I'm worried! - Has Atkins given me heart disease?
 

I am a little worried here. I have been following Atkins since Sept.10, I am eating enough amount of protein, not feeling hungry at all... that's one of the things I love about Atkins, not feeling hunger. I am happy about my weight loss so far.

The thing is, during the last 2 days while exercising at the gym I felt dizzy and needed to slow down my pace (I always used to go to a certain same pace) and while taking my shower yesterday at the gym I had to get out of it I thought I was going to faint. I am always eating a big breakfast before going to the gym, so it is not a lack of food intake. I also feel very weak from time to time.

Why is that? Am I eating too much fat? Is my body craving carbs so bad that I am ready to pass out? Is it sign of a heart disease? As far as my medical history, my cholesterol and blood-pressure are normal. I am physically healthy (so I thought!). Is Atkins making me sick in some way? What can be happening?

Thanks!

How many carbs are you eating a day?

And what do you mean by "big breakfast" like what do you eat exactly? You shouldn't eat too much that you feel full and bloated before exercising...That would make you feel like hell right there...


As for only being on Atkins since September 10th. No it's not heart disease, it's just carb withdrawl symptoms. Which is normal for the first 2 weeks.

But you should tell us what a typical day of eating is so we could be able to help ya more...

Hi there Musika,

Relax, you're doing just fine. No whiff of heart disease.

Are you taking any supplements? Because faintness and dizziness are classic signs of low potassium.

When we begin low carbing, we have a natural diuresis (lose more water) and this diuresis tends to remove potassium with it. Supplementing with potassium will quickly remove that awful dizziness.
You can either buy potassium tablets - usually about 100mg - at either a pharmacy or health food shop, or you can use a potassium salt such as Nu Salt or No Salt. Just sprinkle generously over your food.
You'll need about 400mg a day at first, whether or not you use the tablets or the salt. In a few weeks you'll be able to gradually reduce the dose to about 100mg a day.
Just make sure you take the potassium with food, as it can upset your stomach otherwise.

:rose:Rosebud:rose:

Hello Musika.

As the others said no need to worry about a heart disease. Are you sure you are drinking enough water? Make sure you bring a bottle to the gym, and drink it once in a while.

Good luck :thup:

Hi Musika! Don't panic: chances are either your potassium is low, or your blood pressure is. I get those symptoms, too. I've had a few showers I've had to cut short. ;) It helps if I try not to make the water too hot.

Do you use fitday.com? You can go to the "reports" page to see how much potassium you're getting. If it's under 1000 mg per day, that's pretty low. You'll probably want to start supplimenting (as long as you're not on any heart/blood pressure meds... check with a pharmacist first.)

hi Musika,

I'll second what the others have said, especially SooCee's recommendation on the WATER. Your symptoms sound like classic dehydration. Make sure you're well-hydrated before adding extra suppelements, especially potassium. Taking potassium when you're dehydrated is as bad as not having enough of it in your system :)

The recommendation is that you should drink 1 cup (240 ml) water for every 15 minutes of vigorous exercise ... or 1 quart/liter per hour.

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Doreen

Are you taking your supplements ?

I used to get those weak spells too. Like a windup toy that's just about to stop.

I started taking some supplements, multi-vitamin, vitamin E, Calcium/Magnesius/Potassium and some EFA's

At the same time someone suggested I take some alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), I realized that the EFA supplement I took contained a lot.

Well I haven't felt weak since then. So I'm hoping I found the answer.

Thanks for your replies
 

I want to thank you all for your replies. I am new to lowcarbs... so I needed some advice.

I try to keep my carb intake to 20mg.... I never go under, I am having difficulties not to go overboard... so that goes to tell you I am not cutting on carbs too much.

I was not taking any supplements, I kept postponing the day I would start taking them. So, I am starting today! Looking at mine, I noticed I am taking only 65mg of potassium, looks like it is not enough :confused:

Since you all have more experience than I do, can you tell me what vitamins and minerals deficiencies that lowcarbs eating brings?.... so that I can adjust my supplements accordingly.

