13 pounds in 8 days, but trip to the ER

(Danett Williams) #1

I have lost 13 pounds in 8 days on the keto diet. I kick-started it with a four day fast to put myself into ketosis. Then started a healthy clean keto diet with lots of kale. :slight_smile:

Before keto, I was swimming 60 minutes per day. On Keto, I upped it to 90 minutes as I read I should add something to exercise.

I aim to fast 1-2 days per week.

On a fast day on Monday, I started feeling “not good” with tingling in my hand and arm along with a sharp pain in my arm intermittently, all on the left side. I broke my fast that night due to feeling nauseous. The next day I ate normally on keto but had tingling on my entire left side and my heart was beating loudly and had shortness of breath. At the gym I could barely climb the gym steps and could only swim 30 minutes.

I called the advice nurse who sent me to the ER. They ran tests and said it was low bicarbonate, low potassium, low sodium. They pumped me full of fluids and made me eat (I ate the meat out of a sandwich). They tried to give me juice but I did not want sugar. God only knows what was in the IV.

Anyway, they released me once my bloodwork was normal and advised to stop my diet. I have no intention of doing so as I am getting really good results.

  1. I am looking for good supplements/minerals. Advice please?
  2. Anyone have this happen to them? I am thinking I need to drink bone broth on fast days as I was fasting with water only.
  3. Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

#2

Typically, most early weight loss is water. Glycogen binds with water, so when you go into ketosis and your stored glycogen declines, that water would be released. That flushing of water can take electrolytes along with it, which is why some people get the keto flu early on.

Some people use “ketoade” to replenish electrolytes. Basically, lite salt (Potassium and Sodium) + Water + zero carb flavoring (Mio brand or equivalent):

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq#wiki_ketoade.3A_your_best_weapon_to_fight_the_flu

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #3

Not trying to be controversial here, but unless you are used to fasting it may not be a good idea to jump right into fasting, especially when changing your diet.

If you are set on fasting you need to keep up with electrolytes. The suggestion of ketoAide is a good one, just be careful with the potassium. @Brenda had recently changed her formula.

#4

You absolutely need to supplement electrolytes when you’re fasting and most likely on keto in general. You obviously need more sodium and potassium from the test results; you probably also need magnesium. You can take standard supplements for this, which is what I do. Some people like to make a water drink (“keto-ade”) out of lite salt which gives you some sodium and potassium. You can also buy liquid drops to add to water or other drinks. Avoid the flavored ones (like Mio) as they generally don’t have a significant amount of electrolytes in them and people usually try to skip artificial sweeteners when they’re fasting. Good options are Lyte Balance or Hi-Lyte. After you’ve been keto for a few months, you may find you can scale back a bit.

The “add some exercise” advice is probably targeted at people who are not exercising at all. We typically advise people to scale back on exercise when they first start until they’re adapted–maybe a month or so in. You may find you just don’t have the energy to exercise in the way that you’re used to until you become adapted to burning fat instead of carbs. However, if you feel you have the energy, there’s no reason to stop doing your hour-long swim. It’s a lot of cardio, but I love swimming and understand how it can be very meditative. But if you want to add something later, weight training (with weights or body-weight exercises) are a better option than more cardio.

(Charlotte) #5

Whats the rush on weight loss? I wouldn’t jump start keto or fast until your fat adapted. There is a good way to keto and a bad way to keto and imo, you’re going balls to the wall right out of the gate has had negative health implications so its probably not a good idea to go nuts. Its just too many changes too fast. Thats just my opinion though.

(PJ) #6

Yeah, I know keto well, and have been on/off it many times for many years. But in Jan I lost 44# in 14 days, after going off it for one month for the holidays. (Of course I gained that much in 5-6 weeks!!) I DID supplement through it, every mineral and sodium. I DID reduce my diuretics to almost none. I know well enough.

But when the water was ‘mostly’ back off, and it had been a week and I hadn’t lost much more, I figured the “heavy supplementing” was no longer required, and I also (unrelated and just for laziness) quit making/drinking my homemade kefir. This combination was a bad move.

I ended up in ER with severe low calcium, and of course low other-minerals because the sodium drop is what causes all the other minerals to be lost also. Then my doc freaked out because the blood test (from ER) showed my parathyroid number off the scale while my actual calcium was so insanely low.

(Parathyroid has nothing to do with the thyroid, it just happens to be located right on top of it. It’s what controls the calcium in your body.) She wanted me to do all kinds of tests to see if I had a tumor as a result. I told her no – I didn’t have insurance, and I was certain the situation I’d brought on was the reason for the funky blood results of that moment.

You just have to consider that when you are taking supplements, if you’re losing a lot of water fast, it is washing out the supplements as well. So I adapted, and now if I’m in a high water-loss period, I take LOW quantities of supplements, constantly, all through the day and before bed. That way I’m constantly replacing them in my body.

I just had to go back on diuretics the other day (heart issues and apparently I cannot quite do without them yet) and I lost 18.2# in 24 hours (holy cats!!!). I supplemented insanely all through it and for the days after and it hasn’t given me any problems. But shifting my supps to small doses every 3 hours waking to sleeping I think really made a difference. That’s only during the “high water loss” phase of course.

(Jane Srygley) #7

My first time doing keto 5 years ago I ended up in the ER for the same reason: significant dehydration. Supplementing with electrolytes is key, especially sodium, magnesium and potassium. Don’t go too nuts! Do your research and make sure you are taking the right amounts. This time I’m 2.5 months in and doing fine with both keto and fasting.

The IV was probably just saline, fyi. Good luck!

(Danett Williams) #8

Hi:

Thanks for reassuring me the IV was saline. I was worried they tried to put glucose into me. After all my hard work.

