Cramping Muscles and Low Carbs

I put this here b/c I didnt see any other topic where it would fit. I havent been on a true to life controlled diet lifestyle in about 8 years. I started the velocity diet training and used the amount generator on the site to figure my prot, fat, carbs. I didnt follow to a T as I lifted my carbs up b/c of running two times a week plus the prescribed routine from V diet. Its been the full six weeks now and I’ve been doing 260g prot, 43 fat and 200 carbs daily.

I’ve tightened up and lost about ten to twelve pounds. I love the routine. Given that, since I started dieting I’ve been getting calve cramps during sleep and I’ve noticed that I am cramping up in different areas easily. Like twisting or reaching will cause a cramp sometimes in my side or shoulder. Its pretty crazy. I eat fruit, I drink at least 2L of water a day, sometimes 3L. I take vitamins and minerals. I dont know what could be causing the excessive cramping. Any Ideas??

I tried low carb about 10 years ago and cramped like crazy. They say it’s a lack of potassium. Since I couldn’t eat bananas I bought expensive potassium pills.

This is especially common on lower carb diets. Add an electorlyte complex to your supplement programme; also add a bit of sea salt to your food and you should be fine.

[quote]Nards wrote:
I tried low carb about 10 years ago and cramped like crazy. They say it’s a lack of potassium. Since I couldn’t eat bananas I bought expensive potassium pills.[/quote]

You realize that any ‘salt substitute’ at grocery stores are usually potassium chloride, and are around 5$ for a 2 months supply, right?

And OP, check magnesium levels as well as potassium. Grains are a good source of magnesium and if you are omitting them you better be upregulating the dark green veggies intake or supplementing with Mg.

hmm. I use sea salt or kosher. I have both. I eat greens too. I’ll have to play with it. might try the magnesium supplement and see. what do you mean by electrolyte complex?

[quote]silverhydra wrote:

[quote]Nards wrote:
I tried low carb about 10 years ago and cramped like crazy. They say it’s a lack of potassium. Since I couldn’t eat bananas I bought expensive potassium pills.[/quote]

You realize that any ‘salt substitute’ at grocery stores are usually potassium chloride, and are around 5$ for a 2 months supply, right?

And OP, check magnesium levels as well as potassium. Grains are a good source of magnesium and if you are omitting them you better be upregulating the dark green veggies intake or supplementing with Mg.
[/quote]
This was about 15 years ago and in Winnipeg I couldn’t find that salt substitute stuff.

Light Salt (spelled Lite Salt Mixture on the package, by Morton) is another good option. It has about one-half sodium (290mg) and one-half potassium chloride (350mg)per serving, which is a good mix if you don’t eat any prepared foods and therefore don’t get any sodium from other sources. It also has a bit of magnesium, but I’m not sure of the amount, probably pretty minimal.

For low carbs, get your potassium from daily avocado servings

And depending on your numbers, bananas and kiwis as well for your cramping

Celery? Cucumber? You could blend those right into a protein shake.

Salt Substitute? Bulk potassium powder?