Hi, from Northern England

[jaykay]

Hi, I'm Jaykay, live in the North of England. I'm really new to all this (low carbing and forums) so i hope I've found the right place to introduce myself - read the instructions and still didn't understand!
Low carbing to lose weight but lllso because I've reactive hypoglycaemia which is getting worse and since type II diabetes runs in the family.....
I'm an active mountaineer, haven't quite worked out how to combine lowcarbing with mountain climbing or biking as no energy at the moment - maybe that'll get better?

[razzle]

hi Jaykay. I live near the Cascade Mts and hike a lot on LC. The energy lowering effect is just part of the adjustment to the new way of eating. Your body is used to working off glycogen and carb-provided glucose... now it's figuring out how to run on ketones and turn protein into glucose through a process called gluceneogenesis. (I hope I have all those terms right and spelled correctly!) It takes a week or two for that to happen, so just hang in there, and your energy levels may be back to normal or even better than normal.

I've run 10K on 30 grams of carbs per day and hike a lot in the summer. As a matter of fact, since I've been working hard on weightlifting, I've added a lot of lower body muscle mass and get up the hills with much better speed and not very winded because of that. Muscles build quickly on a higher-protein way of eating.

welcome to the board!

[mbschlgr]

The energy thing will improve! I got real tired at first, but the wamo the energy some days is unstoppable!!!

I went thru the shakes, headache, fatigue and within a few weeks all changed. The shakes and headache were only a couple days as I went thru withdrawal. The fatigue was a couple weeks. As soon as my body kicked in and started to burn it's fat stores for energy I was no longer exhausted. At first your body slows down, especially if you have ever been a yo yo dieter, your natural defenses kick in to "hang on here we go again", your metabolism slows down, even water retention. It then lets go and starts to feel better!

[jaykay]

Thanks for the reassurance, it really helps. Glad to hear other people still manage in the mountains with LC and that the weak and feeble feeling goes away. This is such a nice thing, being able to talk to folk across the other side of the ocean about the same things that bother me! Really appreciate the replies guys

[LittleAnne]

Hi JayKay and now a welcome from a fellow UK ite. Not from your part of the country, but I enjoy visiting my friend in Lancaster and going up to the lakes and into the Dales, etc.

Low carbing is great and will stop type II diabetes getting to you, provided you change your way of life for good. I've been living this lifestyle for 9 months now and look forward to getting my blood results in a couple of weeks time. I have nothing to start from, but hope to have good results anyway.

From a low base I started going to the gym a couple of months after beginning low carbing and have had no difficulties with energy. I just needed to build up from a very low base.

Why not keep a journal so you can keep track of your progress, but also so that others can drop in and visit you. There are an increasing number of UK members on this site and there is also a UK forum here too, under support groups.

Looking forward to hearing more from you.