Been low carbing for 5 months and suddenly feeling tired and low

[slothage]

I've been low carbing since March and lost about 2.5 stone. I do have off days if I have an event or a holiday but always get back to business straight after.

I usually have around 20-30g carb a day, I'm quite strict when I'm in the zone and tend to eat lots of chicken, eggs, tuna, salmon, salad and veg with butter and mayo. I drink around 2-3 litres of water a day too

This week I have felt horrible, headaches, tired, achy, no energy etc. I've been craving badly all week (it was totm but it doesn't usually affect me too much). Could it be the diet? Am I lacking something or is it probably a bug or virus etc? Anyone else experience this after months of doing it? Should I be taking vitamins?

If you have cut carbs lower than usual then you could be going into ketosis which can produce carb flu symptoms. In some people a low carb diet induces hypothyroidism, one sign of which would be a reduced body temperature. You don't need to keep your carbs really low to lose weight (unless you're diabetic which changes things a bit) so you could try eating a few more carbs in a day, say 40-50g and see if you feel better.

Thanks, I am ultra strict as a rule - I think some days i probably go to

As Stunt says, you don't actually need to hit ketosis to lose on low carb unless you are in some way metabolically challenged. In my youth I lost a whole heap of weight on 50gr a day! Its only since I started having other health problems that I've found I need to be in ketosis.

There are lots of plans out there that say to have one or two treat days a week and be super strict the rest of the time but that has never worked for me. I always put a heap back on and only get back to my original weight in time for the next cheat day! Sometimes you just have to decide how much you want the cheat compared to how much you want to lose the weight. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to just maintain for awhile.

Alcohol is funny stuff. Sometimes it can mess with your weight loss more than a slice of cake! Try adding back a few grams of carb but as slow release carb not high GI sugary stuff.

I've been reading stuff recently that suggests that very low carb over a long period of time isn't good for you.

I'd suggest increasing your carbs to around 50g a day; have you reached maintenance or do you still need to lose more? If you're not at target, perhaps aim for 30-50g, but if you're regularly doing less than 10g carbs a day, this isn't good.

If your urine smells, that could signal that you're not drinking enough water - or there could be another problem. Try upping your water and see if this makes things any better - if not, I'd visit the GP.

If you're eating properly (i.e. enough veg/salad, as well as meat/fish/eggs and good fats) you shouldn't really need vitamins/supplements, but in the short term (again) it could be worth thinking about your electrolytes - sodium, magnesium and potassium.

Do you eat much salt?

Things you need to eat are - salt, salmon, avocado, spinach and natural (full fat) yoghurt.

Thanks BIWI, I do think I was cutting the carbs back a bit far. I have about another 1 stone or so to go but more like 1st 7lbs if I want to maintain as I gain water weight back really quickly If I eat too many carbs.

I feel better this week as I'm not so strict. Trouble is the weight loss is extremely slow.

Well, as you get nearer your target, weight loss will slow. And if you read Atkins, this is what he advocates anyway - it helps you to make this WOE a way of eating for life, because you get used to it.

As I got to the end of my weight loss, I was losing something like 3/4lb a week, which felt like nothing. But because I kept a spreadsheet, with cells coloured in to show each day's weight (I'm a daily weigher) it helped me to see that overall, in the longer term, the trend was downwards.

Slow and steady is by far the best way to lose weight, even if it can feel frustratingly slow at the time. Honest!