Hi guys! I have been keto for little more over the month now. I started because of my autoimmune illness which is now completely asymptomatic. And after the really serious and nasty keto flu period - now I feel great! Before I started keto, I was completely gluten and dairy free for a year and only carbs that I have been eating were from sweet potato, green vegetables and dried fruits. My diet was some kind of paleo. I was regular at the gym 3-5 days a week and was going for a run twice a week. Lifting was (and still is) part of my life that I don’t want to leave. But, now I completely suck in the gym. For example, yeasterday I was barely lift some of the weights that have been usual for me. I have this strange tingling feel of weakness in my legs when I lift or doing squats. Like my muscles aren’t stretched or something like that, I don’t Know how to explain. But, from the other hand - I feel like superhuman at running or incline walking, hiking. I feel like I could do this on and on. Before going keto - I had some amount of Energy for running and when I got tired - that was it. Now it’s different. I am great at cardio but suck with weights. I have blood meter and my ketones for past few weeks were usually around 1,5 - 2,7 mmol, yeasterday evening, after the gym they were 0,9.
My question is: will I got my strength back and what can I do to improve it? Thank you for your answers.
I suck in the gym
I am only two months in but I will say that around week 3 I noticed the same. I kept pushing and am back a little stronger and stamina is up.
This is completely normal!! It can take a while for your body to adjust! A temporary dip in physical performance is a well documented, normal part of switching to keto.
Thank you for the response. But, you didn’t read my post very thoroughly - I said that I was eating dry fruits long ago when I was on paleo. I am on keto for over a month now and I don’t do dried fruits or potatos or anything like that. 
Truth is, as far as I’ve noticed, you probably will lose some strength or endurance on keto. This is why people who keto but also lift (or bodybuild) always have anywhere from 1 to 3 days per week of carbing up; either all weekend or Saturday and Wednesday, etc.
I definitely do not have as much strength or endurance in the gym. Perhaps not SIGNIFICANTLY less, but less still. But man; if I go lift the next day after a binge/cheat day, boy do I have energy and endurance. i almost feel like superman.
As I’ve mentioned in a few other threads, I think the overall/holistic effects of keto are worth the decreased performance in the gym.
Disclaimer: I have been eating at a deficit since I have about another 15lbs to lose. Perhaps when I’m eating at maintenance, I might discover I have plenty of gym energy; but then again, maybe not. No matter - I love the way I feel the other 23 hours and 30 minutes of the day
From what I can see in youtube videos keto is becoming a thing for the strength training crowd. May be there would be more practical knowledge about this in a bodybuilding forum.
I’ve watched quite a few youtube videos with the most credible research presenters and docs counseling people on keto but there are a few things I’m not clear about. For instance, glycogen is one of the specialied fuels muscles store and use for certain situations. I suspect that fuel is still made and stored even when there are no carbs to make it but I don’t remember hering that said explicitly. If keto mean no more muscle glycogen then what takes it’s place?
I also suspect that becoming an optimally efficient fat burner is a process of months, not days or weeks. If there was some easier non invasive way to measure markers of ketosis may be we would know better. My intuition is ketosis is a complicated continuium, not some hard dividing line between on and off.
Incidentally, DO NOT go to the Bodybuilding.com forums. Their keto board is deeeeaaaaad. It gets, maybe, one new post a day. This is the ultimate keto forum, as far as I can tell - with the only competitor really being the MFP forums.
Perhaps it’s time to begin a new subseciton in here all about bodybuilding?
You’re probably just not fat adapted yet. I wouldn’t even think about bothering with a carb up this early. Let yourself fall into the rhythm a little more. Call it a reset. Strength will come back. Honestly unless you’re competing (and winning), what does the weight on the bar matter in the grand scheme of things?
Attracting bodybuilders here might succeed. Would that be desirable? When I was doing strength training 30 years ago I called myself a hobby lifter with no competition goals. Today health researchers say everybody should lift. That was not the party line in the 80’s.
Hi Sonja. 
The feeling of weakness or strange tingling may go away - I know some people don’t really feel totally fat-adapted until 2 or 3 months of keto. Or - maybe it’s something else, and it will pass soon…? I hope so.
I think this is very common, especially while one is getting used to keto. The intensity of exercise matters a lot, and our bodies use different fuels depending on it. Very short-term, full power effort is powered by ATP/PC (adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine). This only lasts for 15 seconds or so, and then it takes about 2 minutes to recover. Doing very few maximum-weight repetitions followed by a rest period is aimed at this, the same as is doing “wind sprints,” running as fast as possible for 50 or 100 meters and then resting for a while before repeating.
As the ATP/PC is getting depleted, our bodies are switching to anaerobic glycolisis - using glycogen (sugar stored in muscles) and turning it into lactate. This process gives off hydrogen ions, and since we’re not using oxygen here, they build up and the acidity within the muscle cells increases - that’s the “burn” we feel. This process doesn’t last very long, either - it’s dominant once the ATP/PC is mostly done, and only goes out to roughly 2 minutes. After that it’s aerobic glycolisis, much more efficient but also much slower in energy production.
You’re in ketosis, and making ketones for energy by burning fat. Our muscles don’t store ketones like they do with glycogen. I’m not sure if this is too much of an oversimplification or not, but seems to me that either ketones get burned for fuel or they get excreted by the kidneys and lungs.
Liver makes ketones --> muscles need fuel --> ketones go into muscle cells to be burned. The body needs to get used to this process, and it needs to practice it, to get really good at it. At six months into keto, even one year, some people are seeing improvements, so it can be a long time.
Thank you all for your thoughts and answers. I have to admit that I am really very grateful that my autoimmune condition is so much better thanks to keto so - I am thinking that the gym things will settle into place. With time. I am really (at this point) extremely satisfied and happy with keto.
Right on. A lot of us benefit from staying keto and continuing to make progress on reducing insuling resistance, autoimmune problems, etc.
If one is primarily interested in gaining strength and/or bodybuilding, then I do think things are somewhat different. For weight loss or the “cutting” phase, keto is great. But for muscle building most people perform better with some carbs or carb-cycling. Not saying that “people should not be strictly keto to build muscle.” But for really maximizing things, I think it’s a rare person who doesn’t include some carbs, at least once in a while.
I think that’s very true. If one feels totally energized, then great. Or maybe it takes a day of eating more cabohydrates (this is aimed at max energy/strength/muscle growth, to the exclusion of other concerns). Or maybe it takes longer or more cycles of practicing switching between keto and carbs. The levels of enzymes for carbohydrate metabolism decrease while on a ketogenic diet. It may take some time for the body to get back into full production of them, and to fully change back into the mode of using ingested protein for their formation.
Keto Savage is a Keto bodybuilder. Not something I’m into, but have seen him on the KetoConnect channel. Might want to check him out.
I would like to share with you my experience from the last days regarding the gym. So, as I said, I was at the gym in tuesday - deadlifting and coordinating lifting beside that. My blood ketones in the evening were 0,9. Whole day yeasterday (wednesday) I was feeling like crap. My legs were heavy with (again) strange tingling sensations and muscle weakness. Also, I was slightly more hungry and I was retaining water (bloated) whole day. When I got home from work, I was measuring the ketones again - 1,1. At the evening I was going with my dog for a walk and that was pure disaster. I have barely walked and got home so tired and feeling like I am gonna collapse. And I was sick like keto flu sick. Got to bed and slept like a log. This morning, totally different story: I wake up energetic and light. Is it possible that one gym session has made so much damage?
Or?
I have to post some update. I found out that every time after gym - i experience some severe Energy crash. I was at the gym last sunday again. In tuesday I had very busy and active day and yeasterday I thought that I will die. It was so severe. I just couldn’t function: I couldn’t walk, my legs were like jello, I couldn’t speak… I was soo tired, My husband has almost call the emergency because he said that I was never like this. What to do?
Could be many things…
- Electrolyte deficiency (most likely)
- Undereating - insufficient energy
- Over training
- Other
Search the forum (magnifying glass icon at the top) for similar situations, others with more relevant experience may have solved the same problem
Thank you! I have already searched and find some similar issues. I agree that most likely is electrolyte deficiency but I didn’t Know that it could be so severe??? I will make myself a bottle of ketoaid drink for now on. Undereating is definetely not an issue.
Sorry guys, but something is very bad overhere. I am in my Office right now and for the past few hours I feel like I am gonna die. Again I barely can move my legs, every muscle in my body feels like jello. I drank coffee, water with lemon and salt, pure water, eat lunch + some fat bombs - and nothing helps. I am not hungry, but feeling awful. Plus, I have retained so much water in my midsection that never happens before. I am over 6 weeks into keto and this is awful. I am at work and barely can move…