Day 4 - Not so sure about this

(Chris) #1

I dunno if I am sold. I was feeling really good when I woke up. I weighed in at 222lbs, which is about 7lbs less than when I started. My stomach felt tight and I had energy.

I just got back from the gym. I am now 225lbs.Water? I have no energy at all. I could only lift about 2/3 what I normally do. My heart rate has gone up about 20 bpm on the elliptical with the same setttings I always use, so I had to turn it way down. I am sweating like crazy and I generally feel poopy.

I’ve already had high blood pressure. I can’t really afford for it to be getting that high. Could it be all the fat I’ve been eating?

Also, my stomach feels all bloaty again. Trying to think what I ate that is different today. I tried chia seeds on my salad for omega 3, could that make me bloaty? Hmm. Are there any people over 40 doing this that have less than 15% body fat? Can I really be skinny eating all this fat?

#2

Recommendation is to become fat adapted first, which can take 2-6 weeks. Your cells are really used to burning glucose and are not efficient at burning fat, hence the lack of energy.

Also, ensure you’re taking enough sodium/potassium. You’d want between 4-6g per day in the beginning. Just sit back, become adapted, eat the bacon, then start working out.

(Ron) #3

Do a little more homework.:wink:



(Chris) #4

That’s why I am here…to do my homework.
I read all 3 of those. I did not know about the water retention, but still no idea why the heart rate is so high.

(Rachel) #5

I’m not a doctor. But, I have a heart thing. Here’s what my doc told me when I had your exact same question.
Your body is stressing. It doesn’t know how to use fat. So, you won’t be able to push yourself as hard, and your heart rate will be higher when you do. When it figures out how to use fat, you should be fine.

That’s in normal people language, because I can’t remember the terms he used.

My heart rate went back to normal after a few weeks. :slight_smile:

(Ron) #6

Well, if you had done your homework properly you would understand the transition your body has to go through in order to utilize energy from fat instead of glucose. You would have understood the symptoms from the conversions within the body such as replacing things like old gut biome and building new biome with new enzymes that digest different food sources. You would have understood that the heart is going to experience a level (different per individual) of stress as fats are harder to break down than carbs, and you would have learned that you should reduce or cut down on exercising until fat adaption because this puts considerably more stress on the whole process. Guess I can’t answer your question
.

(Rob) #7

I get the feeling that you are trying to do too many things at once. Changing fundamental diet, keeping up with exercise regimen, tweaking/optimizing micro-nutrients (trying new foods, etc.) all of which are stressers to the body. I would focus on the base dietary changes, get adapted and then introduce tweaks, restart exercise, after a few weeks. You’ll probably know when you feel good and want to get back in the gym and once you are adapted, it will be easier to identify the impacts of specific new foods like your chia seeds vs. impacts of other changes.

As to over 40’s who are lean… there are many. Most of them started as lean keto-ers under 40, but many here have leaned out with keto and appropriate exercise (<15% BF probably doesn’t come from diet alone for most). Most people’s bodies do NOT have some innate set point at “buff Greek statue” levels of BF. If you don’t understand the idea that eating fat doesn’t make you fat, then there is more homework to do… FAT you eat ISN’T the fat you store (unless you are generating lots of insulin due to lots of carbs or massive IR).

Be patient and work the process for a while to see if it works for you. Day 4 is nothing…

(Jay AM) #8

When exercising in ketosis, you will notice a drastically reduced ability to exercise like you used to. You cut off your main energy source and are working on getting into a new one (ketones). I’ll leave my general info below.

We have a few sayings here, “keep calm, keto on” and “trust the process.” Keto isn’t a quick weight loss diet. It’s a health gaining way of eating with fat loss as a side effect. If the scale is an unhealthy obsession, put it away for a couple of months or give it to a neighbor you don’t like.

There are two phases to ketosis and a ketogenic lifestyle.

Nutritional ketosis is phase one. Your body begins to produce and uptake some ketones while dumping the rest. It will still search for glucose to use as fuel. In this phase it’s not an efficient process. It has to work actively to get rid of stored glycogen, clean up excess blood sugar, and turn on the ability to use ketones.

Fat adaptation is phase two. Your body is efficiently producing ketones from intake and stored body fat and is also using them efficiently for energy. It takes around 6-8 weeks of strict keto to achieve for many but not all.
The basic “rules” I go by and many others can agree with especially for beginners are:

*20g net carbs max (you might tolerate more but, starting out, 20g net carbs or less will get you into ketosis.)

*Moderate protein (Moderate means eating different meats and eggs. Preferably meats with their own fat or meats you will add fat to. We aren’t trying to eat protein to be full, we want to add enough fat to our meals to be full with. If you are searching for a number, 1g-1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight is a good goal based on the 2 Dudes recommendations.)

*Fat to satiety (add fat to every meal and, if you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. It is energy.)

*Do not restrict calories

*Do not exercise excessively in an effort to lose weight

*Drink plenty of water

*Get plenty of sodium and other electrolytes (Try homemade ketoaide)

(Chris) #9

Don’t be one of those “You should have already read this on the internet” people. No one likes those people. I am here because I am doing my research. This forum is a source of information (and it’s on the internet). There is no better or more efficient source of information than people going through the same thing. Maybe you used your library card and read a stack of books when you started and got on forums as an after thought. Not everyone works that way. As long as you don’t get charged per post made, people asking questions whose answers appear in an article somewhere, should have a negligible impact on your life.

