Hello,
I am on week 5 of my keto journey. I am a 16 year old male, healthy weight (46 kg) so I am not in keto for weight loss, 158 cm.
I love eating keto foods and the community surrounding this WOE. However, I’ve been struggling with muscle soreness, weakness - tired muscles. I am getting over 5g of sodium, 400 mg mag, 4g potassium a day, my B vitamins are in check as well. I drink water (tried drinking a lot of water as well as little)
I do net carbs, never went over 20 net carbs a day (I usually stay around 10-15g, all from veggies). My protein and caloric intake should be alright as well (got that checked by multiple people).
The only thing I haven’t tried from the research I’ve done is supplementing vitamin D (I am deficient, starting supplementation tomorrow)
Anyone has any idea what could save me ? Should I wait longer to see if fat adaptation takes place (as I said week 5 as of right now) Someone recommended increasing my carbs to 50 net but I don’t want to stop my fat adaptation.
Thanks in advance
Keto Struggles
Hi David.
I commend you for trying to eat healthy at a young age. I wish I had known at your age, what I now know.
Is that 5 grams of sodium or salt? There’s a big difference. If it’s 5 grams of salt I would say you are getting half of what you actually need. If it’s 5 grams of sodium, it should be about right.
1 teaspoon of salt is 6 grams or 2400 mg of sodium. We need 4800 mg of sodium per day which is the same as 12 grams of salt or 2 teaspoons.
Stay the course. It will pass. Are you doing any new type of exercise or physical activity, or more of the old? That could cause discomfort in the muscle groups associated with it. Otherwise, my bet is you’re still suffering from carb withdrawal. Different folks experience it differently and more/less intensely. As suggested by @CarlKeller keep up the minerals and electrolytes and you’ll be OK.
I used to lift weights 3 times a week. However, due to the fatigue I am not able to do it now. Hope it passes real soon ! Thanks for motivation!
Hi and welcome! I found early on when I started burning through layers of fat I would feel crummy. I just imagined all the Taco Bell and McDonald’s that were in my fat preserves, yuck! I am 6 months in and I rarely feel tired now. But a month or 2 in I did often.
Also check your sleep patterns. I work with a lot of teens and they sleep from like 4 am until noon and then wonder why they feel tired. I would consider sleeping a more normal schedule even during summer to ensure you are getting enough rest. Unsure if that is the case with you but I know it is with a lot of teens in summer. 
Also give your body time to adapt, it is learning what to do with this new fuel source.
It would be worth a conversation with your pediatrician/doctor.
When my son was 16 I remember him going through changes with his muscles and hormones, he was growing like a weed, he had lots of knee and foot pain, etc. My point is it may be completely unrelated to what you’re eating, or a combination of several things.
Good luck though! I’m glad you’re paying attention to your body and your health!
I will definitely try and get some quality sleep. Thanks for the kind words !
Welcome to the forum, David. Please make sure that you are eating enough calories, especially at your age, as you are still growing.
Maybe increasing your proteins is a good plan, and make sure you are drinking a lot of water, and getting enough fats as well.
It is great to see a young person taking an interest in the Keto lifestyle and eating healthy, that is awesome. I haven’t convinced my own kids to do this yet, so you are doing well, keep up the good work.
You did not mention how much exercise you get or short durations of very high physical exertion so it could be lactate thing and your still adapting to ketosis…this is just a wild guess and thought you may be interested in Dr. Peter Attia’s description below:
“… If you’ve ever done a very intense exercise – like run an all-out mile – and felt like your body is completely seizing up and you are unable to move, you’ve experienced a high lactate. Technically, the lactate is not causing this. Lactate gets a pretty bad rap, and it’s actually a good thing as it allows us to generate energy even when we demand it in an environment where sufficient cellular oxygen is absent. The real “bad guy” is the hydrogen ion that accompanies lactate and interferes with the ability of our muscles to contract and relax properly. However, we use lactate as a proxy for the hydrogen that is actually causing the pain and difficulty in muscle contraction.
For me (personally, though this is probably true for most people) the highest lactate I generate tends to be in all-out activities lasting about 2 minutes which use all muscles in my body (the more muscles you use, the more lactate you generate). Hence, the 200 individual medley (IM) race generates the most lactate in my body: It’s 2-plus minutes of maximum exertion sending pain into every muscle in my body (this event requires a swim, in order, of 50 yards each of all-out butterfly, then backstroke, then breaststroke, then freestyle). A runner would probably concur that the 800 meter (half-mile) run is one of the most painful races in that sport. …” …More
I used to lift weights 3 times a week. However, due to the fatigue I haven’t done much exercise apart from walking since starting keto.
@gingersmommy I’ve been buying pink himalayan at various places I shop. I haven’t found a deal that stands out the best so I grab it from wherever whenever I’m running low. I use it because I like the natural taste and I won’t use sea salt because of the current state of our oceans (plastics and chemicals). It claims to have trace minerals but the amounts are so small I doubt it has any type of noticeable impact
Thanks Carl, that’s what I use (pink him.) to put in my water. Is that salt or sodium?
Pink Himalayan is salt aka sodium chloride or NaCl. It’s 40% sodium and 60% chloride. You can’t find sodium by itself because it’s very reactive and loves to bind with other elements. Interestingly, sodium is
from the Medieval Latin word sodanum , which means “headache remedy.”`
so that’s pretty cool for obvious keto reasons.
{{{Flashes back to when our 9th grade science teacher dropped a chunk of pure sodium into a flask of water…}}}
You are still growing.
Lol, I could eat almost a whole large pizza for dinner when I was your age. 
Are you tracking your calories? I’d think higher will be better. But I do think if I had a kid your age I’d want to find a keto specialist doctor just to monitor on occasion and make sure you’re getting enough to eat and keep growing to your fullest potential.
It’s easily possible to stay under 20 carbs and eat over 2000 calories.
I was a ballet dancer at your age (and did track and swim team) and I’m confident I ate that much or pretty darn close. Lol
I am tracking absolutely everything (I love doing it for some reason) I am getting around 1500 cals a day. Still figuring out what my body needs.