Hi! I’m new here and looking for some advice. I started my keto journey on May 21st. My doctor actually recommended I give it a try. My macros are 92 grams of fat, 21 carbs, 74 protein and 1201 calories. I’m doing this for both weight loss and just overall well-being.
My first week, I felt great. I had no “fluish” feelings and was able to stick to my numbers pretty easily.
Starting the day before yesterday (it’s about to get gross) I started having raging diarrhea. This is happening several times a day and matter what and when I eat. Today I feel terrible…nausea and I feel like I have the flu.
I guess my question is 3 fold…is it common to start with the flu like symptoms at a week in? Has anyone else had this happen? And what do I do?
I’m headed out to get a electrolyte replacement and some probiotics as a start, since I know I have to be dehydrated.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
9 days in and feeling wretched
Electrolytes sounds like the place to start (not just for your current dehydration, but because you’ll need more of them on keto), and you could even try a bit of salt under your tongue immediately to see if you perk up from that.
It sounds to me like you might actually just have a virus. Is that possible?
What is your height, weight, and age? Are you also exercising? Instead of buying a specific supplement for electrolytes, just try ketoaide.
“Keto flu” as a result of low electrolytes can happen to anyone on a low carb diet that isn’t managing electrolytes well enough.
I’m curious as to your height and weight too. That seems VERY low for calories. I think you may be slowing your metabolism by under eating.
Though that’s not why your feeling so bad. Welcome to the adaptation phase of Keto.
It sucks, but it is temporary. Keep your electrolytes in check to help ease this phase, but you’ll just have to power through a lot of it.
For me it took 3.5 weeks of feeling that way on and off before things really started to improve.
I’m about 5’7 1/2 and 156lbs.
I thought the calorie count was low, but I’m having a hard time meeting that. Haha! It’s hard,by the end of the day, squeezing everything in.
I am typically active with just lifestyle but I try to walk for cardio at least 3x a week
A stomach virus isn’t something I thought of I haven’t had one in years. I guess anything is possible. Just seems odd with the timing.
This is pretty common with those just starting, and it sounds contradictory: eat more calories but don’t eat if you’re not hungry.
The trick is if you find your getting full after only a eating a small amount is to make sure all your food choices are fat dense and not just low carb. Since fat has 9 cal per gram, you can increase your calories without adding volume to what you’re eating. You can add back in other low carb foods once you adapt, but slowing down your metabolism with too few calories is going to hurt your weight loss goals.
Also don’t sabotage meals with snacking. You want to eat full meals well spaced out.
Thanks for the advice! It does seem that i focus more on the how much than I do what it is.
Lots of good advice here. You’re going to be fine, just keep ketoing on, and don’t let this phase faze you.
Are you supplementing a lot of magnesium right now? Or using MCT? Both of those will cause the massive diarrhea you speak of.
Sue
I haven’t been using those. I heard they can cause that. Things have calmed down. I’ve been using probiotics and an electrolyte replacement. They seem to be helping. Today was a much better day.
Thanks!!
Like everyone said, it’s normal and the fact you are feeling better probably means my small piece of advice here won’t apply. It could be worth paying attention to any food you increased much more of when starting keto, especially dairy. It’s easy to eat a ton of dairy on keto, makes it easy to add fat and it’s delicious of course. Some people get some distressed when adding a lot of dairy, so if this describes you, could be worth playing that and seeing if replacing that fat with a non dairy option helps. If you have always eaten plenty of dairy then don’t consider it. Also, make sure you are still eating quality food overall. It’s easy to just get stuck on macros and not worry about the sources. Quality and variety of food should be right up there with other keto mantras. Glad to hear you are doing better though, keep it up
Glad you’re feeling better! I’ve gotta agree with everyone else. Keep up the electrolytes. Our bodies are really good at letting us know we’re missing something. For sodium I’ve learned to keep a jar of Himalayan salt at work and a small container of it in my purse. When feeling dizzy or nauseous, a big pinch of sodium stops it pretty quickly. I take two 250 mg magnesium pills before bed; helps me sleep and wards off leg cramps. It’s the potassium that always gets me…
I’m confused about the potassium too. From everything I’ve read, it’s not good to take a supplement. So, I’ve just been trying to eat foods with higher levels.
Thanks for the tip!!
Usually if you can keep your sodium in check, that will ensure your potassium is also okay, as the sodium helps regulate the potassium.
I came across this today.
It’s very helpful re explaining salt and electrolytes for Keto
https://blog.virtahealth.com/sodium-nutritional-ketosis-keto-flu-adrenal-function/#comment-2794