Just out of interest, have you had any tiredness from cutting carbs from your diet? Many people on who restrict carbs, such as on the Atkins diet, experience this from what I've read.
There's a tiredness and "brain fade" associated with these sort of diets. I'm not so sure it's the carb cutting so much as it is the extreme calorie restriction. I used a protein sparing modified fast (which Atkins is a form of) that advocated supplementing sodium and potassium along with essential fatty acids using fish oil (it was a low fat and low carb diet). I've tried Atkins before and experienced the tiredness/brain fade. The PSMF I was on though caused me none of these symptoms. In fact, I felt precisely the opposite. During the diet, I experienced a form of mild euphoria.
No tiredness for me. There's the "induction flu" that people on Atkins get, and I felt that for the first few weeks. Apparently it's caused by sodium depletion (carbohydrates cause you to retain a lot of water/salt). Drinking non-sodium-reduced beef broth every day for that month will cure you. Wish I had known. I just toughed it out.
As far as my energy levels nowadays...pretty much boundless. I'm ravenously hungry when I don't eat. But I'm told that's how it's supposed to work. When I was fat, I was hungry around the clock, even after eating.
Can you recommend any sources for more details about this 'beef broth' fix for induction discomfort? (Would other sodium replenishment options be just as good?)
Veggies)
Bad:
-I typically felt kinda "blah", like I was on the verge of getting a cold
-generally low on energy
-injuries took forever to heal
-my joints ached after being on the diet for about 6 months
-I felt hungry almost immediately after eating
-I lost much less weight than on Atkins
Good:
-It's hard to describe, but I felt "clean" all the time. Like I had just taken a shower.
-I also tended to feel light, like moving about took less energy, but I felt like I had less energy overall
Atkins)
Bad:
-I felt kinda "gross" all the time, like oil was oozing from my pores and follicles.
-Expensive
-Most of the foods I wanted to eat were not on the approved list, and I got tired of eating on the diet after about 6 months
-I felt hungry all the time
-Hair and nails grew really fast...like freakishly so. I was cutting my finger nails like every 2 days at one point.
-I felt "heavy"
Good:
-I had super, non-stop, bottomless energy
-no midday loss of energy
-I could exercise for hours
-I lost tons more weight than on the veggie diet (about 3x as much in the same amount of time)
-Injuries healed super fast, maybe twice as fast as normal, and I got injured far less often than on the veggie diet, maybe 1:3 ratio
-I felt stronger, so even if I felt heavier, it was less effort to move about
-I packed on muscle, my bench press (without actually doing any weight lifting as a form of exercise) went from 140 to 210 in 6 months.