Today is my 4th day on the Atkins diet. Everything has been great - I managed to lose 4 lbs, but I feel terrible. I have hot flashes, my body is shaking, I can't sleep. I don't have any energy. I feel like I am losing my mind! I can't take this anymore...
I almost cheated today ( I had a bite of an apple - Thank God I stopped myself before eating the whole thing ).
I guess the only good thing is that I lost my apetite. I am not binge eating anymore.
Could anybody tell me if I will be feeling like this through-out the whole induntion phase or is it just something temporary? How long will I be feeling like this??? What should I do? Is Atkins truly a diet for everybody?

Kamy

It's temporary, it's temporary!
Truly!
You're just going through the worst of the detoxing right now and within a day or so you will feel better.
There have been many threads saying the same; many if not most people feel rotten for the first few days. It won't last for the whole of Induction.
If you go to the Introductions: Newbies Questions forum, you'll find a thread at the top called Hot Links. In there you'll find a link to a thread called "I've Just Started Low Carbing and I'm Feeling Lousy." (Sound familiar ) There's heaps of info there and in the other "Hot Links" threads.
Good luck to you,Kamy and I hope you're feeling better soon.

Rosebud

Are you drinking enough water? Minimum 64 oz a day. It almost sounds like you are dehydrating. I mean real water, not soft drinks, tea, coffee. Also make sure you are eating enough as well.

Normally the first 5 to 7 days are the toughest to detox through. It does get much easier after that.

As far as what to do, drink lots and lots of water. Make sure you are eating 10 to 12 times your weight in calories and get some rest for the next few days.

This is scaring me. I am on my 2nd day and feel fine so far, but I keep hearing about people feeling bad days 3-7. Is it taht bad? Is there anything I can do to prevent it? This is going to be a busy weekend and week, so I don't want to feel horrible. Thanks

Hi Kimberjeb,
As Agonycat just said, drink lots of water.
I was lucky too, I didn't feel that bad just tired a lot at first.
I think it's a YMMV (your mileage may vary) thing.
Good luck with your low carbing and welcome to the forum!

Rosebud

kimberjeb and Kamy have a look at this thread - "I've just started LCing and I'm feeling lousy" - it deals with all the things that you experience in your first week of LC. Think of it as the coles notes version of what you're going through and what to do about it

Nat

Kamy,

Are you by chance hypoglacemic (chornic low blood sugar)? I know I had this problem when I first tried low carb dieting, and I do have problems with low blood sugar. How I combat it now is to eat enough vegetables so that my blood sugar will stay at a steady level. I eat small meals, but several times a day as I get hungry. You may have to test out the veggies to see which one will help you alleviate these symptoms.


Some symptoms of low blood sugar, but nowhere near all of them:

Shaking
distorted vision or feeling like you're looking from the inside out of a gold fish bowl

hunger
sweating
trouble thinking
sleepness
passing out- happens in severe cases when the blood sugar gets to low

and I think hot and cold flashes were in there too, but can't recall