I quit!

(Lauren G) #101

I wonder if I’m over hydrating. It’s hard to believe I’m not eating enough salt with the electrolyte powder, sunflower seeds, added salt to my food & snacks…but I am always thirsty it seems.i know I haven’t been measuring my sodium intake but it’s kind of difficult to do so…I don’t have cramps but I know my stiffness is worse if I don’t take my magnesium and potassium…thank you for your insight…

#102

Thank you for the reply! Yes, I’m beginning to realise this. It’s now day 27 I’m on. So more or less 4 weeks. I keep waiting for some change infact ANY CHANGE to my energy, weight, sleep, hunger…
I’ll not post on here anymore as I’m sure everyone has heard enough of all the doom and gloom surrounding my journey. If I do eventually get anything positive to post I’ll update it then.

(Lauren G) #103

@Hketo Don’t stop posting…we all need encouragement & we all need insight to what & how keto works for our bodies…so happy you are not giving up on yourself!!! Believe me I know how discouraging fatigue, exhaustion, no no weight loss can feel…but know your body is healing…remind yourself of that when you feel discouraged…stay the course :wink:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #104

You’re welcome. Just some thoughts that may help: getting sodium right makes it a lot easier to keep calcium, magnesium, and potassium in balance, because the mechanisms that regulate them are all interlinked. You might still need to supplement them, but you might very well find yourself needing less. It’s all very individual.

I find that I get constipated and headachey (migraines, ouch!) if I’m not getting enough salt, and loose stools (and even diarrhoea) if I get too much. (I got far too much one day, several months ago, and the salt tasted terrible! If you ever experience that, give it a day or two before having more salt, lol!)

If you are thirsty, then drink. If your body wants more salt to go with the extra liquid, then you’ll crave it. I can tell if I have drunk too much coffee/tea/water if I start to feel weird. It’s hard to describe, not shakiness, but an inability to focus? Anyway, I know it’s from too much liquid, because a pinch or two of salt will sort me out quickly.

There’s a very powerful strain of thought in Western culture that says we have to dominate our bodies with our intellect. Western scientific medicine has adopted and promotes this attitude in spades. My keto journey has involved a lot of learning how to listen to my body instead.

(Lauren G) #105

@PaulL
I am definitely learning how to listen to my body in this journey…ty for the tips…I have experience all of them from one time or another but wasn’t sure I’ll definitely keep what you said in mind.

#106

I hope you’ll continue to post when you need encouragement. I’ve been on a long stall, only losing about 2 lbs over the previous 3 months, but my progress has started to pick up again and I’ve lost over 3 lbs this month. I occasionally change up my eating plan, but I always need to keep things low carb. This forum is useful to read to stay motivated and to get ideas of things to try.

(B Creighton) #107

No need to apologize to us… maybe to yourself, but not to us. You seem to have a very curious case. If you do not eat any carbs, your body will use up glycogen stores of a pound or two, plus some associated water weight. If you have not lost about 5 pounds, my guess is some carbs are sneaking in. BTW, don’t know if you are having liver, but the liver stores glycogen, so eating it can keep you out of ketosis. Personally, I would ditch the liver pills. Dessicated liver is going to have some oxidized cholesterol… something I try to avoid.

My personal testimony is that I felt great on keto. I added an avocado to a coconut milk or almond milk smoothie with Orgain protein powder with “superfoods”, which added about 20 g of carbs. I would have at least one of these every day. Sometimes I added whey protein or just leucine as well. I did eat some berries with my morning yogurts, which I sweetened with erythritol/monk fruit sweetener and xylitol. Another secret I have learned is to add some electrolytes by adding a pinch of sea salt to my water - I am going to start adding a capsule’s worth of calcium lactate as well. Another drink I use is ground whole lemon, water, and stevia sweetener to taste. Some of your exhaustion may be coming from a lack of electrolytes… but that is usually when you lose the first few pounds.

