Atkins day 1---help feel awful

[Highland Lass]

Day 1 Atkins

Woke up determined to give this a try. Shopped yesterday and have supplies in fridge.

Breakfast

Bacon and eggs Yummy

Hold on 2 hours into atkins I have a very bad headache.......

Lunch

Head still thumping

Have tuna in mayo.....only ate a little bit.....feel sick

5 Hours into diet and feel dreadful......head about to burst open and am violently sick.

The thought of food making me feel sick!!!!

I feel really awful......how come!!

I don't understand. I never have headache and can normally eat for britain---hence the need to diet. I cant do this for another two weeks feeling so bad.

Am I having withdrawal symptoms from carbs????sugar????caffeine???

Any suggestions please before I go back to calorie counting.

 

[Lanshark]

I started today also but haven't experienced the problems you are. I hope they're not on the way.

Did you take any vitamins or supplements on an empty stomach?

Are you drinking water?

 

[mom3princesses]

I just started yesterday as well and I was ready to post last night but I was too sick! I don't know what's going on either! I am so light headed and I am living on Advil to keep the headache away. I am trying so hard to continue. I had the exact same thing you did - bacon and eggs and then tuna for lunch. HELP!!!!

 

[TigH]

Oh no! Hang in there! I haven't been on Atkins but I've read enough on this board to know that people experience a range of symptoms! It does get better! Apparently your body is going through a detox, so just try try try to stick with the program. From what I've read after 3 or 4 days you will just feel GREAT and full of energy and not too hungry at all!

You can do it!

 

[Lisa96]

Are you drinking lots of water? It really does help, and diet sodas are just not the same. And even though you feel sick, not eating is going to lower your blood sugar too much and you'll feel even worse. Try having a cube of cheese or some celery or a cup of chicken broth. Eating small snack type meals might be better if your stomach is that upset. This feeling won't last - your body is missing the caffeine and sugar and once it adjusts to not having it you'll feel so much better! Don't give up, you can do this!

 

[Rhonda]

That's really weird. Usually it takes a couple days before you start going through sugar/carb withdrawl!

You had bacon & eggs for breakfast, and tuna for lunch. How is this different from any other day? What do you usally eat for breakfast & lunch?

Are you missing coffee? Do you usually have a roll/donut in the morning? You might want to try having a cup of coffee or a diet coke, in case it's the caffeine....

Hang in there! It will get better! I promise! I'm on week 3, and I'm down 12 pounds and feel great!

 

[eeyorefanatic]

Lots of people feel yucky for a while. Your body is going through detox from sugar and carbs and especially if you drank caffine and are giving it up. Caffine is WAY more addictive than even nicotine so just chalk it up to withdrawl.

I felt abismal for 5-6 days and just yucky till day 9 but I was a major carb addict in addition to being addicted to my beloved Diet Coke. To be honest it was much easier for me to quit smoking but here I am one month later and almost 20 pounds lighter so it was worth it in the end.

Just stick with it. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Highland Lass]

Thank you all for your suggestions/responses.

I have had the worst day !!

Its 9pm and my head is still thumping but not as bad.

After my earlier post I was so so sick.......

The thought and smell of food made me feel worse.

I haven't even been able to keep water down.

Now I am wondering if I have a migraine ......... it runs in my family and my mum said today (when mopping my brow) that i had the classic symptoms......sickness, aversion to light, etc and she has suffered from migraine all her life.

I slept the day away in a darkened room and am beginning to feel better now.......now well enought to eat yet but i will.

I usually eat loads of carbs in a day, toast, bread,potatoes, rice ,cake, sweets.

Do you think not eating them could have brought on a migraine ????

 

[Disney_1derland]

I didn't feel this way until day 2, but then by day 3 is was significantly better and by day 4 it was fine. It is withdrawal from the caffeine, carbs & sugars. from what I have heard from most people it is proportionate to the amount of your addiction (which most people don't even realize they have) so it's different for every person. I do not think that consuming caffeine/carbs/sugars is the answer! This is meant to 'jump-start' your system into weight loss. Give it a few days before deciding to dump it. I remember how awful it was but after 3 weeks and 12.5 pounds I can say it's working and it's worth it!

 

[Lanshark]

Well Highland Lass I replied too soon. I don't feel like you do but am alittle light headed and feel a little fatigued. Yours does sound like a migraine. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for you.

 

[Castillo Mom]

To all of you who just started Atkins: Hang in there! I promise, you will feel better as the days go by. I started last week on Monday and felt terrible the first few days. What Disney1derland said us absolutely correct. The more carbs you're used to eating and the more addicted you are to them, the more you'll feel the symptoms of withdrawal. But this also means that you have the most to gain from going through this process. It's really important that you not skip meals and you must drink eight 8oz. glasses of water a day. During the first 3-4 of induction you'll lose water, so you need to rehydrate your body. It's a good idea to start a joural too. I have one on the Journals board (feel free to post) under Lisa's Atkins Journal. You'll see that I was feeling just like all of you when I started. I feel great now, and I feel that I have more energy.