As for the WATER, I would tend to agree I am not drinking enough. I will make the effort to drink more so that I don't experience dizzyness again. Also, I will start to wear again my heart rate monitor to the gym to keep an eye on my body signals. (For your info... for exercising I do 45min of elliptical machine at the gym every day... burning an average of 625 cal daily)

Thanks again for your input and am looking forward to this message board for support :read:

Today is the day that you increase your carbs to 25 grams daily. Induction is over and withdrawal symptoms should subside and disappear. The extra carbs will help with the dizziness.

You have lost 25 pounds in 2 weeks! WOW! Now be prepared that you may not lose more than a pound or two in the next few weeks. That is normal and what should be expected. If you stay with the plan as your body adjusts to the loss, you WILL start losing again (but never at the rate of the Induction whoosh).

Atkins really does not lead to mineral or vitamin deficiencies. In one of the earliest LC experiments in the 1930's, 2 Arctic explorers lived for one whole year on just meat. There diet was monitored by Bellevue Hospital in New York and they were fine. The body can actually manufacture Vitamin C from fresh meat. (Old time sailors used to get scurvy because their meat was salted and preserved, not freshly butchered.)

But LCers should take a multi-vitamin and other things to be sure that they are getting what they need to optimize or maximize their weight loss. And perhaps to get the stuff that the average North American diet IS deficient in.

Hope this helps.


:wave:

hi
 

I agree w/ Doreen....adding potassium w/o having ample water intake is worse than lack of either. Make sure youre getting more than enough water in your diet. Rule of thumb, if your urine has color and not clear, you are getting enough water.

good luck.

Marcus,

do you mean if your urine has no color you ARE getting enough water? I've been wondering about that too, but thought I was getting plenty....but, alas, no ketosis, no color

(although I a losing, so haven't worried too much!) :D




:wave:

Induction period or not 25 lbs in 2 weeks means that you lost alot of muscle tissue and when one loses muscle tissue one's metabolism slows down. When this happens your ability to efficiently burn fat on a regular basis is limited due to the muscle loss and once you begin eating regularly again you will put the weight back on. Be careful.

My dear please read the book before making assumptions. EVERYONE knows that the bulk of the first two weeks worth of weight loss is water. Not muscle.

Please do a little more research before answering our member's threads.

I highly doubt that all the loss was muscle... that is a generalization, and seems to ALWAYS be the answer... oh your weight loss is muscle... what about the continued loss? She does say that she exercises... (omg a LC'er that exercises..hmmm in another post "someone" insinuated that LC'ers don't do that)... I would make sure that enough supplements are being taken, and do take into account about the potassium...and check your blood pressure.

Wow, 25 lbs in 2 weeks?!?
 

Well, once I can get past my envy, I can't help but feel a tinge of concern, because 25 lbs sounds like an awful lot of weight in too short a period of time to lose. As a result, as others have mentioned, I would wonder how much of that is water loss, and if you are not drinking enough water, and how much of your symptomatic complaints could be from an overall state of dehydration.

Are you taking any supplements such as Metabolife, Xenadrine, or others with ephedra (ma huang)? It is my experience, that when I'm on LC and take these, I can't exercise without some kind of dizziness and feelings of weakness, so I don't take them much anymore. Contrary to all the good advice about doing cardio in the morning on an empty stomach, I can't do that either without getting dizzy. If I combine an empty stomach and supplements, forget it, it's impossible. So, I usually exercise about an hour after eating, no supplements, and plenty of water before, during, and after since I sweat a lot and need to replace the fluids in my body. (Funny, but I also notice that when I exercise and don't drink enough water, I actually have a tendency to sweat even more than I normally do. Go figure.)

However, I know part of my own problem is that I have low blood pressure, always have had, and you said this was not a problem for you.

As many others here, I also don't see anything that would make me think you have heart disease and I suspect that once you move beyond induction to a more regular and stable place, that things may change.