(Chris) #10

Sure, I probably am trying to do a lot at once. I have a week between jobs. Whether it makes logical sense or not, I thought “I’ll try this out for a week.” and “I’ll get in shape this week.” I am quickly learning it’s a much longer process and a lifelong habit rather than a diet. I’m cool with that if it has positive effects. I am reading more and more on it and what is out there is very convincing.

(Rob) #11

As you are probably getting from the comments, Keto is a long-term proposition based on the science of the hormonal model of the body’s metabolism, rather than the basic energy balance approach that drives most of the counter-productive CICO models of typical weight loss “health” schemes.
You seem to be originating from a better starting position than many who already have chronic conditions like T2D, CVD, obesity, etc. so you’d think that you should be quick to adapt and gain benefits… and that can be true… or it can be entirely false. We are all special snowflakes metabolically. Very obese people with bad health can often take to keto easily, lose weight quickly and reverse their conditions in just a few months while others who start from a healthier platform can struggle with the adaptation, perhaps because their body is already happier as a carb burner. I find the science unequivocal which helped me plough on when I lost nothing but water weight for the first 6 weeks until weight started dropping and the other benefits kicked in. You start from a different situation but it may also take a while for you to see the benefits for different reasons. Good luck and KCKO!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #12

Another point to bear in mind is that eating carbohydrate promotes water-retention, and thus sodium retention, as well. When you drop your carb consumption drastically enough to get into nutritional ketosis, the kidneys start excreting water and sodium at a much higher rate, so it becomes necessary to work a bit to stay hydrated and get enough salt. Recent work done at McMaster University suggests that the dietary guidelines for salt consumption are far to low even for those on a high-carbohydrate diet; they are certainly too low for people in ketosis. You might also find it helpful to consume your daily 20g of carbohydrate in the form of dark-green leafy vegetables (romaine, spinach, kale, broccoli, etc.), the reason being that the chlorophyll contains magnesium, one of the electrolytes that the body needs. As sufficient amount of magnesium in your diet will prevent cramping.

So lay off the exercise, concentrate on changing your diet and getting fat adapted. Eat as little carbohydrate as possible, eat about a gram of protein per kilo of lean body mass, eat fat to satiety, drink to thirst, and you will quickly find yourself fat-adapted and enjoying the benefits of this way of eating. Then you can get back into your exercise routine! In the meantime, Keep Calm and Keto On!

(mark whittaker) #13

I’m on week 7 now. I went through the exact same issues you are describing. Poor workout performance, elevated heart rate, low energy, headache etc…

I am so glad I stuck with it. I feel so amazing now and I am 25 pounds down and dropping. My workout energy is back and then some.

It takes about 6 weeks to get fat adapted. You just have to plan for lower performance during workout but i promise it will come back.

The thing that has helped me the most with heart rate and low energy is salt. Make sure you are in taking 4000-5000 mg of salt daily. Drink a glass of water with half a teaspoon of pink sea salt and you will feel a lot better pretty quick.

#14

This is the best piece of advice I have been given- and I now take the potassium salt- half a teaspoon with water. I had thought from diet doctor I would only need to do this in the first few days to get through keto flu, but now I realise this is a more long term thing, and it has improved my energy levels a LOT.

I am nearing the end of week 5, hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be feeling even better, more myself, and can start exercising. At the moment I am wandering around in a bit of a daze- ready for the old folks home!
KCKO (I’m learning every day)

(Empress of the Unexpected) #15

Hopefully we will all recover from brain fog. I am having the weirdest problem. I have to formulate a question three different ways to get my thoughts out. That’s not the real me! I keep going back to my husband saying: “that’s not what I meant to say, let me try again”. It’s like critical thinking went to sleep.

(mark whittaker) #16

brain fog only lasted a few days for me. as soon as I upped my sodium brain fog was gone and most of the other undesireable symptoms too.

Sodium helps the poor workout performance too however that wont completely come back for about 2 -3 months. week 6-8 range things start to really seem to fit into place.

#17

Hi, Chris! I think what you’re feeling is pretty normal. I went through it too and had to supplement my electrolytes. I was experiencing headaches, racing heart, and tiredness. Make sure to drink PLENTY of water.

I added:

  • Daily multi-vitamin
  • Potassium supplement
  • 40,000 volts electrolyte supplement
  • Calm Now magnesium supplement

After I did that my symptoms were gone in a few days!

#18

I’m over 40 & doing this for the first time. I’m new too :slight_smile: While I can’t say this is going to be for everyone I can say that I like it & I think you should be patient. I would not hop the scale but 1x/week. I’m seeing this is an intuitive way of eating. You eat when you’re hungry and you don’t eat if you are.

I’m eating substantially less & I really like that. Makes my life easier.

I would also take it easy at the gym first. Maybe just take a light walk. Our bodies are going through lots of changes. Give a few weeks and then try heavier exercise.