Since I've converted to Atkins on 1/14/2002, I've really learned a lot about how foods make me feel, whether healthy and alive or sickly and tired.

Well, after I finished Induction (a quick 2 weeks after a couple days of carb withdrawls ) I was soon on OWL and trying to find my CCL. I started to add more complex carbs into my WOE and quicky realized that the weight loss slowed down for me. I accepted that and moved on. I didn't expect everything to come off as quickly as in Induction.

Then, I started to measure myself monthly to help myself understand that scales DO lie. I've steadily been losing inches (all be it not as fast as in the begining) and I've been overall very happy with my transition to low carb living.

However, I find myself getting a bit ill (tummy aches, headaches & a general feeling of fogginess) when I have more than 50 carbs (after substracting fiber) on one day and then go down to 20-30. I've been all over the place with my carbs on a daily/weekly basis to keep my body thinking I've read my Atkins book twice (as well as another one on LC for life).

It's almost like the Induction withdrawls all over again only I'm much more in-tune with how carbs effect my body and how I feel.

So far I've been able to get out of ketosis and get back in within 24-48 hours. I don't do ketostix so to be honest I don't really know if I'm in or out of ketosis. I used to have the keto breath but I got used to it after a while and with all the water I drink (120 ounces/day), it's hard to notice unless I eat really fatty foods like cheeses.

I've tried to figure out if it's my body going back through carb withdrawl or if I've just become so sensitive to higher amounts of carbs. I've noticed that it's really bad if I come off of a higher carb (50-70 grams/day) which is usually from eating less-than-desirable ("bad") foods like breaded chicken or white rice. I'm able to eat small amounts of things like rice, without going overboard and I'm certain that if I just go to a whole, brown rice, that I'd feel better. However, I've even noticed this "phenominon" when I consume a bit of popcorn (<2 cups, loaded with butter = 3 T). The next day, I had a splitting headache.

On the days that I have 50-70 carbs, I don't feel ill at all. I still notice all the normal LC things like I can pick up on the smallest amount of sugar in something (like when I ordered chicken salad at a restaurant). It isn't until the next day that I feel ill when I go back down to 20-30 final carbs.

My basic reasoning behind moving my carbs all around is when I was doing my research for my CCL, I noticed that I can go up to 50-70 and still lose. But I didn't want my body to get used to a specific amount of carb grams so I decided to try to do like every 3rd day as a 50 gram day, then go back to 20-30 for a few days. Now, I've basically got myself doing 20-30 during the week, and on the Sat & Sun I eat around 50 and very occasionally I jump up ot 70.

I've been added some fruits (I love fresh melons and berries) which has been raising my carbs for those higher carb days. I also eat 1 slice of "Health Max" bread with tons of butter and 1 T all-natural peanut butter (guess what's in it... PEANUTS, that's it, no trans fatty acids for me ). I've also added back some starchier veggies and more nuts.

After all this chatter, what I'm trying to find out (from long time LCer's) is "Is this a "Normal" thing?" Or do I just have a huge hang up on "How do I feel right now?" Do I pay too much attention to how I'm feeling? Am I overanalyzing?

Thanks to all for all the support I've received!!!


Annie G.