Hello everyone! My name is Debbie and I started low carbing on 1-15-07. To date I have lost 9 pounds and would like to lose 15 more. I was not severely over weight, just sluggish and that belly hanging over the belt thing had me so mad at myself! I have always been thin, but since I turned 30, 17 years ago, the pounds have slowly been creeping on...and pretty fast in the last year. I feel that I am well into ketosis...with a few problems. I hardly have an appetite...I have to force myself to eat, I am weak and my chest feels really heavy with pain taking deep breaths. I am going to make an appointment on Monday to get checked out...I am sure the Dr. is going to say it is the diet, and urge me to stop...but I don't want those pounds to come back on and I know they will if I continue to eat carbs. Yesterday I ate an egg with cheese about mid morning (I am not an early breakfast person), 1/2 cup of regular cottage cheese for lunch, 3 skinless fried chicken strips and green beans for supper and a no sugar added ice cream bar for dessert. A friend said maybe I was not getting enough calories...I am bumfuzzled really...I thought 3 weeks into this, I would feel better...Thank God the headaches are gone tho! My knees killed me before I started and now don't hurt at all! That is one thing I am so proud of!!! Glad to have found this place...I will dive in and see what all good info I can soak up!!!

I'm not from Alabama, but I offer you a warm welcome and good wishes, anyway!

Hello, Alabama. Welcome aboard.

I have to agree with your friend. Not enough calories. You can boost your energy by making sure to eat enough fat. How about a green salad with full-fat dressing on it? How about some tuna with mayo? Even though you don't "feel like eating" your body needs the fuel. Protein, fat, and veggies. So...please reconsider your menus and EAT MORE.

Many of us use Fitday.com or some other tracker to make sure we're getting enough food in the right categories.

The no-sugar ice cream bar might be a carb culprit. Did you check the label?

Come back and let us know how it goes.

The low carb ice cream bar contains sugar alcohols...do you count those as carbs?

Tonight we ate out so I had some pulled pork bar-b-que with no sauce and a green salad with vinegar & oil salad dressing...It was pretty good but could not eat it all.

Hey from South Alabama!!!!

I'm originally from Livingston, AL, but migrated south to the Gulf Shores area about 10 years ago. Still not warm enough!!

You really should be eating more.

Let us know what the doctor says. You could have some other problem not related to your diet. Not wanting to scare you, but my mom had a clot in her lungs that caused her to not be able to take deep breaths/ have pain when she tried, and to be very weak. Then again, I had those same symptoms, with the addition of coughing, when I had severe bronchitis. Please get yourself checked out, and please let us know how you are!!

Aloha Bama folks (North and South!)

Hope you guys are staying warm over there. Welcome to the group, there's lots of wonderful support here. good luck!!!

There's a TON of discussion about sugar alcohols among LCers everywhere. For many people, they act just like sugar--not only as calories, but also as addictive prompts. For others, no problem.

My personal opinion: in the early phases of LC, avoid them. If you need a sweetener, Splenda in small quantities.

But I still think you should eat more real food, especially green stuff and a bit more fat.

Welcome to the forums, Bama-Gammy.

Many people love the appetite supression - me included (in the beginning). I am the same as you in terms of forcing myself to eat and here it is 8 months later (acutally, 8 months ago today). Food has no appeal to me whatsoever! Great job so far! Jill

So how do you make yourself eat? Here it is 9:30 in the morning and I am almost nauseated thinking of going in the kitchen and looking for something I can eat...arghhh! Still need to call the Dr. to schedule a check up too...hmmm...

Dr. appointment tomorrow afternoon...I will check back and let ya'll know what he says...

Hey I lived in Gulf Shores for three years from 1995 to 1998....weathered several hurricanes too! We moved 9 days before Opal hit down there...that was fun! I went to the Dr. today...he said it was nothing related to the diet and that my lungs sounded clear. After further examination, he said that I had inflammation in the connective cartilage that connects the ribs to the breast bone and that it was common in women. He said low carb was a good way to eat and patted me on the back for the weight I had lost. So hopefully with meds this will clear up!

What did he call it? I had something called costacondritis or something like that once, they described it the in a similar way, inflamation of the cartilage between the ribs. I felt like someone had crushed my ribcage with a baseball bat. Man that hurt!!

Glad you got a great doctor!! While there are still a lot of doctors out there that don't have a clue about what this diet really does, more and more of them are coming around every day.

We moved down to gulf shores in 96. I've been through Danny, Georges, A few small ones that I can't remember their names, and a few biggies like Ivan and Katrina. Ivan demolished us, we were far enough out from katrina that what hit us was more Cat 1 storm than anything else. Even with the Hurricanes, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!! My aunt moved down here the week Opal hit. She got all her stuff in her house, then hightailed it back to York until it was over. She kept thinking, Oh Crap, What have I done????? She's like me, atleast you get a couple weeks warning there's a hurricane coming. Tornadoes will hit you in the middle of the night and you won't even see them coming!!

Yep, I have the same thing as you had...how long did yours last? It is very painful. And I miss Gulf Shores like crazy! Sand between my toes...ahhhhh!!!