Help! I'm a newbie and I feel like I'm losing my mind!

(Lydia) #1

How do you survive the first few weeks of going keto? I’m drinking water, salting everything and taking vitamins and I still feel terrible. I want everything and I’m so irritable. How do you keep going and when will you start actually feeling better?

(Mike W.) #2

You eat when you’re hungry and eat LOTS of fat. Keto flu will be over before you know it.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #3

I never had keto flu because I started out low carb, but not low carb enough to be ketogenic. I kept eating 1-2 mangoes a day, for instance. And I was still dropping fat precipitously.

If someone came to me and asked how to start a ketogenic diet, I’d say cut the sugar and starches but keep eating some fruit, perhaps. In other words, don’t go from sugar-burner to ketogenic overnight. It’s a recipe for trouble.

10 months into low carb, I went ketogenic for a couple of months without incident. It felt good, but I didn’t lose much more fat that when I was just LCHF. “Low carb” is a relative concept; compared to the Standard American Diet, even keeping sugary fruits in your diet but cutting the processed sugars and starches is a drastic, drastic improvement.

I am certain that a pure ketogenic diet does have lots of health benefits, but I like my cappuccino and dark chocolate too much to go full keto for most of the year. :coffee: :chocolate_bar: It’s an aspiration, though!

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents. I’ve said it many times on this forum, and @Richard recently interviewed someone on the podcast who was talking about how even a “slow carb” diet is probably sufficient for most people. I’m not saying 20 carbs a day is bad – far from it – I’m just saying don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.

(Keto in Katy) #4

Do you need the vitamins? Unless there is a clear deficiency in something you might drop the vitamins for a while. I don’t know if they would interfere with ketosis but it could be something to rule out. Good luck! I hope you reach your goal very soon and feel great.

Can you do both and keep around 20g carbs? I have my BPC every morning and a little dark chocolate pretty often as well, I love that stuff.

(Athena) #5

How much water are you drinking?

(Lydia) #6

I’m not sure on oz total. Most days I drink all day and I go to the bathroom every 5 minutes it feels like.

(Athena) #7

If you’re drinking so much that you’re going every 5 minutes, you’re probably flushing out all of your electrolytes and no wonder you feel like crap. Just drink when you’re thirsty.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #8

Hard. I’ve gotten my cap as low carb as possible: I take it with half and half milk and it’s mostly foam. But even half and half milk has plenty of lactose in it, so just 2 caps a day probably puts me well over 20.

As for the chocolate: if I go for 80% dark, I eat a small bar that’s 10g sugar in the entire block. That’s a lot of sugar for me nowadays. Generally I try and eat 100% dark with a bit of stevia. But there’s still carbs in it.

I could forego both, but it’s a case of diminishing returns. Even when I’m in ketosis, I’m not dropping fat. And my weight is stable now. So I don’t really see the benefit at this stage…

(jilliangordona) #9

Hi! Welcome to the keto lifestyle. What helped me the most during keto flu was salt water sole (just water saturated with pink salt) each morning and afternoon, and plenty of rest and fat!

There is also a good chance you aren’t getting enough salt, especially if you are a caffeine drinker, as it draines salt from your body.

It WILL go away, and you will feel better :).

#10

Can you maybe give us a brief overview of what you’re eating in a typical day? That would help us give you better answers. And do you know what percentage of carbs, protein and fat you’re taking in on a daily basis? that would also help.

Hang in there - it will get better so don’t undo all the good you’ve done so far.
Sue

(Lydia) #11

I don’t drink alot of caffeine. I’m fairly sensitive to it. I’ll have a cup or two of coffee in the morning and drink water after that. I guess I am just drinking too much water. Thank you

(Lydia) #12

How much do you drink? Normally I’m not thirsty during the day but I thought you were supposed to drink alot of water on keto.

(Lydia) #13

My brain hurts too much right now to count macros! I do need to start doing that. I try keep anything that I eat under 5 net carbs and not eat alot of it. It’s being to feel very complicated and stressful.

(Lydia) #14

I’ll drink less! :wink:

(jilliangordona) #15

Honestly I would not worry about counting macros yet, just make sure you are eating as much as you can. It can be overwhelming

(Emma Cohn) #16

Barista here to weigh in on the capp.
Cappuccinos have much less milk than a latte because of all the aeration. Even a wet cappuccino has about half the dairy of a latte. Order a dry capp for more airy foam meaning less milk. I’d say in a semi-wet small (12 oz) cappuccino there’s probably only 4 oz of total milk versus the 10 oz of milk in a small latte. Half and half (breve) is definitely the best option (unless there is heavy cream) for low sugar as whole milk has more and the non-dairy options are usually sweetened.

so 1 oz of half and half has 1.3g of carbs.
each shot of espresso has ~.5g carbs
so you’re looking at
12oz double capp ~ 5.2g carbs

I think you could find a way to make it fit into your macros.
If it’s the allowance that makes keto bearable for you it could be worth it.

(Richard Morris) #17

If i had to go through adaptation again i would make sure i had plenty of sodium, potassium and magnesium salts and medium chained fats like coconut oil and short chained fats in butter and vinegar.

The short and medium chained fats are metabolized rapidly into ketones which support the brain while your body is trying to work out how to make it enough glucose.

Sodium and potassium salts I’d get frim lite salt. And magnesium either in a supplement pill or soaking my feet in epsom salts - which will cross the skin and won’t be as harsh on the gut

One way to get all together is to make a small bowl of half a doz maccadamias a little lite salt a tbsp of coconut oil and microwave it for 30-60 secs. Then i add 1 tsp of vinegar. Salt and vinegar macadamias make a tasfy snack.

(Troy) #18

Gabe…you summed up my “exact” path as well and thoughts! Wow

When asked about Keto or LCHF , I echo what you said
Congrats

It was like I was reading my lifestyle change and summary lol:):smiley: