Hi there,
My husband and I have been on Keto since May 5 (seven weeks) and for the most part we have really loved the changes we are seeing in ourselves. He’s lost about 16 lbs and his belly is disappearing and I have lost 13 lbs. We started Keto after I was diagnosed with Fatty Liver Disease with NASH and was told by my GI and Hepatologist to lose weight. So far Keto has felt like the most sustainable way of eating to get the weight off and keep it off. It’s more than just vanity for me, I do not want the NASH to increase and for me to need a liver transplant. Also I was told I was on the edge of becoming pre-diabetic and I do not want to go down that path.
For the most part, we love how Keto makes us feel. I have less stomach distress in general, we are doing sort of lazy IF, which means we try to fast for about 16 hours, but I have a small glass of milk at bedtime and my husband drinks coffee with half and half in the morning before we break the fast at noon with solid food. We love that we can go longer periods without being hungry, that we aren’t slaves to cravings. Everything is good except for one thing: we are both constipated.
I have always been prone to constipation, but my husband was a guy that would go a few times a day, no problem. At first on Keto, we just seemed to need to go far less. But in the past few weeks it’s become a situation where we have less urge to go and when we do go, it’s not very smooth sailing and our BM’s don’t feel complete and leave us in some discomfort. Not pain, but just a physical sensation that not everything came out. (TMI, amirite?)
So, to sum it up:
-Less bowel movements overall
-Less volume
-Less comfortable BM, stool is small and hard, like rabbit poo (from gigantic rabbits) instead of the one piece banana shape.
-Less complete BM, feels like we can’t expel everything and stuff is left behind.
My question isn’t so much what to do about it, although we are open to suggestions. But rather, I want to hear how this is rationalized when discussing the long term safety of Keto. A diet that constantly has you constipated and requires possible intervention (laxatives etc) to have normal BM’s doesn’t seem like the perfect diet. This is the one thing that is making us question it and wondering if we should increase our carbs to include more fiber and maybe just having a lower carb diet instead.
I am currently drinking about two liters of water per day, I know I need to increase this. I sometimes try Miralax and sometimes it helps a little, but mostly not. We eat a lot of veggies. I do like dairy and feel like I need to eat less of that to help with both my weight loss and the constipation. My GI will have a fit when I tell him I am not going everyday, he actually wanted me to try Linzess before I even started Keto, when I first saw him for digestive problems and constipation.
What are your thoughts about the long term safety of Keto if one of the downsides is chronic constipation?
