Having headaches

abetterme · 10-18-2011, 08:38 PM

I have been seriously counting calories for the past 10 days and eat about 1400 or so. I feel that I have been eating sensibly and measuring out the serving sizes on what I eat. I have been getting these screaming headaches though when it's just getting close to dinner time. I don't even feel like I'm starving but yet I get these headaches. I even have a snack in between lunch and dinner and drink plenty of water. Am I just not uses to being so disciplined? Maybe it's because my snacks used to be way more than what I eat now. I think it has to do with being hungry but I have to know what that hunger feels like. I have to learn to wait until dinner. Does anyone else go through this or have suggestions?

lucyford · 10-18-2011, 10:19 PM

Not sure if this is helpful or not....but, after I started working out I would get the WORST headaches of my life. Aspirin or even migraine meds wouldn't help. Finally I figured out it's because I was wiping out my sodium stores during my workouts. After my workouts I'd drink a lot of water which didn't help. One day after thinking it was because of the lack of sodium I grabbed a handful of some salty bar mix like snack and my headache was gone after like, 15 mins. I literally don't add salt to anything I cook though, so my sodium intake is pretty low. I have to be conscious to sprinkle it in some of the things I eat now otherwise the headaches are back.

abetterme · 10-18-2011, 11:06 PM

Thank you for your response. I will have to give that a try. I don't eat a whole lot of salt either.

124chicksinger · 10-18-2011, 11:27 PM

Not sure hunger would give you a headache. 1400 isn't drastically low calories either for your current weight so maybe it is WHAT you're eating and not how much/little?

Years ago when I was on an induction phase of a particular diet, it stated if you got a headache to eat an orange. Probably because the induction was no sugar at all. Could you be eating very low sugar?

abetterme · 10-18-2011, 11:43 PM

Well today I did not have any sugar at all. The past week I've been eating a little candy corn (always tracking my calories while eating it) I really don't know what it is. I just notice it when I'm starting to get hungry and the headache creeps up so fast. But even if I eat, the headache will not go away until after I take an Ibuprofen.

milmin2043 · 10-18-2011, 11:55 PM

The poster who suggested salt intake may be right on. There is a sport's doc on Runner's World who says that if you are exercising hard enough to really sweat, that you need extra salt. As a matter of fact, right before I run a race I eat one of those salt packets that you get from a fast food restaurant. If I run a half marathon, I take another one during the race. You can run into all sorts of problems if your sodium level is too low. Maybe try what the other poster said with eating a salty snack, such as pretzels and see if it helps.