unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

[puttputt]

I wrote about my induction journey before on that section of the forums, but the update is that my metabolism really works well with this diet. Too well maybe. I wanted to lose about 28 pounds overall, and I lost 20 in the first month. Now at the end of six weeks I've lost 22 pounds (I started at 182) and am suffering some serious problems as a result of losing too much weight too fast. I was so thrilled at the results up to now, but starting a few days ago, I started having severe chest pains. Any movement of my body would send searing pain through my chest. That left me with no way to go to work, and even getting out of bed was so excruciating I would cry out in pain, and can't get out of bed or a chair without my wife's help. I was afraid I had a clogged artery or something from the change in diet, and I went to my doctor today expecting the worst. Thank goodness he said my heart was okay, but I had a severely inflamed chest wall that was causing all this. He said I lost so much weight so quickly that I lost a lot of muscle too, and the muscle I lost in the chest area made the remaining muscle vulnerable to bruising and inflamation. He took tons of blood to check things out more throuroughly, but the bottom line is that I need to stop losing for a while and recover from this.

So this is where I could use some advice. I know, many of you are probably thinking "Wow, I wish I had that problem" but it really is so painful you wouldn't want any part of this. I am currently on rung 4 of OWL (up through berries). While I clearly need to settle down at my current weight of 160 for at least a month or so and let my body get used to this, I don't want to just stop the diet for a month and go back to my old eating habits and weight. I've worked too hard for that; I followed the rules exactly and have had nothing but water since Jan 3rd! So I have to figure out how to get to maintenance right away. I appreciated the discipline of OWL, because by adding back foods one at a time I could measure their effect on my body and weight. I think I have to bail on that approach now because it will be dangerous me to keep losing for now. I guess I could just add back all the other OWL foods right away and see what happens; I guess I will find my max carb intake per day (I guess I'll jump right up to 50 or so per day and see if that stops the weight loss) that lets me maintain my current weight, but the downside is I will lose the ability to know about how specific foods affect me. Another idea I had was to add some more variety to my beverages (the doc wondered if my electrolytes were screwed up with only water being brought in my body). I might try some Gatorade or something like that. Any other ideas from you guys? Obviously, my metabolism really agrees with cutting out the carbs. Oh, and one other big reason this has worked so well for me: I'm exercising regularly for the first time in my life (I'm 46). That has to help. I have to stop exercising until my chest muscle heals and I can live a somewhat normal life again.

Thanks for any ideas.

[Porcelain]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

I don't understand how you lost muscle mass. Your protien intake should have covered that. How far below your BMR did you eat?

[puttputt]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

I don't understand how you lost muscle mass. Your protien intake should have covered that. How far below your BMR did you eat?

During induction, the appetite supression effects were so great for me that at times I only ate 60% of my BMR calories, and rarely hit the full amount. Over the past two weeks, I probably average 85% of BMR calories. I know now that I brought this on myself by not eating enough. Let this be a lesson to others that are losing really fast though: make sure you are getting enough calories. I know Dr. Atkins said we don't worry so much about calories and just eat until you are satiated, but in my case that just wasn't enough.

[Debi2007]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

That must have been scary. I hope you are feeling better soon.

[Porcelain]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

No, I asked because I am having the same problem right now. I haven't been eating enough and I have been struggling to get enough calories in. Today I found out I had a UTI so I hope that is my problem and I will return to eating well soon. I am so sorry about your problem.

I don't know the answer you see but in my opinion I don't see why you can't add up to 50 carbs. These are good foods you are adding. I will be watching this thread too to see what everyone has to offer, espcially the more seasoned ones. I am so glad it wasn't your heart!

[julirama723]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

Puttputt, continue moving up the rungs. You need to see what foods are OK foods and if you have any food sensitivities. The only thing that will change is that you need to add 10g carbs per week, not 5g.

Please, please, PLEASE make sure you're eating AT LEAST your BMR's worth of calories! Atkins is not a starvation plan, and it is SOOOOOOOO important that you eat above your BMR. Add a little fat here and there to up your calories--a tablespoon will do, as fat is calorie-dense. Add extra butter to veggies, add extra mayo to egg or chicken salad, etc.

And unless you're drinking about 10 gallons of water in an hour, I doubt your electrolytes are messed up--if you are taking supplements, which is what you are doing, right?

Out of curiousity, would you mind posting a typical day's menu (along with amounts)? I can't get over that you actually lost muscle. With 30% of your calories coming from protein that seems quite shocking. Of course, if you have been in starvation mode, you could have cannibalized your own lean tissue.

[puttputt]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

I can't sleep tonight because of the pain from this thing, so I checked here and was so happy to see all the supportive comments. Thanks so much!

I do take a daily multivitamin and I just ordered the Atkins generic multivitamin from vitacost that was discussed on the supplements page. I also ordered the B complex and Omega 3 supplements from them, so I will be upgrading from my current Centrum vitamin.

Typical day: I combine breakfast/lunch by heaving either a 2 egg omlette and bacon OR a medium sized salad (1.5 cups of salad veggies) with two tablespoons of Marie's blue cheese or ranch dressing with a small leftover chicken breast. Dinner: A piece of meat (salmon or steak, usually around 6-7 ounces) with another salad and a veggie (cup of green beans or broccoli). That was it for the first month or so when I lost so much weight. Now that I am farther along the rungs, I have started adding things, like a greek yogurt every other day with a 0 carb/0 calerie strawberry syrup from walden farms to make it tasty. And I just started having 1/4 to 1/2cup of berries every other day. Also, a celery stick with a couple tablespoons of natural peanut butter for a snack. But before the past week or so, I just had the two meals described earlier and according to fidday, that was often under 1000 caleries. That was my mistake, I'm afraid.

