Hello I would like to introduce myself to the forum! I am a 29 year old graduate student studying creative writing (poetry) and have been trying to lose weight on the Atkins plan--but encountering some problems. First of all, has anyone else experienced kidney pain from this diet? I had a pretty bad kidney infection 2 years ago, and never had any after-effects until I started Induction... it went away again after I returned to "regular" diet...
Also, there is the unpleasant side effect of constipation ...I experienced a muscle spasm a couple of weeks ago and they prescribed painkillers...whoa you can imagine the combination of this with the low carb diet!!!! Egads. Does anyone have any good advice for this? I've never had this problem before in my life!!!
Other than these two things, I think the diet improves overall health...for example, there is a marked improvement in energy, sleep, hair & nails, etc...the things that are so detrimentally affected by the low-cal/ high carb diets of the 80s and 90s.
I would appreciate any advice y'all can give!!!
Thanks
Syrie

With regard to your "kidney pain", I'd like to suggest you read this thread and then have a talk with your doctor if you really think it's your kidneys and feel confident you're drinking enough water.

As for your constipation, the answer is fiber & water! Make sure you're eating all of your allotted vegetables and again, drinking that water! You should be drinking at least 64-100 oz a day.

If that doesn't help, you can try supplementing with psyllium husks, or treating with a stool softener. Don't worry... you won't have this problem forever!