Hi All you brilliant people, Day seven and am feeling so lightheaded and no energy. Have been completely fine up until now, anyone experienced similar symptoms. Have to say not enjoying them one little bit. Drinking the water eating as much fat as poss in 800 calories. Very annoying as the sun is shining and I want to get on!!!
Purplepenguin x

Hi Purple,

I wonder if you are are eating little and often? For the first few days I tried that to avoid the kind of spacey feeling and it worked well. Have you tested your bs, are your levels too low etc? I am in week 2 a and while my energy may not be as high as I would like it is ok and can go for walks etc and not feel lightheaded.

You don’t mention if you are T1 or 2….. Hopefully there will be someone here with more experience who can offer something more constructive. Hope you can hang in 😀

Hi Col
Thanks for that am type 2 and also hypothyroid, blood sugars are fine maybe I’ll just have to take it easier for a few days. Not giving up tho this is goin to give me life back! 🙃

Hi Purple

Are you taking blood pressure medication? Mine needed reducing as my BP dropped as I started to lose weight and it made me feel lightheaded until dose was reduced. Just a thought.

Hi captainlynne
Yes I am, will discuss with my doctor. Thanks for that

Hi Purple – glad to help. Hope you get it sorted.

When my head gets a bit foggy and I find it hard to concentrate, I know it means I haven’t had enough carbs (the brain needs sugars to function and focus), so I have something slow release like an apple, or dried apricots and I find I feel better. It happened more to me in the first couple of weeks, but seems to have dissipated now.

I am not able to multi task on this diet and minding a 3 year old and looking after my 91 year old dad requires that . I left the engine on when I parked the car this morning . I am amazingly irritable ,close to tears that will not fall and frankly if I die of diabetes anytime soon that will be fine by me . Having started out so full of hope I am reluctant to give up before the 2 week mark – day 9 today . – but I doubt my family will be able to put up with me if this goes on much longer . Have been following the menu plan but will probably just use the quick and easy as the cost of the menu plan cost what we usually spend on two of us plus visiting family .
Did I mention no energy . ,

Feel slightly better for the vent

Hi Susansilver

I’m at the beginning of week 3 and after a dodgy start I felt great but last couple of days have been feeling off again, lightheaded and foggy and tired. I am sticking to the regime so I think it must be another blip to endure and get over. These are huge and serious changes we are asking our bodies to make so I think it’s unrealistic to expect no side effects. Stick with it, I am sure in a week or 2 we’ll be glowing with health and bon homie. As Celsa says, it could be that we need a few more carbs than we’re currently getting. I think it’s also a case of experimenting a little to see what works for us as individuals. Good luck – to us all xx

Hi
I have also noticed that my BP has reduced, so will my medication, i also do not have the energy as before the diet, i am at week 2, and have lost 9lbs, my energy levels have dropped considerably, I usually swim 40 lengths twice a week, this week I could only manage 15 lengths.
But i will persist, good luck with your diet
Ally

I’m also feeling light headed today after being fine since day 1 (day 9 today). Blood sugars are normal (I.e Have dropped from the 11s to the 5/6s). I’m also on a small dose tab for BP. Hopefully this will pass.

Bailed after becoming cognitively impaired . First very forgetful then started having suicidal thoughts and crying over minor problems . Will use some of the recipes . Have lost sugar cravings which is something . Weight straight back on after one “normal’ meal so I presume I was losing water . Normal meal was calamari chips and salad . That’s it ! Not a binge exactly .
One suggestion was that I go back on antidepressants. So I can diet ? I don’t think so .

Hi Susansilver, those sound like very extreme symptoms and certainly like nothing else I have heard.
Yes some folk have reported the light headed feeling within the first week and it’s always been put down to carb withdrawal.
As to multitasking, I run a business which requires almost permanent multi tasking and I haven’t found any real problems.
Maybe it would be a good idea to have a word with your doctor about it ? Also go back and check what you have been eating just in case you haven’t been getting the required nutrients. BTW how much weight did you lose ? for it to all go back on with just one meal is also very strange.
My heart goes out to you after trying so hard, best of luck.

Well, I’m in Sydney and we’ve been having an extended heatwave…most people (not on the BGD) are feeling as you describe and for many here that is down to dehydration…I’m drinking rehydration salts and unfortunately there is glucose in them…cooling down now and by next week should be less hot and therefore fewer people deydrated.

Perhaps ensure that you are getting enough fluids? sometimes with a change of diet people drink less.

