atkins question

Question
Melissa,
I promise I am also eating some vegs/greens every day plus a vitamin to make sure I am getting nutrition.....The next part of this equation where I need help is energy.

For every day living, I feel fine doing low carb, in fact better than when I eat normally. But, when i go to the gym every other day, I am tired. I like to use weights for 45min and then 30min or cardio. I find myself tired fairly quickly. Is there anything to recommend for energy prior to working out. I have tried eating a little about 60min before, either a protein shake, maybe 1 slice of low carb toast, hard boiled egg and even read where vitamin B can help. None of it seems to really do the trick.

Any advice for energy without messing up the diet?

Thanks
Rich
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Followup To

Question -
Melissa,
I have what may seem like a strange question but, what is the difference between a normal balanced low carb diet and a low carb diet filled with meat?

Before you answer, ignore the obvious health implications. Plus, assume you are eating a reasonable similar amount of calories and not 10,000 with meat vs 2000 with a balanced diet.

Ok, from strictly a WEIGHT LOSS perspective, do you lose weight from the unbalanced diet totally ignoring vegetables and salads?

I'm just wondering why low carb is not low carb no matter what you eat. How does the body know the difference? If the body does know the difference, then is this all about low carb or all about eating veggies and greens and calorie reduction which probably happens when we eat low carb because we feel more full......Is there really any science behind this low carb? because if there is, logic would dictate that eating steaks and burgers alone would also make you lose weight.

Thanks
Rich

Answer -
Rich,
Eating steaks and burgers alone WILL make you lose weight. The reason that I tell people to eat a lot of vegetables are 1-to get all the vitamins and other good cancer-preventing health-boosting antioxidants and so on, 2-to add options for mindless munching on low calorie food, and 3-to add food variety, and 4-to add fiber, which is extremely important in prevention of colon cancer, maintenance of healthy bowel function (keeping you from being constipated), and also lowering of bad cholesterol levels (I'm sure you've seen the cheerios and oatmeal commercials bragging about cholesterol benefits-you can get the same benefit from celery but Quaker doesn't want you to know that). If your only goal was short-term weight loss, then the all-meat thing would be fine, but you should never plan to change your eating only for the short term-you should develop an eating strategy that you'll be able to follow the rest of your life.
Melissa

Answer
Rich,
When you use fat and protein for energy, your muscles require more oxygen than they would if you were burning carbs. So when you exercise, you need to make sure that your muscles are getting enough oxygen. If your muscle is tensed up, the arteries are squeezed shut. Not leaving any time betweeen each rep for blood to flow into the muscle can cause your muscle to run out of oxygen very quickly, so between reps, leave at least a second or two (2-3 heartbeats).
Cardio-same stuff, but in this case, your lungs are working a little harder than they would on a carb diet. This is a good thing in the long term, because you'll have lung capacity-you can actually shock your doctor if you do a pulmonary function test. But in the short term, yes, you'll be getting tired and running up an oxygen deficit. Keep exercising at a point where you're somewhat out of breath, but you could still have a conversation with someone (although you would rather not).
Except for water, there's really nothing you can take or eat beforehand to give you more energy. People on carb diets should eat a little while before exercise, because their entire metabolism tends to crash between meals, but that advice doesn't hold up for low-carbers-your blood sugar and fat levels don't change at all between meals, so eating or not eating doesn't do anything. In fact, you've probably noticed that on Atkins you can skip a meal without being any hungrier at your next meal, and that's why.
But hey, keep working out, keep eating right, and I'll see you on the cover of Men's Health!
Melissa  

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