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| What can you DO about leg cramps and exhaustion? Here is Dr. Atkins advice (plus some of my own) |
One day at Low Carb Friends, I ran into someone who really disturbed me. A patient of Dr. Westman was in the forum asking for help. She had been on the high-fat low-carb diet known as Nutritional Ketosis for 4 months and was still eating at 20 carbs, or less.
She was losing about 1 or 2 pounds a week, but she felt absolutely horrible.
Despite a high salt intake, she was also having excruciating foot and leg cramps, would get dizzy, and came near to passing out during gym activities.
She said she had zero energy, felt exhausted all of the time, so her gym routine had dropped from 5 days a week and 1 trainer session, to just the training.
She was taking magnesium and potassium supplements already, along with having salty chicken broth every day, but nothing was helping.
She was exhausted and felt horrible, and yet, the doctor wanted her to continue with the regimen she was already doing, even though it was clearly not working for her.
She said she had zero energy, felt exhausted all of the time, so her gym routine had dropped from 5 days a week and 1 trainer session, to just the training.
She was taking magnesium and potassium supplements already, along with having salty chicken broth every day, but nothing was helping.
She was exhausted and felt horrible, and yet, the doctor wanted her to continue with the regimen she was already doing, even though it was clearly not working for her.
This doesn't make any sense to me.
Why Are People Doing Nutritional Ketosis and Not Moving Into Phase 2?
A few days ago, I wrote a post about a video that Dr. Phinney had over at You Tube describing Nutritional Ketosis and exactly how that diet is done.
However, most people are not doing it the way it was originally designed.
Although, I've talked about my own experience with a Nutritional Ketosis Diet before and how my results were not good, I now realize I was following the crowd and doing it WRONG.
I take full responsibility for the amount of weight I gained during that time, as I should have read Dr. Phinney's book myself instead of listening to what everyone else was telling me to do.
But I'm really confused about why this girl isn't allowed to move into Phase 2.
I know exactly why this girl doesn't feel good eating low protein and super high fat, especially if she is still eating less than 20 carbs per day.
Please note:
Dr. Westman is giving her fewer carbs than today's Atkins Diet provides because he has his patients eating 20 total carbs, for most of their weight loss, rather than counting net carbs.
The girl is already 4 months into the Westman program, eating less than 20 total carbs, and is obviously not fat adapted.
Everyone does not have the genetics to ramp up enzyme production for fat burning, and staying on an extremely low ketogenic diet for longer than 3 months will not improve your chances of becoming fat adapted.
But most of the low-carb experts today never talk about that point.
However, most people are not doing it the way it was originally designed.
Although, I've talked about my own experience with a Nutritional Ketosis Diet before and how my results were not good, I now realize I was following the crowd and doing it WRONG.
I take full responsibility for the amount of weight I gained during that time, as I should have read Dr. Phinney's book myself instead of listening to what everyone else was telling me to do.
But I'm really confused about why this girl isn't allowed to move into Phase 2.
I know exactly why this girl doesn't feel good eating low protein and super high fat, especially if she is still eating less than 20 carbs per day.
Please note:
Dr. Westman is giving her fewer carbs than today's Atkins Diet provides because he has his patients eating 20 total carbs, for most of their weight loss, rather than counting net carbs.
The girl is already 4 months into the Westman program, eating less than 20 total carbs, and is obviously not fat adapted.
Everyone does not have the genetics to ramp up enzyme production for fat burning, and staying on an extremely low ketogenic diet for longer than 3 months will not improve your chances of becoming fat adapted.
But most of the low-carb experts today never talk about that point.
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| Typical Nutritional Ketosis breakfast: bacon, eggs, and cheese |
According to the post, she was eating an adequate breakfast:
- 2 eggs
- 3 slices of bacon
- coffee with heavy cream and stevia
Next, she is eating no lunch.
She just has a snack in the afternoon three times a week (not every day) of 2 ounces of nuts.
This is all the calories and carbs she's getting every day until dinner.
