3 months in keto and my energy has disappeared

(Kathy Marcella ) #1

I started keto at the beginning of June and I love it. The renewed energy I experienced was outstanding. I started keto primarily to improve my mental clarity and energy, which it did. I’ve lost 8 pounds which I’m happy with as I didn’t have too much to lose. But in the last few weeks my energy has depleted. I have no energy or motivation to go to the gym. I used to go 4 days a week and now I barely can drag myself there once a week. Where did my energy go? HELP!!

(Raj Seth) #2

Lotsa things may be happening. The biggest culprits are usually not eating enough, and not being fully fat adapted. 3 months in, you should be fat adapted - but more info would be helpful. Height/weight/age, eating what and when, health history etc.

(Kathy Marcella ) #3

Im 45, 5”2 and 114lbs. I always have BP coffee in the am and usually a salad w some sort of protein for lunch. Often I’ll have a Good Fats bar in the afternoon and for dinner I may have an omelet w cheese, avocado.
I had incredible energy when I first started and my diet is pretty much the same. I don’t know what’s happening

(mole person) #4

My guess is it’s this:

You have to increase your fat intake as you approach your goal weight. Your body can only take a certain amount of fat each day from each pound of fat.

Let’s say 5 of those 8 pounds that you lost were pure fat. Each pound was contributing 30 odd calories a day to your fuel as you lost them. You may be in significant deficit now since you don’t have very much remaining fat. Try eating 100-150 calories more from fat each day.

I’m at 104 pounds and at maintenance. I must eat 110-130 grams of fat a day or I’m underfueling my body. Underfueling leads to both lean mass losses and metabolic slowdown. That will cause what you are experiencing.

(Marianne) #5

Hello,

I agree that you may not be eating enough food and getting enough fat to fuel your body sufficiently. Also, I am wondering if you are fat adapted yet assuming that your fat and food intakes have been similar to the levels you listed. If you are exercising, your body may require more of both for comfortable sustainability.

I have been living strictly keto for approx. seven months. Since the beginning, I have always eaten cleanly, incorporating a lot of good fat, which I really enjoy. In spite of it, I would say it took me a good four months to become fat adapted. When it happens, you can definitely tell the difference. You will experience sustained energy while working out or doing strenuous projects.

If you are going to have a “snack,” you may want to consider something cleaner - maybe a few hard boiled eggs, pepperoni, bacon slices, chicken/tuna/egg salad, etc. If you are eating enough at your meals and getting enough fat, you will find you don’t need/want a snack.

Only suggestions - we all have to do this as we see fit.

(Scott) #6

It took me a good three months to get my workouts (running) back to normal. Then one day I was running up a hill and I thought “this doesn’t suck anymore”. Stay with it and maybe add some extra fat to your meals. I have some MCT oil in my first cup of coffee and add butter to my bacon grease before pouring in the eggs. Post run but it works for me.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #7

Also consider if you are minding your electrolytes and hydration as much as you were in the beginning. I remember a couple of months in thinking “I got this” and getting lazy about those things. I began to get headaches and cramps and just felt ready for bed right after work.

You may also want to switch the food you’re eating up. You may just be really used to it and variety could kick start your energy again.

(Joey) #8

@soccermom5

Congratulations and welcome to the forum! Plenty of solid advice is offered above based on plenty of experience.

I’d only add that it’d be wise to remember that your path - i.e., coming from one who really did not have much excess body fat to lose from the outset - will likely differ from many of those arriving at keto seeking to address overweight issues.

Like you, I didn’t have too much extra fat to give up when I started (2 months ago). My motivation was primarily about feeling better - and sharpened/focused mental clarity is one of the astounding changes on keto that I still can’t get over.

But I’ve also found that many of the discussions/videos/articles that speak to the early phases and adjustments for transitioning to a keto diet don’t quite square fully with my situation. They’re interesting and inspiring - just not always relevant to me personally.

Instead, I’ve found “maintenance”-oriented information about ketogenic eating tends to better fit my situation and my own experience with keto. The athletic profile in Phinney & Volek’s “Low-Carb Performance” book is more like it - and those high performing athletes (no, I’m NOT one!) took a long while to adapt before their exercise regimen felt right again.

As noted above, that dragging feeling you have about exercise could simply be a slower pace of fat adaptation. Then again, since you felt great at first, that might have been the benefit of burning that limited cache of excess fat (8 lbs) you lost… now you don’t have nearly as much extra left to contribute to your daily caloric need - and so your metabolism may be slowing down to conserve the remaining fat stores that are left.

You haven’t mentioned any particular macronutritent figures. If you’re not tracking caloric intake - especially by fat and protein, now that you’re in ketosis - that’s an important thing to do at least for a while. It might help you really sort out fact from fiction in terms of what you’re consuming vs what you might need to change going forward.

(Kathy Marcella ) #9

Great info everyone. Thank you. I think my carb manager is set too low. I’ve increased my fats since I first posted and I’ve noticed a difference already. Although my calories have increased too in carb manager I’m going by how I feel and not by what it tells me.
Thanks again for all the advice. I like this forum since I’m the only one of my close friends who is keto😊. Good to have a place to turn to for advice/questions

(Kathy Marcella ) #10

How do I know if I’m “fat adapted”?

(Marianne) #11

I asked the same question. Someone here said you will know it when you get there - and they were right.

For me, there was a definite difference in my energy level. When I started and for probably four months, I’d get very winded, weak, rapid heart beat, etc., while doing something strenuous. For me, that was usually heavy gardening, digging, cutting the grass, stuff like that. I knew I was fat adapted when I could do the same things for very long periods with none of those symptoms and feel great. Wasn’t hungry or weak in any way, just felt really super. It was an obvious difference. I knew right then and there that I was fully fat adapted.