Just stumbled across your community and how excited am I? Totally excited! I am on day 8 of a low carb diet, googling and instagraming for meal ideas, no LC, Keto friends to chat to as of yet so you can imagine my delight finding you all here. I am 40, obese, suffering and I mean suffering with chronic fibromyalgia to the point my mobility has been affected, under active thyroid and if I am completely honest bouts of depression about accepting my health. So back to it, 40 years old and not happy anymore to just accept this is it. Weight needs to come off and I need to get healthy. Day 8 and feeling positive. Three days in and I got a awful chronic headache I would say lasting three-four days but not I have more energy and am feeling very positive. Any tips would be gratefully received 
Rachel
40 and DETERMINED
Hi @rachel_rees!
I’m a newbie as well (Day 5) and this site is AMAZING!!! Like you I was googling keto & on Insta (where almost no one will share their keto pumpkin pie recipe 
). I haven’t had any issues here, everyone is helpful and you get pretty quick responses from people (I’m assuming because there are people from all over the world here). The recipes section though… 
Welcome!!
Headache is quite normal but you might be able to alleviate it with salt and magnesium. Make sure you are getting enough salt daily - a good teaspoon or two. Stay hydrated, rest up as much as you can and don’t go hungry.
You might be interested in reading some info a good friend of mine put together about recovery from fibro. Message me if you would like me to send it to you. It is just her story and some resource links.
Good luck with your keto journey. x
Ooh pumpkin pie, thanks for the welcome Jen. Yes please Daisy would defo like to read that and pleased to say the headaches have now gone, can they come back?
Headaches can come back, you need to watch your electrolytes. Read the threads here about keto flu. Sodium, potassium and magnesium need to be kept in balance.
Welcome to the forums and don’t forget to listen to the podcasts as well.
I have made this, it more a pumpkin cheesecake pie, but boy is it easy and delicious.
Hi Rachel,
Congratulations on the awful chronic headache. It is most likely an indication that your body is withdrawing from carbohydrates, just part of the process of ketogenic adaptation, an event to be celebrated.
A ketogenic diet can result in a general improvement in the markers of inflammation and might provide some relief from the symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Depression? I can’t say that I had clinical depressions but I often had thoughts about death. Not suicide at all, but almost every day I would think about how the progression of my type 2 diabetes, T2D, was going to shorten my life and destroy the quality of my life. Keto has lifted that burden and I have experienced a new and sustained optimism about my future.
Food? At first I was looking for acceptable substitutions for those foods I could no longer eat, most especially pasta. I no longer do this. Instead, I focus on those fantastic foods that I can, now without any guilt, an have come to simply accept that I will never have a dinner role, or a bite of pumpkin pie, a bowl of pasta, a stack of pancakes … For me, this is not at all difficult. When I look at a loaf of bread I just imagine a pile of medications next to the bread, medications that I no longer take, and I remember that if I eat the former I will be forced to also consume the medications.
My food tips? Celebrate those wonderful food that you can eat and simply ignore those that are verboten.
In any event, what a great start Rachel! It sounds like you are making fantastic progress and that you have made an intentional decision to take control of your health and life.
Keto for life!
Warmest Regards,
Richard
The medications next to the pancakes is a very powerful and true image.
I am an adequate but not outstanding cook nor am I ever eager to cook. I modified some of my staples or checked them for unnecessary carbs. While I do not really seek out substitutes for pancakes now, 7 months in, I did during the first month. It was reassuring to know there were options available. The strange part was that I missed bananas and sushi more than I missed pizza (which is my favorite food even if I no longer eat the regular version). I had been on a moderate carb grain free diet before keto which permitted those foods. I think part of the reason I do not miss pizza and pancakes is that I can eat them if I make fat head pizza or low carb pancakes and they taste pretty good, I just have to bother making them which I usually do not want to. My long winded point is that while keto pancakes are a crutch, for me they are more of a mental crutch than I food I usually make but knowing that I can helps and means I do not usually make them
Thank you so much for all your information, information I will definitely use. I am not going to lie, I like to visually eat and even though I will get there eventually for now substitutes are going to help. Even though I have been good and enjoying still having to cook for hubby and the children who have no weight issues their meals and snacks which contain carbs and lots of them, I think its a bit too early for me to walk away from the visual carb products even if they don’t taste like them.
