Stalled and Lightheaded (long)

[sailor01]

Hello all,

After starting Atkins last year and staying in phase I for about 5 months and losing about 40 lbs, I stalled. Then the holidays came (beginning with Thanksgiving) and I went off completely. I did not start Atkins again until June of this year. I am still doing phase I and have lost the 35lbs I gained during my hiatus plus another 15lbs.

However, lately, I have stalled. My Ketostix have gone from noticeably darker (though not particularly dark--when they have gone fairly dark, I noticed that it also coincided with my decreasing my water intake) to almost no color change. I remember this happening last year as well, but without the lightheadedness I am experiencing now.

If I have gone over 20 grams, it hasn’t been by much (5 or less). In fact, I know there are days where I am eating less than 10 grams of carbs. So this stall has me puzzled. I just found out about fitday.com yesterday and began using it. It is requiring quite a bit of customization because I really dont eat exactly the same types of food listed on the site. for example, tuna salad for me is just canned tuna in water and mayo. Fitday.com version of tuna salad, however, includes onions, relish, etc., but I digress.

I do not exercise as much as I should--though I am not completely sedentary either. This would help explain some part of the stall, but I can't seem to figure it out the change in ketostix readings. Any ideas?


As for the lightheadedness/dizziness...

I have been urinating a rather frequently and thought perhaps I was a little dehydrated (I also started drinking coffee with caffeine), but my urine is not particularly dark and indeed, lately it has been pretty light and sometimes close to clear which indicates to me that I am drinking plenty of water. Maybe short on potassium?

I thought maybe I was not getting enough calories or carbs, but the ketostix seem to indicate I may be getting too many carbs and the calories, while reduced, doesn’t really represent an extreme reduction in my opinion...I would imagine I wouldn’t be stalled if my calories were reduced to the point of being frequently lightheaded/dizzy either--but who knows.

I spoke to my doctor and he ordered some lab work. At first, he thought that it may be my body adjusting to the diet, but I told him that I am entering my 5th-6th month. He seems to think now that I may be a little dehydrated--which I am not sure is the culprit either for the reason cited above. However, he did order some blood work so hopefully this will help narrow things down a bit.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so, what was the issue? Any ideas on what the cause of both the stall and lightheadedness might be?

Thanks!

[Matt]

how about posting some menus for us to see

[Diana]

Sounds like you may not be eating enough Calories, and or Carbs. Upping your Carbs by 5 and monitor your loss, I bet you will start to feel better.

I agree with Matt lets see your menu.

[sailor01]

thanks for the replies and interest..

I should also note that went off atkins for thanksgiving dinner (I went immediately back the next morning) and still had a lightheaded/dizzy spell after dinner...though it was relatively brief and it only happened once.

here is a menu - I havent had time to get all this into fitday yet, so I do not have numbers for you.

Morning:
Typically, I have a morning start breakfast bar--sometimes two.

Lately, a few cups of coffee

Lunch:
Generally, I have a small side salad from Carl's Jr. no dressing and I do not eat the baby tomatos or cucumber (mainly out of taste). I have a bottle of basil flavored olive oil I use for dressing. In addition, I have two burgers with only meat and lettuce--sometimes onions and mustard.

However, I do mix it up and have one of the local salads that contain lettuce mix, two scoops tuna salad (just mayo and tuna as far as I can tell), one scoop of avacados (it has the same consistency as guacamole, but it is only avacados) and one hard boiled egg. I generally do not use any dressing on this salad, but the few times I have, it has been...yep...olive oil. each scoop is probably equiv. to 1/4 to 1/2 half cup

lately a few cups of coffee.

Dinner:
Varies...Usually, I get home a little late and I dont have time to cook anything, so I will have some cheese (cheddar and jack)and/or lean turkey breast slices (from the deli) wrapped in 3-5 low carb tortillas (2g net carbs and 8g fiber each) each along with pork rinds and sometimes another small salad with olive oil dressing.

To me, this doesnt look like an extreme menu and I was experiencing the lightheadedness/dizzines before I started drinking the coffee.

I also usually drink about 3-6 liters (33.8 oz) of water a day

Last, test I was in ketosis (small--which is about where I have been execpt for the last day or two)

I had a fairly large dinner last night (two chicken breasts, drumsticks, and wings; cheese, about 4 low carb tortillas and about 1.5 cups of mixed nuts) and a decent size breakfast this morning (about 6 large slices of turkey breast, low carb tortillas, and cheese). As I am writing this, I am having fairly lightheaded/dizzy.

The LH/dizziness generally goes away when I move and I really do not get it during ascent--I go up and down stairs every day.

thanks again

[eculmone]

This is me too! I kinda thought I was going through some type of withdrawal of carbs. They did mention that somewhere one time, but it should pass. Mine came and went at around day 5 of re-induction. I kinda thought it was my body adjusting.

I too have stalled and one of the posts on the Aitkins Nutritionist site stated too much protein can contribute to the stall. Too low of carbs can be deadly. Your body needs a minimum of 20. That's why you hear all this hype about Aitkins being so dangerous. It's not Aitkins but rather individuals cutting ALL carbs which will kill ya. A healthy level is 20 & upwards until you find the balance between owl and maintenance.

I'm on day 6 of re-induction and still not one pound. But I'm at my last 10 pounds. How about you? I didn't check your stats before writing this. Also, sometimes are body just likes a certain weight. And to push past it we have to continue onward with this woe until the "woosh fairy" pays us a visit. Personally no woosh fairy has ever visited me, but I'd like to think she/he will one day soon. Like ahhh day 7 perhaps?

Let me know what you find out.

[Diana]

I would suggest Dumping a few extra coffees, they can cause a drop in Blood Sugar and cause cravings.

Lose the tortillas and definatly if I ate 4, I would gain not lose. and morning start bars. BTW- 2 is too much. One bar is a meal.

Do a clean Induction for 2 weeks and log it all into www.fitday.com

You should start losing! BTW- are you exercising? If not I HIGHLY recommend it

[tracelin]

I echo DianaO....

I didn't realize the bars or LC products I was eating were really that many in a day's total menu, until I posted it. I dropped lbs again once I droppped the bars and LC pancake mix, etc...

Try it and see!