How I Fixed My Sleep and Low Energy: What I Wish I'd Known 10 Years Ago
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Medical Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this post is medical advice, and you should always consult your own healthcare providers before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health routine.
Introduction
Two things I'd been struggling with for years, my sleep and my energy, turned out to have the same root cause: low energy availability (LEA). I discovered I was underfueling my body by over 1,000 calories a day without even knowing it, and once I discovered that, everything started to change. Below, I share what LEA is, how I started to recover, and practical tips on fueling, tracking calories, and macros.
This isn't a polished, perfectly packaged health post. It's me vulnerably sharing what I actually went through, what the research supports, and what has genuinely helped me feel better than I have in years, possibly ever. And how I’m getting the best sleep of my life!
I hope it helps you think differently about your own health, your energy, and the way you're nourishing yourself in all areas of your life.
I’ve also shared health experts I follow and trust!
Who I Am and Why This Matters
Before I get into everything I discovered, I want to give you some context, because it matters for understanding, how I discovered this, and why it hit me so hard.
I'm a Peak Performance Coach and a former competitive athlete. I swam and played water polo at the Division I and Division II collegiate levels and have done 55+ competitions post-college. I know how to train hard, I know how to push my body, and I genuinely thought I knew my body well. That assumption is exactly why this discovery was so humbling.
My superpower, both in my own life and in my work with clients, is synthesizing information across different fields and putting the puzzle pieces together to help people live more successful, fulfilling lives in their career, their health, and their relationships. I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor, but I know how to look at data, patterns, and systems as a whole and figure out what's actually going on beneath the surface. That's what I do for myself, and it's what I do with my clients every single day.
I'm sharing what's worked for me and what the research supports. I highly encourage you to do your own research, work with your own providers, and, most importantly, advocate for yourself!
I’m not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Always consult with your healthcare professional before making changes.
The Timeline: Six Years of Rebuilding Before This Discovery
To understand how I got here, you need a little background.
About six years ago, I healed my body dysmorphia. For most of my athletic life, I'd operated under the belief that there were no days off and that I always had to push harder, no matter what my body was telling me. I was also never happy with my body. Healing that belief meant learning, for the first time, to actually listen to my body and respond to its signals instead of overriding them. That shift was foundational for everything that came after. Read more about healing my body dysmorphia.
In the years following that healing, I went through a full gut health transformation, addressing Candida, SIBO, and leaky gut. One of the things that became clear during that process was that healing my beliefs around my body, specifically the belief that I didn't deserve to rest or eat, had actually created the conditions for me to heal my gut. Before that work, I was feeling bloated and uncomfortable after literally every single meal, and I'd normalized it because I didn't know any different. Addressing the root belief allowed me to finally do something about it.
Those years were about rebuilding, learning to work with my body instead of against it, and doing the deep identity work that made lasting change possible.
By 2025, I'd worked my way back to a more active fitness routine. I was lifting more, running again, and doing HIIT. I was excited and motivated, and I felt like I was genuinely getting back into a higher gear physically. But then my body started sending me signals I couldn't ignore. My weight was going up, and more importantly, my body fat percentage was going up alongside it, even though I was working out more than I had been in a while. Something wasn't adding up.
Instead of panicking or pushing through, I got curious, and that curiosity, built through years of actually learning to hear what my body was communicating, is what led me to the discovery that changed everything.
What Is Low Energy Availability?
After doing a lot of research and starting to work with a nutritionist, I discovered that the root cause of what I was experiencing was low energy availability, which is especially common in female athletes and highly active women.
Low energy availability happens when your body doesn't have enough fuel for everything it's being asked to do. When you're consistently underfueling, your body has to make decisions about where to allocate the limited energy it has. It starts conserving, storing, and breaking down, and the effects ripple out across multiple systems. For me, it was showing up in my body fat percentage, my sleep quality, my energy levels throughout the day, and in the metrics I'd been tracking: my resting heart rate, my HRV (heart rate variability), and my VO2 max.
What made this so surprising was that I genuinely believed I was eating healthy. I'd been gluten-free for years. I was consistently hitting at least 100 grams of protein per day, which felt like I was doing the right things. But here's what I didn't realize: I was severely under-eating carbohydrates and underfueling in general, and because I'd never tracked my macros or my total daily caloric intake before, I had no idea how significant the gap was. When I finally started tracking everything, I found out I was underfueling by over 1,000 calories a day, sometimes even more.
This is something I see reflected in so many women I talk to, and I think a lot of it comes down to how we were raised. We were told that carbs were bad and that eating less was always the right move. That's simply not true, and if you've been operating under that belief, I want you to hear this clearly: your body needs fuel, especially when you're asking it to perform.
The Sleep Connection: How Underfueling Wrecked My Sleep for Over a Decade
Here's the part of this story that I think will resonate most with a lot of you, because I know how many people are struggling with their sleep.
I'd been trying to fix and improve my sleep for over 10 years. I even did a full sleep study about 15 years ago, hoping to finally get some answers. It didn't give me any real insight into what was going on. They prescribed Ambien, and I took it for 30 days. It helped me sleep while I was on it, but I knew it wasn't fixing the root problem, so I stopped and didn't renew the prescription.
Since then, I tried supplements, routines, and sleep protocols. The past couple of years brought some micro-improvements, and I was grateful for those, but nothing had ever truly and consistently fixed my sleep. Not until I started eating more.
Once I began fueling my body properly through this whole discovery process, my sleep started transforming in a way that nothing else had ever touched. I'm now sleeping better than I can remember since I was a kid, and I'm waking up feeling genuinely rested for the first time in what feels like forever. The connection between underfueling and poor sleep is something that far more people need to know about.
I've heard so many women say that they wake up at 4 AM and can't go back to sleep, and I was one of them. Based on the research I've read and conversations with my nutritionist, that kind of early waking is often your body running low on fuel in the early morning hours. When your glycogen stores are depleted, your cortisol spikes to compensate, your hormones get thrown off, and your body essentially sounds an alarm that pulls you out of sleep. There can certainly be other reasons for waking early, and I don't want to oversimplify this, but underfueling tends to be one of the most significant and most overlooked causes, especially for active women.
Another major factor for me was fasting. Dr. Stacy Sims, a leading researcher on women's physiology and training, has shared extensively that fasting doesn't work for women the way it's often presented. For most of my adult life, I was fasting without even fully realizing it. My first food of the day sometimes wouldn't come until 2 PM. I was skipping breakfast before my workouts and doing the opposite of what my body actually needed.
Skipping breakfast disrupts your circadian rhythm, and when your circadian rhythm is off, your sleep suffers. When I first started eating in the morning, I wasn't hungry at all, and I know that's an experience a lot of people relate to. But here's what I learned: not feeling hungry in the morning isn't a sign that you don't need food. It's a sign that your metabolism has adapted to the patterns and habits you've been giving it. After a few weeks of eating consistently in the morning, I started waking up actually hungry, and that's exactly what is supposed to happen. According to Dr. Sims, eating in the morning helps set your circadian rhythm, which means you get genuinely tired at night, and your sleep naturally improves as a result.
Sleep, as so many experts including Dr. Stacy Sims and Andrew Huberman have emphasized, is the foundation for every single marker of health. If you're not sleeping well, your body can't recover, your brain can't consolidate memories, and you simply can't function at a high level. Everything else builds on sleep, which is exactly why fixing the root cause matters so much more than any supplement or protocol on its own.
The Sleep Supplements I Actually Use
Beyond nutrition and eating patterns, here's what I personally use and recommend when it comes to sleep supplements, because this question comes up a lot.
First, let's talk about melatonin, because so many people reach for it as a default sleep aid. I personally don't take melatonin, and here's why: taking melatonin supplements over an extended period can reduce your body's natural ability to produce it on its own. Rather than supporting your sleep system, long-term melatonin use can actually work against your body's own production. There are better options worth exploring first.
My primary sleep supplement is Magnesium Glycinate from Designs for Health (Amazon link), and it's been a consistent part of my routine. Magnesium glycinate is well-absorbed, gentle on the stomach, and supports relaxation and sleep quality without creating dependence.
I also take Momentous Inositol periodically, though not as regularly. Inositol is a naturally occurring carbohydrate that supports sleep quality, mood balance, and brain signaling. It can help with falling back asleep if you wake in the night and promotes a genuine sense of calm, which makes it especially worth looking into if middle-of-the-night waking is something you deal with.
If you're looking for additional sleep support, here's how I'd approach it:
Apigenin: Start here first. It's a naturally occurring flavonoid that helps calm the mind and ease the body into a more restful state. Give it some time before adding anything else.
Magnesium L-Threonate: Another excellent option that's been clinically studied for brain health, cognitive performance, and sleep quality.
L-Theanine: If all of the options above don’t help, consider adding L-Theanine, which supports relaxation and a healthy stress response. IMPORTANT: It can intensify dreams for some people, if you are sensitive to intense dreams or nightmares, AVOID THIS!
How to Correct Low Energy Availability: The Protocol
If any of this is resonating and you suspect you might be dealing with low energy availability, I want to be really clear about something: this doesn't fix overnight. Based on my own experience and the research I've done, the minimum recovery timeline is around three months, and it can realistically take a year or more depending on how long you've been in a caloric deficit and what other systems have been impacted.
There are three things that need to happen together, and you genuinely can't pick and choose among them.
