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Weight loss and leg charley horses ( cramps)

normanjoss
normanjoss Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 1 week into My Fitness Pal and have had leg cramps 3 nights in a row during my sleep (back and sides of thigh). Anyone else experienced this and any help here.
Is there any link between weight loss and leg spasms?
Thanks

Replies

  • mrmota70
    mrmota70 Posts: 533 Member
    hydrate hydrate hydrate.. also be aware of other foods that you may have dropped. If exercise is also just recently introduced then soreness will be often. Don't try to do it all. Start slow but again make sure your dinking plenty of water.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    normanjoss wrote: »
    I'm 1 week into My Fitness Pal and have had leg cramps 3 nights in a row during my sleep (back and sides of thigh). Anyone else experienced this and any help here.
    Is there any link between weight loss and leg spasms?
    Thanks

    This happened when I first started diet and exercise...it wasn't so much the dieting as it was that I cut sodium substantially. On top of that I was exercising and sweating out even more sodium, leaving me electrolyte deficient. After a bit, it was apparent that reducing sodium was doing nothing for my hypertension and only causing more problems, so I stopped trying to do things to specifically reduce my sodium intake and at normally. That seemed to help, but I would still get the occasionally so I started taking a magnesium supplement at night before bed and haven't had them since. I eat quite a few high potassium foods, so that wasn't really an issue...for me it was sodium and magnesium.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    To lose weight, you want to be the tortoise not the hare.

    Doing too much exercise too quickly, beyond what your legs are used to, is a really common cause of muscle spasms. So is dehydration, and not having enough electrolytes which most people gay from salty foods. A lot of people, when they diet, they start doing a lot of exercise, cut back on salt, and drink a ton of water which paradoxically dilutes the electrolyte content in your blood.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    There isn't a link between cramps and weight loss but there is between cramps and dehydration or electrolytes being out of wack...so I'd get that checked. Proper balance between electrolytes is essential for a ton of your bodily functions.

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