Keto since January 5, looking for advice for tweaking things

(LeeAnn Brooks) #7

Calories are too low. That’s less than get at 5’2” 134 pounds. You’re slowing your matabolism with too few calories. You should be north of 1700.

(Mandy) #8

Really? How do you come up with that calorie number? I’m just trying to learn here…not question the veterans. That just seems like a lot to me, but I’m sure that’s because I’ve lost weight in the past due to calorie restriction and I’m just not used to being able to “eat”…especially fat. Even though I’ve been doing this since January, those old stigmas are hard to get rid of, ya know? I guess I’m still scared of gaining weight by upping my cals.

#9

I don’t know where low blood pressure comes from (I can tell you though that I used to have it even when I wasn’t dieting). But I have heard that people with low blood pressure need more salt…just hearsay so you might want to do more research.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #10

I’m not a veteran. Just a newbie that learned the hard way.
If you do a macro calculator, set to maintain, not deficit.
We have to get the idea of CICO out of our minds. That’s not how Keto works.
I’m just guessing on your numbers because my maintain is around 1600 and 1400 is a definate deficit for me. Sense you are taller and thus weigh more, it would take a greater # of calories to maintain.
Don’t let the word maintain scare you. Again, that’s not how Keto works, but just about every macro calculator uses the CICO approach.

I know it’s scary, but up your calories through fat for a week or two and see what happens.

(Mandy) #11

I have had the dizziness issues before doing Keto, but they come and go. I think you are right in that my electrolytes are off. I’ve just been reading some other threads about it and I’m having the foot cramps and a few muscle cramps, and I’ve never had that before. May be where the lethargy comes in to play. Was out in the heat yesterday for a ball tournament and just drank lemon water, no electrolytes, and I was pretty spent.

(Jay AM) #12

So, skip the commercial electrolyte drinks as they don’t have nearly enough electrolytes for us on keto. And, I agree about your calories being too low also. Try upping with additional fat.

(Mandy) #13

So I just did another keto calculator with no deficit, and depending on which activity level I picked, maintenance ranged from 1500-1678 cal/day. It’s a little scary to up my cals, but I guess I need to do that to fix my metabolism. I’ll give it a try. It will be interesting to see how my body responds.
I’m also going to try to get my electrolytes/potassium levels where they need to be.

(Mandy) #14

@J_A-M thanks for the link to ketoaid. I’m sure it will be less expensive than the powder I just bought! Just curious, can i mix in flavors to mask the flavor in case I don’t care for the taste? Mio has some great flavors with no maltodextrine.

(Candy Lind) #15

Why pay for electrolyte drinks? You can make your own WAY cheaper. Search “keto aide” or “keto-aid” or “keto ade” in the forums, there are several easy and cheap recipes. Propel doesn’t have enough of any nutrients to really do you any good on keto. Dr Berg’s may, but it’s just too cheap and easy to make.

@climbergirl is absolutely correct, that’s low blood pressure.

  1. If you are on meds, ask your doc to reduce your dose or let you discontinue it.
  2. Ingest more salt. Salt will help you retain more water and increase your blood volume, which is probably a lot of your energy and dizziness problems. If I let myself get dehydrated or don’t take enough salt, that’s exactly what happens to me.

You should be aiming for around 4 grams of salt per day. Some need a little less, some need more. Those who do heavy exercise might require 6 grams or more.

I was CONVINCED I couldn’t lose weight if I ate more than 1100 calories when I started this WoE. When I decided to trust the process, I increased my calories by 100-150, and WHOOSH. Scale drop. About a month later, it was sitting still again. I increased again. WHOOSH again. My metabolism has improved to the point that I can eat 1500 calories and not gain. I’m admittedly heavier than you at 228, and I’m VERY sedentary. But I’m betting LeeAnn is right, you should be eating more in order to get past the “insulin barrier” that keeps you holding on to stored fat.

If increased salt doesn’t help, look up “magnesium supplements” in the forum and decide which kind you might want to try. If you don’t have any trouble “going” on this WoE, then supplement carefully if you choose magnesium citrate. It keeps my magnesium up in “no cramps” range, and it keeps my sluggish system regular at the same time.

I would counsel you against potassium supplementation unless you have very specific symptoms related to hypokalemia. Salt controls the storage of potassium in your cells, and it’s easy to build up too much. If you’re eating plenty of green leafies and some avocado, you don’t need it. And Dr Ken Barry has a very good video on why NOT to supplement calcium, no matter what your doctor or nutritionist advises.

(Mandy) #16

I’ve increased my calories today and i can tell I feel better already. I will make my own electrolyte drink from now on.

I don’t take blood pressure meds, so I’ll concentrate on eating more salt/electrolytes.

My system is at times sluggish in the “going” dept, but at times it’s just the opposite! I’ll have to be careful with the magnesium.:flushed:

So do you advise leaving out the lite salt in the keto aid because it has potassium? Or are you talking about supplementing besides that? During the week, I eat an avacado a day, and some days I’ll have leafy veggies, some days not. I know…slap my hand. But I burn out on that stuff easily and try to still eat some without getting sick of them. I do switch it up with other veggies, but not a lot of cruciferous ones. Just haven’t found a way I love them.

