Keto desperate help

(Miguel Pereira) #1

Hi everyone,
I started a Keto diet 19 days ago after a 2-month period where I put on 18lbs. This has been a very stressful period as I moved to another country, started a new job and was finishing my PhD thesis. Before this I was struggling with losing weight on a low carb diet but my BMI was 21-22.
The day after I submitted my thesis I went full blown keto. Got the flu, increased my salt intake and started being able to workout hard again.
However, I was still not near my prior ability to exercise. I used to swim/bike/run for 12h+ per week and now I can barely find the will to go for a walk. I am always tired, have no energy, did not lose weight (but was in a calorie deficit for sure). I am always anxious, my resting heart rate is >70bpm when it used to be ~50bpm. Three days ago (day 16 on keto) I woke up extra anxious and a work e-mail triggered a binge eating episode. I ate a lot of carbs during the day and then fats and protein in the evening. Was in “fight or flight mode” all day. I managed to eat little the day after and fasted during the day on the 2nd day (only had dinner). Did some yoga and went on a social hike to try to calm myself down.
Today I woke up at middle of the night hungry and with a racing heart. Had to eat to calm myself down (ate fats). This morning I was super anxious and irritable again. I had breakfast and made sure I was satiated which improved my mood a little but energy levels are low.
I need help here as I really wanted to lose this weight, get energy again and not binge eat anymore. I feel I might have some adrenal fatigue and that I pushed a bit too hard on dieting and exercising after a stressful period.
Any tips?
To be specific regarding what I was eating: 1,500-2,000kcal/day doing 30min-2h of exercise (swimming/running/cycling or weight training). Sometimes with 2 sessions in one day. (Except for days when I had no energy and could not move at all…). In some of these days I could force myself to workout but felt miserable.
I am now 130-132lbs and I am 5ft01.

I really want to lose this weight, stop feeling like crap and get back to training consistently. Please help!

(Kimberly Scott) #2

Hi Miguel,

The one thing that I find that helps me is to set mini goals and small rewards for those goal when I reach them. It can definitely be hard when you have a lot of stress especially at work. I also have a workout buddy and we motivate each other to go and workout. I try to workout at least 4-5 times a week. You might not have enough calories each day and that could be causing you to feel tired. How did you calculate your daily macros? I went on a website to calculate the and it allowed me to adjust my calorie deficit. Right now I am at 20 net carbs or less, 1350 calories, 113g of fat and 68g of protein. So far I have lost 64lbs since December and still have another 20-30 lbs to go depending on how I feel as I for closer to my original goal. I did have to make some adjustments along the way. Maybe if you adjust your macros that could help you with fatigue and irritability you may need something more in your daily intake to help you. I am definitely no expert but just had some thoughts. I am actually taking a nutritional coaching class to better educate myself and possibly help others. I have done a lot of reading especially on the Keto diet and it has helped me understand how it works.

I believe in creating goals to help motivate me and there are some days that I feel like I have failed and other days I feel great.

I know I may not have given you a direct answer but I just wanted to send a reply.

Have a great day!
Kimberly

#3

Hi Miguel,

This really helped me with the tiredness and lack of energy. Good luck!

(Bethany) #4

Wow sounds like you’ve been going through a lot of transitions! That’s a lot of stress, and I hope you can take it easy on yourself.

From what you shared, I’d suggest you simply focus on helping your body heal from the stress first. Make sure you are taking in a ketogenic macro ratio (you can share what you are eating if you’d like specific advice) and proper electrolytes, avoid eating at a calorie deficit, and pull back on the exercise for a little bit - and sleeeeep!!

Once you’ve taken care of these basics and have more stable hormone balances, it’ll likely be a lot easier to then challenge yourself with your training goals - and have the energy and motivation you need to get going.

Good luck!

(Jay AM) #5

You will definitely notice a reduction in your ability to exercise when entering and maintaining ketosis in the beginning. This is because you are depleting your glycogen stores and your body hasn’t become adapted to ketone use yet. Really, you need to listen to your body and stop the excessive exercise. At least for now. Once you get further into ketosis, you’ll be able to resume your exercise at a lower level and work back up to your normal levels. Though, between your carb binge and the exercise, it’s starting to look like you have deeper disorders. If these are normal issues for you, you might consider counseling.

Here’s what I have you calculated out at:
1760kcal Daily Calorie Intake (this is a goal, not a limit)
20 g Carbs (5%, 80 kcal) (this is a limit)
68 g Protein (15%, 272 kcal) (soft limit, you can likely get away with more)
156 g Fat (80%, 1408 kcal) (eat to satiety, fat provides energy and keeps you full)

You also definitely need to nail down your electrolytes. Potassium and magnesium along with the sodium are the basic electrolyte trifecta. Someone shared the link for ketoaide above.

We have a few sayings here, “keep calm, keto on” and “trust the process.” Keto isn’t a quick weight loss diet. It’s a health gaining way of eating with fat loss as a side effect. If the scale is an unhealthy obsession, put it away for a couple of months or give it to a neighbor you don’t like.

There are two phases to ketosis and a ketogenic lifestyle.

Nutritional ketosis is phase one. Your body begins to produce and uptake some ketones while dumping the rest. It will still search for glucose to use as fuel. In this phase it’s not an efficient process. It has to work actively to get rid of stored glycogen, clean up excess blood sugar, and turn on the ability to use ketones.