The first is eating enough. That means gradually increasing your caloric intake toward your actual daily needs, not all at once, but consistently and with real intention. Your body needs consistent proof that fuel is coming before it'll start to restabilize and trust the process.
The second is sleep. Sleep is where your body repairs itself, where your hormones regulate, and where your nervous system recovers from everything you're asking it to handle. It's non-negotiable during this process, and the good news is that as you begin fueling properly, sleep tends to be one of the first things that starts to improve.
The third is pulling back on intense workouts, at least temporarily. This was the hardest part for me because I was genuinely excited about my fitness progress and didn't want to slow down. But your body can't recover from what it's not fueled for, and continuing to push hard while in a deficit makes everything worse, not better. I actually experienced a regression recently when I started pushing my workouts harder again before I was fully recovered, and I had to pull all the way back once more. Consider this your reminder that the recovery process requires real patience and a genuine commitment to the full protocol, not just the comfortable parts.
When you do start reintroducing workouts, start at a significantly lower intensity than you think you need to. As an example, I've been keeping my heart rate under 130 BPM. I watch my resting heart rate and my HRV, and when my resting heart rate consistently comes down and my HRV consistently goes up and stays there for a few weeks, that's my signal that I can begin slowly introducing more intensity again.
Think of this whole process as rebuilding trust with your body. You've been asking it to perform on empty for a long time, and now it needs consistent proof that enough fuel is available before it'll let you push again. That's not a flaw in your body. It's your body doing exactly what it's designed to do.
How to Fuel Properly: What I've Learned and What I Recommend
One of the biggest shifts I made was getting truly intentional about fueling, not just eating less of what I thought was bad for me, but genuinely giving my body what it needs to perform, recover, and sleep well.
Getting enough total calories is the foundation of everything. If you've been underfueling, the right approach is to increase gradually rather than trying to add everything back at once. Incremental and consistent progress is what actually works.
Beyond total calories, all three macronutrients matter: carbohydrates, protein, and fat. We were taught to fear carbs, but carbohydrates are your body's preferred fuel source, and cutting them significantly while staying active is one of the fastest ways to end up in a low energy availability situation. Protein matters just as much, both for muscle repair and for satiety and metabolic function. See below for more info on calorie and macro tracking.
Here are some supplements I use and trust that have supported my recovery:
For protein: I use Momentous Whey Protein. It's clean, high-quality, no fillers or artificial flavors, and easy to incorporate into any routine. I have 1 scoop (20g) every morning and use it post-workout. I’m obsessed with the Chocolate, but they have a lot of other fun flavors too.
For workout fuel: I use Momentous Fuel. During the recovery phase from low energy availability in particular, showing up to any workout without adequate fuel can set you back significantly, and having a reliable fuel source has made a real difference in how I feel during and after training. I use this especially in workouts over 1 hour and when I’m hiking!
For recovery post-workout: I use Momentous Recovery as a consistent part of my post-workout routine. When your body has been in a caloric deficit, recovery becomes even more critical than usual, and having intentional support for that process helps your body actually adapt and rebuild. Getting the proper nutrients within 45 minutes of a workout is a MUST!
For muscles, performance, and brain function, this is a MUST: Momentous Creatine is something most people associate only with muscle building, but the cognitive benefits are significant and honestly underrated. Creatine replenishes ATP, which is your body's primary energy currency, supporting strength, power output, and lean muscle growth, but also memory, focus, and mental clarity, especially during high-demand periods of work, stress, or when sleep has been falling short. If you're rebuilding from low energy availability, that cognitive support matters more than most people realize. I have a full YouTube video breaking down the myths and facts around creatine: watch here if you want to go deeper on how it works.
The most important thing I want you to take from this section: food isn't the enemy. It's fuel. And supplements can’t replace real food, they are there for support!
If you've been in a pattern of underfueling, the path forward is giving your body what it actually needs to function and thrive, consistently and without shame.
Practical Steps You Can Take Starting Today
If you want to start understanding where you actually are with your caloric intake, here's the order I'd recommend following. It's actually a different order than I did it in myself, but looking back, this sequence makes much more sense.
Step one: Track before you change anything. Download either MyFitnessPal or Cronometer, both of which have free versions, and log three to four days of exactly what you normally eat without making any adjustments. The goal is a true, honest baseline of what you're currently consuming. If you have a kitchen food scale, use it, because estimating portion sizes can introduce a lot of inaccuracy into your tracking. You can find a basic digital food scale on Amazon for around $15 to $20. Don't adjust your intake while you're tracking, or you'll skew your baseline and the data won't reflect reality.
