I’m not sure where to put this, so I’ll just leave it here. I want to quit. I’ve been keto/lchf since the beginning of the month. I don’t think I’ve gone two days in a row without a headache, or no energy, lacking all motivation, just feeling “off”. I’ve lost about 17 lbs which is great, but every since adapting this WOE all I do is worry. I worry I’m not doing it right, or my body is slowly shutting down, or this is going to permanently damage me. Trust me I have my own demons to worry wit, with anxiety and health concerns, but even my wife who has also been following this WOE just feels like crap. No burst of energy, no mental clarity. None of the “good” associated with this WOE. I just feeling like I’m struggling to survive. Now granted we prob should have done more research about supplements and other things you have to watch out for, we also should have started tracking much sooner. I feel like I want to “start over”. We were never biggie carbies. We’ve been gf for about 2 years, and got most carbs from fruits and veggies, but what am I missing? Any support/hope that I should keep this up is appreciated. I know I also need to see a Dr. and have my blood work done but we won’t have insurance again for a while. Thanks, guys.
I (don't) want to quit *edited for clarity
Hard to give help if i don’t know what you are typically eating. It seems that when I do not have energy are days when I’m eating too much protien and not enough fat, or I have not been drinking my ketoade, and my electrolytes may have dropped.
Keep Calm, Eat 
Not knowing anything about what you are eating, you sound like someone who’s been on Atkins. Massive protein, low carb, and fat only because it’s attached to the protein. Have you embraced eating fat, or are you doing a high protein type diet?
17 pounds lost in 3 weeks, and you want to ditch this? Took me 4 months to lose 13 lbs. You likely are not yet fully fat-adapted. Have you figured out what your macros are, are you tracking your food intake (carbs, protein, fat) with a computer or phone app? Everyone gets there at a different rate. It’s likely your 3-week weight loss is water weight. If you consider hanging in there, and tightening up your carb count, eating enough fat and not going over on your protein, it will happen for you, it just takes time. In the meantime, hey, you’re not gaining weight! and you’ve found an online community that cares.
Thank you all for the responses. You know what, now that I think about it. It totally is Atkins. I am really only eating fat that is attached to protein 
How can I get more straight fat into my diet. Also my next question is about electrolytes. How do you know if they’re good or out of balance? How do you know which one to adjust? Can they be out of balance in a day or two or does it take a while? I’m starting to feel like I can make this work. I’m getting renewed hope! I think I just have some tweaking to do. I was using the advice of replacing carbs with fat and concentrating on that, but I guess it’s time to start tracking.
Track everything in an app like My Fitness Pal. Then it will be easier to tweak your protein and fat intake.
If you need to increase the fat and decrease the protein start by reducing the portion size of your meat and add on a fatty sauce. The technique I used when I realized that I needed less protein and more fat was to eat meat only at one meal a day. Deep fried veggies, a salad with fatty dressing, and tea with coconut oil is an example of a high fat low protein meal. Adjust the fat amounts to your hunger. I have to try really really hard to get the fat up but when I do I feel so much better!
Once you are fat adapted you probably won’t have to load on as much fat, but for now put fat on everything. It really does help.
Start tracking, but don’t obsess, carb tracking is the most important, then the fat will let you know if you feel bad due to no fat or no electrolytes. You can feel very bad very easily without the electrolytes, I ignored it and was sick, I learned for when my wife started and she feels great.
I like broth, she likes pickle juice.
I link to Reddit quite a bit as the sub there has a quarter million subscribers, that is a lot of people who have been through just about everything and I think their guides here and FAQ here are perfect. It should alleviate all of your concerns, and I haven’t ever heard someone say they followed it and still felt bad.
Good luck, no quitting!
Butter, butter, butter! From coffee to cauliflower, butter makes everything better! So does bacon and bacon grease.
This may sound funny in a group dedicated, in part, to losing weight, but it sounds like you’re losing too fast. Most people drop a pretty quick 5 pounds of water weight and then stop losing, or lose slowly, for weeks.
Are you sure you’re eating enough? Keto, at the beginning, is not about reducing how much food you eat. It’s about replacing the carbohydrates you eat wth fat while keeping the amount of protein about the same.
I’m afraid people reseed here about fasting and one-meal-day and think that’s how you do keto. That does happen, but it’s the result of keto, not the cause.
Did that sound like it might be you?
I am not a fan of tracking because I can’t be bothered (lazy!). I think it would really be very useful for you to do though to try and get to the boron of what is going on. I suggest you do the following…
Track everything you eat on a tracking app to see exactly how much you are eating macro wise.
Keep a simple diary for a couple of weeks alongside your food tracking so that you can look out for patterns that may be influencing your progress. I suggest you record the following…
- Sleep patterns - what time you go to bed, get up and quality of sleep
-
When you eat and how - so what time and what did you eat? Did you eat sat at a table or on the sofa? On your own or with someone else? TV on?
-
How do you feel? Stress, headaches, mood, anything you want to make a note of.
-
What else is going on? Work, relationships, etc. i.e. the impact they may have like stress at work or long working hours, etc.
Do all the above for a couple of weeks minimum - ideally longer - and then have a look for patterns or connections that you may not have considered. It is very easy to forget what went on when and so you can easily miss something.
Absolutely. I’m not eating near enough. Basically starving from the sounds of it. I need to up my intake for sure, and get in a lot more fat! It’s hard after SO long of eating one way to switch, but I need to. Time to cook up some bacon!
Thanks everyone! I feel like a brand new ketoer. A fresh start, with a lot more knowledge than I had coming in. I’m excited again. Not just to lose weight, but to be HEALTHY! Thanks again. Will report back in a few weeks and let you know how it’s going. I DONT WANT TO QUIT!!!
I suspect that might be my current problem, I’ve been at this for about 5 months. I have lost 40 lbs dropped my a1c and bg to normal ranges, but have actually gained 5 lbs I eat omad during the week, I know my carbs average 10. I suspect that I have dropped my intake to low and my metabolism has slowed. I am lazy and I hate tracking, but i need to change something so I guess I need to track to figure out what it is
Also my next question is about electrolytes. How do you know if they’re good or out of balance? How do you know which one to adjust? Can they be out of balance in a day or two or does it take a while?
You say you are having headaches, and overall you feel like crap. I’d say that’s electrolytes, especially in light of a 17 lb weight loss in such a short time. You are losing FLUID as your glycogen stores are depleted. You need to be drinking plenty of fluid, for one, and replace all the major electrolytes until you start to feel better–get a good amount of salt, potassium (avocados and leafy greens or sprinkle some Nu-Salt or other potassium salt substitute on your veggies) and a good magnesium supplement. Or look up Brenda Zorn’s recipe for keto ade.
KCKO
So still drink lots of water and get lots of salt? My skin is dry and I’m always thirsty.