Hunger Headaches
I have been trying very hard to get back down to a 1,400 calorie day. I put on some weight following surgery and being off of work with a sedentary lifestyle while recovering. I have been very hungry but in the past two days I've started to get headaches on top of it. I don't know what to do. I have been eating chicken, vegetables and a very low amount of carbs. At this point though, I feel at a loss because the headaches is becoming unbearable and I believe it is directly proportionate to how little I am eating. What the hell is going on with me and what do I do? My head is throbbing.
Maybe you're not getting enough carbs? Or are you going too long between meals and snacks? Maybe spreading out your calories differently would help.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
I have considered that I might be going to long between meals. For example, I ate at 1pm today...had tuna fish and cucumbers then a 2% latte with out sugar. I picked up my boyfriend and was starving. So we went and got chinese food. I had chicken and vegetables but was full after eating about app 2oz of chicken...30 minutes later I was starving again. So we stopped and got sugar free yogurt ice cream which is about 140 calories for 4 oz. I had about about 6 oz. Now I'm home, I'm still hungry and my head hurts. So, I don't know what to do. This is the first time I have experienced a real intense unremitting hunger and I don't know why. I ate 4 oz of chicken and vegetables last night and an hour and a half later..I was hungry again. That's a lot of chicken to eat and still be hungry, LOL!
Are you drinking enough? Sometimes we mistake thirst for hunger and not drinking enough can also cause headaches.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Could very well be carb withdrawls, I always get horrible headaches when I've gotten in the bad habit of letting too many carbs back in my diet. Then when I have to detox from them the headache comes on full blast. Maybe try a slower way of getting back to low carb, add some back in and see if the headache lessens. It could also be totally unrelated to diet and something else like a migraine, so if it continues see your primary care doc. Good luck it must be miserable.
As an experiment, I just ate about 3 oz of spaghetti and I feel better an hour later. I would say that on the days I have been getting intense headaches I haven't eaten carbs and I have let myself get to a point of starvation. I drink lots of water and i don't believe acid reflux/heart burn can make you feel hungry. I am going to watch this and see what I can do to work with it. Thanks for the help and feedback. I don't understand how I could eat so few calories a year ago and be totally fine and now I am starving.
Just to follow up, after i increased my carb intake by just a little bit, i stopped getting headaches. I don't eat much but I increased my fruit intake...apples and oranges. However, they are high in calories so the next stop for me is to cut those out. I really want to get back to eating 1000-1200 calories a day...at 1400-1500 currently and not losing. I always looked at carbs as "bad" but apparently I need some. So where is the best place to get your carbs from?
