Help...feeling terrible & ready to quit

(Rebecca) #21

I totally understand! I’m feeling the same and I am three weeks in as well. My sister and brother-in-law did this diet and it pretty much saved his life! Because of their success and my number of health problems I keep pushing myself forward, but I have felt more miserable than good. The keto flu has been awful, now I feel like I have it again, even though I’ve stayed 100% on track. I’ve got the keto rash as well as other issues I won’t mention. So frustrating, but I’m determined to make this work! Wish you the best and hope this takes a turn for the better for us both soon, we can do it!

#22

I would have quit on the first serious problems (it’s any unpleasantness for me but I have super low tolerance, not a good example) and I really don’t think suffering is the right way unless one is very sure it’s badly needed for their health at that point… Even if you stick to keto, some changes must be made, hopefully you find the problem soon.
I would do it more gradually (as I did). Don’t think keto is easy and smooth for everyone. The first time it was bad for me so I quit after 1-2 days (it’s as obvious to me as eating when I get hungry. my body gives good signs and I listen to them. it’s very unfortunate when one can’t rely on them). The second time it was easy and smooth, I fell in love in the first week and I surely did everything at least as “wrong” as you do (probably my 40g net carbs was an important reason I felt so great but it’s not ketosis for everyone and I prefer 5-10g now. things change, you know but my body and mind had to learn to cope with such a small amount). I actually see nothing wrong in your woe in general - but you are an individual at a given point of your journey, you might need something quite different. I needed my low-carb times, I lost weight, felt better and learned low-carb habits without any difficulties, actually. I just needed to make new recipes and slowly form new habits.
A sudden change is too much for certain people due to various reasons. Cooking for the family without spending more time in the kitchen (and temptations are there too), shock to the body due to all the changes, mental things… I don’t even understand how people can make really drastic changes, eating half as much net carbs as before was pretty drastic to me despite my ingredients barely changed at that point.

Fat-loss… Well, it’s about calories in the end, in a very complicated way. I almost never lost on keto either, it happens with many. In ideal cases we found the problem, it’s carbs for me as always. And added fat. Certain items makes it easy to eat way too much for many of us, even on keto. Or timing. Intermittent fasting may be a good ally. It doesn’t guarantee fat-loss, obviously, not even together with keto but they both tend to help in many, many cases. But don’t force it.

Not everyone need and handle much sodium well. I like to keep mine “low”. It’s actually pretty normal, 4-5g salt per day, works perfectly since years on every diet of mine. If someone needs more, eating more is a good idea but you don’t need to force it without a need. When my sodium was probably around the keto recommended amount due to smoked pork, I felt it’s way too much for me. Maybe it’s not good for you either.

So… Try to find your own way. I am very used to the fact that I need to break about every rules to feel right. We are just too different. At least a gallon water a day? More than 20g net carbs? On/off keto all the time? Not supplementing sodium, not even when I fast for days? I did it all and loved it. So I can’t possibly know what works for you and what you should avoid.

Sometimes I think all those huge numbers about the required amounts of electrolytes often cause problems. I mean, people stressing about getting enough, I saw that many times. My electrolytes are low all the time according to the recommendations but I eat good food in the right amount and feel fine so I don’t care. I don’t say it’s the right behavior but it works for me well. It’s a bit unnatural and extremely stressful (and in my case, pretty useless as I can’t eat “enough” magnesium and potassium, no matter how I eat) for me to look at numbers instead of just eating whatever we think and feel right after way more research than what the average person does (okay, that’s a low bar) and with our body giving us information about what food is right or not (though the latter isn’t always reliable and it has its limits. still, it helped me tremendously).

(Rebecca 🌸 Frankenfluffy) #23

I feel validated reading this, @Paulene! My family think I’m very eccentric eating cheese with butter on it…!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #24

Is that because you are thirsty, or because someone told you to drink that much?

Seriously, you don’t need to drink more than the amount that quenches your thirst. You read a lot about how much liquid we need, but it’s mostly from drink manufacturers trying to sell product. People go along with it, because it seems to be a quirk of the human mind to think that if a little of something is good for us, than a great deal of it must be a whole lot better.

Tim Noakes, the marathon runner, physician, and sport nutritionist, was the fellow who first promoted proper hydration for athletes, but now runners are over-hydrating themselves so much that they are landing in the hospital and some have actually died. Dr. Noakes has now had to modify his advice to “drink to thirst.” My take on the whole thing is to listen to my body. If it tells me to drink, I drink; otherwise, I don’t worry about it.

