Bit of help please??..Fed up already!!

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gel91
gel91 Posts: 309
in Health and Weight Loss
ugh..it's been around a week, eating better and less

i'm used to having a take away maybe 3-4 times a week? (bad i know) and atleast 4 cans of diet coke a day. i always felt rubbish so i decided to loose some weight and change my eating habbits..

i'm a little over a week into it and i feel even worse than then. for the first 3 days i had a headache from giving up pop which was fine..cruised through it, had 1 day feeling OK and now im 10x worse than before. i feel ill, my head is constantly hurting, ive no energy, i'm just craving something greasy because i know it'll fix me straight away. i'll feel better.

i thought i was meant to feel better on a health kick, i expected a few days of feeling horrible but it's just making me really short tempered now i cant bring myself to barely move i've that little energy. is this right??..

nice food, plenty of water, no tummy bugs, had enough sleep over the weekend. blah!

please please, someone tell me if this will go soon or if its just not worth it anymore, thanks.

o and i ain't even lost half a pound yet, i ain't excersied for a few days but for the first 4 i did. my estimated is 2lb a week? :/
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Replies

  • msmith5251s
    msmith5251s Posts: 80
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    When I first started healthy eating I got headaches too.
    I hope they get better, mine did with time. :[
  • Sarah_uk
    Sarah_uk Posts: 209
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    It sounds like your body is just getting used to the change? I'm sure it'll get easier. And sometimes it takes some time to lose weight. But don't give up, sounds like you're already eating much healthier. How much water are you drinking? Are you eating snacks in between meals aswell? How many calories is your goal? Do you need to lose a lot of weight to get to the healthy BMI range? Lots of questions lol,sorry about that.
  • abbie017
    abbie017 Posts: 410
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    You're probably suffering from caffeine withdrawal, since it is an addictive substance. Your body is used to so much caffeine, and you just quit cold turkey.
  • gdsalce
    gdsalce Posts: 1 Member
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    Dont' give up. It's all worth it.
  • jacksamjack
    jacksamjack Posts: 146 Member
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    Of course it is worth it!! If you decided to lose weight for you, then you did it for all the right reasons!! Your body is just busy getting rid of an accumulation of the bad foods you have been putting into it, once that cleaning process is through you will feel utterly amazing!! Open up your diary so that everyone on the site can see what you are eating now and give you more support.

    Good luck with it - if it was easy then no-one would be overweight!! You are worth all the effort you are putting into this. :flowerforyou:
  • Saelina
    Saelina Posts: 129 Member
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    might want to try upping your calories a bit. set it to a half pound a week until you get used to it and the headaches pass. baby steps worked for me.
  • lt_mrcook
    lt_mrcook Posts: 389 Member
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    Try brewing some green tea but don't add ANY sweeteners. It has about 1/4 the caffeine of coffee, so it'll give you a little. Plus it's good for weight loss.

    Also, the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas are incrediblly addictive, and they mess with your brain. So that might be contributing to your headache issue too.

    Chage is always difficult. We humans are creatures of habit, and our body is great at adapting and getting comfortable. You just put your body through a MAJOR shock, so give it a little time and it will catch up.
  • ceschwartz
    ceschwartz Posts: 240 Member
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    Make sure you are getting enough healthy fats. A little dark chocolate, avocado, or peanut butter might help. Hard to tell without look at your diary. Otherwise, you might just be getting use to the change like others said. It takes time for your body to reprogram. Just stick with it. If it gets really bad, it's okay to lose just a pound a week. Better to make small changes and just stick with them over time.
  • smw0130
    smw0130 Posts: 15
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    Please don't be discouraged! The trick to dieting and eating healthier is to add exercise. I know it may feel like you have no energy because you feel yucky, but start exercising atleast 30 mins a day, and you will LOVE how your attitude and confidence changes. You'll see changes in yourself physically and mentally, and then eventually on the scale. Diets only work along with exercise; they go hand in hand. I hope this helps and I hope you feel better soon! Keep it up, we are all here to help!!
  • Emily4H
    Emily4H Posts: 170
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    Make sure you get pleanty of water, sometimes if you dont get enough water you can get headaches and feel bad. Dehydration could be a problem. Also - I used to drink crazy amounts of diet coke a day (way more than you) even my doctors said to ease off of it, its really hard to just stop. you can do this - it is totally worth it. :flowerforyou:
  • lildietitian
    lildietitian Posts: 45 Member
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    I agree with everyone that has already posted...

    Going from 4 cans of soda a day to none, your body is going through some major withdrawals. Plus now that there isn't a stady flow of toxins (artificial sweetners, MSG, bad fats, etc) the stored toxins are coming out. Good idea to keep the water going to flush your system out. When craving a caffeine fix try the green tea suggestion! Or if you're craving the carbonation, try soda water with lemons.

    The weight will come off when your body has adjusted... be sure to be eating healthy calories and enough. Eat back your exercise calories otherwise your body will store anything that it takes in because it doesn't know when it'll get the next meal. Believe me, I've seen it happen with myself, I was barely eating anything because I was afraid of the calories but then I was so hungry and I focused on healthy foods and ate when I was hungry I lost 2 lbs that week!

