Bad mood

Iristxo

So I try to be "healthy" but most days I give myself a little treat at some stage. But on the days that I am good, and I do not go over the calories (perhaps I go under, I'm not sure) I seem to be in "bad mood" and generally feeling kind of down and un-enthusiastic? It could be that I am not ingesting enough calories but i do doubt it, and I do not want to go overboard because truth be told I have actually put on weigh recently. So what could be the cause of this general "gloominess"? Could it be that if I under-eat my body is going into ketosis? Or could I be on ketosis anyway just by sticking to low-carb? Anybody any ideas? Thanks in advance

By the way just in case it helps, I am 38, no formal exercise at all unless you include running after two smallies, 54 kilos and 1.60 height. Today I ate:

Breakie: 50gr porridge made with half-milk half-water and a spoonful of coconut oil
Lunch: 1 boiled egg with 30grms full-fat philly and 2 fillets of liver
Snack: Big starbucks coffee with milk, no sugar, no syrup, no cream (no cake
Dinner: 2 cupfulls of varied veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauli, baby corn) and 1 big-ish fillet of cod, all of it with olive oil, plus a mug of home-made kefir with full-fat milk

I mean I doubt that I am under the recommended calories, if at all I am over. This "feeling" doesn't happen on the days that I treat myself with a nice piece of cake in the evening time (more often that I would wish, gonna cut that out now). Anyways thanks for your help.

columok

Maybe chuck it all into fitday and see what your calorific total is? Is this an optimal day or a typical day?

metamorphosis

Well i highly doubt its ketosis - the porridge along with milk throughout the day alone would prevent your body from going into ketosis.

You could be underestimating your calorie needs and intake so like the above poter - tot it all in to the likes of fitday.com or caloriecount.about.com and see what pops up for you.

Iristxo

Thanks for your responses. Is this kind of mood typical of not having enough calories, and could it happen even if the having less calories in just for one day (provided that most other days I am OVER the calorie intake :rolleyes: )

Wednesdays Girl

Iristxo wrote: »

Thanks for your responses. Is this kind of mood typical of not having enough calories, and could it happen even if the having less calories in just for one day (provided that most other days I am OVER the calorie intake :rolleyes: )

I don't know about ketosis or undereating and moods but I do know a couple of things about myself.

1) When I'm hungry I get cranky and low, sometimes even upset
2) After being on Weight Watchers for a while I realised that my mood had been affected so I went on a tonic
3) My mood drastically improves and lifts if I do some exercise (I think it's to do with endorphins or seratonin or something)
4) My mood sometimes improves if I have a treat like chocolate (pretty sure it's something to do with a quick release of energy)

Not everyone has the time to do a lot of exercise because the amount of time you can dedicate really does depend on your lifestyle. I try to make it to the gym, but if I can't I'll do something at home, even dancing like some sort of lunatic around my bedroom to music is exercise once it puts me out of breath. Maybe look into getting a natural tonic too. I use one called Rejuvenation by Naturalife and I've found my mood and my immune system to be much better.

EileenG

It could be ketosis if you are very active as well, but I'm not getting the impression that you are. Otherwise it's unlikely. In any case, many people tend to feel better in ketosis. I certainly shout less at my children that way!

You've only got one meal with veg. Perhaps try to increase that, add some berries to your breakfast?

You should work out the calories, but it doesn't look like an awful lot of food.

El_Dangeroso

Agree on the too little food, I'd eyeball that menu at 1200 calories, always good to check though.

My best ever mood-enhancer is a bath in epsom salts (dirt cheap in the pharmacy), you absorb the magnesium in the salts through your skin. Combined with the inherent relaxation from the bath and it does wonders for a bad mood.

Do you eat liver everyday? It's just that you only should it it 2-3 times a week (150g portion) due to the high amount of pre-formed vitamin A in it.

Iristxo

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Agree on the too little food, I'd eyeball that menu at 1200 calories, always good to check though.

My best ever mood-enhancer is a bath in epsom salts (dirt cheap in the pharmacy), you absorb the magnesium in the salts through your skin. Combined with the inherent relaxation from the bath and it does wonders for a bad mood.

