I’m not sure what to make of this but here it goes… I’ve done keto in the past and have been back on the bandwagon for the past month now. I got into ketosis and fat adapted fairly quickly and was able to do two 24 hour fasts last week. The past few days I have been really hot. It isn’t all the time but yesterday I started getting hot after washing the car. Not unexpected but then I came into the house and was sitting in an air conditioned room and could not cool off. This continued all night. Last Friday I was just at work in my office in a 72 degree room and I felt like I was burning up. Anyone else have this problem? I’m not in menopause or anything like that and remember getting this way the last time I went keto but I don’t remember getting this hot. Just curious.
Keto Flash?
I used to get these heat waves about an hour or so after eating. This lasted for nearly a year after starting Keto. They’ve gradually gone away but I still get one occasionally. Never really figured out exactly what triggered it (other than eating). I read about something called “meat sweats” recently…maybe that’s it?
Me, too (waving hand frantically)! I can be sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I get so warm, and it’s not like a hot flash (been there, done that), it’s just like it’s truly 85 degrees in the room all of a sudden. Happens out of nowhere, only lasts about 5-10 minutes, then things are back to normal. Haven’t found a rhyme or reason or pattern for it yet.
Sue
Me too, when I first started the keto lifestyle. It was around that time of the month and I had increased my fasting. I blamed hormones (not menapause). Curious if men get keto flashes???
Sue - Your description of what happened to you describes my experience perfectly. I have yet to find anything on the internet to help interpret exactly what is happening. I’m not perimenopausal, I’m not anywhere near close to menstruation so I’m not sure what to make of it. I’m just curious about it.
I’m glad I’m not alone but I also wonder if this just happens to the ladies. If so maybe it is a hormonal thing.
Pickles, could be one of several things, or a mixture. My gut feeling is that it’s a good thing - more calories are being burned, the internal thermostat gets turned up a little, hormones are cycling somewhat, maybe surging… Something’s going on.
Once in a while I’ll get a similar feeling, like walking up the steps to my office - I get in the room and shut the door, and all of a sudden it feels like it’s 8 or 10 degrees warmer than normal. I set the air conditioner a few degrees colder, and after a while it’s too cold.
If your diet has a higher percentage of protein than at other times, that could be a factor. Digesting protein can take as much as 35% of the energy it contains, so it’s a substantial deal that releases noticeable extra energy at times.
The hormonal stuff can be huge. You say you’re fat-adapted. Good! Some people report feeling quite hot when keto and eating more than normal. I don’t know if your intake changed, but the more insulin-sensitive we are and the more used to burning fat, the greater the chance that the body will really stomp on the accelerator pedal, so to speak. There isn’t always rhyme or reason to it - but it does happen.
Fasting causes more norepinephrine to be secreted, and this cranks up both body and brain. I don’t know if levels of it return to exactly the same point as before fasting - I’m wondering if some effect still lingers once we are eating again. The whole hormonal deal is so complicated - all the related effects and counters and checks-and-balances. I think that “mixing it up” and “keeping your body guessing” is a good thing from the standpoint of more energy being used.
This is quite normal, and usually settles down the longer we are in ketosis. The body, when it is getting enough calories, ramps up its basal metabolic rate (BMR) and becomes willing to waste energy. Your adipose tissue, which is mostly white fat, can even start behaving more like brown fat and start metabolising fat in quantity. This leads to feeling warmer than usual. A lot of people who have restricted protein and start eating more as part of their ketogenic diet; this stops the cold feeling of insufficient protein intake, as well.
I notice that of my sister, my father, and me, I always feel the warmest; my sister, who is semi-keto, feels somewhat warm; and our father, who is not only a sugar-burner but an untreated thyroid patient (for reasons), is the coldest. When the house is at 77°F/25°C, I am in a T-shirt and gym shorts, sweating, my sister is warm but comfortable in more clothing than that, and Dad wears long-johns, a flannel shirt, and a jacket.