Hey all! I’m sharing a vey weird start to keto and would love some feedback!
I started keto a few weeks back with about 15-20 lbs to lose. I’m very active - I work out 5-6 days a week (including Pilates, yoga, HiiT workouts (kettlebells, TRX), and do endurance cycling. I’ve been at the same weight for AGES and have tried roughly one thousand things with little to no results (IIFYM, veganism, Paleo, I’ve even done HCG a few times). I have high hopes for keto though.
I initially lost about 5-6 lbs of water weight (I was super bloated from 3 months of all plant-based eating) and then stalled out at the exact same weight for about a week (which is GREAT, because I usually bounce up and down like a volleyball on a daily basis, so consistency, in my opinion, is improvement). However, I was using keto sticks (Ketostix brand) and only get fairly light pink results…we’ll come back to this. Okay - now the weird stuff…
I was making a hot beverage for myself last week and my blender full of near-boiling water exploded onto me; I ended up in the ER with second degree burns all over my chest. Blistering, nerve damage, the whole nine yards. I was on pain killers for almost a week but I maintained a keto diet. I noticed that my Keto Sticks were completely white - which I believe is due to the pain killers, based on experimenting with not taking them and then testing to find at least a bit of pink without the meds in my system.
Okay, so since that happened, my weight has been up about 2 lbs from the initial loss, but I have to assume that my body is retaining water from the shock and also because it’s trying to heal itself. I haven’t been able to work out (of course) but have been trying to go on long walks now that I’m feeling better. I’m off the pain meds but my keto sticks are still reading totally white…my guess is that my body is using the ketones to heal itself rather dumping them in my urine, but that’s a guess - do ketones even do that?
Now, shark week has arrived (6 days late, I might add), the sticks are still white, and I’m still up on the scale. I have no idea if I’m fat-adapted (I do not have that “sense of fullness” that people talk about - I could basically eat everything forever) and am wondering if it’s cool to try a fast at this point. I’ve been tracking macros (based on a calculator in another keto group), but don’t feel satiated based on their numbers…
Here are my questions:
1.) I know Keto sticks are not super reliable - but has anyone used them when they were certain they were in ketosis, but the sticks did not register anything?
2.) Any experience with injuries, wounds, or pain killers, and how they might affect ketosis?
3.) Too soon for a fast?
4.) Are macros useless? I’ve heard it’s important to track them when you only have 15 or so lbs to lose.
5.) Does any of this affect whether I’m fat-adapted?
6.) Is this just the weirdest sequence of events ever???
Thanks all - and thanks to @carl and @richard for this community! PS you guys - thanks for Music to Cody By! I don’t code, but I am a tech recruiter and I use it while I’m sourcing candidates…very helpful!
This would let the fasts occur naturally.