Hello all

I decided to start a thread for those in their first week to discuss problems that we’re having (if any) to get support from each other and from all you who have been through this already. I felt like that there wasn’t too much on here about the negatives of starting out and so thought we might be able to help ourselves through the tough times. The more experienced BSDers on here are really great, and I love reading all the threads with loads of great advice in, but I think sometimes it can be easy to forget what it’s like in the first week when you’re denying your body everything it craves. I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time on here reading everything that I can, partly to keep me busy because at the moment it seems to be an awfully long time in between meals!

I’m on day 5 now and have had horrible carb flu this weekend – really bad headaches, feeling nauseous all the time, and being really irritable – I gave my son a half hour angry lecture about not doing one piece of homework, and nearly stormed out of the super market because it was full of Christmas cakes and pastries.

And yup, got the keto halitosis as well, although I was strangely elated when my husband told me, very gently, that my breath smelled really weird – I knew that meant I was going into fat burning. I’ve read it doesn’t last very long, but also that it’s due to eating too much protein, which is weird, cos I’m mostly veggie and don’t eat very much protein i thought.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though: this morning I woke up feeling great, not particularly hungry and full of energy. Ate my breakfast of yoghurt with berries and seeds, was raring to go. This only lasted as long as the cycle to work, and I’m now back feeling dizzy and weird, head aches again, but the fact that I experienced that this morning gives me hope. I guess that it’ll take time to get rid of that carb flu feeling altogether, but I’ll get there.

And I’ve already lost 3kg, which is motivation in itself, as is the fact that I didn’t have to strain to get my cycle jacket done up this morning. It will get better! In fact, it is already!

Rant/spiel/monologue over!

Ali xx

Ali, yep, you have the low carb flu. The good news is that you should be within a couple of days of getting over that (the really crummy part) and in another week should feel pretty good.

It sounds like this is your first time doing low carb. If so, you have in your grasp what low carbers call THE GOLDEN TICKET. You only get this once as a newbie….but you will lose weight like crazy, and it will never happen again. Once your body figures out what is going on and learns to switch over to burning fat and ketones, it will remember that forever. If you chuck it in now and start eating carbs, if you try giving a low carb diet a shot again it will work….but not as fabulously as your very first time. Of course you will not feel like total crap on future go arounds. But that is the price you pay as a first timer….but the rewards are amazing if you can stick with it a few more days. You are almost there.

You might try upping your salt intake a good bit Often the headachy stuff is from a salt/mineral impalance and drinking some salty broth helps a lot.

You could also try eating a bit more so you are not dealing with both the 800 calories and the low carb at the same time. For the first 10 days you will lose enough with just the low carb alone and then could go back to the reducing your calories. Eat something fatty and filling….up your fat intake. Have more butter on your veg. Try a brown butter sauce (cook 1 Tbs butter in a skillet until it turns a golden brown and then add a squeeze of lemon) over some cooked fish or chicken filet.

Just be a little bit easier on yourself……an extra 400 calories right now to help you through this is better than dumping the diet. So do only what you can handle. Its a marathon not a sprint. It is a whole different ball game once you get over the low carb stuff. Hang in there…good luck!

Thank you Luvtcook – those are some really helpful tips, and I’ve loved reading your posts on here. Yes, this is my first time on a low carb diet – I was one of those who always believed that carbs were healthy and that eating them for every meal was necessary. I confess that for a long time I though low carbers were cranks – sorry! I can absolutely see that it makes perfect sense now – why is this not wider known?

I had read something on another forum about upping fat intake at first so have been doing this over the weekend. One thing that I found that helped when I was feeling really miserable was to warm up some milk (we only had semi skimmed) and add some cream and cinnamon – it was really comforting. I doubt that I’ve been keeping at 800 calories, but haven’t been too far off. I reckon anything under a thousand is OK just now.

Every time I feel tempted to give up I give myself a stern talking to – why would I want to put myself through this again? And thanks to you, I now know that I won’t ever lose weight like I’m doing at the moment, so that’s really good to know! That hour of feeling great this morning has given me something to hold onto!

I’m glad you’re beginning to see the beginnings of that special BSD energy that descends like a transfiguration. I had already cut the white carbs for a few months before I started the BSD, so I was spared the flu. The most challenging thing for me on week one was simply developing a new process in the kitchen that introduced the brave new world of weighing, measuring and counting calories and carbs. It cramped my style, a style I had down to a science because I’ve been a committed home cook for a very long time. Using MyFitnessPal to record everything immediately added more complications to what had been an efficient moving system.

It was all worth it. By the end of the week, I was actually enjoying all that data gathering. It was enlightening. I still do it daily even though I’m at my goal weight and in maintenance. And I’m still terrible at estimating. 😀

So count. Measure, weigh and count everything you eat. Whatever your current calorie and carb intakes, you cannot trust your estimates to be even in the ballpark of accurate. I was shocked by how wrong mine were. That’s not to say you have to lock yourself into the 800 cals right away, but you have to know the full reality of how much and what you are eating. Then if you want to make adjustments down the road, you’ll know where you stand.

Keep your eyes on the prize, Ali, and good luck!

Thank Esnecca – I know what you mean about estimates. I did a bit of experimental weighing of foods before I started this and was shocked to see that my helping of muesli was actually three times the size that it should have been. No wonder I now need to lose at least 20kg!