However, I would never presume to play doctor, nor, despite everyone's best intentions and good advice, would I completely rely on the opinions of others with a potentially serious concern as yours. I'd tend to check with a medical expert just to be sure.

Atkins is very clear in his book about anyone following his diet and/or adding exercise to daily regimen be seen by their own doctor. If you did not see a doctor prior to starting the diet or adding exercise, or haven't seen your doctor in the last 6 mos or so, I'd make an appointment to get it all checked out. Your own doctor could best let you know if you are at risk for heart disease (with or without diet), suggest causes for your dizziness, ways in which to eliminate it, the best supplements you might need, and also offer reassurance if there is no problem.

I hope you find resolve, and that you continue towards your weight-loss goals without problem. I'm truly impressed by your progress!

AJ

What you just said applies to LOW PROTEIN/ HIGH CARB diets, not Atkins. Muscle loss comes from calorically or protein deficient diets, namely your standard unhealthy low fat/low protein/high carb diet. Atkins is none of those. The initial weight loss during induction comes from water and then fat. Water retention is common on high carb diets [glucose retains 3x its weight in water] so when one cuts out the excessive carbs, the first thing to go is water. While there is always some minor muscle loss on any diet, there is considerably LESS on Atkins than on calorically deprived low fat/high carb diets.

Below are some studies from the Atkins website. And while they may be from Atkins website, they were conducted by outside institutions unrelated to Atkins.

http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2002/1/11-228300.html
"there was an average gain of close to one pound of muscle mass in each individual."

http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2002/1/11-848672.html
"Of that lost weight, 95% was fat mass and only 5% lean muscle mass."

http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2002/1/11-918650.html
"only 0.4 pounds of lean muscle mass was lost."

Musika,

And I agree with the others, you sound like you are dehydrated and probably need potassium and magnesium supplements. Once your body adjusts to this new level of water retention, you won't need to take them outside of what is contained in your reg multivitamin. If you are also coming off your standard high carb diet, you are probably recovering from serious nutrient deficiencies so its important to take a good multivitamin. You should be taking those on ANY diet because our food supply alone no longer provides the nutrients that it once did.

Too much Potassium?
 

You know, it's odd, I often see threads about taking Potassium because of possible deficiency, but I was getting heart palpitations taking the LC recommended dose of Potassium. I stopped & feel better. I checked & there wasn't any in my multi-vitamin (althought it does have iron), so I don't think I was over dosing from the multi. I now take a 1/2 dose multi with 75 mg. (in a whole dose) potassium & feel fine. Heart beat issues seem to have gone away - for now. I also try to throw in an avocado now & then.

I'm off to a physical with primary care physician the end of the month for a full blood workup. It only took 2.5 months to schedule it so I hope it's a good one!

Thanks everybody!

It's likely carb withdrawal. If the symptoms continue, it couldn't hurt to check with your physician to put your mind at ease.

As for Infuriator's comment - it's HIGHLY unlikely that the bulk of the 25-lb loss was muscle. Think about it. 25 pounds of muscle lost in such a short time - from any part of the body - would put a significant hitch in your getalong, as in you'd have serious trouble walking, functioning, etc.

Check to make sure that you're getting in an adequate amount of calories as well. Sometimes, once the appetite control kicks in, it can be easy to "forget" to eat. If you're working out on top of a calorie defecit, it may tire you out. But it sounds like you're doing everything by the book, so I hope it's just withdrawal. The energy boost should be on its way soon :).

Dittoing everyone about the potassium intake as well.

Let's make this clear
 

I started Atkins on Sept. 10 at 271 lbs, as of today I weigh 259 lbs. That means I have lost 12 pounds so far. Previous to starting Atkins I had lost weight on other diets. But I really prefer Atkins because I do not feel hunger at all and it is way more sustainable than other diets.

(287 lbs was my highest weight before I started dieting)

Sorry to have confused you all :rolleyes: