2nd week of Keto... Questions

(Nick) #1

Hell all,

My name is Nick and I am officially on day 9 of my Keto diet. I had been eating a higher fat / lower carb diet days leading up to starting as well but I have been strictly following the diet for 9 days. I have lost almost 10 pounds within 9 days which is great. I do not mind the diet. It is much better than counting calories or weight watchers points. However I will say this… my energy levels are VERY low and I am feel like I have no serotonin being produced in my brain. I am normally a pretty high energy happy person. However I am currently in a borderline catatonic state. I am pretty miserable and something that usually uplifts my mood has been affected too which is my sex drive. It is non existent. My partner just started the diet as well and I think she’s experiencing the same thing. We have NEVER not been able to get in the mood before this and it seems like that is the case. So, I am wondering what is going on and whether or not it will change. To be honest losing a few pounds is definitely not worth it if I am miserable and have no sex drive. I can easily do weight watcher and it may not work as fast I don’t feel like this.

Any information is much appreciated.

#2

This sounds to me like it’s well within the range of normal when shifting to a keto diet - and that it will likely work itself out in the next few weeks - but folks with more experience will probably chime in soon.
Sex drive is pretty closely tied with energy and overall wellbeing, so it makes sense that it would drop (temporarily) as you adjust.

(jilliangordona) #3

You are likely hitting a keto flu wall. Try upping your salts, supplement magnesium, and add some avocado to your diet if you’re not partaking in some already.

Salt is a big one. When you think you’ve had too much, add MORE.

(Nick) #4

From what I have read it seemed to me that the Keto flu came and went within a week while your carb reserves were being burned up. My concern is that if this is how I will normally feel on a Keto diet, I will definitely jump ship.

(Anderson Herzogenrath Da Costa) #5

This is definitely NOT how you will normally feel. Your body is not being able to use fat for fuel as efficiently as it did with carbohydrates.

Soon you will become better, and when fat adapted it will be MUCH better.

Keep calm and keto on.

(jilliangordona) #6

You can feel sick/tired in any point of your keto lifestyle if your electrolytes are out of whack… people just tend to be more prone to it in the beginning.

(Nick) #7

I have been taking electrolyte supplements.

(jilliangordona) #8

Do they include salt? What do you think your salt intake is?

(jilliangordona) #9

Can you also provide us with a sample of what you have been eating? Have you been tracking your macros? All of these things can help figure out what is going on.

(Nick) #10

They do include salt yes. They are called “Salt Stick Caps”. I have not been specially monitoring my exact electrolyte levels, which I suppose I should start doing if I don’t begin to feel better. I have been tracking my macros very diligently. I eat things such as ground beef, chicken, eggs, bacon, olive oil, broccoli, butter, coconut oil, guac, and etc. I eat items very common to this type of diet. I have been limiting myself to 20g of net carbs per day, however some days I eat even less. I am set to 177 g of Fat which I usually come pretty close to (because of these fat bombs I made). The most difficult thing is to stay within my protein, but I usually come pretty close. Like I said I am dropping weight quickly. I started at 220 and would like to get to 200. I have already lost 10 pounds.

(jilliangordona) #11

This all looks good. How many calories are you getting and about how much water are you drinking?

(Nick) #12

2050 calories per day and I drink an absurd amount of water. I always have but I drink even more now.

(jilliangordona) #13

I just looked up your supplement, and it looks way low in magnesium and sodium, at least per capsule. How many do you takena day?

(Nick) #14

Well I have been experimenting with them. I just took 5 of them to start off the day. I have never taken more than 5 in one day I don’t believe. I have one day eaten 2 of them a few hours apart throughout the day.

(jilliangordona) #15

A ball park recommendation for sodium is 3-5 grams per day and magnesium you often need to play a around with… but I take about 500 mg per day. If you take 5 of those supplements, that leaves you with only 55 mg of magnesium and a little over 1 g of sodium.

You may want to look into getting a magnesium supplement on its own (I use magnesium citrate, it’s 500mg). The supplement you are currently along may not be giving you the amount you need to really thrive on keto.

#16

[I don’t want to interrupt the sodium and electrolyte discussion, which sounds like a good one, but just a note about one of your questions above: 9 days in is probably not at all indicative of how you will feel long-term on keto. Whether it’s your body adjusting, or that you need to find the tweaks that make it work for you, your energy and libido drop is temporary. If we all lost our sex drives on keto, I don’t think you’d see so many people happy eating this way :slight_smile: Greater health = greater vitality overall, and unless there’s something unusual going on, that means healthy libido as well.]

ok - back to sodium…

(jilliangordona) #17

Shout it from the roof tops! You are 100% right

(Nick) #18

Lol… agreed. Ummm ok well I guess I didn’t really know the amounts of each electrolyte I should be consuming. So I will run with 3 grams of sodium and 500 mg of magnesium and see how that works out. I have not specifically ready how much of each I should intake.

(jilliangordona) #19

Slowly increase magnesium otherwise you may end up with “disaster pants” :poop: as magnesium can also be use as a laxative. Just be patient and keep trying it out.

Also try your best to get your hands on sea salt over table salt. Best of luck!! And I promise you will feel better soon

(Nick) #20

Thank you, I REALLY appreciate it. I will tweak some stuff and report back in.