I still eat grass fed lamb from Costco, wild salmon or sardines, chicken thighs, wild shrimp, and grass fed beef, but when not eating strict keto, I incorporate some other foods like sweet potato/lentil soup, organic chili with grass fed beef, etc.

My suspicion is that you became very insulin resistant, and in your case, you are going to have to wait a bit for your insulin to fall so that you can start burning fat. That would explain your lack of energy. You can help this process by adding in some MCTs which will bypass the usual fat storage process and become instant energy. I was incorporating in whole goat milk yogurt which gave me a good amount of MCTs in my morning breakfast on my non-intermittent fasting days.

Another thing I have done is get my fasting insulin tested. If that is above 10, then you are becoming insulin resistant. Ideally you want it in the 5 or 6 range. The reason I bring this up is that insulin resistance stops the fat burning - you won’t lose the weight on any diet, because you won’t burn the fat - just FYI.

Lastly, personally I strove to prioritize protein during keto. My carbs I kept around 50 g, and I strove to get my protein above even 120 gr/day. That is actually kinda hard to eat that much actual protein. I used butter only to basically flavor my cruciferous vegetables or morning eggs. My other main saturated fat was virgin coconut oil. Otherwise, the fat intake was kept kinda low. However, I apparently ate enough to keep me from feeling hungry.

Kudos to you for being willing to spend money on quality food, and I believe if you stick with it, you will eventually see results. However, I will also say that I personally do not spend the money on ghee. It is going to have far more oxidized cholesterol than butter, which again I try to avoid. It’s only use is really for high temperature cooking, which I try to avoid anyway because the high temps are going to oxidize more cholesterol in my animal foods. Indians are big on ghee, but even though they have a largely vegetarian diet, they have a considerable amount of heart disease.

I pretty much always prepare my food, so switching to keto wasn’t hard for me. I really enjoyed my meals, and found them tasty - if not moreso than before. In fact I tried NOT to cut my calories, and still lost the fat. I recently noticed I think that helped me in more ways than one. One issue I started having was choking on some of my foods. They got stuck in my throat. When I lost weight, I also lost about an inch in my neck. Since that time I have not choked on any of my food - not even once - I only noticed that after about 2 years though.

(Edith) #108

Look for any podcasts you can find with Dr. Chris Palmer. He is a psychologist who treats patients (who are willing) with the ketogenic diet. I love listening to his interviews. His compassion for people with mental illness is very evident. I do recall him saying that the medications to treat serious mental health problems do cause weight gain.

I’m glad to see you are going to give your keto trial more time. I don’t know how much you’ve read about keto and electrolytes, but if you are not getting enough salt, that could by why you are not feeling well. How is your salt intake?

#109

I add Redmonds salt to my avocado, steak, eggs, coffee everything! I’m taking mct oil, coconut oil, grass fed butter. I eat all the good fat off my steak and I get in as many steps per day as my mind/body will allow. BUT I have ZERO ENERGY whatsoever.
I’m wanting to stop posting as I’m going round in circles and it must be frustrating for the other forum members to see me repeat myself daily/weekly/monthly. It’s now day 29 but NOTHING has changed beneficially either in focus, fitness or weight loss. Will I still be posting the same story in 8 weeks only for people to tell me I’m too eager and need to chill? I could eat one bag of popcorn right now (I’m not going to) but I can almost guarantee I’d feel more energy almost instantaneously.

#110

Day 29 is VERY early, not even fat adaptation for most of us (or any?). At least be patient until then… (Not like it gave me any energy but I wasn’t as very low as you either and anyway, you aren’t me.)

Don’t worry much about other forum members, if they survived me, you can’t be particularly frustrating… Okay maybe this isn’t the right, polite approach but seriously, people here usually understand we have hardships, problems, frustration sometimes. Or often. Not everyone’s story here are so wonderful from day 1 (or 1000).

