Don’t know what i’m doing wrong here

(Nigella) #1

Hello.
Keto newbie here.I started eating keto way about 4 weeks ago. i’m 28y. Height 5’6 and weight currently 172 lbs, starting weight was 185 lbs. Mainly dropped that in the first week so i assume i had grand water weight and stored sugars. Have had similar results before in different diet plans and after that mark it really never budged until i give up and it all comes back. Used to IF for about 1 year before starting keto. Had no weight change there (probably since i wasn’t eating keto).

Didn’t really have a keto flu, been adding low sodium salt to the point that i now take 2.5 teaspoons of salt everyday. It helps a bit with the problem…

For the past 2 weeks weight seems to have been going up, just about 2 lbs. At the beginning i had great energy, out of the blue could run 4 miles which i haven’t been able to do for 5 years. But now for the past two weeks i’m so so tired and unenergetic and i get sudden spurs of hunger but just can’t eat…i just feel so weird.

I eat 1-2 meals a day in a time span of 4 hours. Fat about 90-120 g, protein about 40-50 g and netcarbs 20-30 g. Totals 1000-1500 kcals. keto sticks say high ketones in urine. Meal mainly consists of green veggies or cabbage, mince beef or tuna or turkey, avocado and cheese, olive oil coconut oil mct oil. For dessert a few spoons of coconut cream with cocoa powder and stevia and chia seeds. I take supplements for iron, iodine, and some others don’t know their names in english. Currently have no energy to exercise. Currently laying in bed lol.

I tried adding more fat so that i ate about 1600-1800 kcals had no effect in the fatigue.
Tried exercising was terrible idea i had NO energy whatsoever almost couldn’t climb the stairs to my apartment.

TMI Have had keto dhiarrea for the past 2 weeks at well. My stomach makes so much noise once i eat…

my question is what am i doing wrong. where’s the energy and feeling great? where’s the rest of the weight loss? what’s this with the bowls?

I’ve really loved keto because i’ve gone from being a sugar addict and a binge eater with bulimic tendencies and constant dieter to not really having any of these problems. I don’t spend so much time thinking of food.

Hba1c was 35 last time i checked 3 months ago. I have no illnesses except acne.

Even writing this i feel so no energy.

Please someone help me.

(Jay AM) #2

What is low sodium salt exactly? Because, if you mean lite salt, you’re intaking way too much. Not getting enough calories either. Your biggest issue besides the calories is electrolytes. You need actual sodium from salt sources, a little bit of potassium, and magnesium. Try out ketoaide, search the forum for recipes.

(Bunny) #3

“…A common question I get asked after clients start a ketogenic diet is “why do I feel lousy?” Like them, you’re probably thinking going keto will provide an immediate mental and physical boost. For some, it will. For others, you may experience adverse symptoms, also known as the “keto flu”. When you start a very low-carb ketogenic diet, you’ll flush water and sodium out of your body in the first few weeks. As your sodium levels fall, so too will potassium levels. This can leave you feeling tired, sluggish, and wondering what you got yourself into. Fear not, it’s only temporary. Here are some suggestions for avoiding key mineral deficiencies when jumping into a ketogenic diet. …” - Dr. Marc Bubbs …More

(Nigella) #4

Hey and thanks guys,
low sodium salt is salt has potassium chloride, magnésium sulfate, sodium chloride, lysine hydrochloride and potassium iodine. sodium content is 22.4 g/100g whic is 50% less than average sea salt.
I do have himalayen pink salt too.

Up calories :face_with_hand_over_mouth: then i’ll definitely go over TDEE. As far as i know it still comes down to calories in calories out. I did try keto 10 years ago and ended up gaining 20 lbs in a matter of 2 months and that’s probabaly because i went over TDEE since i had no idea about calorie counting. (Probably there were other factors too though like stress.) Lol just thinking of adding calories is making me feel nervous. Maybe i should up to 1800 then and see what happens for a week.

Thanks for the link atomicspacebunny i’ll look into that. Maybe this is a prolonged keto flu after all. Just didn’t think it would come so delayed. I had muscle cramps on week 2 but upped salt and haven’t had those. No headaches either so i didn’t think it’d be keto flu.

