Why do I feel hungover and crave carbs the day after my carb-up?

[SteelWeaver]

I'm doing the weekly refeed thing, eating a bunch of mostly carbs (low fat, little protein) - low and high GI (highest is probably Hershey's chocolate syrup - maybe) one night per week. The next day I often feel kind of hungover, sluggish, and weirdly, like I want MORE carbs.

Is this what people mean when they say carbs are "addictive"? The craving goes away the day after that, until a few days later, when it starts up again til the next refeed ...

 

[Par Deus]

You probably wake up with fairly low blood sugar because of the insulin spike of your last meal. Make your last meal have a bit more fiber and fat.

If you are doing a keto diet, your blood sugar never gets to go back up, so you feel like shite until you hit ketosis again.

 

[MS]

Yup, pretty much what Par Deus said. I also find having some protien in that meal helps a little, but basically you are eating a lot of high GI carbsclose to bedtime and a little 'hangover' is natural. You might also try spreading that meal out over several hours rather than stuffing it all in as fast as possible.

The other possibility is that you need a longer refeed, or more frequent. Ideally you should be refeeding before those carbs cravings are torturing you.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Thank you! Does this mean I can have ice-cream and pizza? (FAT!) Oooh, that would be so bad ...

As for refeeding before the carb cravings hit - I'm still sort of picking my way through the minefield of real and false cravings. My latest bad habit is wasting time in the supermarket reading the labels of anything that looks yummy with a nutritional label (they don't all have them - no label, I ignore it). Of course, everything that's REALLY yummy has fat in it, so I know I can just leave it there on the shelf, but I try to judge my leptin level by how hard it is to put it back, LOL!

Is this a good technique, or really a complete waste of time? Does anyone else do this? I also try to judge by how much time I spend unable to think about ANYTHING except choc-chip cookies, latte coffees, and cereal. Maybe when I start day-dreaming about potatoes, that's the signal?

I had no idea how many incredibly fattening and unhealthy foods stores were selling until this diet - I've never noticed them - now they're everywhere! - it's like a journey of discovery into the nether regions of cake/cookie/chocolate-lovers' minds.

 

[TRAINHARD4LIFE]

Your situation is quite common. Most of the guys have repsonded with great answers. Low blood sugar being a major culprit but with craving, I might consider your seratonin level (check the spelling). Carbs are the energy source of chioce to produce this hormone.

If you suffer from carb craving head aches and killer cravings try taking 5HTP. Any health food store should have it. It is what the carbs are converted to prior to producing seratonin ( check spelling). If you consume this you can possilby reduce you carb cravings or settle the urge with less calories.

Just an opinion. Addng fiber and lower carbs at the evening meal is also a great idea. Kuto's to that posting.

Good luck!!!!!

 

[Par Deus]

As for refeeding before the carb cravings hit - I'm still sort of picking my way through the minefield of real and false cravings.

The initial warning signal will be different things for different people. For me, it is used to be carb cravings, now it seems that it is more often just a sort of irritability/general feeling of malaise. For others, it is fatigue.

 

[SteelWeaver]

For others, it is fatigue.

Bingo! This HAS to be why my entire body feels like a it's made of PURE LEAD for most of the week. Yes, Par? MS? It's dreadful - some days it's so bad that I have to psych myself up to stand up and walk over to the copy machine, and I walk around corners in subway stations thinking "Please let there be an escalator, please let there be an escalator, not stairs!" lol! (Then berate myself for being a lazy fuck - ha ha). Other days I feel almost normal.

Strangely, once I manage to get moving in the gym, my workouts are still really intense, although I start lagging towards the end sometimes.

Even more strangely, it's not like I'm on a low carb diet, compared to most - I get about 170-180g carbs a day, at least 120g of them starchy - and the diet's working well, except for feeling like I'm plodding along the bottom of the ocean.

I haven't plotted yet what days the fatigue hits in relation to refeeding, and menstrual cycles tend to confuse the issue too. Better get plotting ...

 

[Par Deus]

Bingo! This HAS to be why my entire body feels like a it's made of PURE LEAD for most of the week. Yes, Par? MS?

Quite possible. Decreases in leptin causes lower sympathetic output. Working out will increase sympathetic output, as well as cortisol, both of which would account for the increase in energy when you actually workout.

 

[Millie]

what about the low-carb induced insomnia... when you can't go to sleep no matter what... does this also mean that leptin levels have decreased, or is this just a carb-related thing?

 

[SteelWeaver]

Quite possible. Decreases in leptin causes lower sympathetic output. Working out will increase sympathetic output, as well as cortisol, both of which would account for the increase in energy when you actually workout.

I never fail to be amazed at how our bodies work. Cortisol increases energy?

Could ALA have any connection to the lead feeling?

And I realised I did plot how I feel in my w/o book - Friday night, carb-up,
Saturday, hungover feeling, carb craving, leg workout,
Sunday, fine, off,
Monday, fine, cardio and weights,
Tuesday, lead feeling, weight training,
Wednesday, BAD lead feeling, cardio only,
Thursday, lead feeling not as bad as Wed, weight training,
Friday, lead feeling about like Thursday so far, cardio, and I carb-up again tonight.

I'd like to try and figure out exactly what this is before I increase carb-up frequency. Tonight I plan to start earlier and end later, add a tiny bit more fat and protein, and see how that goes. Any more ideas would be welcome.

Millie, sorry, I don't know anything about low-carb insomnia.