I am going give this my all as at the end of the day one life I have and I want to make the most of it and make it a long one, thanks FatMan
H went keto when I encouraged it after the kids left for camp over the summer, he lost about 20 lbs. Now that they are back, I make a keto main dish and vegetable and when I remember, a carb side dish such as plain rice or pasta for the kids. We usually have leftover rice in the fridge that they can add to their meals if they want. I try not to make the carb side dish too interesting on purpose since I really do not want them eating too much anyway
My hubby is a marathon runner, long distance trail runner, mountain climber, triathlete, my 9 year old is just as active. He is strict with their diet and he’s not happy that I am going low carb. So I am on my own. Tbh I have always eaten healthy (with carbs) it’s the between meals that have been an issue. So I am on my lonesome. I have read so much and have not decided to do this lightly. My mother is type 2 diabetic, had a stroke, blood clot was obese, I will continue to follow in her path unless I try something totally different. There has been too many positive reviews regarding the Keto way of eating and I have told him that I am going to try it even though I have listened to his concerns, I am doing this for me, he’s blessed with his dads genetics of physical physique not me with my mothers lol
“always eaten healthy”
I have been thinking about his a bit. What is eating “healthy”, what is a “healthy” diet?
Just a few short months ago I believed I that I ate a healthy diet. I was continually taught that I was eating a healthy diet, and yet I was obese and suffering from T2D. I went to a new doctor who prescribed a ketogenic diet and my life changed.
I would posit, as a functional definition, that a healthy diet is a diet that is consumed by a healthy population, a healthy people. If a population is sick, then the diet they are eating, no matter how many government agencies instructed otherwise, that diet is not healthy.
At a minimum, a healthy diet will result in a healthy population.
This might be a bit of bitter medicine, but I would respectfully disagree that you where previously eating a healthy diet even if you where highly compliant with the government dietary guidelines.
Rachel, I do not mean this as a chastisement, but rather to support your personal decision to eat a ketogenic diet. Many people that make that bold choice, that courageous choice, do so only by rejecting what has been decades of conventional dietary advice, and yet the general health of the American people is suffering a critical decline. Pioneers often have a lonely existence, and you have chosen to live in a dietary frontier, a land that is thinly populated but is, nonetheless, populated by the courageous, the adventurous, those who think critically and independent.
You are inspiring and I am in awe!
Warm Regards,
Richard
You know what Richard, I know you are right in what you say. 100% I do. Our meals have always been fresh fish/meat vegetables and salad but we (I) did consume way too many carbs in the form of pasta especially. Only 8 days in and the the information I have been finding is just confirming I have made the right decision. What are you opinions on the Keto testing urine strips? I ordered some online they came back yesterday. I am reading mixed reviews. I am not diabetic and my reading were in the higher range, some say that’s good but bad if your type 1, others say don’t bother with them at all. Thanks for your reply.
P.S I am from the UK but the same principles apply with regards general health declining
I was an ultrarunner (not a very good one) and thought I was eating healthy, too. Well, here I am and I’m working my way back into distance running. Perhaps if your husband finds out about Dr. Tim Noakes he might get more interested.
Good luck on your journey. This is a great forum and the people here are awesome.
Well done to you barefootbob, I just had to Google the Dr, thanks for that bit of info. I was running 10k two years ago, then my body decided to work against me, amazing how quickly 2 years goes and how it can change, but in the next two years I will be healthier and I will be slim because of it and you never know maybe I will be able to run 10k again then too, you can keep your ultra running though lol - good luck with your training and thanks
If you can get his interest then Drs Phinney and Volek are a great resource for low carb for athletes.
Their book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance is very good.
Speaking of ultras, one of the ultra greats is Tim Olson… and he’s low carb. 
Jimmy Moore has a good interview with him.
Hi Rachel,
I tend to be a bit analytical, OK, I confess that I am so analytic that this drives Mrs. Hanson a bit insane. I love data. Knowing that I suffer from this character defect I always ask myself if a test is going to make a difference in the decisions I make. As an exercises in self-restraint, I do not test keystones. If I don’t have the data I am not continually taking about the data and Mrs. Hanson is not continually rolling her beautiful green eyes. Domestic Bliss! 
I am a bit dense, obtuse, and it took me an embarrassingly large number of years to comprehend this rather obvious cause and effect relationship.
Ketons in the urine represent the body exporting ketones that it can not utilize. This happens early in the process of ketogenic adaption when the body is switching over from burning glucose for fuel to burning fat for fuel. It is likely that ketone strips will provide some useful feedback at this stage, but not for the long run.
My precious bride, Susi, is T1D and we have strips in the house. If she is feeling terrible she will use a strip to check if she is in a state of ketoacidosis, which is quite dangerous and not to be confused with nutritional ketosis.
In contrast, I am quite certain that I am continually in a state of nutritional ketosis as I am highly compliant with my macro goals. I came very close to purchasing a blood ketone meter, but I am proud of myself in that I did not succumb to the vigorous temptation to collect data.
If you want the data, must have the data… data … more data … go for it!
Curse you Rachel, I am now suffering from withdrawals!
Warmest Regards,
Richard