(Alec) #5

My opinion:

  1. You’ve got keto flu. Just KCKO
  2. Eat more calories in fat, you are starving your body
  3. 4 weeks is still very early. Give it time.
  4. CICO is not helpful. What you know as your TDEE is just a total guess that can change by 40-50% depending on how many calories you take in. Don’t count calories, trust your hunger signals.
    Cheers
    Alec
#6

Maybe try increasing your protein. I always felt like crap until I ran it up to about .8 g/lb (.8g/kg) of lean body mass. I also agree with the other folks that your calories are too low for this stage in the process. Right now you are inefficient at getting calories from your food or adipose, so the numbers may not be what you think they are. After you adapt you can revisit the calorie issue.

Where are your 20-30 grams of net carbs coming from? I find since going keto that there are certain veggies (I’m looking at you spaghetti squash) that I just can’t eat without …uh… “consequences”.

(Nigella) #7

Thanks for the replies Alec and Genewich.

I find it helpful to know that there might be a solution lol.

20-30 g comes from avocado, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, white cabbage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onions mainly.

So i guess I’ll count from 1800 kcals goals for protein and fat. This is a lot harder than i thought lol.

(Ron) #8

Stay strong, the rewards are so worth it.:muscle:

(Nigella) #9

Upped calories to 1800 kcals with proteins going up from 40 g to 60-80 g and stopped drinking coffee.
Poop problem solved. Apparently caffeine is a no no.
Fatigue problem solved. even managed to exercise today and yesterday.
Definitely gained weight though so i’m kinda hesitant to continue this for long without adjusting calories to 1500 kcals or 1200 kcals where they were. But for now i’m pretty unsure how to continue so will have to continue with 1800 kcals. I hope i’ll continue losing weight… i know weight loss isn’t linear but i’d rather it be going downwards than up like now.
thanks al for the helpful tips!

(Ron) #10

Don’t be consistent in levels, the body is a master at adjusting metabolism to consistency. Drop to 1400/1500 kcal one day, back up to 1800, down to 1300 then up to 2000. Don’t be afraid to change it up, just don’t favor deficit to much. (occasionally):slightly_smiling_face:

(Nigella) #11

so a small update. weight kept a slow rise so i sort of lost motivation and we had bbq so sugar intake was 30-40 g and protein intake 140-170 g. Weight dropped 2 kgs in less than 5 days. I have no idea where to go from here though.

(Alec) #12

Stick to the plan. Keep calm and keto on. We know this works, but you gotta give it time, your body is in fixing mode right now. Trust the process, it will work.
Cheers
Alec

(Cheryl Meyers) #13

There is a clue – perhaps you need more protein. Dr. Ben Bikman and others recommend 1.8 gr of protein per kg of ideal body weight. Try that for a week and see what happens. It will sate you so cals might drop overall. Give this a listen https://www.biohackerslab.com/ep42-dr-benjamin-bikman/ and KCKO!

(Maha) #14

I echo what the others are saying. You might also benefit from moving away from CICO way of thinking and for now just work on learning your hunger and full signals by eating when hungry, stopping when full. This sounds easy, but it took me a while because I’d never had proper signaling that I could remember. I had to learn my body. Some days you’ll eat more than others and that’s okay.

You might also be over thinking this which can lead to stress which can lead to weight retention or gain. Try weighing less frequently or not at all for a couple of months. I didn’t weigh myself for the first three months and went by how my clothes fit.

Lastly, it may take a while for your body to get on board, especially if you’re female and depending on how long you’ve been overweight. 4 weeks isn’t very long to judge if this is working for you. This is a patience game. It took me 9 months to lose 40 lbs where I read about others losing a lot of weight in shorter periods of time. And the closer I am to goal, the longer it takes.

Focus on other aspects, like how this is improving your health or skin. Those things will tell you you’re on the right track.

(Nigella) #15

Thanks guys. I know i’m a bit obsessive over the weighting because last time i didn’t weight myself I gained 10 kgs and only realised it when getting up from a chair needed more effort than before. Gained it in 2 months. so now i don’t want something like that to happen so i keep weighting myself. But you’re right, i’m probabaly streamssing myself and i have no idea when to stop because that’d mean stopping eating after taking one spoon of soup. and I know i can’t get much nutrients from that.

In the protein i was under the influence that moderate or low protein but this now is more protein than what cthe er ever eaten. So it’s just red flags everywhere lol

But i’ll try to chill and see where it goes.