Three times a week, she does eat 325 calories worth of nuts, which gives her 12 total carbs (almonds). Notice that she is eating NO vegetables or salad, and up to this point in the day, her diet is pretty much zero carb -- except for the three days a week when she splurges on nuts.
- chicken breast breaded with pork rinds
- broccoli with butter sauce
- diet soda
- Carb Smart ice cream bar
The only vegetable carbs she's getting, however, is a cup of broccoli with dinner, about 6 total carbs. There are no carbs in the pork rinds, so her major source of carbohydrate is coming from the ice cream, the minute amount in the eggs and heavy cream, and the nuts when she has them.
A CarbSmart bar is 7 total carbs and contains no potassium. Only a minor amount of sodium. But the nuts, pork rinds, and bacon are all salty, so she will need more than a single potassium pill to balance all of that sodium.
(Her doctor has her on a very low-carb diet, which is why she doesn't feel good and her electrolytes are out of whack.)
Atkins
Induction was designed to last for 2 weeks.
Granted, Dr. Westman has his own way of doing things, his own very low-carb diet that he uses with his patients, but not everyone can eat at extreme carbohydrate levels and still function adequately.
I can't!
IF you're doing good, FEEL good, and are losing weight, you can stay on Induction for a few weeks.
However, Dr. Atkins recommendation for those with a huge amount of weight to lose was to move into Phase 2 at 25 grams of carbs per day, and stay there for the larger part of your weight-loss phase. Dr. Phinney's recommendation is to move into Phase 2 once you become fat adapted.
Upping the carbs increases the amount of potassium you get, especially if you follow Dr. Atkins' advice to spend MOST of your carbohydrate allowance on vegetables, which this girl is not.
On Atkins, you
return carbohydrates to the diet in 5-gram implements per day, per
week, until you find the highest level of carbohydrate
your body can tolerate and still lose about a pound a week.
The average low-carb dieter, at 4 months into the program, eats between 35 and 45 net carbs!
Yet, the doctor still has this woman eating at less than 20 total carbs.
Granted, Dr. Westman has his own way of doing things, his own very low-carb diet that he uses with his patients, but not everyone can eat at extreme carbohydrate levels and still function adequately.
I can't!
IF you're doing good, FEEL good, and are losing weight, you can stay on Induction for a few weeks.
However, Dr. Atkins recommendation for those with a huge amount of weight to lose was to move into Phase 2 at 25 grams of carbs per day, and stay there for the larger part of your weight-loss phase. Dr. Phinney's recommendation is to move into Phase 2 once you become fat adapted.
Upping the carbs increases the amount of potassium you get, especially if you follow Dr. Atkins' advice to spend MOST of your carbohydrate allowance on vegetables, which this girl is not.
The average low-carb dieter, at 4 months into the program, eats between 35 and 45 net carbs!
Yet, the doctor still has this woman eating at less than 20 total carbs.
If You Don't Feel Good You Won't Stick With Keto
The sad thing is that there is no way
this woman is going to stick to this severe of a diet long term if her energy level
and the way she feels doesn't improve soon. She is already at the point where she is asking the low-carb community for help.
She might be able to withstand the program long enough to lose the weight (she didn't say how much she needed to lose), but that isn't going to do her any good if she goes back to the way she was eating before, once she reaches goal.
She might be able to withstand the program long enough to lose the weight (she didn't say how much she needed to lose), but that isn't going to do her any good if she goes back to the way she was eating before, once she reaches goal.
Replies to her plea for help mostly
focused on the type of magnesium she was taking, but a couple of folks
did ask her about the small amount of food she was eating.
Apparently, Dr. Westman encourages his patients to only eat twice a day, and stresses the need to eat fewer calories in order to drop the weight, so that's what she's doing.
She is following her doctor's advice, as she has interpreted it to be, and says that she is eating to her personal hunger level. It's just the way she feels and the leg cramps that are the problem.
Her reply means that calories are not the issue here. I understand that, since I ate 900 to 950 calories a day during my own weight loss phase and was never hungry. I felt fine, had no leg cramps then, but I was eating 1 cup of vegetables for lunch and 1-1/2 cups of vegetables for dinner.
A lack of vegetables has her electrolytes really messed up.