Do you eat liver everyday? It's just that you only should it it 2-3 times a week (150g portion) due to the high amount of pre-formed vitamin A in it.

I calculated before the calories for breakfast and with the milk and coconut oil it was working out at 400 calories. Honestly don't have the time to go checking the other meals but I'd calculate roughly 400 for lunch, 100 or so for the coffee and about 450 for the dinner including the kefir so about 1350 so yes, maybe a little under alright.

Thanks for the tip on the epsom salt bath unfortunately I do not have the time having a little time to myself would be a great mood enahancer Honestly I am looking at ways to avoid getting "mood dips" caused by nutrition rather than ways of enhancing my mood if you get my drift but thanks all the same

I only eat liver once a week or so, twice a week max. The bulk of our protein comes from eggs and fish, a very small amount from meat and some from dairy but not very much. But thanks for that I did not know that.

Iristxo

Wednesdays Girl wrote: »

1) When I'm hungry I get cranky and low, sometimes even upset
2) After being on Weight Watchers for a while I realised that my mood had been affected so I went on a tonic
3) My mood drastically improves and lifts if I do some exercise (I think it's to do with endorphins or seratonin or something)
4) My mood sometimes improves if I have a treat like chocolate (pretty sure it's something to do with a quick release of energy)

Not everyone has the time to do a lot of exercise because the amount of time you can dedicate really does depend on your lifestyle. I try to make it to the gym, but if I can't I'll do something at home, even dancing like some sort of lunatic around my bedroom to music is exercise once it puts me out of breath. Maybe look into getting a natural tonic too. I use one called Rejuvenation by Naturalife and I've found my mood and my immune system to be much better.

I have googled it and it does come up that a restricted calorie diet can cause a dip in your mood it has happenned to me in the past that if I fast for very long or let my blood sugar go very low I get really cranky and irritable but maybe that's a different issue. Could it be that my body is used to the little (big) "lift" that it gets from the sugar/carbs combo and it kind of misses the spike in my blood levels or something like that? Funnily enough I was not hungry as such, at all, didn't even have cravings or anything. Maybe what I say about the blood levels is something similar to what you mention about the chocolate, quick release of energy and all that.

Again thanks for the tip about the natural tonic but again I am looking for ways to not get dips caused by foods that I eat or I don't eat but thanks all the same

Iristxo

EileenG wrote: »

It could be ketosis if you are very active as well, but I'm not getting the impression that you are. Otherwise it's unlikely. In any case, many people tend to feel better in ketosis. I certainly shout less at my children that way!

You've only got one meal with veg. Perhaps try to increase that, add some berries to your breakfast?

You should work out the calories, but it doesn't look like an awful lot of food.

I'm active enough but not in the form of "formal exercise" if you know what I mean. But I have heard lots of people that go into an awful mood when in ketosis and it's also there if you google it.

I was out of berries but always have a handful of them with my porridge and always have veg with both meals but yesterday I was in a rush out the door (family day out and all that).

Again thanks for your response

EileenG

The actual getting into ketosis can cause mood swings, but once you are in, you should be more even tempered than usual. And it's really only the first couple of times of going into ketosis that you even notice it.

Sapsorrow

I put myself into ketosis by accident a few weeks ago it was horrible, I hasn't eaten any carbs for about 2 days and went on a mad powerwalk and was in tatters about 1/2 hour after I got in from it. I actually ended up having to drink a cup of horrible sugary tea (we had no other form of carbs in the house barr a satsuma which I also ate) to snap out of it. I was all dizzy and weak with a pounding headache. Not very nice at all! Felt totally back to normal then after 20 minutes or so after having had the tea.
Maybe you're a bit of a sugar junkie like me, carbs cheer me up no end, I even find a bowl of plain porridge very comforting. It could be that you're having all your carbs in the morning, rushing around after the family all day and then by the end you're tired, maybe a bit fed up from not having much time to yourself and also a bit of a sugar low which compounds the situation. Maybe try having a medium sized spud or a small portion of sweetpotato, squash or pumkin at dinner or a bowl fruit salad with the lower sugar fruits for desert and see if that improves things. I know I'd be pretty cranky if I was eating that little carbohydrates myself.