Feel horrendous! Will this pass??

[dottybear]

so, I started "sort of" low carbing on Jan 2nd. For the first week I wasn't very strict. I just cut out all obvious carbs (bread, pasta, rice potatoes etc) and sugar. But I was still eating fruit. Then had a blip on the friday night and had wine and pizza(!!)
Re-started from Tuesday this week and been stricter and sticking to it. I have had a small portion of berries with cream on one day, and a small handful of pecan nuts with greek yogurt another day, but other than that have pretty much tried to stick to boot camp rules.
Today though I feel AWFUL! headache, nausea, jittery, un-focused, horrid taste in mouth, dry throat....
I am hoping this is a good sign and will pass...but then worry maybe I am doing something wrong...
For background I have around 5 1/2 stone to loose. I lost 4 lb in first week despite not really doing very strict rules.will weigh again Tuesday.
My meals for last couple of days:

B: Ham cheese and tomato omelette cooked in butter
L: 2 x rasher bacon, fried mushrooms with melted full fat Philadelphia
D: Smoked haddock fillet fried in butter with spinach, cucumber, celery and a few cherry tomatoes

B:scarmabled eggs with butter, 2 x bacon rashers
L: smoked salmon , lettuce, spinach, cucumber celery and olives with mayonnaise
D: courgetti with chicken breast in a cream and Philadelphia sauce.

I am drinking at least 3L water daily (and get up to pee in night once or twice)

On a positive note I am not at all hungry between meals, and my carb cravings have massively reduced (basically lived almost entirely on carbs and sugar before!!)

so....am I on the right track? If so when will I stop feeling like I'm going to die!?!

[GerardNoWay]

Are you aiming for nutritional ketosis? Do you know roughly the amount of net carbs you are consuming?

If you are

[GerardNoWay]

Sorry, DD clicked post before I'd finished!!

If you are in ketosis, or going into ketosis, this can cause flu like symptoms - headaches, aching, fuzzy head, etc. It generally passes in a couple of days and then you feel less hungry and more energised.

It could feasibly be your body withdrawing from being reliant on carbs as an energy source and should pass

[dottybear]

Hi Gerard, thanks for the reply.
I wasn't initially aiming for ketosis, but have been reading up and am now aiming for for that... This is all very new to me.
I haven't been keeping count of carbs as such... I probably should, although one of things I like about this woe is not having to weigh and count etc.... I am a life long yo yo dieter, but have never tried low carb before.
I feel slightly better today, but still a bit rough!

[GerardNoWay]

I know what you mean about weighing and measuring and from your menu you posted it seems like you're doing all the right things and eating really fresh and unprocessed stuff.

Drink lots of water and take paracetamol for headaches, etc. I'm sure it will pass eventually.

keto-calculator.ankerl.com

The calculator will help you work out how much carbs and protein you should be aiming for. I think most things in the UK show as net carbs on packaging, so you can just take that at face value and once you know your amounts you can get into a type of groove.

[antimatter]

Have cup of water with a teaspoon of Marmite.
Dizziness and headache are symptoms of dehydration.

[dottybear]

Thanks both. Dh has gone shopping, I have added bovril and marmite to the shopping list! I am drinking water non stop today!! Paracetamol are helping with the headache.
according to keto calculator I should be aiming for 25g carbs - does that sound right (I thought it sounded high, but I am V overweight!) I'm going to try and find an app to track my carbs for a bit.
Today I just don't feel hungry AT ALL! I have literally had to force myself to eat breakfast, and then again to eat lunch at around 2pm. I really think I could have quite happily not eaten anything all day! Very odd!

[dottybear]

oh, and I generally always cook from scratch so adapting evening meals is quite easy. (It was just all the additional toast,crisps, biscuits, cakes etc that was the porblem!!)

[dottybear]

now sipping a mug of bovril, and really enjoying the saltiness of it...makes me think I may be not getting enough salt.

[BIWI]

Hopefully by now you should be feeling better!

You're experiencing what's commonly called 'carb flu'. It's the withdrawal from carbs, but should only last a few days.

But it's really important to make sure you keep your electrolytes balanced, which means getting enough sodium, magnesium and potassium.

Salt, as you've discovered, is really important - as well as drinking the Bovril, make sure you cook with it and add it to your food.

Other good foods to have are salmon, avocado, spinach and full fat natural yoghurt.

Good luck - sounds like you've got off to a really good start!

[dottybear]

Thanks BIWI. I am indeed feeling MUCH better! I am actually eating a fair bit of salmon and spinach, and some full fat total yogurt.
Haven't really been adding much salt actually - may need to try harder to remember that.
Lost a further 3lbs in the week up to Tuesday.
I am feeling better in myself mentally and emotionally too which is great

[Bluntness100]

It's prob just a mix between dehydration and sugar withdrawal. I find by about third or fourth day I get really tired and feel down, then I pick up and get lots of energy.

You seem to be eating right, so stick with it, you really need to do s couple of weeks to let your body fully adjust to burning fat effectively, right now you're losing water weight. Those two weeks are hard, but after that I find it's pretty much the only way of eating that keeps my chocolate and sugar addiction under control and it doesn't really feel like I'm on a diet.