Fat adaptation is phase two. Your body is efficiently producing ketones from intake and stored body fat and is also using them efficiently for energy. It takes around 6-8 weeks of strict keto to achieve for many but not all.

The basic “rules” I go by and many others can agree with especially for beginners are:

*20g net carbs max (you might tolerate more but, starting out, 20g net carbs or less will get you into ketosis.)

*Moderate protein (1g-1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight is a good goal based on the 2 Dudes recommendations.)

*Fat to satiety (add fat to every meal and, if you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. It is energy.)

*Do not restrict calories

*Do not exercise excessively

*Drink plenty of water

*Get plenty of sodium and other electrolytes

#6

The electrolyte levels might be affecting your heart rate- I think I’ve seen some discussions on this before- you can search the past discussions by topic so that might be worth doing, & try the ketoaide as others have suggested.
It does sound like you’re pushing yourself a lot- go easy on the exercise & stick to the walking until you feel better. Your energy levels will improve, but it can take a few weeks; keto isn’t a quick diet, it heals your body metabolically so be patient. (From a fairly Newbie!)

#7

Hi @Mike_p – sounds like you are undergoing stress and the Keto adaption is adding to it. Lots of good advice in this thread. I’d suggest taking it easy for the next few weeks, reducing your exercise, and staying the course. Good luck!!

(Troy Anthony) #8

Yes I agree with the above but I would add to the point that from personal experience, heavy training during transition will lead you to feel over trained. All the classic symptoms of overtraining parallel what you are describing as far as increased heart rate, sleep interruption, anxiety, low energy, etc. Your body is massively stressed. Imagine you are a car, and glycogen is in your fuel tank. You are use to replenishing your tank after long drives (when you refueled with carbs), but now you aren’t refueling that tank but you keep trying to drive. It will putter along for awhile but it’s not surprising if you are breaking down. You need to chill and allow your body to build the new motor to run on the new fuel. Be shopped up for awhile. Eventually you will throw some fat in the tank and get back to driving. For now, Just rest more, eat more, exercise less, and ease back in as your symptoms dissipate.

(Sarah Slancauskas) #9

Hi Miguel
I also exercise and have noticed a decline in my workouts. From what I’ve read this is a temporary setback and the previous strength and ability will return, but it will take time. I’ve found it beneficial to use salted water after a workout and to have part of my carb macro 30 minutes before my workout to help with that awful energy drain that comes sometimes. I took a couple of my workouts out of my regime to give my body time to rest and heal but kept the rest to maintain stamina and fitness in general. Last week, three weeks into Keto, I was able to add one back in! It’s good to approach it calmly, with the long term goal in mind.
I also suffer from anxiety (I have a severely autistic son and am moving house) and have noticed my heart at times is pounding and it keeps me awake. I’m Catholic so I find saying a rosary helps me but you could maybe try deep breathing exercises in those moments to try and bring a more balanced equilibrium. YouTube had some relaxation videos which are fantastic for helping people in panic attack or anxiety attack (my son and I use them).
I hope you feel better soon. Anxiety is awful and the stress you’re under coupled with a dramatic shift in eating pattern is a lot to manage but I’m sure that longer term the eating pattern will be a source of comfort and strength as you come to rely on it.
Sarah

(Miguel Pereira) #10

Thanks everyone!! Lots of good advice here. I really appreciated it! :blush::pray:

@CuriousResearcher that’s what I am trying to focus on now. It’s very hard for me as I really love exercising and cutting back on it is really difficult. But yes, I need to recognize that It’s not healthy to wake up feeling swollen and that like I was ran over by a truck.

I think I might have been a little too hard on myself and tried to do it all in one go. After the first week, I started doing some more strenuous cardio workouts and got excited with the idea that I was getting back to it. But after 3 good workouts, my energy levels took a dive. I was also restricting calories and not meeting my protein needs (going under 1g/kg) because I used to bulk up easily and don’t want that.

Meeting the salt intake goal is also a little hard and I never added salt to my food! (I mean never ever like I had never bought salt in my entire life). Anyway, I have increased my salt intake and I am also supplementing with Potassium and Magnesium. Started potassium last week as I was feeling really weak and had some cramps. Took 2 potassium pills and was feeling much better a few hours after.
@FueledbyFat and @jules4 will give lite salt a try! Sounds like it might be a good blend for me. :slight_smile:

@J_A-M the exercise is because I used to do triathlons but have stopped a year ago. In the attempt to get leaner, I started dieting and got injured but still managed to ‘get away with it’ for some time. However, I am wreck right now and have not been able to train consistently for several months.
I really wanted to get back to it quickly but now I am fat and out of shape. Started to get anxious because I would love to get back to being fit and to train consistently.
Nonetheless, I agree that the binge part is a problem. It started happening when I started getting really obsessed with losing weight. I am now trying to go keto because my body responded well to low carb diets before and I want to stop obsessing about calories and worrying so much about food.

@uniprod and @SarahSlan, I totally see your point. I was expecting that I’d be rocking it after two weeks as I felt the keto flu was mostly gone. I am now feeling it again after the huge carb-up on Friday. Crossing fingers for all this stress to go away. I know that, like this, I will never lose weight as my cortisol is surely through the roof. :confused:

Once again, thanks everyone for the really good advice and reassurance! I will try to be more patient and focus on relaxing and healing. Let’s see how it goes!