Hi All
Been doing Low Carb since 24th Feb 2018, managing very easily to give up food starch/sugars, but have kept on with moderate beer drinking throughout as I simply enjoy it too much. In Feb, aged 50, I was obese, weighing 224lb/102Kg . been this way for at least 25 years.
Need to provide a bit of a long winded background to give you an idea on what I have done to date so that I can get guidance on how to do a proper n=1
I used to get cramps in the early days, but those stopped once I started taking some magnesium supplements in addition to the Vit D supplements, a daily vitamin with Iron and also a cod liver oil tablet I was taking.
Was also drinking about 2 x 1l water, each with a tsp of Himalayan pink salt and some lemon.
I cannot recall 100%, but I think the leg cramps went away at this stage. I took all the supplements at around 5pm, just before my last meal of the day.
At this time I started using Cronometer to track my food and monitor macros etc. and I noticed I was “deficient” in Potassium. So got some Lo Salt and started to use that in my cooking to give my potassium a boost.
I prepare and cook most of my meals and eat all sorts at home apart from beef, so lots of bacon, eggs, chicken and lamb, along with mushrooms, asparagus, avacado, broccoli, cauliflower, salads etc oh and butter and almond flour biscuits, double cream for puddings.
In June this year, my mother in law came to visit for a month. This meant our house turned into a veggie zone. So I ate out once or twice a week to get my meat fix, but in the main, it was veggie for 4 weeks. and the leg cramps returned with a vengeance. Waking me up 3-4 times a night co-inciding with me wanting to go to the bathroom for a wee (as I had upped my water intake to 3l a day to help lower my BP - see this thread for info on my cholesterol and BP) Just standing up for a few seconds would make the cramp go away - the cramp would be either at the base of the shin where it connects to the foot (front side of the ankle if you like) or my calf. Trying to stretch in bed caused the cramp to move from the front base to the back calf, so standing up was the only option. - This happened for 4 weeks. I finally found out about magnesium oil which I apply to my lower legs before bed, but while this delays the actual cramp for a few hours, so only 1-2 times a night, I still get a pulsing/tingling feeling in my legs.
I had stopped the Vit D tablets at this time and also switched magnesium tablets to one based on magnesium oxide (i did not know better at the time)
I told all of this to my GP who sent me for some blood work which sort of look ok - results below…
I should add, never been diabetic, just obese. My HbA1C last July was 32mmol/mol, dropping to 28 by April (2 months into Keto) and last blood work in June had it at 29.
I went on holiday on 26th June for a week and shifted my carb intake so I had less beer, but had a few slices of sourdough and baguette a day, ate potatoes and ate ice cream and cake. Net result was a week where I gained 8lb but had no cramps what so ever, though I was taking about 750mg (at 4pm and 10pm of Magnesium Oxide tablets a day but that was the only supplement.
Returned back last Tuesday and went back to Keto WOE on Wednesday and the cramps returned that night. I had kept with the 750mg of Magnesium Oxide and started my daily vitamin and cod liver oil again as well as the lo salt/himalayan salt water mix - 2l a day. Still cramps. Saturday night I had my usual supplements and by 11pm I started getting cramps, so used some magnesium oil (about 6 sprays each leg) and had a decent night sleep but still with that feeling that a cramp could come along any second. Last night, I was out all day, came home at 8pm, so took my 4pm dose of supplements then, then took the final 375mg Magnesium at 10pm, got a cramp at midnight so did about 6 sprays per leg as before (6 sprays is about 180mg I think). Same feeling as the night before but good grief, I got to know the inside of my bathroom very well for a few hours this morning. dare not step 10 feet from it 
Which brings me to the point of this post. I have clearly been winging my n=1, I want to do it properly, I have also read almost all the posts on the forums and beyond on leg cramps and lost of good, but conflicting advice, so I want to start again and learn tips from others on how to this this properly. One thing I did pick up is that I have totally ignored calcium, so I ordered this today and will start using it from tomorrow, unless the common advice is I should stop everything for a few days to reset my body before starting again.
I know @richard and @carl were talking about doing a specific podcast about n=1, but with no timeline, I felt I needed to reach out to this awesome community
As a parting update, I now weigh 188lb/85.3kg so a drop of 36lb / 16.7kg in 136 days, my BP is lowering, TG/HDL Ratio in mg/dL: 1.2 | in mmol/L: 0.52 so everything heading in the right direction and I am still enjoying the odd beer or two (more as England progress in the World Cup 
)
