Headache, Dizzy, Anxiety... from reducing calories??

metamorphosis17

Thanks for posting, I have never had anxiety and have been feeling the same thing. Can't wait for it to stop glad to know I am not alone!

unFATuated

Glad you're feeling better. It really does sound like you're eating too few calories though. Can we convince you to up them to at least 1500 (given your BMR is over 1700) for now? You won't necessarily lose weight quickly eating fewer calories, and if you plateau you really have no way to safely reduce calories further.

Healthy67Chick

I also had that happen to me when I was on a clean eating diet that didn't count calories. I ate 6 small meals a day and i was never hungry. I went to the doctor because I was experiencing the same symptoms as you. I showed the doctor my eating plan and she told me that I could not eat any healthier than that but to make sure I was eating at least 1200 calories a day. I got home and added up the calories and it was only totalling 850 - 900 per day. I tried my best to up my calories with healthy foods but I just could not eat that much. As time went on my blood pressure started going crazy. It would go high upon standing and low when I would lay down. The first doctor that I went to put me on BP medicine but told me that I could possibly pass out if my BP went too low, but not to worry I would come back. I thought she was crazy so I got another opinion. The next doctor thought it was just anxiety and wanted me to take antidepressants and I told her NO because the only thing I was really stressed about was what was going on with my body and no one seem to know what was going on. I really thought I was going to die. So I went to another doctor ( I know this sounds crazy) but he sent me to a nephrologist (someone that spealizes in BP issues). He had me to take a very low dose water pill. The very first pill made my heart have even more flutters so he took me off of that because he said that was a sign that my potassium levels were too low. So long story short - I went back to eating whatever and all of my symptoms went away. The down side to this is that I did gain all of my weight back plus 5 lbs. Since then, my sister told me about myfitnesspal. So here I am trying to figure out what works for me but I am definitely making sure that I eat atleast 1200 net calories and get enough potassium each day. My point for telling you all of this is not only could your situation be low calories or low sugar levels, it possibly could be low potassium. Sorry this was so long and detailed but maybe my awful experience with low calories can help you or someone else here.

melindafritz1976

eat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you aren't eating enough

melindafritz1976

ya 1220 is way to few

EmmaOnTrack

Same thing happened to me when I cut out alcohol - you might very well be in detox (although it may also be the reduction in carbs and/or not eating enough as others have said).

sally_jeffswife

If you are drinking diet drinks that contain aspartame that could be why you are getting headaches. And you could be dehydrated and need more water. Is possible too that your body is detoxing if you had been drinking quite a bit you might still be going thru some of that.

mkcmurphy

This happened to me, too. The amount of calories that I dropped to fit the mfp suggestion of 1 lb per week was too dramatic for me. If I had it to do over so as to be both safe and sane (don't want to be driving or at the top of the steps with these things), then I would have one .5 per week for a few weeks, judged my response, and then, if okay, droppped to 1 lb per week. Whatever you choose, safety and health are most important. Weight loss is supposed to be slow and steady anyway.

Good luck!

ContraryMaryMary

The dizziness can also come from dehydration. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in water each day.

Um, so a litre of water weighs a kilo and I weigh 66kg so you're saying I should drink 33 litres of water a day? - that's 132 glasses of water, making me short by about 127. I'm pretty sure drinking that much is physically impossible. Eight glasses (2 litres) per day is the recommended amount and even that's up for debate.

aetzkorn14

The dizziness can also come from dehydration. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in water each day.

Um, so a litre of water weighs a kilo and I weigh 66kg so you're saying I should drink 33 litres of water a day? - that's 132 glasses of water, making me short by about 127. I'm pretty sure drinking that much is physically impossible. Eight glasses (2 litres) per day is the recommended amount and even that's up for debate.

agreed....I try to get in a gallon a day but never make it I usually get in 3 liters but I eat a lot of fruit so I know I am getting plenty of liquid without drowning myself.

HefferSprint

Be careful about taking potassium and BP meds together. My mother did that and her kidneys started going downhill. She was nearing the point of needing dialysis, and nobody could figure out why her kidneys were failing. Then she went to a new doctor who made the connection and when she stopped the potassium, her kidneys returned to normal.

