Advice regarding dehydration?

(icky) #1

So, to get deeper into Ketosis, about a week ago, I’ve cut my carbs down to under 10 g.
I’ve also taken some exogenous Ketones, tho not very much, as they’re quite expensive.

Two days ago, I noticed the skin on my hands looking weird and I was trying to work out what it was and amonst other things ended up doing the “pinch test” and the result was really bad… which indicates being very, very dehydrated…

The weird thing is, I don’t feel dehydrated at all. I feel fine. Zero symptoms.

I’ve been drinking plenty and making sure I get electrolytes.

The last 2 days I’ve been making sure to drink even more and to get more electrolytes to cover the extra water.

My pinch test is now a bit better, but still pretty crappy.

Can I be so dehydrated without any other symptoms?

How come I can’t seem to get “re-hydrated”?

Any advice other than upping my carb limit again?

(KM) #2

There’s a good chance you’re not dehydrated, you’ve just depleted your glycogen storage. Glycogen is stored with water, so when you go deep into ketosis for a period of time, you lose that extra bulk. It’s part of the reason body builders focus on carbs when they want to compete - carbs / glycogen storage puffs you up a bit. The older you get, the less forgiving and elastic your skin is when you remove the underlying glycogen (or muscle or fat, for that matter). Welcome to the Shar-Pei years!

Before / After

image

(icky) #3

Ahhhh okay! :laughing:

That sounds weird, but less worrying than being crazily dehydrated…

I’m going to google this and see if it fits.

Have you ever had this happen to you?

(KM) #4

see the picture above. That’s me on the right. :rofl:

(icky) #5

Pssssshhhhht! :rofl:

(Bob M) #6

What is the pinch test and how does one do it?

(icky) #7

grafik
grafik.png738×604 84.5 KB

(icky) #8

Your skin should “bounce back to normal” pretty much instantly. Mine is taking like 1 - 2 seconds, which is loooong… It’s like watching it in slow motion

(KM) #9

It is a reasonable test for dehydration, but if you’re “working on” hydrating and conscious of drinking as much as you want or more, and you’re still not “passing the pinch test,” it’s unlikely you’re water deficient.

(icky) #10

So, I’m having trouble telling whether this is “bad” or whether I should do “something” to reverse it…

Or will it just adjust naturally, once my body has adjusted to the deeper ketosis/ lower level of carbs?

(Joey) #11

@sugar-addict One other consideration … after you (1) get old and (2) lose a meaningful amount of weight, you’re going to have extra skin compared to what your body used to need to keep all of that younger, plumpier “you” inside.

You will be more prone to sagging and the pinch test will no longer yield the same results.

If you’re not feeling light-headed, having digestion issues, or particularly thirsty, you are not likely dehydrated. Keeping your electrolytes up is the key (assuming normal kidney function, it’s hard to overdo the electrolytes). Otherwise, drink when thirsty and relax. :wink:

(KM) #12

Assuming you are drinking enough and not actually dehydrated, it’s not a bad thing. As I understand it, on carbs your body stores a certain amount of glucose (and water)in the form of glycogen in your muscles. When you switch over to not eating carbs, your body first burns up that glycogen, and then switches over to burning ketones. So I’m not sure if it adjusts or reverses unless you reload the glycogen by eating carbs.

(icky) #13

Okay, well I’m less worried now, at least…

I’ve never had it happen before, even with extended fasts.

And my skin was normal (for my age) a week ago… So seeing it like this just seemed like “Ohhhh crap, I think something is going wrong…”

I’ll make sure to keep fluids and electrolytes up and will observe…

(Joey) #14

Sorry if you’ve already covered this here or in another thread, but may I ask: How are you feeling? Any particular reason you’ve been adding exogenous ketones?

(icky) #15

I’m feeling fine…

I’ve been listening to some podcasts that were talking about exogenous ketones and MCT oil being a good thing and I figured it would help push me a bit deeper into ketosis as I was reducing carbs to 10 g… As I said tho, they’re expensive so I don’t think the amount I took would’ve made a big difference…

(Joey) #16

Ah, that’s helpful info…

Well, exogenous ketones are currently being used in unique circumstances (cancer patients, CNS disease research), but for those of us who are not so unfortunate with such health challenges, we’d be wasting our money - and perhaps even keeping our livers and pancreas from stepping up to the plate to get us into producing our own ketones (and burning our stores of adipose fat tissue to do so).

If you’re trying to lose weight, consuming exogenous ketones likely keeps your body from utilizing your current fat stores for energy. If you’re trying to get your body to be fully fat-adapted, you’re getting in the way of that conversion process, too.

My recommendation would be to save yourself the money and let your body do its thing. :vulcan_salute:

(icky) #17

I’m not doing Keto for weight loss… I’m doing it to achieve medical ketosis… And had previously thought that the “Keto diet” that’s described for weightloss would be sufficient for that… but I don’t think it is…

As regards the exogenous ketones, I don’t think they get in the way… As I understand it, they’re actually signalling molecules, sort of like hormones, and that by having (exogenous) ketones in your system, it actually signals your body to make more ketones…

Either way, seeing as they’re pricey, I can’t afford to take much of them anyway and I agree that they’re probably not necessary… But I’m experimenting with deeper levels of ketosis atm, because I’m aiming for the medical ketosis levels… So I guess I’m going to be trying some things that aren’t relevant to weight-loss-Keto

(Cathy) #18

Becoming keto adapted does have a diuretic effect on most people and the simple solution is to up your salt intake… a good quality salt without all the minerals stripped away.
When the human body flushes a lot of fluid, important electrolytes can be depleted so in order to maintain those, you want to give your body the ability to do so by adding some salt. Lots of very experienced people recommend broth. Home made is best but commercially made will do it too.

(Robin) #19

Just turned 70 and recently had lunch with about 10 of my friends from high school. Yeah, I’m lucky.
At one point during conversation, the subject of our hands came up. We ALL have that loose skin. Like our moms and grandmoms.
Among us, there are chubbies, skinnies, and a multitude of “diets”.
Point being that age is definitely a factor.

(Joey) #20

Based on my understanding, this would be an appropriate application of exogenous (i.e., for medicinal objectives) and can be helpful. I appreciate that they can be costly. Thanks for the reply.