Excessive Sweat - Smells like Ammonia

#1

Hiya Guys!

Happy new week :grinning:

So, I started 18:6 IF a few days ago (been doing keto for almost 5 months).

In addition to electrolyte supplements that I have been taking for months, I started incorporating a teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt in water and sipping this throughout the day. This is mainly because I workout and felt slightly dizzy/headachy a while back (just before IF)

I have been on a stall so I have changed my macros up a bit to allow me to continue to lift some light weights but also reduced fat so that my body can use its own fat. I’ve been 10g Carbs, 90g proteins, 35g fat, on average since I started IF a few days ago. PS: I am 80kg/177lbs and female.

Anyway so today, energy wise, workout was great. However, I started sweating quite profusely and almost non-stop throughout the hour. I drank a lot of water to rehydrate but it was more sweat than I can recall ever sweating. I have peed quite a lot in the last 24 hours too. When I took off my workout clothes, it smelled notably like ammonia (like a faint pee smell). My pee also smelled notably like this.

I read somewhere that it’s a by-product of the body using amino acid to fuel the body, which got me concerned as I want it to use my body fat. However I also understand there is a limit to how much fuel the body can obtain from body fat and that fat stores are not easily accessible during workouts.

So, a bit concerned and hoping for any enlightenment on what’s going on. Thanks

Mo

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

10 carbs = 40
90 proteins = 360
35 fat = 315
total calories = 715

Two observations. If this is typical of your ‘feed times’ (1) half your calories are coming from protein, what did you expect your metabolism to burn? (2) You need to eat more.

Re protein, check out this discussion.

Yes, you are correct. To force your metabolism to consume body fat, you have to reduce plate fat. But you’ve taken that way too far. You are at the point where your metabolism is conserving body fat and consuming protein, both what you’re eating and probably lean body mass in addition.

I’ll let others advise you more specifically. All I can say is that you probably need to double your total calories, all from additional plate fat. You need to stop your metabolism burning protein. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can fine tune your fat consumption to achieve your goals.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

For comparison purposes only, and bearing in mind that I’m a 74 year old male who’s probably far less physically active than you. I’m in maintenance and consume 2800 calories per day from 263 grams of fat and 90 grams of protein. I generally consume 15 grams of carbs or less.

#4

Thanks AmWassil. It may well be the decreased carb, fat and increased protein. Since I started keto in March, my macros have always been, at best, 15g carbs, 70-80g protein, 70g-ish fat. Sometimes…it’s lower.

I went from 210lbs in March to 177lbs now. I decided to change things up a bit after the responses to my thread here: Should I be doing anything differently?

I was concerned about my low calorie intake (as explained in above thread) but was advised not to worry about this. I honestly really hate force feeding myself as I don’t feel good when I do. I eat food I like and until I am satisfied and they still never get above 900calories on most days. Once a week or so, I feel some hunger that makes me eat more than 900calories and I eat until satiety on those days as well. I like my spinach and kale stews and eggs and may eat too much of these but unfortunately they don’t do much in terms of adding calories

I have always eaten quite little, even before keto. Its just my metabolism I guess.

The sweating I’d just odd because I have had those exact macros in the past with no issues even when I was doing twice the exercise I am doing now. The only thing I have added is the IF I started a few days ago.

If it continues, I may stop the IF just to see if that’s the new thing causing this. If that fails, I might start buttering my coffee and maybe adding healthy oils here and there.

Thanks for the recommendations.

PS: Can’t even imagine 2800 calories! Maybe I need a nutritionist to point me in the right direction.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #5

As stated, I’ll let others advise you specifically. There are many people on the forum who have been where you are and figured out, with help, what to do.

PS I notice @PaulL has added good info below. I’ll just add that I certainly do not suggest forced feeding! But the ammonia indicates a problem and the obvious suspect is your low fat intake compared to your protein. You are giving your metabolism an alternative fuel, so why bother with fat?

