I've been strictly paleolilthic for the past several weeks, and have been IF'ing for the past two. The last two nights in a row I got a MASSIVE charly horse in my left calf muscle during the wee hours of the morning. I've heard that this can happen due to electrolyte imbalance. Here's what I've been eating - if anyone can give me some feedback or advice I'd appreciate it!

Breakfast: 3 strips of bacon (the regular kind), 3 eggs fried in the grease, one cup of black coffee.

Supper: some sort of animal protein, and a heck load of vegetables (sometimes salad, sometimes a stir fry of mixed vegetables, sometimes some other kind of vegetable...never a starchy one).

Other: lots of water during the day, probably 2L. I am a teacher and am constantly sipping on water to keep my vocal cords lubricated.

Supplements: 2000 IU of Vitamin D, a calcium/magnesium/zinc supplement, sometimes a Vitamin B supplement (if I remember that one!)

Thanks in advance!

I would make sure u r eating enuf good salt...I use a brand called Realsalt, sold at health food stores...it has a pot load of minerals in it...you will get your minerals from this as well..It's seasalt with minerals. My doctor told me about it...that might help..use it in place of iodized table salt.

Up your magnesium--I do a VLC IF thing and I got a MONSTER leg cramp one day, as in I limped for the rest of the day because of it. I started magnesium and haven't had one since. Salt is important as well.

Also increase your water intake.

One of the low carb doctors, can't remember which one, also recommends taking two potassium tablets per day.

Overdoing the potassium is bad for the heart, so I just take one a day and it has helped with the cramps.

Avocados are supposed to help, too.

My dad suffers from muscle cramps at night while sleeping and had been prescribed qualaquin which has provided some relief. He mentioned the muscle cramps once to someone at church and they mentioned that they had suffered from the same thing and that they had been told to take a bar of soap (like Dial) and place it under the sheets of the bed where your legs would be when you sleep.

Something inside the soap (maybe the sodium) penetrates your skin while sleeping, preventing your muscles from cramping. Since my dad started doing this he no longer wakes up in the middle of the night with leg cramps.

It definitely sounded strange, but after Googling it on the internet it seems to work for a lot of people in preventing muscle cramps.

OK, this is a huge help when you have the charley horse. Hobble to your fridge and drink 2 or 3 gulps of pickle juice, dill pickle juice. I promise the CH will start easing right away.

The quickest way to get rid of it is to stand up, putting all your weight on the cramping leg. You have to do this as soon as you feel it coming on. It will straighten the muscle and stop the cramping. If you have a tendency to get faint when you stand up quickly, and if your bed is near a wall, you can push your feet flat against the wall for similar relief. If no wall is nearby and you can't stand up, sit up with legs stretched out on the bed in front of you, flex the foot of the affected leg and grab your toes to keep the foot flexed and the calf straight. I know the last thing you want to do when a CH comes on is move, but it works! THEN, work on all the preventatives listed above.

You can reach your toes???

SALT........

I have a love hate relationship with salt. I figure I will stay under 50 carbs and one of the supplements I will be taking is salt. (Atkins and others recommend 2 cups of bullion or equivalents a day for 50 or fewer grams of carbs)

I love the way food explodes with flavor when I use it, and I use it liberally. I had forgotten how it tasted before, when I was brainwashed into believing it was BAD for me. As you have read, I have restless legs and hard cramping in my legs at night. It is from the Low carbing, I did not have them when I was eating chips, oreos or doughnuts. (Just danger of heart attacks, but hey....)

Since LCing, I have done research and am now taking a large amount of magnesium (most in the form of SlowMag, 3 a night plus 400mgs of reg magesium in the AM, so I don't get the laxative affect) as well as all the other recommended pills of all sizes. I had found relief enough, but still a few lingering problems.

Salt is also recommended. Sodium is washed out of our bodies due to the fluid loss. I knew this and was taking the 1/2 tsp a day that is recommended. However, I found that I need more, at least 3/4 tsp a day to stop the cramping. I love that I can stop the cramping by drinking salt water. I actually like the taste.

Now, the hate part. I started not taking my salt the night before and the morning of my weighing in because the half pound or so that I had extra because of it. I suffered through cramps at night and in the pool, during water aerobics and my light weight class. STUPID, I know.

Okay, it takes a while to sink into my brain....

Well, no more. Two days ago I weighed myself on a morning I had forgotten my salt and suffered for it.

Today, with salt aboard and no cramps last night or today,

"You can reach your toes???"

LOL, I'm sorry, I didn't think of that! I've been doing yoga on and off for decades, so even at my heaviest I was still limber.
The standing and feet against the wall methods still work, though.