Hello! New to this forum, looking for feedback please : )

[Shortstuff]

I’m sure Paul with fill in the science, but it’s basically because on keto the body doesn’t hold onto fluid like it does when someone eats carbs and the electrolytes are stored in the fluid. Because they’re essential to survival, this means on keto we have to replenish them as the body doesn’t store them as much.

[Shinita]

so are you saying 4-6g (approx a teaspoon) a day is enough ?

It is sodium, a tablespoon of salt contains about 5g sodium.
We may or may not need that much, it depends. Some of us don’t raise our original modest sodium intake or don’t eat any sodium on fasting days because our body work in such mysterious ways… But many people need more sodium than before, apparently.

[PaulL]

have tracked days where I’ve eaten over 400g, but these days don’t happen often and I don’t think it’s something I could ever do every day.

A recent study on human appetite found that the correlation between food intake and metabolic expenditure is not very close from day to day, but over seven or eight days, they match with great precision. So I don’t worry about fluctuations in my appetite, and my weight is stable.

[PaulL]

Re the salt; I use Celtic Sea salt and pink himalayan and as I cook everything from scratch mostly its just what I add to my food and water…so are you saying 4-6g (approx a teaspoon) a day is enough ?

A couple of recent studies showed that people are healthiest at 4-6 g/day of sodium, which is 10-15 g of table salt (sodium chloride), or 2-3 U.S. teaspoons. This includes sodium/salt already in food.

My guideline is how I feel. If I am constipated and getting migraines, I know I need more salt. If my stools are too loose, I cut back a bit.

Interested in those strategies if you’d like to share any if thats appropriate on here? there is an emotional connection to eating for me but as you say greatly diminished on keto.

A.A. maintains that even the worst alcoholic in the world can go 24 hours without a drink. The key is not to swear off for ever, but to abstain one day at a time. Or even five minutes at a time, if necessary. Support from a group like this helps, too.

what is it about Keto that makes you need more electrolytes?

Elevated insulin diminishes the rate of excretion of sodium by the kidneys. Lowering insulin by eating less carbohydrate will permit the kidneys to return to the normal, faster rate of excretion. Getting enough salt helps the body hang on to its supplies of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, because the regulatory mechanisms are all interlinked.

[gingersmommy]

Re the fasting…I sort of naturally started doing it as my appetite reduced, I was only doing 16-18 hours by just not eating breakfast

Agreed; that was my experience as well after the first several weeks. Like you, this was a natural progression resulting from eating appropriately and feeling satiated. That benefit still amazes me. I listen to my body and eat when I need to and don’t when I don’t.

Most days, I still eat within an 18-hour window. I was mainly referring to doing a 24-hour fast or longer. It wasn’t that I couldn’t comfortably, I just didn’t like the feeling of not eating for that long. For me, having a meal provided a degree of emotional sustenance, I guess, which I wanted to support. One benefit of being on plan so long has been that I have learned to take better care of myself, physically and emotionally. I am not going to do things any longer that are counterproductive to me - weighing myself, long-term fasting, counting calories, etc.

[Marty85]

I wouldn’t worry too much about your fat intake.

As for the cramps: my guess is electrolytes. I take 400mg of magnesium bisglycinate a day, calcium citrate (I think around 800mg), and potassium citrate (maybe 2g?). Just play around with the dosages. Maybe try Thai massage, too, and a stretching regimen.

[Cinders]

Out of interest do you think having a coffee (decaff) with a teaspoon of butter in it during the fasting window un-does any good one may get from the fasting? Fat doesn’t spike insulin but Im never sure if its counterproductive.

One benefit of being on plan so long has been that I have learned to take better care of myself, physically and emotionally. I

This sounds great, so important and thanks for the reminder too. I got on the scales a few weeks ago for the first time in months and was delighted to discover how much weight i’d lost but it then triggered something in me and I started to get a bit obsessed about weight loss again and lose sight of all the other benefits I was experiencing.

[Shortstuff]

Out of interest do you think having a coffee (decaff) with a teaspoon of butter in it during the fasting window un-does any good one may get from the fasting? Fat doesn’t spike insulin but Im never sure if its counterproductive.

Depends on your reason for fasting, it’s been discussed a lot on here.

[gingersmommy]

I am not an expert on fasting, however, it seems it is very individual. People do it to varying degrees. Some consume nothing and have only water, others modify that a bit and eat during a set window, and some I’m sure, eat nothing but maybe have a little butter in their hot beverage like you are talking about. I say go for it. There are no hard and fast rules to doing it “perfectly,” and why deny yourself something so harmless (a tsp. of butter) that gives you some pleasure and doesn’t elicit an insulin response.

I got on the scales a few weeks ago for the first time in months and was delighted to discover how much weight i’d lost but it then triggered something in me and I started to get a bit obsessed about weight loss again and lose sight of all the other benefits I was experiencing.

Loved this - exactly! That is why, to me, the scale is the devil. It is so counterproductive. I get weighed at the doctor’s every 3-4 months and that is enough. It feels so good to not think about my weight. As long as I am eating clean and following my plan, my body knows and will self regulate where it needs to be.

[robintemplin]

@Cinders… same. Seeing the numbers triggers my old crazy thinking and I want to start starving myself to see lower numbers. NUMBERS!
RIDICULOUS

[Shinita]

Meanwhile I always said I am fine with this weight - if my extra fat miraculously becomes muscle in
a way that I get some balanced musculature It may be not even outside of possibilities just unlikely… (The muscles for a woman with my stats, not the miraculous sudden change.)
Never cared about weight. I cared about these fat rolls in my middle. (I never was very fat though.)

I used to weigh myself every day while losing fat, I didn’t want to miss a day with a smaller number Bigger numbers didn’t phase me much but my weight is super stable anyway, that why it’s informative to me who can’t measure myself (I measure something twice, inches differences easily. I am soft, I can get squeezed in the middle very much :D).
I stopped weighing myself when the number stopped changing. I am always the same weight in the morning. Or if sometimes not, it’s a very tiny difference. So why bother. I have fitting clothes I can use to see if something happens.

So weighing myself isn’t my problem. Unable to stop tracking more like (I do stop as I need it for my sanity but it’s a tiny break and then I resume. I am curious. And it’s just a bit annoying if I eat very simple. But I get numbers I like numbers.)

[Shortstuff]

Seeing the numbers triggers my old crazy thinking and I want to start starving myself to see lower numbers.

Me too. I’ve always gone through phases of weighing myself and phases of ignoring the scales, but am now focused of muscle gain rather than fat loss so was weighing myself to keep track on my progress. I was telling myself it was just for monitoring and that I wouldn’t take any notice of the numbers, and I meant it and did OK as the scale went up gradually to a 4lbs gain… then I caught myself, slipping back into old thinking about needing to restrict food again, it wasn’t even conscious at first but must have been bubbling away for some months until I finally got consciously aware of it and made myself stop weighing again.

[Rebj]

I have done the same thing in the past…let the scale dictate my emotions, food etc. I let my clothes be my guide now. I have my annual check with my Dr in 2 weeks and despise them having to weigh me. I turn around backwards and swear them to secrecy!