Desperate for energy

Well, exercise wise, the weeks been tough. I've felt so low in energy that running has been a real struggle. Wednesday night I gave up after about 5 mins, and put it down to not sleeping well, and then Friday (I did do two hours of light cardio and balance on Thursday) I really had to push myself to even go to the gym. I ran, but every interval I wanted to stop as my legs didn't seem to have it in them.

I was thinking that maybe setting the goal of the City Bay was a bad thing, because its creating too much pressure on me/stopping me from just enjoying my exercise, but then I had a big review of my current weight loss/eating status, and I think I've had an epiphany!

Here's how Ive been feeling/whats been happening:

• No energy - finding it hard to get out of bed in the mornings, no energy during the day, no energy for heavy exercise, tired the minute I get home and wanting to go to bed!
• Dry lips, dry eyes
• Cold, oh so very, very cold, all the time
• A little nauseous
• Hunger pains
• Weight not shifting. If you've read my post below, my weight promptly shifted right back up to 64 kgs and looks like staying there. I think I'm heading for essentially the same weight three weeks in a row - with no real reason for it

A friend has suggested a few times that I might be anaemic. This got me thinking.... I realised that I don't eat ANY red meat. None at all. And not because I've decided not to, I just never choose it - I always eat chicken, fish or vegetarian. So then I decided to use an internet resource and get a dietary analysis of a typical day. And guess what? Not only am I not getting enough iron and folate, I didn't meet the dietary requirements for any food group or any nutritional element. NONE. And the energy component said I was only eating 35% of my minimum energy requirements! I reviewed what I had entered and found I had underestimated some things, and when I altered these, I still only ended up meeting 65% of my required intake. And I've been eating like this for 9 months!

So now I'm worried that not only may I be anaemic, but I may be malnuourished in a few areas! And I think the dry lips/dry eyes are a sign of dehydration. (i know I don't drink enough water). So my body may well be shutting down my metabolism, making me tired and cold, and refusing to let my weight shift.

So..... I will go to the GP and my levels checked, but I have decided to switch from POINTS to NO COUNT. The reason for this is that I don't always make the healthiest choices on the points programme, and refuse to allow myself to go over the daily points. I have been on 18 points for 6 months, and it is very hard to fit in all the nutritional requirements, it doesn't leave much room to move and have occasional treats. I am frequently hungry, but refuse to let myself eat as i need to save my points for the next meal/ or to make sure I have enough left for the day. By switching to NO COUNT I am hoping it will force me to eat healthier foods, encourage me to eat more meat (I always keep my portions small as meat has too many points), and allow me to snack on healthy foods to my hearts (and stomach's) content so that I no longer need to be hungry. That way if I want to snack on fruit before or after the gym for that carbohydrate hit which is recommended, I can. (Struggled with this before as it costs me too many points)

However I am scared about this change. I've always said that this plan is not for me, as there are not enough controls, and I will overeat. I am terrified that I will put on weight with the programme. But I realised something else during the week. I was talking to a fellow weight watcher and talking about snacking. I was agreeing wtih her how I can't snack - when I realised this has changed. I do snack quite successfully now! I can have two pieces of chocolate at night and quite happily stop at that, or small quantities of many other treats. I also only ever look for small portions - so maybe I will mange on NO COUNT after all!

I will officially start on Monday and monitor my wieght from there. If it goes up - I will switch back. But I will also repeat the dietary analysis each week to see if my intake improves. And I'm doing a bit of a combo this weekend, to see if I can raise my energy levels.

Will see how it all goes. Hopefully the change will spur me on to lose the last 6 kilos, help me with my energy levels, and set me up for a healthy long term diet on maintenance