Hi everyone,

I'm on day 11 of eating 30 grams of carbs or less a day (my modified atkins induction) and I am feeling worse and worse each day. My body is shaking, I've had a bad headache for the last 3 days and I have NO energy at all. Last night I had serious pains in my liver area and this morning my back feels really heavy and in pain around my kidney area.

I am seriously thirsty, I drink over a gallon of water each day. I'm wondering if this is normal.. I know this is normal in the very beginning of induction, but it keeps getting worse. I actually felt better the first 4 days of this.

Here's what I ate yeserday to give you an idea. I am fairly sure I am getting enough nutrients and I'm taking a calcium/magnesium and potassium supplement plus a multi-vitamin everyday.

B-Flax Cereal (1/4 cup ground flaxmeal, 1 tbsp wheat bran, cinnamon, splenda, hot water)

S- Isopure Protein Shake (50 grams protein)

L-Big Salad with Spinach, Romaine, Cucumbers, 1 oz swiss, 1 oz provolone, 1 serving (19 grams protein) Veggie Canadian Bacon, Blue Cheese dressing

S-1/4 cup pecans, 1 string cheese, 2 celery sticks

D-Cauliflower/Tofu/Cheese bake, spinach salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

This is fairly indicitive of how I've been eating the last 11 days, of course, I mix it up a bit with different foods and such.

I'm ready to just give up today.... I'm afraid that this is hurting my health, but I really wanted to do it for 14 days, then slowly add in more carbs with more veggies and small servings of legumes and cottage cheese, seitan, tvp and the like. (probably more like South Beach)..

What do you think is going on? Any advice would be welcomed..

LowCarbVeg, it's hard to say, but a couple of things come to mind.
First, if you haven't been eating this amount of fiber prior to changing your diet, you could be experiencing fiber overload, which sometimes manifests as constipation.
Second, lots of people in my experience do not do well trying to detox at 20 or even 30g of effective carbs (carbs minus fiber). They need to increase their carb levels to 40g, 45g effective carbs. They can still lose weight at that level; it will just come off a little more slowly.

However, it concerns me that you're drinking so much water, and the locations of your pains. Do you know if you were free of kidney, liver, gall bladder and intestinal issues prior to this? Just asking...not offering medical advice...but if you had a pre-existing challenge to your GI tract, or kidney/liver/pancreas/gall bladder, such a sudden dietary switch might have been too much of a challenge. Just a thought.

You may very well be experiencing the low carb "flu" which hit me a week into it and lasted 3-4 days. It is a form of detox, really. However, the pain thing and the extreme thirst concerns me. Have you talked to your doctor?

I remember the LC Flu. I rmember a few years ago when I first started I felt like road kill for 3 months. I almost gave it up, then one day I woke up and had no fog or the feeling that I was glued to the couch. In fact I felt like I had more energy then I knew what to do with. Just hang in there kiddo, it'll get better. Judy

Hi

If you had the feeling of leg-cramp like pains in your lower front ribs, mostly around the right side you may have passed a stone from your liver down your bile duct.
I had gallbladder disease last year, and it can be excruciatingly painful.
If this sounds anything near familiar, please get it checked out by your doctor asap.

Best wishes

Did your salt intake seriously drop when you started? I had to add more salt in my diet, even in my protein shakes, for a little while because it was going too fast and I couldn't stay hydrated. Now I eat salty food to help it- chicken broth, cheese, pickles, bacon, salted nuts.

Fatigue and headache is normal when you drop your carbs fast. I have to take quite a few supplements when I'm in weight loss phase to feel good. I take 4 -99mg potassium and 3 calcium/magnesium/zinc that's 100% of the RDA.

If it just gets to be so much you can't take it. Another way you can do it is to increase your carbs say to 50 and slowly decrease them each week. That will slow down the water weight loss (and fat) and you'll adjust slowly to LC without much discomfort at all.

Go to the Dr!

You are morbidly obese and
could have any number
of things wrong with you.

You need to be checked out by a
medical professional before you
engage in ANY diet
regime, regardless of whether
the dr. approves of Atkins or not.

Don't roll the dice. It took you a
long time to become morbidly
obese and it will take a couple
of years (realistically) to take
that weight off even on low
cal/carb high protein diet.

Go to the Dr and get a
COMPLETE physical.

Sometimes LC can highlight things which were laying dormant, like kidney stones, liver problems and diabetes....I agree with the advice you have already been given. If it was just that you felt a bit crappy, I'd say it was induction flu, but the pain and having the shakes isn't good. Get yourself checked out!