Light~headed...

[Kmeck77]

I'm on the start of week 3 induction and have felt very light headed the last two days. I felt somewhat light headed a few days into induction, but that eventually wore off. I've stuck to the rules and take my supplements. Water intake is good...

Anyone else experience this? If so, what did you do/eat to remedy it?

Thanks for any suggestions as well...

[NewToAtkins]

Re: Light~headed...

What kind of supplements?

[write2thepoint]

Re: Light~headed...

that reminds me of another thread going on now about low blood sugar. If your blood sugar is low you tend to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Have you been following the plan correctly, such as eating enough vegetables, fats and protein to balance out your blood sugar? Are you drinking enough water? you may need to add some more protein and fat to keep your blood sugar consistent and up your veggies for an initial blood sugar boost.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Light~headed...

Are you eating enough veggies? You need the carbs from those veggies... even in induction. Maybe you need to try upping the carbs by 5 g/day. Have you considered moving to OWL? You'd still get to lose (and some lose even faster on the first rungs of OWL).

[Kmeck77]

Re: Light~headed...

Ugh, veggies. I think I am having a veggie comprehension problem, lol! Maybe you guys can figure out if I am doing this wrong. I eat a 2c. salad every day for lunch: 2c. of lettuce (from the acceptable food list). I add bacon, eggs, cheese and low carb dressing. Since I have 2 cups of salad (lettuce) at lunch, I then have a cup of veggies at dinner (from the list of acceptable veggies). That 1 cup is usually broccoli, mushrooms, or zucchini.

Other than that, I have a pickle or two during the day. I really don't know how to up my intake of veggies without going over the 1 cup serving of acceptable veggies. I could easily eat 2 cups of veggies with dinner, but that would be going against what the book says. Right?

I eat eggs, chicken, turkey, bacon (which I think may be cured in Nitrate). I am a picky eater, which I am trying to get over... and it's been getting better. My first step was buying furry lettuce (to me, that is anything but Iceburg).

So~ I guess here is the problem I am having~ I could easily snack on some tomato slices during the day, but then (if I understand it correctly) I would not be able to eat my 1 cup of veggies at dinner because I have already had the extra 1c. of veggies if only 2c. of salad has been consumed. [That sentence, wow.]

Help.

[Sunny_0ne]

Re: Light~headed...

Kmeck, try eating 1/2 c. pumpkin. There's a wonderful recipe in the recipe section for a pumpkin cheesecake... all legal, and it worked like magic when I had those light-headed days.

[momtomany1]

Re: Light~headed...

Dr. Atkins said a few people would experience such symptoms and if so, would need a few extra carbs, suggested a few nuts or some extra veggie, just watch portions and don't go overboard, just enought to stay even while your system levels out.

[Kmeck77]

Re: Light~headed...

Sunny One~ I do believe I've seen that recipe, but does it call for fresh pumpkin or pumpkin in a can? I think I saw canned pumpkin was allowed further on, but I looked at a can of pumpkin and looks like it would work also (in moderation).

I feel like I am in the middle of a science experiment!

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I really, really appreciate it.

[sallyseachange]

Re: Light~headed...

I agree totally with Momtomany... try upping by a few carbs. You could go to the first rung of OWL and stick there for a good long while, if you like... just as long as you leave yourself enough time to move up the other rungs when you're approaching goal.
I'm willing to bet, this'll make the difference to your light-headedness.

[Kmeck77]

Re: Light~headed...

Hey y'all~

I just wanted to thank you guys. I was able to get rid of the lightheaded feeling by eating more veggies. I would eat 2c. of salad, 1c. veggies/day with an added 1c. of veggies from the list. Took about a day, but it certainly did the trick. I'm going to stick to the original rules and see if it was just a momentary thing. If not, I'll know to add in that extra cup/day.

Thanks again~ My head appreciates it!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: Light~headed...

There's a bunch of veggies on the salad list besides lettuce. 2 cups of lettuce is way low on carbs. You can also have cucumber, radishes, mushrooms, peppers, and jicama, to name a few. Mushrooms are on the salad list, not the "other" list. If you have one cup of lettuce and another cup of a selection of the other salad veggies, you'll get more carbs and more nutrition.

Canned pumpkin (not pie filling) is allowed on induction. You could have half a cup (the cup is measured raw).

[Kmeck77]

Re: Light~headed...

Ok~ that is a little clearer to me. Thanks, Sunny!

[woodym]

Re: Light~headed...

FWIW, I'll sometimes feel lightheaded in the early stages of a weightloss push, especially when standing up quickly. My feeling has been that it's due to blood pressure, which I find generally decreases for me in the same time period. I've figured it takes my body several days to get used to the lower BP. Could be the veggies too, YMMV.