You can do it! You can do it!

 

[mum4jenn]

Both of ya'll hang in there!!! IT DOES GET BETTER!!. I went through the same thing when I started Atkins and I though I would just die. I went through 3 days of it and by the 4th day I was a new woman!!!

 

[grlzmom]

Hang in there

Ditto here for the first 3 1/2 days I was thinking I had the worst flu in existence. Then suddenly, it went away

Now, into week six and feel wonderful.

You will start feeling better soon.

Jeanne

 

[LuvTigger]

I agree those are probably withdrawal symptoms, esp. since you said you normally eat a lot of carbs. Ditto on the advice about drinking LOTS of water, and also make sure to take a good multi-vitamin. While vitamins are always important, they are especially important when you are on a weight loss program of any kind.

 

[lulu201]

How much coffee do you usually drink? What you're describing sound a lot like caffeine withdrawal to me. I love my coffee , and if I don't have it within a couple of hours of waking, I have an awful headache--similiar to a migraine, but not quite as bad.

I know that it's not the Atkins way, but if I were you, I'd keep up with the limited carbs but try to decrease the coffee gradually. I was drinking a couple of large mugs each morning (not a fact I'm proud about, but I told you I love my coffee! ) and then would have some in the afternoon around 3:30. I'm down to 2/3 of a mug in the a.m. and then a cup of green tea in the p.m. By taking things a bit more slowly with the caffeine, you might be able to handle the carb withdrawal much better. I don't know if you'll still go into ketosis, though. . .people on this board will know, I bet.

I'm a great supporter of the Atkins Nutritional Approach and appreciate a low carb lifestyle, but I have to say that when I cut my carbs way, way down (under 20g) I felt quite sick to my stomach and lost all my appetite--even 10 days after I started. I might try for induction again sometime, but for now, I'm just going to eliminate sugars and go low carb as much as possible.
Oh, and I might just have a cup of coffee!

 

[Highland Lass]

Hi

Day 2

Woke up still with a bit of a headache but better than yesterday.
In a strange way I'm glad it was migraine.......when feeling my worst I was so depressed about yet another diet not working than I wanted to cry. However I haven't broken the diet and feel more able to see it through------today anyway.

Breakfast

Managed one slice of cheese but still feel a bit yucky.Thought I should eat something......really wanted toast.

Lunch

Had scrambled egg and enjoyed it.Head not too bad......touch wood.

Maybe I will manage through today in one piece, didn't realise how awful it would be right away. Within 2 hours felt dreadful.....nothing about that in the book.

 

[Highland Lass]

Day 3

Feel fine...........Hurrah !!

Also I have stuck to Atkins even feeling dreadful the first 2 days which I am glad about.

I have had no desire at all so far for chocolate or sweets / candy.This is from a chocoholic who would be in heaven in Cadburys......no desire at all. Why is that, does anyone know ??

My worry now is that I get bored with the food I can have so I have ordered a Low Carb cookbook from Amazon.

Fingers crossed.

 

[mum4jenn]

Welcome back to the land of the LIVING!!!!!!! Way to go!! The way I understand the not having a desire for the naughty foods is that carbs /sugar work in a way like a drug. The more you have the more your body craves it. Rid your body of those things and your body no longer needs it.

 

[Highland Lass]

Hi mum4jenn and everyone

You know I think that is right enough about sugar being a drug.

Whenever I indulged in a bisbuit, cake or chocolate bar, anything really on the forbidden list, I could never just have one ! One led to two to three and before I knew it the whole pack was gone....

Now I was tempted today....a little bit......I was in Safeway shopping and passed the bakery....those smells were driving me mad.....so I grabbed what I needed, trying not to inhale, and got back to the meat section asap !!

My freezer is stocked with meat and chicken and steaks (cant cook steak properly) and I've moved all Hannahs ice-cream to a separate drawer so I don't see it.

My thought today, when having a chesse and ham omelete for breakfast was.........what if I weigh myself in 2 weeks and I've put weight on!!!!!AARGH..nightmare scenario.

Its because I'm eating all this fattty cream and butter and cheese etc and frying food......after years of conditioning yourself to thinking its all bad, its no easy task to eat it without thinking you'll be massive in 2 weeks.......

Watch this space.

 

[TigH]

Glad to hear you are feeling better!! Phew!

I have to agree on the sugar being a drug theory! A friend of mine has insulin dependent diabetes and she's gotten rid of refined sugar in her life. She explained to me how sugar is processed by your body and how it sets off a chain reaction which ultimately makes your body THINK it needs more sugar... Pretty neat stuff, but I can't explain it myself.

Congratulations for passing up the bakery smells at Safeway! That is awesome! I'm sure in 2 weeks you won't have gained anything - I'm waiting with high hopes that you'll have a terrific loss to report! Hang in there, you are doing swell! The worst part is over, from here on out you are in smooth waters!!!