(Candy Lind) #17

That’s more than enough. You can use lite salt or regular salt in the keto aide with that many avocados in your week. :+1:

(Mandy) #18

@CandyLindTX Thanks! That sounds good.

One more question…what about ordering a keto monitor? I can see where I would really like checking my levels. Anyone have a favorite meter?

(Jay AM) #19

You can use water flavors sure. I put my own recipe in that same thread. I use a pack of koolaid powder (only orange or lemonade because the others personally taste awful to me with this mix), 30-40 drops stevia, my lite salt dose, 1 tsp of pink salt (this is just what I have on hand), shake it all up with 1-1.5 L of water and good to go.

(Candy Lind) #20

I’m not the one to ask! LOL! I have had a Keto Mojo for 6 weeks & haven’t unboxed it yet. :blush:

I use “TrueLemon” or “TrueLime” (the crystallized fruit packets, NOT the lemonade drinks) in mine, just 1/2 pack in 700ml to partly cover the salt.

(Mandy) #21

Haha!

(Chris W) #22

So also not only going to that level but you should be by now fat adapted. Run at those levels for several days until you feel good. If you understand satiety you should eat to just past that for a couple of those days and by the third or fourth day you will have new level. About 2 weeks from now increase the intake of fat by 25% for one or two days, I recommend you try using HWC or something that you can digest easily like that but it will work with animal fat as well its just slower. This will acutallly increase your BMR beyond and this will up your energy expenditure and you will actually really start to both have energy and probably loose weight. Don’t do this for more than a couple days at first if you fast now that would be a good time to start a fast.
Up your salt intake without question I think a lot of your problems are salt related the keto aid will help restore that but you need to have salt in the mix. When you become ketogenic your insulin levels drop and that is what retains your salt and as well makes your BP drop. I had low BP when I started, it went through the floor within 2 weeks, I had to increase salt, but I had issues with regulating potassium as a result as well. So do one thing at a time start with salt.

I add MIO to my water, with lemon, and coconut oil and salt.

(Mandy) #23

@In2steam
Fat adapted? Yep, as much as i can tell without testing. When you say “run those levels for several days”, are you talking calories? Thankfully i do understand satiety, so I’ll up my calories for a few days to make me feel better. But do i keep them elevated, like around the 1500-1600 mark instead of my usual 1300-1400? If that’s the case, I can do that and then up my fat in a couple of weeks by 25% for a couple of days with HWC (heavy whipping cream?) to increase my BMR.

Don’t do which part more than a couple of days? Sorry, I’m a bit confused. Should i fast before starting all of this? I’ve only done IF for 18:6, but never longer, but if you think it’ll help, I’ll sure give it a go! Just need some definite guidance.

As for the salt, I actually sat at the restaurant table and licked salt off my finger tonight! Haha I’ve been at a baseball tournament this weekend and haven’t made it home to get the ingredients for the ketoaide, but will this week.

(Ron) #24

Mandy,
I think that @In2steam meant that after a couple weeks of eating to your upper calorie amount then take two days and eat another 25% more ( ex - 1700 x 25% = 2125) for two days then on the third day begin your fast. You will be boosting your BMR with a burst that will give a higher reaction to your body with more energy and potentially better weight loss when the fast starts.
Hope this explanation might be a little easier to get.:ok_hand:

(Chris W) #25

Yes sorry I should make it more clear.

Eat at maintain levels or don’t eat at all(extended fast) is better advice than calorie restriction after fat adaption. I do this always, I never restrict I eat until satiety under a normal day. There are times it comes out lower but the majority of time I am near protein and above fat.

After you have eaten at maintain levels for several days, it could be a couple weeks does not really matter, increase your fat ingestion by around 25%. I have found it easiest to do with HWC myself. This is a faster acting fat so the results tend to be more noticeable than animal fat but it does the same thing. I do that for around 3 days normally, I have done it for 7 but then I started to gain and I was not able to expend the energy I was bringing in. Much like restriction over intake should not be followed for a extended period. Some of the finer points of this is I normally ingest protein first, wait about an hour then ingest a the boost amount in form of a shake, the later meal of the day is fat centered with less protein. I am eating till full or just slightly past full, in the manner I do this I am slighlty bloated for an hour or so but if you ingest animal fat it does not seem to be as bad although takes longer.

Then return to your maintain macros levels, or normal satiety for several days. I would encourage you to try extended fasting. I thought I could not do it but it was not terrible outside of the 18 hour mark, if you do it correctly you should be sleeping then. I do up my salt intake when I fast and that helps with hunger and being tired. I walked into fasting 24,48 60, after that I have done 80 but thats my limit. I am also very high on the calories end I am when boosting hitting 3900 a day right now and my sustain is 2500-2700 because of my work. I have not done a long EF following this protocol, I also on one day a week been eating a large amount of protien so my weight has been more or less stable although when I am not eating the heavy protien day I am losing weight at 1 pound a day. I weigh 190 ish.

(Candy Lind) #26

Do you have to hit it with a stick blender, or do you just shake it up? Is it a pain to clean your bottle with the CO included?