Plus, she might be one of those dieters who can't use as much dietary fat as she's eating.
Apparently, Dr. Westman encourages his patients to only eat twice a day, and stresses the need to eat fewer calories in order to drop the weight, so that's what she's doing.
She is following her doctor's advice, as she has interpreted it to be, and says that she is eating to her personal hunger level. It's just the way she feels and the leg cramps that are the problem.
Her reply means that calories are not the issue here. I understand that, since I ate 900 to 950 calories a day during my own weight loss phase and was never hungry. I felt fine, had no leg cramps then, but I was eating 1 cup of vegetables for lunch and 1-1/2 cups of vegetables for dinner.
A lack of vegetables has her electrolytes really messed up.
Plus, she might be one of those dieters who can't use as much dietary fat as she's eating.
What to Do About Leg Cramps and
Exhaustion
Leg cramps are a result of unbalanced
electrolytes.
This has been my personal experience and the experience of hubby, who used to work outdoors a lot in the heat. Get the sodium up and the potassium and magnesium adequate and the cramps go away.
Since Keto keeps your glycogen storage less than half full, the diet is very dehydrating. Low-carb diets cause the kidneys to dump sodium along with the excess water, so leg cramps are common if you're not getting enough calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
All three need to be in balance, as well as an adequate amount, which you rarely get from supplements. Potassium supplements come with a very low level of potassium.
Hubby and I eat lots of produce daily, and we still have to take 2 potassium pills, along with calcium and magnesium, to keep the leg cramps away, ever since we went Keto.
Shedding the water that the body stores to process glycogen flushes out these essential minerals, along with the water, so they have to be replaced every single day!
Drinking a lot of water, which she is also doing, will do exactly the same thing. It sweeps calcium, potassium, and magnesium out of the body.
This has been my personal experience and the experience of hubby, who used to work outdoors a lot in the heat. Get the sodium up and the potassium and magnesium adequate and the cramps go away.
Since Keto keeps your glycogen storage less than half full, the diet is very dehydrating. Low-carb diets cause the kidneys to dump sodium along with the excess water, so leg cramps are common if you're not getting enough calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
All three need to be in balance, as well as an adequate amount, which you rarely get from supplements. Potassium supplements come with a very low level of potassium.
Hubby and I eat lots of produce daily, and we still have to take 2 potassium pills, along with calcium and magnesium, to keep the leg cramps away, ever since we went Keto.
Shedding the water that the body stores to process glycogen flushes out these essential minerals, along with the water, so they have to be replaced every single day!
Drinking a lot of water, which she is also doing, will do exactly the same thing. It sweeps calcium, potassium, and magnesium out of the body.
If you're having cramps, the most
important mineral to replace is calcium, but adequate magnesium and
potassium are also important to correct both leg cramps and fatigue:
"When there are leg cramps, extra
calcium is in order, and there is often a kind of fatigue for which
potassium supplements are the specific." (Dr. Atkins Diet
Revolution, page 126.)
Dr. Atkins was really into vitamin and
mineral supplements.
He believed in optimal dosages, and not minimum daily requirements. Minimum daily requirements are only what will keep you alive, not what will produce optimal health and well-being.
However, exhaustion isn't always about potassium. Sometimes, it's about losing more weight than the body can adapt to:
He believed in optimal dosages, and not minimum daily requirements. Minimum daily requirements are only what will keep you alive, not what will produce optimal health and well-being.
However, exhaustion isn't always about potassium. Sometimes, it's about losing more weight than the body can adapt to:
"A weight loss that is too rapid
is more than the body can comfortably adapt to. And it isn't
necessary to lose rapidly. It is more important to lose easily; and
losing easily means feeling well all of the time. I can't emphasize
this too much: Quick weight loss is not the primary thing we're after
-- what we both want for you is an easy and lasting weight loss."
(Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution, page 142.)
His advice for those who feel tired and
ill on a very low-carb diet is to raise your carb intake to the next level
and see if that corrects the problem. Eating too few carbohydrates is
just as stressful on the body as eating too many.
