Dizziness When Reducing Carbs? page 2

[leslieinvirginia]

+1

Thanks everyone. I'll try adding some sea salt to my diet for a few days. If that does not help, I'll add a serving or two of berries and see if that works.

[solstice]

Cool Leslie---we're about the same helght/weight! I get the lightheadedness when my carbs are too low. I usually up them a bit the next day and feel better...one day below 50, one day above. I've only REALLY been tracking for a week or so---but been eating primal for awhile. What is your goal weight? My lowest weight ever was 118 and that was back in my juicing days....felt too thin though. 125 would be lovely for me though! best of luck!

[Gravyboat]

I just went very-low-carb myself from occasionally eating fruit and dark chocolate, and I can tell you that the week after making the change, I was getting intense dizziness when standing, as well as my vision going fully black for up to 5-10 seconds. It's a blood sugar thing. I was also EXTREMELY crabby and had the worst sugar cravings I've ever experienced in my life. The good news is that within a few days I was fine again. And now I'm dropping piles of weight.

Basically, you can eat more carbs and go back to burning sugar for fuel, or you can tough it out and go into ketosis and start burning fat for fuel. What's more than likely happening right now is that your body is starving for sugar because that is what it burns for fuel. When you say no and give it fat instead, at first it doesn't know what to do. Your blood sugar drops due to lack of sugar, so it burns up all the glycogen in your liver. Then the glycogen is gone. Then the misery begins until your body says "FINE, WHATEVER, I'LL MAKE MY OWN FUEL" and starts burning fat.

Or at least that is how it has gone for me twice now. All I know is that when I don't give into the cravings and I force myself down into ketosis, I lose weight, and when I eat any sugar I come back out of ketosis and don't lose any weight.

Everyone is different, though.

[Paleobird]

I agree with gravyboat that ketosis is something that you should either really go for it or decide not to and stay higher carb. I think a lot of people who say they went low carb and felt horrible were just on that borderline with a very confused metabolism as the outcome. Ketosis is a great way to lose some serious pounds but you have to go for it consistently for a long enough time frame.

[leslieinvirginia]

Cool Leslie---we're about the same helght/weight! I get the lightheadedness when my carbs are too low. I usually up them a bit the next day and feel better...one day below 50, one day above. I've only REALLY been tracking for a week or so---but been eating primal for awhile. What is your goal weight? My lowest weight ever was 118 and that was back in my juicing days....felt too thin though. 125 would be lovely for me though! best of luck!

125 is my goal, but I'd really like to get rid of my little fat deposits.

[healthy11]

I was having terrible dizzy spells for a few weeks and really had to force myself to drink more water... didn't realize I wasn't drinking enough and I think it's easier to get dehydrated on this diet. Am I right? Sodium plays a part in that, too, so make sure you have some healthy salt in your diet. Real Salt is my favorite!

[Dirlot]

Drink more water, take in sodium and maybe eat more carbs.

[chickenbackside]

I experienced the same thing when I first started.

It does go away after a while (6 months for me), especially when you're no longer salt phobic.

[Jorjor]

Why that low? You can go alot higher than that as long as you stay in Marks 150 range.

[leslieinvirginia]

Why that low? You can go alot higher than that as long as you stay in Marks 150 range.

Well, mainly because I'm impatient. Also, I find with carbs that I crave them less when I have less. I don't seem to have a kill switch! Once I get started, it's hard for me to stop. Possibly better planning would help with this, like having every meal planned down to the ounce!