Susansilver
I’m horribly irritable and tired too – that’s why I came here to see if it was just me – and that ‘dying soon would be fine’ feeling is very familiar! I am so thankful that I don’t have to try and be civil and cariing to anyone, I wouldn’t manage it, so hat off to you for not murdering either of your dependants yet! Feeling like this, I’m sure I would have done. Respect.
I’ve come back from a very moderate bike ride and had to put my head between my knees when I got off because I was so lightheaded.
I’m following a friend who started three weeks ago (you and I are both nine days in) and he was grumpy and so tired in the second week then it passed. I assume it’s the body adjusting and we will come through it so long as we don’t think some carbs will solve the problem as they will only set the clock back to zero. Everyone’s body adjusts differently though so I’m prepared for it taking longer. My mantra is “this too will pass” …
Somewhere I’ve read that the not succumbing to carbs is crucial, so your chips meal may well have thrown everything out of whack and caused fluid retention?
Michael’s book mentions irritability at the two week review so it’s obviously expected in the early stages. He doesn’t quantify it but I’m content that there’s nothing abnormal, we’re just sadly more severely afflicted in this aspect where others may be worse in say sleep pattern; so long as we don’t carry on feeling so grim for more than another week or so! This too will pass …

Hi purplepenguin
I am on week six of the diet, however on the first week I was so lightheaded an faint I didn’t think I could continue! The first night I went to bed and said I can’t do it, in the morning I decided to give it another day, and here I am on week six, you can do it, especially with the help of the great people on this forum, keep posting your progress or otherwise, and you will get there in the end, good luck, christine

Thanks everyone everyone your encouragement . I lost and regained 2 kg
Now compounding the problem is half an antidepressant Avanza which knocked me out slept all that night and most of the following day ! Some people eh? Never satisfied .
Stopped wishing I were dead but that is extra food I think . I will up the fluids and remain on as sugar free a diet as I can be managed . Have ditched muffins bread and anything processed .
My father reacts to practically. every medication that he has ever tried . With severe shaking and Gi symptoms . I am not the same but I shoukd know by now that a body can do things that can’t possibly be caused by Such and such a thing . Good luck everybody .

Well done Susansilver, don’t let it beat you.
To put on 2kg from one meal is a hell of a lot, it seems more like a normal body weight fluctuation which can differ by up to 4Kg in the course of a single day.
I do hope that these horrible symptoms you have been having are nothing more than very serious carb withdrawal effects.
We will all be rooting for you now so don’t feel alone and give us a shout any time you need a chat.

Hi Alan, I have got to say I ran out of ‘juice’ doing things that required more physical energy for the first seven weeks, my blood pressure is always on the low side and has been lower on this diet BUT…BUT things are resolving. Rather than have a fit of ‘I’m about to faint’ I now eat a larger meal before physically demanding exercise. It helps. At least it does for me. So I may eat 900 calories on a day I have done a particularly strenuous hill walk but over the week it averages out as I often have 700 cals on other days.

Like you have said – keep at it, things will only get better 🙂

Hi susansilver – don’t worry about the odd weight fluctuations. My own most bizarre one was putting on two and a half pounds after, wait for it……
My son and I set off on what we knew to be a particularly arduous hill walk. UNDERSTATEMENT!!!!!! There was a light amount of snow in the hill village when we parked but it got deeper the further we went. Then we completely lost the narrow track which meanders up a hilly forest, between boulders etc. I knew the general direction we needed to head in so wasn’t concerned (I had done the same walk many times). Then we were virtually rock climbing but reached a point where I thought I would rather descend – until I. Looked behind me errr. We continued…I was exhausted….we hadn’t come out at the bit of moor I expected but a high chicken wire fence topped with barbed wire. Did we walk an extra half mile to the right ( we needed to be heading left)? My son could vault over the fence,but not me. What to do? I. Ended up face down in the snow, wriggling on my belly to slither underneath a damaged bit of fencing. Did my son congratulate me on my valiant effort? His response was ‘It’s a good job that BSD has worked for you or you would never have got under there!’
That was just the beginning of that epic, never to be forgotten walk…..at one point my son’s leg disappeared down a hole (nothing visible under the thick blanket of snow) … It was a badger sett – and what was more, when he extricated his leg and looked down the hole he was eyeballing the badger. The adventure continued withanother 7 miles to go this was going to be the toughest walk of my life. I. Was having to lift my knee nearly to my chin to climb up the snowy slopes……was my GP right 5 years ago when she told me with arthritis setting into my badly damaged leg ( the consultant told me 21 years ago never to walk more than 50 yards) and my asthma so difficult to control my hill walking days were over??? Too late to think about that now……I was staggering like a drunk with muscle fatigue……

We fell into a pub at the end of the walk and I ordered a ham sandwich with no bread.bewildered looks. They had also stopped taking orders. The waitress gave me a close look and said I’ll ask the chef if he’ll make an exception. He did.
BUT. 2 and a half pounds extra weight the next morning????! WHAAAAT???? HOW?

The day after that 3 pounds came off.

I don’t understand it but strange weight gains followed by a sudden loss do not seem so unusual when you read a few of the blogs!

So, chin up, Susan, you WILL lose the weight and get that feelgood factor 🙂

Thanks Christi
I think it maybe blood pressure as captainlynne mentioned. Have an appointment at doctor’s tomorrow so will get her to check while I’m there. Yes these forums are great feel so inspired. Thanks for the support🙃