She never needed potassium supplements. Just took a bunch of vitamins because of what a relative told her to take.

jotakesabreak

I also had something similar about 5 weeks ago. Doctors visit and low blood sugar. Now I just have more suagr but included in my calorie intake.

TinStarBGrade

Half your bodyweight in water a day? That's a crapload of water!

1princesswarrior

The dizziness can also come from dehydration. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in water each day.

Um, so a litre of water weighs a kilo and I weigh 66kg so you're saying I should drink 33 litres of water a day? - that's 132 glasses of water, making me short by about 127. I'm pretty sure drinking that much is physically impossible. Eight glasses (2 litres) per day is the recommended amount and even that's up for debate.

I'm not real good at the metric system but you should drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. So for you 2 litres is about right. I aim for 1 gallon of water a day, or 3.75 liters, or 16 glasses but I am very active and sweat a lot.

mommy3457

I did the same thing once. I ate very clean and only 1200 calories. I got sick to my stomach. You have to eat more. Find out your TDEE and minus 15-20%.

WhiteRabbit1313

1. I've done Atkins induction and the weird, dizzy feeling is from the lack of carbs. This is just an adjustment for your body--it's detoxing from the sugar and simple carbs and learning to convert fat and protein as energy.

2. Others made a good point on the abrupt change in alcohol consumption, which is basically the same as the detoxing I just mentioned.

3. One thing that always went wrong for me when I went on low calorie diets is that I didn't eat enough fat. If you do low carb, you NEED fat. Not a lot, just don't think you can't have cheese or meat in regular serving sizes, within your calorie budget. Your body will depend on these components for energy. Fat also increases the ability to be satiated sooner, so you eat less (in theory, and in practice, in my case).

4. Others mentioned food combining: YES! If you eat carbs, even veggies, eat a fat/protein source, also. This will help the carbs to be metabolized slower and keep you from having spikes and withdrawals in your blood sugar. This will increase satiety, also, and keep the irritability at bay.

5. I did 1200 calories at first and was ravenous by day 3, despite the amount of fat/protein I was eating. I upped my calories to 1300 and have found that to be appropriate for my sanity and satiety.

So, yeah...eating well-balanced, appropriate portioned meals is the key to this. Who knew? ;-)

cmriverside

The dizziness can also come from dehydration. You should be drinking 1/2 your body weight in water each day.

Um, so a litre of water weighs a kilo and I weigh 66kg so you're saying I should drink 33 litres of water a day? - that's 132 glasses of water, making me short by about 127. I'm pretty sure drinking that much is physically impossible. Eight glasses (2 litres) per day is the recommended amount and even that's up for debate.

agreed....I try to get in a gallon a day but never make it I usually get in 3 liters but I eat a lot of fruit so I know I am getting plenty of liquid without drowning myself.

She just phrased it wrong. The rule of thumb she is referring to says, "Drink half your weight in ounces of water per day" ...so if you weigh 200lbs, drink 100 ounces of water per day.

Be careful about taking potassium and BP meds together. My mother did that and her kidneys started going downhill. She was nearing the point of needing dialysis, and nobody could figure out why her kidneys were failing. Then she went to a new doctor who made the connection and when she stopped the potassium, her kidneys returned to normal.

She never needed potassium supplements. Just took a bunch of vitamins because of what a relative told her to take.

Agreed, do not supplement Potassium unless it is under a doctor's supervision. Potassium is an important electrolyte that can quickly throw your electrolytes off balance if you supplement any more than what is in a normal multivitamin.

Potassium deficiency is a rare event in developed countries. It isn't even a required nutrient on labeling. If you are getting sufficient fruit or vegetables (like 3- 5 servings a day) you're well within acceptable limits. Even dairy and meat contain a good amount of Potassium. The database won't reflect this because Potassium isn't generally entered into the food database by members.


*edit because someone is going to jump on my kilo reference. So I fixed that. :grumble: