Protein Power -- not the results I wanted

by Natasha
(Erie, PA, USA)

I opted to try the Protein Power Diet back in 1998 because it wasn’t as restrictive as the Atkins diet and I had heard people were having great results.

I lost 14 lbs within two weeks of starting the diet and this was with no exercise at all.

I was overly excited because I was seeing results so fast. However with all good things comes bad things.

I was feeling tired a lot, my body ached and I was bruising easily. At the time I worked at a hospital and the nurse was alert enough to think of checking my blood sugar level as he suspected the diet had something to do with me feeling sluggish.

My blood sugar levels were at 57 which is very low when the normal ranges are between 70-90.

Needless to say, after eating 5 packets of sugar to get my levels up, I had to rethink continuing this diet or make modifications to it. I ended up coming off of the diet for about a month and during that time, I gained all 14 lbs back.

I made adjustments by taking in more protein and bumping my carbohydrate intake up to 70 g a day.

Even though I was losing some weight and not feeling bad, I was never to get the results I wanted and eventually fell back into my regular eating habits.

I recently thought about giving it another try but haven’t decided if I really want to since my favorite meal from the plan was steaks and things are a lot more expensive than they were back in 1998. I’m just not sure if it’s really worth it.

Note from Dr. Dan

Natasha,

It is very common to have low blood sugar if you suddenly go on a low calorie diet.

You can help avoid this by eating small meals more frequently.

It's not that eating smaller meals throughout the day will magically make you lose weight.

It's just that you eat before your blood sugar drops. And you eat before you get so hungry that you gorge yourself on a huge meal.

Dr. Dan