fighting fatigue and lack of energy. I WAS feeling pretty energetic last week but I hit a tiredness wall on Friday I’ve had trouble shifting. My diet is continuing apace, but without enough carbs I think my energy levels are fighting to stay up. I’m exercising regularly 4 times per week, including boxing, swimming, treadmill running and bike, circuit training and weight training and I have great intentions about Sunday’s yoga classes but I’m not quite getting there at the moment.

Here’s a snapshot of food I ate on Thursday:

Dinner had a tiny bit more to it, but you see what I’m eating here. It’s all totally healthy, but without potatoes or wheat or rice. As a result, I think my carb intake is too low. I’ve taken to some minor cheating in a bid to up my energy levels: last night I had some pizza. Pizza Hut now provide kj counts of all pizzas and slices (with the Perfecto base), so I know how much I can eat. We usually have thin crust, which is about half the calorific content of the Perfecto pizza bases, so I took off 100kj (25 cal) from each slice and had 3 slices of garlic prawn pizza. Delicious, and about 670kj (160 cal) per slice, which was 2009 kj or 480 calories for dinner.

I’m thinking of ways to increase my lunchtime eating so I don’t go overboard at night. I think I have it: beans! Beans and pulses. Lentils, chickpeas and cannelloni/ kidney/ borlotti beans. Half a cup flung through my salad should provide me with the dietary fibre, protein and carbs I need to get through my day with more energy. And at night I’m trying to remember to cook quinoa, which is a surprisingly tasty seed-type grain. Lucky I love salad. Lucky I live in a warm climate where eating salad feels right.

So, did some measurements today (not official ones) and I’ve lost several cms off my bust and hips but surprisingly NONE off my waist. Either that or I measured myself wrongly a few months ago. The scales aren’t lying – I AM losing weight, even off my legs, and my clothes are fitting just that bit better than they did before, but this measurement surprised me. At any rate, I’ve got to lose 10 cms off my waist if I am to remain in the healthy weight per waist ratio for my age. So I do the weigh in on Tuesday. I hope I’ve lost another kg but I feel like the weight loss is slowing now. I’m still well on target to lose that 8kgs (17lbs) by Xmas! Only 4 kgs (9lbs) to go.

I AM feeling stronger, though, and I have more stamina for swimming, running and cycling. The fat surrounding my new and improved muscles is getting flabbier, which means that it is actually beginning to diminish. I can now do 10 push ups with ease, plus a bunch of new exercises I’ve never even heard of, including burpies and mountain climbing, and renegade row. I’m still tired, though. Last week I started to sleep well for the first time in a few weeks, and now I’m having trouble waking up! Something’s going on, so I can only imagine it’s the diet needing tweaking.

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