Day 4 Keto Diet Newbie _ Help, Im Starting to Doubt!

(Doug) #21

Now I do. :smile:

#22

THANK YOU!!!
You guys have made me laugh and smile and learn so much! Really glad i asked for your advice.
You were all spot on with the magnesium. The tummy problems started the night i took the supplements before i wet to bed. Ironically I was only taking them because I read online that Keto flu can be prevented by taking them - ha! I dont think I ever would have made the connection with the stomach problems because of this very reason and would have kept taking themā€¦ then the D would have continued, and I likely would have had to quit Keto.

So you saved a Keto!!!

I want to reply to you individually when i get my energy up again.
To give you a quick update:
No more D, and I havenā€™t taken any more magnesium. Phew!!
Had energy to get out on Keto Day 4 evening, and was delighted a coffee shop let me have double cream with my coffee when i tentatively asked. Took a teaspoon of coconut oil before bed to bring my fat ratio up to where it needed to be.
All in all - i stuck with it!!

Keto Day 5- woke up faint, woozy, light headed, and feeling moderately sick. So surprised!! Lying downā€¦ so the typos will continue as i type with laptop on my chest hahah (seriously, your messages cracked me up about that. What was the Turkey even an autocorrect for lol).

Still made fully keto breakfast. Bell peppers stuffed with butter, bacon, lots of spinach, a little mayo, sprinkle of sunflower seeds, and baked for 10 min. Yum. Grateful your messages spurred me on to keep up with the effort.

Also encouraged by (again-sorry for crassness) the sudden smell of my urine. Have ordered keto strips to test for sure.

Will respond to you lovely wise encouraging folks independently but slowlyā€¦ as the head rushes stop!

#23

I didnā€™t even get the keto flu, but itā€™ll pass for you soon Iā€™m sure.

#24

Turkey = truly
But glad i made the error because you cracked me up when i really needed a laugh! Thanks for your humour and for spreading the fun.

#25

Hi Keri,

Thanks for your observations. I had the first lightbulb moment about the magnesium. The second one was from your comment about previous foods i ate. It wasnā€™t high in refined starches because Im celiac and have been for 10 years, so i was kind of expecting this to be a breeze. BUT your comment struck a cord about the sugar in my previous food intake. I have a huge sweet tooth - cake with each coffee, sugar in tea and coffee, chocolate snack each day ā€¦and a mild addiction to gluten free chocolate digestive biscuits since they came out! I cant have chocolate in the house because ill just finish it. Zero sugar willpower. I also ate 5 pieces of fruit a day, mainly apples, oranges and bananas.

Cutting down to 20 net carbs a day seems to automatically cut out most of this sugar too (I was blown away by the carbs in an apple!! Who knew!!).

My body is probably going through sudden sugar withdrawal as well, explaining the temporary misery even more. And giving me/us all the more reason to stick it out! Suga is awful for the body and mind and it always bothered me how hooked i was on it. Now ive inadvertently gone low sugar by default Hurragh for the Keto food plan!! :slight_smile:

#26

So thanks for these particular insights, sharing your experience, and for being welcoming!
Have a keto-tactic day :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

#27

:tada: :grin: : :star_struck: :heart_eyes: :+1: IM IN KETOSIS!!! :tada: :tada: :tada:

Ketone testing strips arrived last night, and the results were ā€˜purpleā€™/in-ketosis both then and this morning!!! :tada:

Keto flu update, Day 5:

  • still no more D (definitly that magnesium supplement, thanks all!)
  • aches and pains all over
  • still feel very slow physically
  • BUT a big positive shift in cognitive clarity today!!
  • It is the first day i tried bulletproof coffee too. And WOW that feels like a guilty pleasure, but the science behind it makes sense, and the testimonials from others were convincing. Clarity today could be the keto flu lifting, or the bulletproof coffeeā€¦or both!

Q: Any others out there drink BPC? Believers? I made mine with heavy cream and coconut oil, but have ordered MCT oil and look forward to trying it with that plus butter since its supposed to be better for ketones?

Hope you all have a fantastic ketone filled day!! :heart:

#28

Hi Sue,
Thanks for sharing your experiences and giving me tips. Its been really helpful!
Sorry to hear you had D trouble too. It really does seem to be this pesky magnesium. Which is a shame for many reasons. Magnesium is very good for sleep, and for mood regulation. I might check out the ā€˜Calmā€™ powders, and let you know how I get on. You certainly made every effort to try different methods of taking it, so im glad you eventually found one that worked.

And so so sorry to hear you got a panic attack. Those are awful! Sudden changes in the bodyā€™s arousal and stimulation can trigger those when thereā€™s no obvious external cause for panic. The body thinks youre not behaviourally responding to some big stressor and jumpstarts you into a horrid fight or flight mode so that you do respond. Exceptā€¦ nothings wrong! Whatā€™s happening wth metabolism during the transition to ketosis really rallyā€™s with this pattern, and I wouldnt be surprised if this is not an uncommon side effect in a subsection of people who have a very sharp change in metabolism. And then others like me who get horribly anxious all of a sudden but not the full panic attack.
Thanks for bringing this up, and I hope it helps others too.

You rock :heart:
Congrats on getting to 1 month too!! I can only dream of such a feat right now lol

All the best
C

#29

Thank you!!!
I really relate to the ā€˜wanted to lie down and dieā€™ :rofl: That describes it exactly.

Avacados now seem like a magic fix for the awful feeling. Great to get your tips and to hear that, as bad as it is right now, others felt the same near the beginning and it legitimately all went away eventually.

Sticking with it!! :muscle:

Interesting that your niece has celiacs. Depending on whether sheā€™s a child or an adult niece I wonder if you could suggest the keto plan. The only reason i suggest it is because my celiac diet (diagnosed 12 years ago with biopsy and blood work) was quite miserable and restrictive. The Keto diet is easily adapted to gluten-free because of the minimising of carbs. Now hereā€™s the interesting thing: because i was missing out on a lot of major carbs/starches, I have always consciously made sure I found ways to add carbs to my meals and snacks every day. In fact, the doctors reccomend it! Even if i didnt want to, I would be adding gf crackers to a snack, adding white rice to a meal, getting gf pasta and bread regularly even though they dont taste great. From my experience of other celiacs, they do the same thing, thinking its being healthy and maintaining a balance. And as soon as I started reading about Keto, I realised that overly seeking out non-gluten carbs is in no way necessary, or helpful!
Now Iā€™ll be mentioning it to other celiacs I know. No more horrid gf bread, and roll on the heavy cream and steaks!! I can actually enjoy meals again! Looking forward to liberating other celiacs too, if Keto is right for them as well.

Thanks again for sharing - sending support for your continued keto-ness!
Xo

#30

Congrats on the purple pee strips - I still get excited when I use them and see a good result. I know that they are not a very reliable source and that it doesnā€™t matter HOW many ketones you have in your body, but for some reason it is still psychologically motivating when I see it. I now use a cheap breath analyzer, too, and I get even MORE excited when I get ketosis readings on there!

The nice thing about the Calm (or any other powdered magnesium) is that you can add as little as you want and then build up slowly. Be careful with the MCT - Iā€™ve heard it can really cause ā€œDā€ - Iā€™m not even going to try it.

Yes, I have a bullet proof coffee every morning. I make it with coconut oil and butter - some morning just butter - I actually like the taste of that better. It allows me to fast until lunch time or longer.

Youā€™re almost over the worst of it so Iā€™m sure youā€™ll make it to a month, and then some! :slightly_smiling_face:
Sue

#31

Congrats on the purple pee strips - I still get excited when I use them and see a good result. I know that they are not a very reliable source and that it doesnā€™t matter HOW many ketones you have in your body, but for some reason it is still psychologically motivating when I see it. I now use a cheap breath analyzer, too, and I get even MORE excited when I get ketosis readings on there!

:rofl: I honestly took a photo and sent it to a mate!! Maybe ill treat myself to a cheap breath analyser when i get to a cool milestone, like 1 month!

. Be careful with the MCT - Iā€™ve heard it can really cause ā€œDā€ - Iā€™m not even going to try it.

Thanks for the heads up!!

Yes, I have a bullet proof coffee every morning. I make it with coconut oil and butter - some morning just butter - I actually like the taste of that better. It allows me to fast until lunch time or longer.

Brilliant! I didnā€™t realise til i read this that I havenā€™t eaten or been hungry since 11am when i had the coffee. This is a miracle. Im a real chronic comfort eater/grazer normally. Go BPC!!

Youā€™re almost over the worst of it so Iā€™m sure youā€™ll make it to a month, and then some! :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks for the kindness -its been awesome support! :heart:
I hope to pay it forward to other Newbies when im further down the line too :heart:
Have a fab day!!
XoC

#32

Hey @Keto_Newbie welcome

Thanks @barefootbob Most appreciated!

There are some pretty awesome folks here

There really are! What a lovely community youve all developed. Feel super lucky I came across it

I

also had a few sudden, inexplicable moments of panicky anxiety: out of nowhere. This isnā€™t a common thing with me but had occurred a few times during a difficult phase of my life so I knew how to talk myself through it. These really freaked me out until I read of others having > anxiety.

Thanks for sharing. So sorry you had that, and comforted to know it wasnā€™t just me! From a neuropsychology perspective it actually makes perfect sense for people (like me too) who typically manage anxiety, to get fluctuations in perceived anxiety during the transition - i wrote a bit about it in a reply to Sue/ @Susan777 Knowing this doesnt make it go away (I had it again today) but puts it in perspective and, like you said, lets us look out for the trigger and act to put some anxiety reduction techniques in place.
Cheers!

I also was annoyed to no end hearing the phrase ā€œa well formulated ketogenic dietā€ because I didnā€™t have a solid answer on just what that was!

:rofl:
.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks!! I put some updates inthe replies to the threadā€¦ but im just getting the hang of the platform so they may have gotten buried somewhere. I can blame keto flu rather than incompetence right now, woohoo :smile:

All the best to you and your continued keto-ing! :star2:

(Keri) #33

@Keto_Newbie

Q: Any others out there drink BPC? Believers?

Yep, every morning. I use .5 tbsp of Kerrygold butter and 1 tbsp Bulletproof Brain Octane in a 16oz cup (usually decaf or half-caf). Fuels my whole morning, with a 1 hour walk or submax swim before I eat anything. My ketones are so high by the time I finish a swim that Iā€™m positively euphoric.

Congrats on the purple strips!

#34

Cheers @kbird

Yep, every morning. I use .5 tbsp of Kerrygold butter and 1 tbsp Bulletproof Brain Octane in a 16oz cup (usually decaf or half-caf). Fuels my whole morning, with a 1 hour walk or submax swim before I eat anything. My ketones are so high by the time I finish a swim that Iā€™m positively euphoric.

Holy cow. New #lifegoals !! This is amazing. And youā€™ll be getting the endorphins from the mild exercise too. What a great way to start the day. I aim to be this self discipline in 6 months!

Congrats on the purple strips!

Thanks! Surprised I got there so fast (no pun intended :smile: )

(Keri) #35

Yep fasting*, ketones and exercise up-regulate BDNF

ā€¦
*BPC is technically not fasting, but it does have a zero insulin load. I fast water only 13-14 hours, then BPC. Lunch anywhere between noon and 2. Dinner between 5 and 6:30. Water only again til morning. My meals are very nutrient-dense, mostly green or colorful vegetables with a protein source.

#36

Yep fasting*, ketones and exercise up-regulate BDNF

Thanks for the link @kbird, good to know! The Neuro evidence is broad and convincing

#37

Magnesium can mess up your sleep, itā€™s better to take it during the day.

#38

Good to know @astronomovolao, thanks for the catch!

(Keri) #39

I take magnesium to help me sleep! Kirk Parsley explains how magnesium and D3 are required for the conversion of 5HTP to serotonin and melatonin here:

(Warning: the IHMC channel is a rabbit hole - lotā€™s of great keto-related presentations.)

(Karl Bork) #40

Iā€™m going on two months. My advice would be to stick with it because carbs are simply bad. We do not need nor want our energy coming from sugar. It lead to all kinds health problems.