I am not sure if you are a hero then… If ANYTHING would give me energy, I probably would consume it right away… (Unless it would be something really unhealthy, super expensive, morally problematic…etc. I have standards.)
Maybe not popcorn but if you truly feel better, more energetic with more carbs, why don’t you eat more carbs? Keto isn’t for everyone and not all carbs are the same, of course, there are healthy carbs for people who handle carbs well. Even keto allows a little carbs and some people find it really helpful while going extreme low-carb doesn’t work for them.

(Michael) #111

Hi Hketo. I was horribly lethargic for many weeks when I started. I did not read any forums and did not supplement electrolytes and instead powered through, or more correctly limped through the beginning until I became fat adapted. They s took a LONG time for me, apparently longer than most.

While hormones are huge in weight loss, calories still count, so drop the added MCT oil and fat bombs for now and eat whole fatty foods that you enjoy. While not everyone would agree, I highly recommended fasting as well to get things started (in that case eat the fat bombs before the fast). If able, try intermittent fasting, then one 24 hour fast or up to three days if able. Fasting is not for everyone, but it is almost impossible to not lose weight when not eating. Do not go crazy, but some fasting can be very healthy and a good reset for the body.

(Robin) #112

Don’t worry, we aren’t judging you or tired of you.
Just rooting for you. Hang in there.

(Edith) #113

If you are just sprinkling your food with some salt, you may not be getting enough sodium. On top of eating very salted food, I also supplement another 1.5 teaspoons a day via my fluid intake, or just popping a 1/4 teaspoon in my mouth and swishing it down with some water.

On keto, we need almost 2-2.5 teaspoons of salt a day give or take depending upon your activity level. You might want to try measuring out two teaspoons of salt in the morning and then use it throughout the day to see how much salt you are actually getting. Electrolytes have been an issue for me since day 1. If I don’t get enough salt, I get headaches, muscle cramps, heart palpitations, and just a general feeling of being unwell. I’ve tried lowering my salt supplementation over the years, but I always end up regretting it.

I was also slow at getting fat adapted. My body just felt like lead until I hit about six or eight weeks. Then, I noticed over time my body (particularly my legs) started to feel less and less lead-like. It was gradual, though, the improvement did not happen over night.

(Lauren G) #114

add vitamin B complex & vitamin C to your supplements…I actually started drinking a powder drink called Zip Fizz & it has been very helpful for me w/ my fatigue & tiredness. I feel like a wilted plant that just got watered after drinking the zip fizz lol and there isnt any crash because it’s all vitamins w/ some caffeine but mainly vitamin B.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #115

How’s your thyroid? Has it been checked?

If you are willing to share some personal information (age, sex, height, weight) and your daily diet, we could look things over and perhaps point to some things to look at or try doing differently. For example, it often turns out that people aren’t eating enough or are eating carbs they didn’t realise were there, etc., all of which can hinder fat loss.

#116

I’ve just started taking these daily. Only 6 days in taking them. Here’s hoping…

#117

I know many have said it takes up to 8 weeks to feel/see the difference. I also got a message about an hour ago (with photos) of a friend of mine that started Keto 3 days after me! He looks fantastic. You’d think he was a different person. Lots of weight has visibly been lost and he’s content within himself. Smiling and proud to wear one of his old suit jackets he ain’t fitted into in years.
Me? I’m just fat, sad, depressed and frustrated.

#118

Here’s hoping! I’ve got this far so no need in quitting just before the “magic” begins. I do so wish it would.

(Lauren G) #119

right there w/ you @Hketo…i just think that my body is so damaged by my type 2 & weight that it’s taking forever to lose any weight…I am also fat, sad, depressed & frustrated BUT lol BUT things are changing & getting better despite the weight loss. I’ve been doing this & mounjaro since January & I just barely lost 10 lbs. lol BTW he is a different person…he isn’t you & doesn’t have your health levels or metabolism so you need to stop comparing mister!

(Eve) #120

@Naghite Out of interest Naghite, how long did it take you to become fat adapted and when did you know you had?