feeling weak

[angmoney]

my mother in law is in her high 60s and has been on this diet 1 week today.
she stated that she felt weak the other day, as i was thinking she was going to start to feel more energy, any suggestions for her?

[sallyseachange]

Very hard to advise without having more details.
Is she eating too few carbs? Many people think that keeping carbs near zero is helpful. It isn't... you need your carbs from the veggie allowance. Most of the 20 g carbs per day should come from veggies, and a few extra from cheese, eggs etc. Many people don't eat to the full 20 g quota, but hovver around 15/18 grams and feel good on that.
Perhaps you could post a couple of her menus.

[angmoney]

Thank you for replying first of all.
My name is angela and i have been doing the atkins diet for 15 years.
i have gone from 290 pound to 160 in 2 years so i am coaching my mother in law.
i know there is a section in the book that deals with feeling weak but i moved and my book is still packed away so i thought one of you guys might know off the top of your heads.
i do feel she is eating a bit skimpish, but she keeps telling me she gets full from her meals. my father in law loves to cook and he would generally wake up earlier than her and cook biscuits, eggs, pancakes, sausage you name it, just for the morning meal, just for them. she has decided not to give in to him and try atkins.
i just spoke with her on the phone and she told me she has 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast, 1 slice 5gram carb toast, tea and cranberry diet juice. for lunch she sliced procuitto and mozerella roll up and ate only a few slices of that feeling she was now up to 9 carbs for the day not including her dinner to which she is going to have shrimp and 1/2 cup low carb ice cream for dessert.
so she tinkers between 15 and 20g daily as i told her to stay under 20.
i asked if she is taking vitamins, she replied yes.
today she claims she feels better, but as her coach i want her to succeed and feel as great as i do when i do this diet.
Thanks, Angela

[kate58]

I am not seeing the vegetables in there. MOST of the 20g of carbs allowed during induction should come from veg, it is very important that that is the case.

Aside from that there is quite a lot wrong more with that menu for induction I'm afraid.

- She should not be have low carb bread on induction. That is not allowed until the grains rung of OWL.
- Nor should she be having cranberry diet juice, or any fruit juice, diet or not.
- No low carb ice cream either.

Those things are pumping up her carbs, but they are the wrong carbs and are not providing sufficient nutrition or sufficient food.

The result seems to be that she stops eating because she feels her carbs are getting too high. That should NEVER happen - she needs to eat a lot more.

You have done terrifically well, but I bet it's a heck of a long time since you did induction - you really need to get hold of the book and read up about that phase.

[sallyseachange]

Yes... I'd echo Kate word for word.
Keep us posted. I hope your mother in law gets over the weak feelings soon and gets that Atkins energy.
Congrats to you for your enormous success.

[Elizellen]

Here is one bit from DANDR about 'ascent weakness' which might apply

That said, there are a few people who experience fatigue or light-headedness during their first week doing Atkins. Most often this means that the process is going too fast for their particular metabolism-they're losing weight too fast, losing water and certain minerals too fast, and their bodies can't keep pace with these quick changes. One sign is ascent weakness: You feel weak walking up stairs. These reactions can be aggravated by hot weather, when you are already losing minerals through sweat, or by taking a diuretic. Obviously, drinking lots of water is essential.

Usually, I advise patients who have these problems to slow down the weight loss. They should add another helping of vegetables to their evening meal