Does anyone else get headaches while dieting?
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raekrist7022
Posts: 10 Member
Hello!
I've been struggling with dieting for a long time as whenever I start I always get crippling headaches.
Usually if I can push through and continue with my diet the headaches stop after a few weeks.
But it's just getting to that point that I struggle with.
What are these headaches? Sugar/carb withdrawals?
Does anyone else get this?
I've been struggling with dieting for a long time as whenever I start I always get crippling headaches.
Usually if I can push through and continue with my diet the headaches stop after a few weeks.
But it's just getting to that point that I struggle with.
What are these headaches? Sugar/carb withdrawals?
Does anyone else get this?
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Replies
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I only get headaches from “dieting” if I am not eating enough or am consuming less caffeine than normal.
13 -
Are you drastically cutting back on caffeine? Some people cut out soda as part of “dieting” and don’t replace that caffeine with diet or something else and that sudden drop can cause brutal headaches. Short of that you could be cutting calories overall to steep and fast10
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Healthy weightloss should make you feel better, not worse.
I don't think you can get withdrawal symptoms from cutting sugar/carbs.
It could be caffeine withdrawals, or eating too little, or dehydration.
Have you cut out cola drinks or coffee?
What's your calorie target, and are you hitting it?
If you're going keto, are you eating more salt?8 -
Caffeine withdrawal possibly?
And of course you knew you'd be asked this question, are you drinking enough water?
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My calorie goal is 1500. I have never drunk coffee, but I have gone from 2 cups of tea to one cup of tea a day but I didn't think there was a lot of caffeine in that?
I have cut out chocolates, could that be a cause?
I have always had this problem for as long as I can remember when trying to diet.1 -
Oh and yes I always drink plenty of water, no matter how much I drink I will still get the headache around noon and it will just get worse and worse until I go to bed and sleep it off. Then it repeats the next day for a few weeks.0
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The next question is going to be us figuring out if 1500 is to low a target or not. We will need your stats and goal for weight loss per week2
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I am 152lbs and 5ft 4, female. I intended to lose 1lb a week. Goal being 126lbs.0
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Are there any foods you eat when calorie-restricting that you don't otherwise normally eat? (I'm wondering about food sensitivity/allegy as a possibility.)
Are there any foods or drinks you almost always have normally, that you cut out entirely while calorie restricting?
Do you sharply cut fat intake when you cut calories, to a level lower than 0.3-0.4g of a healthy goal weight? (Too-low fat doesn't usually cause headaches but I can think of some cascading dominos that could end up there.)
Have you considered cutting calories gradually as a strategy, to see if that helps? Maybe log what you'd normally eat to start, then cut 50-100 every day or two until you get to your actual calorie goal? This might give you some clues about what changes or foods are causing the effect, or help avoid it via taper if it's an adaptation problem.10 -
Had to make some assumptions that your about 30 and lightly active so keep that in mind but base calculations put you closer to 1600. These are just baselines and anyone can be an outlier and maybe more active..
my recommendation is to up to at least 1700 and see if headaches go away. You’ll probably still lose at a great rate. Being miserable is not sustainable
ETA that’s 1700 tdee meaning it includes any exercise. I’m not a fan of the NEAT method and eating back exercise calories and figuring that out every day4 -
Almost all correct but I'm 26. I'm not eating anything new, but I have eliminated bread and all chocolates.
I think you're right and I will have to try to cut down gradually as this happens to me every time and I can't keep up with it as the headaches get too debilitating.
I will up my calorie intake to 1700 tomorrow and see if it makes a difference.5 -
raekrist7022 wrote: »Almost all correct but I'm 26. I'm not eating anything new, but I have eliminated bread and all chocolates.
I think you're right and I will have to try to cut down gradually as this happens to me every time and I can't keep up with it as the headaches get too debilitating.
I will up my calorie intake to 1700 tomorrow and see if it makes a difference.
Good luck!!0 -
You mentioned carbs and sugar; are you restricting those above and beyond your other calories? If you’re quite low-carb it could be keto flu, which feels like a hangover. You can counteract that replenishing your electrolytes and getting more salt in your diet.8
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I'd definitely say sugar is drastically reduced. And carbs yes, but not as much as the sugar. It does feel like a hangover!!0
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When I lower my carb intake and skip out on my coffee, I tend to get a headache.
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raekrist7022 wrote: »I'd definitely say sugar is drastically reduced. And carbs yes, but not as much as the sugar. It does feel like a hangover!!
What is your carb count, your fibre amount, and sodium intake? I am also wondering about keto flu.2 -
Are you logging your food intake? Are you exercising a lot without eating back exercise calories?3
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There is still caffeine in chocolate. I'm a migraineur, and I know many who will only eat chocolate when they get a migraine because of the caffeine in it will help take the headache away. I'm not saying you have migraines, I'm just saying that stopping all the chocolate could be triggering a part of your headaches. Part of a caffeine withdraw.
Hope you feel better soon.2 -
I do suffer from migraines occasionally so have always just assumed that it's something to do with lack of sugar that's triggered it whenever I diet but as many people have mentioned perhaps it's caffeine. Have just had to sleep for 2 hours as the headache got so bad! Certainly does not make it easy.
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FlyingMolly wrote: »You mentioned carbs and sugar; are you restricting those above and beyond your other calories? If you’re quite low-carb it could be keto flu, which feels like a hangover. You can counteract that replenishing your electrolytes and getting more salt in your diet.
That's a potentially useful unsight! Not being a keto-er, that ppossibility didn't occur to me.2
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