It is true. I am pretty intense with dieting. I am excellent at it, will stick to a diet like nobody’s business and will go all out. For years I was doing HAES (Health at Every Size) which is great for some, but that mentality caused me to gain massive amounts of weight. So I am back to eating strictly again. I researched and decided keto was the best and easiest to follow for me. I downloaded a carb manager and keep track of macros. I am spot on. I do wonder if macros are affected by exercise. But I cannot find an app that will alter macros for exercise.

Thank you everyone as I am “glad” i am not the only one.

How about this supplement: https://www.amazon.com/Electrolyte-Maltodextrin-Raspberry-Hi-Lyte-Servings/dp/B07KDRL5ZD/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=FR11ZBMW52GW&keywords=keto+electrolyte+supplement&qid=1563397795&s=hpc&sprefix=keto+electrolyte%2Chpc%2C205&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1

It looks easy and like I do not have to mix a bunch of stuff.

I am glad to know I really need to take electrolytes. I plan to start doing this as soon as I receive whatever electrolytes I choose. Today I’ll go out just to buy some himilayan sea salt until it comes. After last night’s ER adventure, my doctor put me on weekly blood draws for electrolytes!

(RightNOW, I do not see how you lose that much in water. Wow! You must retain a lot!)

Thanks!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #9

You do have the right to ask them what’s in the IV. Do you know what your glucose levels was? Most commonly the will run a saline IV, but if glucose was low they might try to give some.

(PJ) #10

The IV they gave me clearly had glucose, because I was firmly in keto, and then the next afternoon, my body freaked out – I had NO energy, no access to energy, I mean I could feel that my organs were telling my brain ‘emergency!’ – I ended up eating carbs as I was away from home and felt like I had to get some glucose into me ASAP (this was NOT a carb craving. Just a realization of a severe energy crisis at the primal level).

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

For calcium retention, you need to be getting enough salt (sodium chloride) in your diet. Recent studies indicate that the “sweet spot” for maximal health is between 10-15 grams a day (2-3 U.S. teaspoons), including any salt already present in food. Keeping your salt regulated will also help regulate your potassium, magnesium, and calcium. You also need vitamins D and K2.

Also be sure to eat enough protein. A ketogenic diet includes a reasonable amount of protein, generally between 1.0 and 2.0 grams per kilogram of lean mass (you can also calculate from your ideal body weight). Bone is calcium in a protein matrix, so you must eat protein if you want strong bones.

As long as you keep your carbohydrate under 20 g/day, you can fill in the rest of your caloric needs with fat, which has a negligible effect on insulin levels, so it won’t interfere with using your excess stored fat, as long as you eat to satiety. (In other words, trust your body and listen to what it tells you.)

We enter ketosis as soon as the glucose (i.e., sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates) in our diet drops below a certain threshold. (Unless your metabolism is severely deranged, 20 g/day of carbohydrate will be below your personal threshold.) But even though we enter ketosis very quickly, it takes a while for the body to adapt to using fat as fuel again (burning fat is how we all start out in infancy), since certain changes need to occur at the cellular level. During the adaptation period, you will notice a drop in your physical performance; it’s return to your normal level is one of the signs of full fat-adaptation. Once adapted, your muscles will efficiently metabolize fatty acids, and will pass up the glucose and ketones produced in the liver, so that they will be accessible to those cells that must have them (red blood cells, and brain, respectively, among other organs).

#12

This is the one I’ve used:

Keep in mind, I drink a couple of quarts of water every day so I was getting a lot more than just one serving’s worth of the electrolytes listed. The one you linked to is much higher per serving, so it’s probably more of a once a day drink. Also the one you linked to has stevia. Most people try to avoid sweeteners if they’re fasting.

(Jill F.) #13

Look at a keto lifestyle as that, it is a marathon not sprint. None of us gained it overnight nor will we lose it overnight. Just focus on low carbs, lots of fat, protein, salt and hydration. I personally would not fast at all until after 4 to 6 weeks. I dont think your body is ready until then. Maybe even longer. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs.

(Susan) #14

I started doing Keto in February but didn’t start doing any actual fasting (beyond IF) until May. It is better as @MommyJilly2005 says above, to take your time. Remember the tortoise won the race; slow and steady =).

(Cindy) #15

Keto is generally about getting healthy…not primarily weight loss. It sounds like you’re gauging your “good results” primarily from the scale. Any other diet in which you experienced pain, tingling, and numbness would be a huge red flag to, yes, quit the diet.

Luckily, with keto, it probably was “just” an electrolyte deficiency that can be easily corrected. But it should also be a warning to you that MORE (or faster) is NOT always better.

Starting keto with a fast, followed by strict keto with fasting days…you really haven’t given your body time to become fat-adapted. Sure, you’re in ketosis, but you’re pretty much just starving yourself right now.

I know how appealing it can be to lose pounds quickly, but some of what you’ve written sounds as if you’re in a rather unhealthy state of mind.

(Chris) #16

I find magnesium a tough one. I’d need to est FAR more food than I do to reach 400mg or above and then I read mag citrate can make you dependent on it sk how do you make aure your magnesium is up?

(Susan) #17

You can make this, cheaply and you will get what you need:

#18

Maltodextrin is about the worst thing you could use because it will spike blood sugar and insulin.

(Jane Srygley) #19

If I don’t get a headache, I assume I’m doing ok. I use one mag citrate and one mag oxide supplement. The mag oxide is only 250 mg so that’s the one I take most often when I’m fasting because the bigger one makes me nauseous.

#20

I prefer mag glycinate because it’s less likely to have a laxative effect (for me) and more likely to be absorbed.