Crashing?

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #1

I’ve been living the keto life for 40 days now. I got over the keto flu quickly in the 1st few weeks. And I’ve been good about keeping my carbs under 20g, a few days maybe 30g, but most days in the 10 to 20g range. I’ve lost about 20lbs and have felt great for the most part… but the last 2 days I feel like I’m crashing; fatigue, hunger, blurred vision, muscle cramping, carb cravings.

I’m drinking lots of water with pink salt, lots of fat… but I feel terrible. Below are my averages for the last 2 days:

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Any ideas why or solutions?

Thank you in advance!

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #2

Also…

For the last 2 days I’ve been feeling cold and the skin on my hands is drying.

(Raj Seth) #3

Seems waaaaay too low on calories and salt

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #4

I was thinking that might be it…

But I’m small framed, 5ft tall, and very sedentary.

My doctor recommended no more than 1500 a day to lose weight at a healthy pace for me. Yesterday I was at 1520 and today I’m at 710, but still at work.

(Frank) #5

I’m counting around 900 calories today and around 700 yesterday.

(Raj Seth) #6

Way way too low

(Candy Lind) #7

You definitely need more salt, possibly also magnesium & potassium. You need a lot of salt to process all the fat you’re eating. I try to get a minimum of 3 g salt daily, usually more. Drink more water. And I had a lot of leg cramps until I increased my magnesium supplement and start drinking an electrolyte drink daily. You can buy a sugar-free one or make homemade.

And make sure you’re eating enough.

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #8

My physician actually suggested that my symptoms are sounding like a thyroid issue and that I need to go in next week and have my levels tested. Thyroid problems run in my family. He said he’s had other patients who have wrecked their thyroid doing low carb diets.

And his reccomendation was I start eating carbs again, at least a moderate amount in the 100g area until I can be seen in the office.

I don’t want to be kicked out of ketosis… but I followed his advice today and feel 100% better after eating 100g carbs. The blurry vision went away, the exhaustion, the cold body temp even though it was 80 degrees outside. Only an hour after the carbs, I felt normal again.

What should I do?! Low carb has always worked so well for me…

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #9

Is there a thyroid group in the forum?

Could an admin move this post there?

(Running from stupidity) #10

Probably because you got enough calories into yourself for a while after not doing so. It helps :slight_smile:

#11

Thyroid could be part of the problem but I agree with those who say you are not eating enough. I also feel that you should be taking some keto-ade as @CandyLindTX mentioned & provided the link.

(CJ Young) #12

Low body temperature is indicative of not eating enough. Lowering your body temperature, particularly in the extremities, is one of the first things the body does to try and burn less energy. Also,dry hands follow with that because it indicates a likelihood of decreased blood-flow to the extremities, also a symptom of starvation.

Your doctor is a doctor and I’m not so I don’t want to shit talk him but, maybe try and eat at a calorie maintenance for a week and not a deficit. I just threw 5ft tall into a calorie calculator and If you’re eating 1500 - 1600 calories a day you’re eating at up to a 500 calorie deficit depending on how much you weigh. I would suggest throwing your numbers into a calculator and try to eat a bit closer to that

Just for comparison; I had 10g net carbs / 220g fat / 80g protein today. I didn’t go to the gym today but consumed 2300 calories ( a maintenance level for myself at 5’10" 233lbs ) and I suspect I’ll be down in weight tomorrow regardless. The way you loose weight on Keto is different then on the Standard American Diet. You don’t have to cut your caloric intake by 300 to 800 calories/day.

Feed your body, get it healthy and it will start to loose the weight without pushing it. Boost your electrolights (smart water and put pink salt on everything) and try eating at caloric maintenance for a week just to see if you feel better.

Good luck.

(Candy Lind) #13

Electrolyte imbalances can really mess you up and make you feel terrible in this WoE. It took me over a year (I’m slow! :crazy_face:) to get on an even keel. You haven’t been keto anywhere NEAR long enough for keto to “wreck” anything! That is a typical knee-jerk reaction from a ketophobic medical practitioner.

After 18 months, my hypothyroidism is BETTER on keto. My endocrine system is healing overall, so it doesn’t need as much thyroid to keep systems going. If you have a history of thyroid issues in your family, fine. See if you can find an endocrinologist who knows about and encourages keto, and go to THEM for advice. That ESPECIALLY applies if your doctor simply looks at your TSH and prescribes based on that.

Questions - what 100 carbs did you ingest? And has that carb load made you hungry? Are cravings back? The answers to those questions may hold part of the key to whether his recommendation is right for YOUR “N=1” - or whether you should instead KCKO and find a better way for yourself. YOU are your own best health advocate.

I can’t help it - I no longer trust the medical community unless they can “show me the science.” They have unwittingly supported big government, big pharm, and big food too long. Each one has to re-earn my respect at this point. I IMPLORE you to give keto more than just 45 days before you give up and get on the carb train again.

(Wendy) #14

I echo what CandyLind says. I find it easy to not eat enough calories and also not eat enough salt. I too had to supplement my magnesium and increase my salt intake and all my symptoms went away. I still after 9 months have to do those things. I had dizziness, leg cramps, dry skin, coldness. I fixed those things with more fat/protein and not more carbs.
Do your research. Understand how this diet works. Understand where the old diet standards came about. Watch some of Dr Ken D Barry videos. He covers some things on thyroid and how this diet helps it.
I’m with Candy, I no longer just accept what a doctor says at face value. They only know what they are taught and if they don’t know the truth they will continue to parrot the lies.
Some great resources are Gary Taubes, Good Calories, Bad Calories, or his shorter work Why We Get Fat, Nina Teicholz ‘s Big Fat Surprise, Dr Jason Fungs’ books Obesity Code and Diabetes Code.
These are full of what the research shows us about the how’s and why’s of metabolism and the politics of dietary recommendations.
I wish you well!

(Raj Seth) #15

He is so full of :poop:

(Raj Seth) #16

+1

(Todd Allen) #17

20 lbs in 40 days is a near fasting rate of weight loss at least if it was fat. In general crash dieting isn’t sustainable long term, metabolism slows and body temperature and vigor fall. The standard recommendation is to not push aggressive weight loss through targeted forced restriction but to eat to satiety. At some point when unforced progress stalls out, incorporating time restricted feeding or a little fasting often continues progress in a way that is more sustainable.

(Tisha Jolene Eby) #18

Thank you!

You’ve encouraged me to go seek a second opinion at our medical center.

#19

I was their too. Light-headed when standing, blurry vision, tired all the time( more so than I normally am). I started taking vitamins and eat the heck out of the salt ( still regular ) don’t know what the point of the pink is for. Squirrel. huh, where. But made a huge difference for me and try and track how much water you actually drink in a day. If I don’t make an effort to keep track I don’t drink enough and that’s all I drink.

(Wendy) #20

I’m no expert but the pink doesn’t have all the extra minerals stripped from it. I think it has a bit of magnesium and some others as well.