#6

Thanks again!. Just like my Keto rash phase (what a pleasant memory), hopefully this is just another hurdle to be crossed in my journey.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #7

Experts like Dr. Phinney and the Dudes recommend eating 1.0-1.5 g protein per kilogram of ideal body weight (or lean body mass, whichever), so you are likely eating a bit too much protein. An ammonia smell means that it’s enough to overwhelm the urea pathway, in any case—that way lies an unpleasant death from ammonia toxicity. Bear in mind that in order to eat 70 grams of protein, you need to be eating something like 280 grams of meat.

In a low-carb milieu, the missing calories need to be supplied by fat, so as not to (a) cause a rise in insulin that will put the body back into fat-storage mode, or (b) starve the body of energy, which puts the body in fat-retaining mode. Dr. Fung explains it thusly: when we eat carbohydrate we burn carbohydrate, so if we want to burn fat, we need to eat fat. The key is to eat to satisfy your hunger, and then stop. After that, don’t eat until you are hungry again. Done right, the long periods between meals, especially overnight, will allow your body to release excess stored fat to be metabolised.

#8

Thanks Paul.

I will be upping my fat from tomorrow and reducing the protein. I don’t really know what levels will work but do you think 60g protein and 60g fat will do the trick? Should I also up by carbs to maybe 15g (I was keeping carbs at 10g to break a stall and protein at 90g to aid my weight lifting workouts but my health is more important)

Thanks
Mo

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Don’t worry about the carbohydrate; it can stay as low as you want. (The lower the better, in my personal opinion.) But an equal amount of protein and fat by weight is a good ratio, and it translates to 31% and 71%, respectively, in terms of calories.

#10

Thanks Paul, much appreciated. I keep carbs at 10g and do circa 60-65g protein and fat.

I hope it’s ok to do this whilst still incorporating IF (eating at 1pm and 7pm)? Thanks.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

When you eat, eat. When you fast, be sure to keep your electrolytes up, and you’ll be fine.

#12

Thanks Paul! :slightly_smiling_face:

(Susan) #13

I find on the days that I am mostly carnivore, I am sweating more, especially after I eat, and I need to have another shower, because I feel gross and the sweat is smelly, and normally my deodorant works just fine but seems to be more an issue if I am doing more carnivore.

@PetaMarie suggested the Arm+Hammer deodorant, so I might buy this soon =).

(PSackmann) #14

About 12 years ago I ate a higher protein, low carb diet without increasing fat intake. My sweat often reminded me of cat boxes. For quite some time I had to use vinegar on my shirts after wearing them, to help remove the smell in the wash. With a higher fat intake, as I’m doing now, I don’t have that issue and have been able to move away from the vinegar spray.

#15

Thanks Susan. I am definitely taking the protein back a notch and upping the fats starting today.

#16

I think that’s exactly what’s happening. Did you reduce also your protein as you increased your fats? I’ll be reducing mine for now but just wanted to see what worked for you.

Thanks

(PSackmann) #17

@JustMo, I didn’t reduce my protein at fast, just upped the fat a bit. As I’ve progressed though, the protein has gone down as an overall number as my intake has gone down with two meals a day. I still eat a lot of protein to protect my lean mass, although well within Dr. Fung’s range

#18

I did have a feeling that protein intake would naturally go down with increased fat intake. Thanks.

#19

You likely don’t need to reduce protein if you were doing well at this level until now. What could be happening is that you are tapping into protein stores because of the reduced availability of fat from your body at a lower weight. Maybe eating something fatty with some added MCT an hour-ish before a workout would help? I’ll go look at your other topic and see what you wrote about your workouts and diet there.

#20

Thanks Carol,

I havent tried MCT oil before but I’ve read good things so I might just go ahead and buy this to use as recommended.

Good point as well regarding decreased body fat. I still have some fat to lose but definitely less than when I started. My sweat after today’s workout didn’t smell of ammonia hopefully because I increased my fat intake a bit.

I may start upping my protein in small increments once I’m sure my body is all good. I do seem to fair better with workouts when my protein is slightly higher (at 80g).