I love the idea of continuing to follow the ladder but going in 10g increments instead of 5g. I hadn't thought of that, and it seems like the perfect solution to my issue. Thanks for the idea! I guess I could even eat 10g of each rung's foods each day (I'm in rung 4 right now) and stay under 60g total. Knowing me, staying under 60g won't be a problem. I might shoot for 50g for the next week and see how that goes. I typically have been under 30 next carbs each day even as I progress up the ladder because I just don't eat that much.

[not2late]

Re: Unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and hurt my health

I agree with Juli on this.

And I'm happy you are sharing your experience here with us. If you've read my posts to the folks who have a low or moderate metabolic resistance to weight loss and want to stay on Induction longer than 14 days, I gently advise them not to do that.

[Porcelain]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

Puttputt, have you checked your BMR and Harris Benedict score thingy? Here is teh BMR test http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and here is the other. http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-ca...dict-equation/ Even though you dont' really have to worry about calories on this diet to lose weight, you should eat enough to sustain yourself with about a 500 calorie deficit to lose weight. A woman shouldn't eat less than 1200 calories a day and a man 1800. Did you say your meal was under a 1000 calories or for the whole day? That concerned me.

[Atkid]

Re: Unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and hurt my health

I wrote about my induction journey before on that section of the forums, but the update is that my metabolism really works well with this diet. Too well maybe. I wanted to lose about 28 pounds overall, and I lost 20 in the first month. Now at the end of six weeks I've lost 22 pounds (I started at 182) and am suffering some serious problems as a result of losing too much weight too fast. I was so thrilled at the results up to now, but starting a few days ago, I started having severe chest pains. Any movement of my body would send searing pain through my chest. That left me with no way to go to work, and even getting out of bed was so excruciating I would cry out in pain, and can't get out of bed or a chair without my wife's help. I was afraid I had a clogged artery or something from the change in diet, and I went to my doctor today expecting the worst. Thank goodness he said my heart was okay, but I had a severely inflamed chest wall that was causing all this. He said I lost so much weight so quickly that I lost a lot of muscle too, and the muscle I lost in the chest area made the remaining muscle vulnerable to bruising and inflamation. He took tons of blood to check things out more throuroughly, but the bottom line is that I need to stop losing for a while and recover from this.

So this is where I could use some advice. I know, many of you are probably thinking "Wow, I wish I had that problem" but it really is so painful you wouldn't want any part of this. I am currently on rung 4 of OWL (up through berries). While I clearly need to settle down at my current weight of 160 for at least a month or so and let my body get used to this, I don't want to just stop the diet for a month and go back to my old eating habits and weight. I've worked too hard for that; I followed the rules exactly and have had nothing but water since Jan 3rd! So I have to figure out how to get to maintenance right away. I appreciated the discipline of OWL, because by adding back foods one at a time I could measure their effect on my body and weight. I think I have to bail on that approach now because it will be dangerous me to keep losing for now. I guess I could just add back all the other OWL foods right away and see what happens; I guess I will find my max carb intake per day (I guess I'll jump right up to 50 or so per day and see if that stops the weight loss) that lets me maintain my current weight, but the downside is I will lose the ability to know about how specific foods affect me. Another idea I had was to add some more variety to my beverages (the doc wondered if my electrolytes were screwed up with only water being brought in my body). I might try some Gatorade or something like that. Any other ideas from you guys? Obviously, my metabolism really agrees with cutting out the carbs. Oh, and one other big reason this has worked so well for me: I'm exercising regularly for the first time in my life (I'm 46). That has to help. I have to stop exercising until my chest muscle heals and I can live a somewhat normal life again.

Thanks for any ideas.

Hey just wanted to ask about the imflamed chest wall. Do you by any chance do tricep dips? I ask this because whenever I start out doing them after a period of not doing them I get severe muscular pains in the chest area, severe enough that when I move it hurts a lot. Given a couple of days it does go away. Was just wondering if that could be your trouble. I think Julie gave you some good advice. Congrats on the weight that you have lost. I am sorry you are having these problems, feel better soon.

[Elizellen]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

I appreciated the discipline of OWL, because by adding back foods one at a time I could measure their effect on my body and weight

Another way to measure the effect foods are having other than weightloss is to look for the blood sugar symptoms as detailed in DANDR - chapter 12 I think.

[puttputt]

Re: unusual Problem: I lost too much too quick and must stop losing for while...

I'm going to add another idea I had for putting my weight loss on hold for a bit in case somebody searches this thread in the future looking for solutions to a similar problem. It occurred to me that what I really am after is a purposeful stall for a month. Many people have written in these forums about foods that stall them, so one option is identify and use some of these foods. Many have written about the stalling effects of Atkins bars and shakes, as well as crystal light (warning: Dr. Atkins advised against products with aspertame, and crystal light does have that as an ingredient). So if I still find myself losing after trying some of the other ideas, one emergency approach would be to add some of these stallers to my diet and see if that help.

I can't wait to feel better and get back to where losing is a good thing!