[Rategbee]

I added just enough healthy, complex carbs into my diet to not gain weight and quickly felt much better. The bruising stopped and the existing bruises faded faster than I've ever had a bruise heal. It may not work for everyone but it made a positive difference for me. Now, I'm back to following the diet more closely and am losing, slowly, again.

[Rategbee]

Hi,
I started Atkins at the beginning of June and while I've had numerous occasions where I've "gone off" the diet for various events, travel, etc., overall I've done well and lost 21 pounds. I've really been losing in the past week.

I had been feeling great but in the past several days, I've been very tired - possibly due to not sleeping well. I've had some chills and worst of all, I have a horrible bruise on my leg (plus a couple of tiny bruises) but I don't recall doing anything to cause it.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this and if so, what did you do? I was thinking maybe I need to up the carbs for a bit even if it means stopping the weight loss and then go back to induction once I'm feeling better. But I don't want to gain a bunch of the weight back especially if it won't help.

[kubekniekubek]

Carbs are not some magical item that cause your body to heal at some exponential superhero rate. The only thing carbs are is a different energy source for your muscles, muscles being what moves you around and what you are feeling as tired when you feel tired.


If you wanted to up your carbs just to increase your energy level, to get a noticeable difference in energy you would either have to A: consume a ton of complex carbs AKA sugar carbs for quick energy, or else up the intake of your carbs by a 100 or so plus.

Putting 20 or so carbs into your diet for some sort of beneficial aspect in relation to energy and to bruising is not going to do anything for you except in some metaphysical sense.

As far as the bruise appearing, I can speak to that. It's entirely possible you got the bruise so long ago that you don't even remember it. Bruises don't always appear on the surface of your body, sometimes they get created inside and take a long time to rise to the surface. Trust me when I give this info out, I was in a motorcycle accident that happened at 160 or so miles per hour and I had bruises still appearing 20 days later.


Lets analyze what you said and apply hard and pure logic to the situation.


You said

"I had been feeling great but in the past several days, I've been very tired"

If you apply cold logic to that, the fact that you state that you HAD been feeling good for a long time on Atkins is incontrovertible proof that the low carbs are not the cause of your current energy level, therefore raising your carbs is not going to be a solution to the problem.

There are no health concerns with the Atkins diet, it is most likely a low level flu or just being down in the dumps immuno system wise for a few days. If your a bit low on energy I would just suggest pushing through it or else plopping a couple cups of coffee into your system to help.

Even the Atkins milkshakes which are the only product of theirs I will use have a Cafe Mocha one that actually has some caffeine. By no means would I revert to a high carb diet for some mythical regeneration properties, that's simply the result of misconceptions of the diet that have percolated into your belief structure.... like people thinking that getting cold can give you a cold, even though its a virus... and that chicken soup somehow magically heals anything.

[Rategbee]

I spoke with someone who has successfully followed the Atkins plan for a long time and also has a medical background. I was told the bruising isn't unusual for people losing weight and happens to many people following Atkins. I was told something that may help is getting plenty of vitamin C - pills are fine.

As for the other concerns, it was recommended to add a small amount of healthy carbs (not junk food or pasta, potatoes, etc.) into my diet for a few days. This is definitely not a "carbfest" but just enough to not gain or lose significantly then see how I feel. Odds are a few days will allow my body to adjust to the changes it is experiencing from the fairly rapid weight loss and then I'll be able to reduce the carbs and go back to losing again.

It's worth a try.

[ResuNezily]

Good luck!