Also, several fairly recent studies have shown that the healthiest salt intake is in the range of 10-15 grams daily of table salt, from all sources. This is far more than most government recommendations, but it’s not really all that much. The recommendation applies even to people with salt-sensitive hypertension, but such people should be very careful not to exceed the healthy range.

(Allie) #25

This is my go to cheese sandwich and yes, I get weird looks doing it at work :joy:

#26

Depending on what was in the multi, it COULD be. Some of them throw WAY too much crap in them and that can happen. Taking with food is always a good idea with stronger ones. Yes, Cronometer is a macro/micro tracking app. It’s possible you could not be getting enough fat to power yourself but unlikely to be getting too much protein. Getting a lot of protein in is a full time job for most. Many are getting way too little IMO.

Watch this… wait for the plug!

Cronometer would allow you to track all that so you’d KNOW what was going in! LOL! They really need to start paying me or something haha.

(DHrec) #27

Hi, I’m the exact same as you, 3 weeks in and never felt worse. I go out for a walk for 20 mins and I’m gasping for breath, feel so fatigued that climbing up my stairs at home makes me tired. 4 weeks Ago I was eating junk food but still had positive energy. Now I’m eating loads of fat, a good amount of protein and about 5% carbs yet my energy has vanished and left me frustrated and miserable. I’m using the stix and it showed as in ketosis the last 2 weeks.

(Scott) #28

Three weeks is nothing in in the keto world or should I say just getting started. I started by eliminating sugars. I than moved on to potatoes (fries, chips and baked) I then removed breads and pasta. This was over about three weeks and then I started keto and went fairly hard core except some veggies with dinner. I felt a bit off but nothing major. I had already increased my fat and salt. The one thing I couldn’t straighten out was running energy. It was three full months before I could run without stopping. All is good and have gone carnivore now and started getting a bit tired again during my run but not as bad in fact I may just be lazy now. So give it time and make sure to increase salt. In addition to salting heavy I take a salt grinder and grind some red sea salt into my palm each mid morning and pop it in my mouth. I also mix butter, bacon fat and heavy whipping cream into my scrambled eggs each morning to increase my fat intake.

(DHrec) #29

I guess it’s all just a bit frustrating, I’m sure once you become fat adapted the energy increases but I never knew it was possible to feel so drained. My head says go for a walk but my legs and breathing capacity don’t seem to agree. I already take pink Himalayan salt and a potassium and magnesium supplement so here’s hoping for some oomph soon.

(Scott) #30

Yeah, I can remember distinctly a moment about two months in and needing to walk up a hill I would normally be able to run up with ease. I mumbled to myself “this sucks, I don’t think this keto thing is working out”. It was about a month or more later that I had just run up the same hill and thought “wait a minute, this doesn’t suck anymore”. The funny part is I had probably run up the same hill for a week or more without thinking about it. I have said that fat adaption is not a sudden thing. It is like someone you see daily that shaves off a moustache and you are thinking something is different but you just don’t catch it immediately.

(Paulene ) #32

My husband did too… until he tried it. Now he’s hooked and I’m yelling at him because he’s not keto! :exploding_head:

(Scott) #33

Okay, this cheese and butter sandwich thing. Are you using the regular quarter sticks of butter or the big one? How thick are the slices of each? What is your favorite type of cheese?

(Paulene ) #34

I use mature chedder slices for sandwiches, so about 10cm x 10cm square, with about 2-3mm thick slice of salted butter sandwiched in the middle. Just cut butter from whatever sized block and cover the cheese.

(Allie) #35

I measure nothing…

(Scott) #36

I am with you, I am not a measure kind of person. I will need to try this this weekend…and watch the wife go nuts.

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #37

in and out should not be a problem for people whose metabolism works fine

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #38

Salt hypertensives will have different experiences around this. Some can get to 15g without having hypertension (in which case they were probably really an insulin hypertensive), others are so good at conserving salt that they only need 3-5g per day.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #39

The studies all agreed that, even for salt-sensitive hypertensives, the healthiest range of sodium intake is 4-6 grams a day. It’s just that for them, the risk curve is much, much steeper if they exceed the healthy range. My understanding is that hypertensives who are not salt-sensitive have the same J-shaped risk curve as everyone else (i.e., the risk rises steeply, the lower intake goes below the minimum, and more gradually as we exceed the maximum). For salt-sensitive hypertensives, the curve is U-shaped (the risk curve rises equally steeply outside of the “sweet spot”).

(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #40

Look up Garry Lee (real name Gearoid O’Laoi). He did an interview with Ivor Cummins where he described needing less salt than most, but still more than the guidelines.