1 week in; questions

#1

I’m on day 8 or 9 right now and doing well. I only had a couple of days of brain fog and I feel pretty good. My meals consist of roughly 40-50g protein and 60+ grams of fat, and negligible carbs. I’ve started measuring blood ketones and I’m registering “LOW”, even fasted in the morning. Is it just too early? Does it take longer than a week or am I eating too much protein? It’s weird I feel so good for measuring zero ketones. I’m 5’ 8", 100kg, about 20% bf I think. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks.

#2

I suspect the experts here are going to ask you for more information. How much of each of the macros are you eating a day? (eating one meal a day of 40-50 gr protein is probably way to little and tree meals might be too much). What do you mean by low ketones? Are you talking about zero? How is your blood glucose? Do you know if you are insulin resistant or are you healthy and doing keto for weight loss? Are you working out and do you have a physically demanding job? Are you sleeping well? Are you drinking enough water?
Sorry about the flood of questions, but our bodies are quite complex. With all this said I think it is still very early on for you and you shouldn’t worry at all. With that said I think tweaking your diet early on is of great advantage.
I am in no way an expert, and my advice is KCKO (Keep Calm and Keto On!)

(Mike W.) #3

I would at least double the fat (or not track at all. You should eat fat til satiety) You sound like you’re restricting calories which is no bueno.

#4

I’m eating meals like that 3 times a day. Weight loss is a goal, yes, but sarcoidosis management by controlling inflammation is my main concern. Eventually when I’m keto-adapted or fat-adapted I’ll intermittently fast to increase the rate of recovery for all my injuries (torn rotator cuff, tendinitis, tendinosis). I have just stopped working out completely because it’s not letting my injuries heal, but I’m still doing rehab exercises and stretches, and my job is pretty physically demanding. I’m not moving as much product as I used to due to the injuries but I still walk about 5 miles a day at my job.
By low ketones, I mean none. My novamax just says low though.
I’m insulin sensitive enough. Fasting glucose is usually 90 or so.
I sleep good enough using stuff like melatonin, valerian, lemon balm, etc.
I’m using a half teaspoon of sea salt twice a day and drink 2 gallons of water a day.

#5

My thoughts (witch are worth what you paid for them) are that you are doing well as long as you are feeling good. Eat to satiety and don’t be afraid of good fat and salts. Give it some time, especially given that your body is healing from injury and you have an inflammatory illness on top of that. You might want to take pictures (I took pictures of my face daily to record the difference) or measure your body (waist, thighs, arms, neck) or both to see if something is happening there. If you up your fat a bit it may help your body to switch to fat burning faster. We all have different bodies that respond differently.
Some supplements and medications seem to affect ketosis for people as well. Hopefully @richard or @DaveKeto kan help you out more than I can.

(Richard Morris) #6

It can take 6 weeks to get properly adapted. It will happen. Important thing is to not eat sugar or starch, eat as much fat as you want, and keep about the same amount of protein you were eating before keto. Oh and get plenty of salt. Now that you are keto you will lose more sodium in urine so you can add more to food to taste.

#7

Thanks. I was eating about 200g protein before keto, and with everything I’ve read about gluconeogenesis I figured I should drop it a little.

So it’s ok I’m not producing ketones yet? Just drive on?

(Richard Morris) #8

Essentially we want to spare protein for building, and use fat for energy.

More protein doesn’t directly cause more glucose, you make the glucose that your body needs. More protein can cause you to NEED more glucose because a reduction of 10% of ketones output means a 4 x increase in demand for glucose. Eating so much protein that you use protein for energy means you use less fat - which means you make fewer ketones. Too much protein can certainly indirectly cause you to make more glucose.

But I wouldn’t worry too much about that. That’s for 6 months time when your weight loss has stalled. Right now you just need to teach your body to get it’s energy from fat.