Good advice already, alibalibee, and a great idea to have a thread for newbies..

I think you are right, once we are used to this way of life, it is often difficult for us old-timers to remember how hard it was in the first week or two. I started BSD800 way back in January and suffered quite badly from carb flu. I felt weak and tired and headachy, and in fact struggled to even give my dogs a short walk! But the very worst thing, and what made me very nearly give up, was how COLD I was – all the time – didn’t matter how many clothes I wore, how high the heating was turned up, how many hot water bottles I cuddled, I couldn’t even take the edge off the cold that was pervading my body. Fortunately, the good people on this forum kept me going, and it passed within a week or two and I started feeling amazing. Haven’t looked back since, did 2 rounds back to back and lost 50lbs and have been in maintenance ever since.

Drinking loads of water is crucial, you need to keep really well hydrated, but as mentioned above, you will also need to replace some salt, which gets washed out because of all the extra water consumption, otherwise it is easy to suffer from cramp.

Weighing and recording everything is important whilst trying to lose, but now I’m in maintenance, I don’t weigh anything, just stick to the principles, and it’s worked for me.

Before long, you will find you become totally energised and wonder why no-one told you about this WOE years ago! Good luck, just keep on keeping on and it will eventually become second nature.

OMG! I have been absolutely freezing! Especially my hands and feet. And I’m normally the one telling everyone else to turn the heating down, being a menopausal woman and all. 50lbs is an amazing loss Theodora – that’s about the same that I’m aiming for. I just use kilos because it sounds less!

I’m managing to remember to drink enough, but you and luvtcook have mentioned the salt thing, so will need to keep an eye on that. Have just had a surprisingly satisfying lunch of home made borscht and a bit of feta. My main worry is lapsing into snacking when I’m at work as there are always biscuits and cakes brought in by well meaning colleagues.

I’m eating out tonight so have already checked the menu online and decided what I’m having so I don’t succumb when I arrive and am hungry.

That is a GREAT strategy Ali……I do the same. If you decide ahead of time when you are in more of a motivated logical frame of mind, you will be so much better off. And do not hesitate to tell them you can’t have the potatoes and rice, and could you please have a second vegetable instead. The cold will go away once your metabolism “get it”. Heavy socks for now.

Alibalibee, as Luvtcook has said, that is a great strategy – it’s all in the planning. Plus, whilst everyone else is reading the menu, humming and hawing and changing their minds whilst the waiter is standing getting impatient, you can sit back and enjoy yourself. Have a lovely evening.

Thanks all.

Just a passing thought about your easy it is to start obsessing about this when you’re not used to it. I had an apple this afternoon because I was getting too wobbly and stupidly hadn’t brought any BSD friendly snacks to work, and am now worried that I’ve ruined the low carb thing. Because of an apple! Think I need to get a grip!

alibailbee, – a little mantra for you…………………… one apple does not a disaster make!

During your BSD journey, you will probably have the odd REAL disaster day, and even then, it’s not a disaster. You just come on here, confess all, get a few virtual hugs, get back on the wagon and carry one. We’ve all been there disaster-wise, but it’s the ones who have climbed straight back on the wagon who have been successful. Keep going, you can do this, I feel it in my bones.😉

Theodora, I’m glad your bones have faith in me! I trust them. 🤩

Oh dear, I hope I didn’t infect you with my fruit paranoia during the discussion of apples in salad I had with Luvtcook. Plenty of BSDers eat apples now and again. It’s only we fanatical 20 grammers who avoid them because they’re comparatively high in sugar. Michael Mosley includes apples in several of the BSD recipes. You’re going to be fine.

Ha, Esnecca, no, I hadn’t seen your fruit based paranoia! I think I was trying to be a fanatical 20 grammer though, when I shouldn’t have worried.

Found out why I was finding yesterday so difficult – flippin PMS and subsequent migraine. I get really mad carb cravings when I’m building up to a migraine, and I mean really mad – I can’t think about anything else. But here’s the thing – my migraines when I get them tend to hang around for five or six days, but I manage them with triptans. Got the beginnings of one last night, took the usual meds, woke up this morning fuzzy headed but then that gradually lifted and no more migraine. Completely lifted. I know there is a school of thought that migraines and epilepsy are related, and I know that kids with epilepsy are sometimes put on a low carb diet, so I wonder if another positive of doing this way of eating is that it will lessen my migraines? I’m not going to count my chickens but I’ll be keeping an eye on it.It gets better and better doesn’t it?

And lo and behold today the carb flu has lifted! What a relief! I can see how easy it is to forget feeling that bad, because I feel great now. So all you newbies desperately searching for any crumb of comfort if you’re going through the carb withdrawal, it does stop! The best thing I found was a high fat snack like a bit of cheese, or warm up some full fat milk and have a pinch of cinnamon in it.Be nice to yourself, but do try and at least get out for a walk. If nothing else, it speeds the day up!

So I’m going to stop obsessively reading everything written on here – but thank you, it’s been a great help for a beginner like me. I feel like I’ve got a bit of normal life back, so I’ll chip in with the other forums and the 4 week challenges and hope to share everyone’s journeys with them.

Onwards and downwards.

Ali x