It will cause your cortisol levels to rise along with your blood glucose level, so if you're pre-diabetic or diabetic, you'll want to make sure that you eat to your own personal carbohydrate tolerance level.
This isn't a race, so the same could be said for calories.
The goal of going Keto is permanent weight loss, which means finding an eating style you can live with for the rest of your life.
An eating style that fits your health issues as well as your tastes. The goal isn't to get the weight off in any way you can. That practice usually backfires.
It will cause your cortisol levels to rise along with your blood glucose level, so if you're pre-diabetic or diabetic, you'll want to make sure that you eat to your own personal carbohydrate tolerance level.
This isn't a race, so the same could be said for calories.
The goal of going Keto is permanent weight loss, which means finding an eating style you can live with for the rest of your life.
An eating style that fits your health issues as well as your tastes. The goal isn't to get the weight off in any way you can. That practice usually backfires.
The Atkins Diet is Not Atkins Induction
A lot of people call what they are
doing the Atkins Diet, when clearly it is not.
The Atkins Diet is not Atkins Induction.
Atkins Induction is a 2 to 4 week introductory period where you eat from a specific, limited list of foods and try to keep your carbohydrate level to 20 net carbs per day, or less. This introductory period has the goal of getting you into the state of ketosis.
Once you are comfortably in ketosis, you then return carbohydrates to your diet at a slow enough pace that the body continues to burn your body fat for fuel.
The Atkins Diet is not Atkins Induction.
Atkins Induction is a 2 to 4 week introductory period where you eat from a specific, limited list of foods and try to keep your carbohydrate level to 20 net carbs per day, or less. This introductory period has the goal of getting you into the state of ketosis.
Once you are comfortably in ketosis, you then return carbohydrates to your diet at a slow enough pace that the body continues to burn your body fat for fuel.
If you don't return carbohydrates to
your diet to discover your personal carbohydrate sensitivity, then
you are not doing Atkins.
You are doing something else.
Doing something else is fine, but calling it Atkins can be confusing to newbies who don't understand what the Atkins Diet actually is.
The Atkins Diet is a progressive diet.
It is not 20-net carbs per day, or less -- unless -- that is the only level that will allow you to lose weight.
However, you won't know that until you try to add additional carbs back in. If you haven't tried to return carbs to your diet, then you don't know if you are resistant to weight loss, or not.
A very low-carb diet will depress your
metabolism and interfere with the way the body converts T4 thyroid
hormone into T3, the usable form.
For this reason, many people find that adding carbs back into their diet increases their weight loss! The body won't let go of fat stores if there are other ways to get you the energy you need.
This is why the Atkins Diet is an individual diet fine-tuned to fit your:
That isn't Atkins.
For this reason, many people find that adding carbs back into their diet increases their weight loss! The body won't let go of fat stores if there are other ways to get you the energy you need.
This is why the Atkins Diet is an individual diet fine-tuned to fit your:
- likes
- food tastes
- weight loss
- and metabolic issues
That isn't Atkins.
"OWL allows you much more choice.
That means you can now craft a weight loss regimen that is uniquely
yours." (Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, page 147)
Dr. Atkins always left the rate at
which you lose weight up to you, but he also cautioned patients and
readers to be realistic. As long as you are free of cravings, you're
satisfied with the food, and you feel good, the rate at which you
lose the weight doesn't matter.
What does matter is that you make lifelong, permanent changes in the way you eat and that you feel well while you're creating good food habits.
Dizziness and problems exercising indicates you're having a problem converting fat into energy. If that's true for you, then upping your carbohydrate level and lowering your fat intake a bit might be a better option than just giving the diet more time to work.
What does matter is that you make lifelong, permanent changes in the way you eat and that you feel well while you're creating good food habits.
Dizziness and problems exercising indicates you're having a problem converting fat into energy. If that's true for you, then upping your carbohydrate level and lowering your fat intake a bit might be a better option than just giving the diet more time to work.
eating only twice a day is ridiculous...little and often is better. You don't want your blood sugar to crash. I've lost 7 stone in a year on Atkins.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That's a lot! Thank you so much for sharing that.
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