    Stick with it... you will feel better soon!! :happy:
  • AGHP
    AGHP Posts: 6
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    Hang in there! If you keep up with your healthier eating and stay active you will see results......do not get to frustrated, it will take time to loose weight, remember we don't gain weight overnight so it will not come off overnight. ( I wish) As for your headaches, I would guess it is from your soda withdrawl...my sister had the same issue so she would treat herself to a diet coke once a week. I remember when I started running I was sick for like two weeks. ( sore throat, cold symptoms ) My general doctor suggested I keep up with taking a multi vitamin. He also told my B-12 supplement would help with my energy. Hope theses suggestions help get you through. Good luck!
  • hemlock2010
    hemlock2010 Posts: 422 Member
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    As a previous poster said, the sick, headachy feeling is caffeine withdrawal. If you're still feeling crummy today, drink one can of diet coke. My bet is that withing about an hour all your worst symptoms will go away.

    But dehydration may also be a factor in the headachy, icky feeling. If you went from 4 cans of diet coke to nothing, then you're down a lot of fluid. Remember that you need to keep your water intake high to stay hydrated.

    About the other things (it's been a whole week and you haven't lost anything)--welcome to the unpredictable nature of the human body. Some people lose six pounds or more the first week and some people don't lose anything. One factor is that with that level of caffeine intake, you probably were not retaining any water. As soon as you quit the caffeine, you may have started retaining water. That could account for a pound or two. Also, it just sometimes takes a while for weight to start coming off. Be patient.

    And finally, several recent articles in Science News have shown that caffeine has genuine benefits for the body. You might object to diet soda b/c of it's sodium content or because of concerns about the relationship between artificial sweeteners and disordered hunger signals, but caffeine itself probably isn't harmful and might be beneficial.
  • gel91
    gel91 Posts: 309
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    Thank you for all your replies!!

    Think you just stopped me reaching for the bacon!! :) It's so hard feeling like this, i expected the symptoms to be over by now, i've alot of weight to loose around 50lb just for my own satisfaction and then probably more depending on how I look then.

    I'm always giving into dieting but this time i wanna be so determined so i'll stick at it and hope this passes so i dont have to go through it again!

    oh and i am drinking a 1.5L bottle of water a day, with the odd glass of milk/pure orange juice

    thank you any more advice is highly welcome :)
  • gemmie_c
    gemmie_c Posts: 129 Member
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    I feel your pain. I had a bad weekend-well four days-I put on 2lbs because if it. As a result of being super healthy and going on a binge I have been getting headaches for the past two days. I'm keeping myself really high on water to get rid of the waste.

    It is hard, but having lost a fair bit of weight myself, it's best just to stick with it. You won't regret it-for me it's never easy but the results are so worth the effort.

    Keep strong-add me if you want to moan about headaches etc. :)
  • showse1
    showse1 Posts: 1
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    Just wanted to let you know that I gave up pop and juice and just drink water, and lost 5 pounds in a month, that was before I joined and after a few weeks i had a sip of coke and thought it tasted absolutely gross.Keep it up! You will feel better soon:)
  • lildietitian
    lildietitian Posts: 45 Member
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    And finally, several recent articles in Science News have shown that caffeine has genuine benefits for the body. You might object to diet soda b/c of it's sodium content or because of concerns about the relationship between artificial sweeteners and disordered hunger signals, but caffeine itself probably isn't harmful and might be beneficial.

    It has been found that caffeine can be beneficial but only in very high doses. What an average person drinks in a day is not really all that beneficial in the sense of benefiting the body.

    The artificial sweeteners will actually make you hungrier because your brain reads the sweet as a higher calorie intake but then once it is metabolized there is no calories and the body will start to crave more calories because you tricked it.
  • pdpmcm1980
    pdpmcm1980 Posts: 18 Member
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    Please keep at it and don't lose heart. I'm in my second week of MFP and like you, enjoy my takeaways. I have completely overhauled what I eat and feel so much better for it now, far less sluggish and bloated. It was hard in the first few days, I was feeling ill due to the drop in calories, from the junk I was eating before, but my body soon adjusted and I feel good now. I did have a takeaway at the weekend (all planned and within my allowance) and I felt like poop afterwards, really bloated, heavy and my stomach was making horried noises all evening. So our bodies are adapting and changing to a new diet and we'll start reaping the benefits of that soon! :)
  • caroltina
    caroltina Posts: 453 Member
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    Don't give up, it will ease and it will be worth it, I decided to make a change 2years ago, my daughter came home and said"mammy cydney says your the fattest mammy in our class" and I knew this was truth, 2 years and 5 stone on I am still at it, I'm not gonna say everyday is a breeze, and we all fall off the wagon from time to time. I now train at the gym 5 nights a week, feel great, look better! And do amazing things with my eight year old, it is worth every bit of pain! Not bad for my starting weight of 21st 8lb, at 5ft4. Goog luck and feel free to add me
  • cammers74
    cammers74 Posts: 45
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    Looks like you've had some great support here, but one other thing I would say - no matter how tired / lethargic you are, try and do a little exercise. Even if its just a walk round the park, the more you exercise, the more energetic you'll feel! Just make sure you are drinking plenty of water. I usually aim for 2ltrs, more if Im exercising lots!

    Good luck, you will get there! :)

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