Step two: Calculate your actual caloric needs. Use a TDEE calculator, where TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Here are three I recommend:
tdeecalculator.org: comprehensive, shows BMR, macros, and weekly projections
strongcurves.com/tdee-calculator: built specifically for women, accounts for menstrual cycle fluctuations
legionathletics.com/tdee-calculator: science-based and reliable
One important note: these calculators tend to underestimate caloric needs for active people, so use the number as a starting point and a floor, not a ceiling. Both Cronometer and MyFitnessPal will also calculate your daily targets when you set up your profile, which is a helpful built-in feature. They both will also automatically adjust your calorie needs in a day based on your activity if you connect your activity tracker (Apple Health, Whoop, Garmin, etc.).
Step three: Compare. See where the gap actually is. Most people, especially active women, are genuinely shocked by the difference. I was eating what I thought was a healthy diet and underfueling by over 1,000 calories a day!
The Bigger Picture: This Is About More Than Macros
Here's what I believe is the most important piece of this entire puzzle, because without it, even the best nutritional protocol won't hold long-term.
This isn't just about calories and macros. The pattern of not nourishing yourself, of not taking care of your body and not allowing yourself to rest, doesn't exist in isolation. It shows up in your health, your business, your relationships, and in how you show up for everyone around you.
The belief that you have to earn rest, that you have to earn food, that you have to keep grinding in order to deserve the things you need, is one of the most common and most damaging invisible bottlenecks I see in high performers. It was a pattern I lived for most of my athletic life, and healing it six years ago through the body dysmorphia work I did created the foundation for every health improvement I've been able to make since.
When you've done the deep belief work, your body's signals become information instead of threats. You can get curious instead of reactive. You can adjust and respond instead of push through. This is exactly why so many people try fad diets or 90-day programs and fall right back into their old patterns within months: because trying to change what's on the surface without addressing what's happening at the subconscious level won't stick. The yo-yo effect isn't a willpower problem. It's a belief problem, and it requires a belief-level solution.
Our subconscious brain is estimated to be 10 million times more powerful than our conscious brain. If you're not working at the root level, making long-term consistent change is going to be an uphill battle no matter how solid your protocol is.
This is the core of my work with clients: identifying and shifting the subconscious beliefs and patterns that are keeping them stuck, whether that shows up in their health, their career, their relationships, or their relationship with rest and nourishment. When you remove those blocks, you don't just feel better in one area of your life. You feel better mentally, physically, and professionally, and your relationships improve. Everything starts to shift when you address the actual root, not just the visible symptom.
If you’re interested in working with me to reveal and shift your limiting beliefs, let’s talk!
Experts I Follow and Trust on This Topic
For anyone who wants to go deeper on any of these areas, here are the people whose work I rely on and genuinely recommend.
Dr. Stacy Sims (IG @drstacysims) is a leading researcher on women's physiology and training, and her work on how fueling, fasting, and exercise affect women differently from men is foundational for any active woman. She's one of the most important voices on this topic.
Andrew Huberman (IG @hubermanlab) covers neuroscience, performance, and health in incredible depth through the Huberman Lab podcast. His website also has an AI-powered search tool that lets you find specific episodes and research by topic, which is especially helpful given how extensive his catalog has become.
Dan Garner (IG @dangarnernutrition) shares excellent evidence-based insights on nutrition and athlete performance.
The Funktional Nutritionist (IG @the.funktional.nutritionist) covers functional nutrition and health in an accessible and practical way that I find really valuable.
Dr. Daniel Amen (IG @doc_amen) is a psychiatrist with a deep focus on brain health, and his work on the mind-body connection has been influential in my own understanding.
Melissa Lodge of the FED Collaborative (IG @fed_collaborative) focuses specifically on female athlete health, performance, and sports nutrition with a genuinely research-backed approach.
Dr. Caroline Leaf (IG @drcarolineleaf) is a neuroscientist specializing in neuroplasticity, and her work on how we can actively change our brain patterns and our foundational beliefs has been deeply meaningful in my own journey.
Ready to Go Deeper?
I shared all of this because I want you to start thinking differently about your own health, and not just about how you're nourishing your body, but about how you're nourishing yourself in every area of your life.
One of the affirmations I've come back to throughout this journey is this: I allow myself to rest and still call in all my desires.
You don't need all the answers right now. You just need to stay curious and advocate for yourself.
If any of this resonated and you feel like there might be some limiting beliefs around your body, your energy, your worthiness to rest, or your right to receive the nourishment you need, I'd genuinely love to talk. This is exactly the work I do with people, helping them identify and shift the patterns that are keeping them stuck so they can live a happier, healthier, more successful, and more fulfilling life.
You can reach me here:
Message me on Instagram: instagram.com/lomyrick
Contact me through my website here
And if you want to watch the full unedited conversation that inspired this post, you can find it on my YouTube channel here.
Related content you might find helpful:
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