Looking for friends; starting over; medical issues & weight gain
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ahjenny
Posts: 293 Member
Hello! I've been a member for a long time and I keep stopping and starting. I am trying to go low carb and gluten free again, and I would love to have some friends on here. I started again last Friday. Right now, I'm aiming for less than 50 grams of carbs a day while I work on my goal of drinking nothing but water. Once I get that goal under my belt (soon), I will be moving my carb goal to a lower amount. I'm open to suggestions on if 50 is too high or too low. I feel like I'm on my own with all this.
So, I'm a mess. I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with my digestive system (hence, gluten free) and I have a fatty liver. Luckily, I don't have diabetes, and I'm trying to prevent it. I'm waiting on results from an MRI to see if there are additional concerns (gall bladder, pancreas, etc). I went a long time without headaches or migraines and now I've been getting a low grade headache every day for a week and my first migraine of the year was on Saturday. I've been drinking about 60 ounces of water through the day, which is a lot more than I was drinking.
Lastly, I am gaining weight. Not by much, but a few pounds since Friday (the 3rd). Is that normal for changing to lower carb and drinking more water? I don't feel swollen and I'm not sure if I'm bloated since my stomach area is all messed up. I look forward to meeting new friends on here, and I hope I wasn't too 'TMI' with my post.
So, I'm a mess. I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with my digestive system (hence, gluten free) and I have a fatty liver. Luckily, I don't have diabetes, and I'm trying to prevent it. I'm waiting on results from an MRI to see if there are additional concerns (gall bladder, pancreas, etc). I went a long time without headaches or migraines and now I've been getting a low grade headache every day for a week and my first migraine of the year was on Saturday. I've been drinking about 60 ounces of water through the day, which is a lot more than I was drinking.
Lastly, I am gaining weight. Not by much, but a few pounds since Friday (the 3rd). Is that normal for changing to lower carb and drinking more water? I don't feel swollen and I'm not sure if I'm bloated since my stomach area is all messed up. I look forward to meeting new friends on here, and I hope I wasn't too 'TMI' with my post.
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Replies
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HI Jenny, welcome. Regarding the headaches, look at the launchpad for electrolytes. You need to keep an eye on sodium in particular. Good luck with the next stage of your keto journey.
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Welcome back.
I agree that your headache could be due to low electrolytes. When you cut carbs your insulin goes down, and it is insulin that causes you to hold onto water and salts. When one starts low carb, they typically flush a lot of electrolytes from the body and need to replace the lost sodium. Most need 3 to 5+ g of sodium per day. There's 2.3g of sodium in a teaspoon of salt. If you aren't getting enough you might get fatigued, headaches, muscle aches, nausea and BM issues.
Some gain weight before losing when they switch diets. It's almost like the body needs some time to heal before dropping weight. As long as you are eating at a deficit, I'm sure the weight will eventually start coming off. ... It's just that waiting is no fun.2 -
Bumping for you. Busy busy around here.2
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Thank you for the recommendation on electrolytes. I took some potassium and magnesium last night and I think it helped a little. I'm going to take more tonight and try to get my levels up. I get a lot of sodium, so hopefully that's not the issue, but I am going to start tracking it.
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Check out this documentary series replaying this weekend. I bet somehow that something will resonate with you. thethyroidsecret.com/replay/2
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Just an FYI: TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN BE LIFE THREATENING. LETHAL. FATAL. Google it.7
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Just an FYI: TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN BE LIFE THREATENING. LETHAL. FATAL. Google it.
So much this!! I was a med tech in a facility for the elderly in another life. This is a huge issue and personally I don't touch it. I just drink/eat salt. I don't even take that Nu Salt or the light salt. Just sea salt!
Welcome!4 -
If I add potassium, my body will dump magnesium. I obviously get enough from food... Magnesium is what's super depleted in our crops due to lack of field rotations/rests, addition of pesticides/chemicals, GMO's, etc. Unless you are eating all organic and grassfed foods, you are likely majorly deficient in magnesium and other nutrients for these same reasons. The only time I add lite salt into anything is when I'm sweating heavily, long outdoor exertions (moving in August, etc.), and/or excessive bouts of diarrhea.
TL;DR Most don't need to supp potassium, just magnesium and sodium.1 -
Whenever you change your diet (reduce carbs, sugar, caffeine, etc.) you can expect change in your body such as headaches, diarrhea, etc. It's kind of like changing the thermostat in a cold room. The heater is going to have to work for a while before it gets to the new temperature.1
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Thank you for the recommendation on electrolytes. I took some potassium and magnesium last night and I think it helped a little. I'm going to take more tonight and try to get my levels up. I get a lot of sodium, so hopefully that's not the issue, but I am going to start tracking it.
Define a lot...
If it's less than 3000mg, it's not even the very minimum of what you need.
A lot when you're low carb would be considered somewhere over 8000mg or more.
You NEED to replace sodium on a daily basis at no less than 3000mg. Probably closer to 5000mg though.
The more water you drink, the more sodium you need. Drinking a lot of water will cause further sodium loss. You probably really do need about 5000mg if you're drinking a lot of water.
The weight gain, assuming you haven't been eating too much or eating too often, is also likely due to your body holding all the water you're drinking because it's desperate to not lose any more sodium and potassium.
At this point, you probably did lose potassium too, but I still honestly wouldn't supplement it beyond a few dashes of lite salt a day at most.
Sodium is the primary electrolyte to be concerned about. Then it's magnesium, which is optional but a good idea to supplement, then it's its potassium which is best not to supplement unless you've been tested and are in fact deficient.
Sodium is NOT optional.
Please read the FAQ's about electrolyte needs.
There's also several recent posts from others that just learned this lesson. Which is a daily topic of discussion around here. 2 -
Here's one recent discussion where low sodium was the culprit
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10523100/you-are-100-correct#latest1
