Atkins Flu

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....I feel like I've been in perpetual induction since Christmas!!! I have been trying to get my daily carb intake back down because during Christmas I over-indulged! (Imagine that???!!!) I've been consuming around 20-40 grams of carbs per day for the last month and have the headaches to go along with it. A whole month of headaches!!!  I thought the headaches went away after a few days??? Also, I have not lost any weight the entire month of Jan. I know I am in ketosis - at least according to the pee stick (ketostix)  - not a lot but more than a trace - so I MUST be burning fat. Any thoughts on what gives????

How are you exercising?  Could you be building muscle?  You can easily loose fat and gain muscle if you are actively toning up.  Bummer it screws with the scale but your body fat percentage could be declining. 

Thanks for your reply MSW - I wish that were the simple answer but the truth is I don't do much of anything that would contribute to a whole lot of muscle building. I mostly just walk. Could be I need to ramp it up a little bit?! Ugh...how I HATE exercise!!! ha! But its one of those things I gotta do!

also, the closer you are to "normal" bmi range---you may have to watch your calorie / fat intake. Being in Ketosis is burning fat---but it could be that your body is burning consumed fat for energy vs. stored body fat for energy. There are some areas where the deficite of calories in vs. calories out counts--especially in the lower bmi's.

Hi Sue,

Are you tracking your food?  I find that if I'm not putting it all into myfitnesspal. com, I tend to underestimate.  You say you're eating between 20-40.  I did that for two weeks, then realized that I need to really get down under 20 and stay there if I want to see more results.

What things might you be willing to do differently?  I'm working my way towards goal so I decided I would be willing to give up things, kicking and screaming of course!  :)

Please join into our daily CAR report and log your food along with your totals.  I find it to be so darn helpful.  That way people might be able to point out things that you're unable to see in where you might tweak things.

I'm glad you're here!

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your input - I think you're right that I need to take my carb intake down a notch and keep it under 20. I'm sure I'm probably metabolically challenged from years of being overweight and diabetic. For some reason its been hard to get down that low - not because of what I'm eating but how I feel. I get this really uptight feeling in my neck and shoulders when I go real low on carbs - I'm trying to find that balance where I can lose weight but also feel good. I wonder why it seemed so easy in the beginning - I felt great, was getting less than 20 grams per day and losing weight like crazy. I will definitely start logging my intake on the CAR report. I can def use a little critique on what I'm doing. Amazing how hard it is to detox after even just a little bit of carb splurging isn't it?! ha!

 Oh yeah snowbaby, detox can be tough but it can be done.  Take it one day at a time and see how it goes.

When I go lower carb I tend to get tightness in my muscles, particularly in my legs at night.  I take 2 potassium capsules and 1 magnesium before I go to bed and it makes a huge difference.  I wonder if it might help your neck/shoulder tension?  Who knows, because we're all so different. 

I think it's great that you'll check in at the CAR thread.  We're all in this together.