Muscle weakness

#1

Hello dear keto community,
Hope you‘re all doin‘ extremely well:-)
I am in my 7th week of strict keto ( under 20 g of carbs per day) and my muscles are still tired. They ache when l take the stairs, l live on the 2nd floor and that‘s about how much climbing effort l can do. I also have Long Covid, so that‘s another thing to consider. Has anybody also experienced weak muscles on keto, and how long can it take for this to get better? I know l have to be patient but l would be reassured if there would be an end in sight:-)
Thank you, have a beautiful Sunday!
Mona

(Mike W.) #2

Long COVID. Did you have any issues like this before starting Keto? At 7 weeks you’re likely not even fat adapted yet. Are you eating enough fat for energy?

#3

That was going to be my comment. You are deep in the fat adaption phase. Are you feeding your body enough fat to use as fuel? You need to eat a LOT of fat, especially at first, Fat needs to be easily accessible for fuel.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Muscular aches are a common side-effect of statins. If you were to discontinue taking the statin, you would probably see the aches go away.

A well-formulated ketogenic diet should help with your energy levels, provided you eat enough fat to replace the energy lost by curtailing carb intake. This is not actually as scary as it may sound, since it takes only 133.3 g of fat to provide 1200 calories of energy, whereas it take 300 g of carbohydrate to provide that amount of calories.

A well-formulated ketogenic diet is also likely to greatly improve your lipid profile. Too much carbohydrate in the diet raises triglycerides and lowers HDL, and a high ratio of triglycerides to HDL has been shown to accompany a greatly increased cardiovascular risk. On the other hand, a keto diet usually lowers triglycerides significantly and boosts HDL, and a low ratio of triglycerides to HDL (2.0 or less in American units; 0.9 or less in the units used elsewhere in the world) has been shown to correlate very strongly with minimal cardiovascular risk (and LDL level has been shown to be bascially irrelevant).

If your ratio of triglycerides to HDL is low enough, you could probably safely discontinue taking the statin. Bear in mind that people’s lipid results generally look quite wonky during their adjustment to a keto diet, so wait until the six-month mark to see what your lipid numbers are really like on keto.

#5

I don’t know if l had issues before, maybe Covid has activated something dormant…
I think l‘m having quite a lot of fat. But maybe l am not yet adapted. Patience…:hugs:

#6

I guess l am eating enough fat: 2 tbs of butter and 2 tbs mct oil in the morning, 200 ml of heavy cream throughout the day, more butter on keto crackers, and around 50 g of macadamia nuts plus the olive oil l am pouring on my salad or cooked greens. Plus 3 eggs a day. Maybe it is too much fat?

#7

Hi Paul, l don‘t take statins. Don‘t have any health issues except those that came up with this damned virus…
I really appreciate the help and feedback her in this forum, it feels like a big family.
All the best to all of you, enjoy the day and your delicious fatty meals​:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::hugs:

#8

Definitely not too much fat. Maybe too much carb though- crackers, nuts, greens or salad - it adds up quickly. I am more lax with the carbs and fat now - but I have long achieved my goal. You are in the crucial phase of fat adaptation.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #9

That’s right.
You may also like to refer to my question on a related topic (today also)

Adaptation

Paul mentions a low ratio of triglycerides to HDL, I can vouch for a significate change. Mine changed drastically for the better in just 3 months. May have been even faster but my bloods tests were 3 months apart.
My doctor is baffled by this and would not have expected even a tenth of this improvement with drugs!

(Jenna Ericson) #10

I’d make sure to get enough electrolytes also! Taking magnesium might help. They have packets you can buy and add to drinks or you can just put more salt on things. Also, sometimes I use cream of tartar because it’s basically just potassium. There’s lots of potassium in avocados also, so an avocado with salt is a good energy boosting snack.

(Mike W.) #11

How much of the fat is coming from animal sources like on the meat you’re eating?

#12

It would be way too much fat for me, no idea about your needs but I suppose you get some more fat from your protein sources too…? You eat very much added fat, why? Do you need tons of calories, you eat very lean protein or what? I hope you eat more protein than that minimal amount in your list but I saw weirder things and don’t know anything about you so I can’t exclude anything…

But even if you eat a ton of fat, it hardly explain the muscle weakness…

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

That is an enormous amount of fat. You probably don’t need so much. If you find yourself wanting less, eat less. The point of fat on a ketogenic diet is to switch to the alternative energy source from glucose, which exacerbates our insulin. Insulin is the primary fat-storage hormone and too much of it has bad effects on the body (we need a certain amount of it, but not too much).

Fat is the energy source that doesn’t stimulate insulin, so it’s great in that sense, but we also need far less of it than we need of carbohydrate, when it comes to meeting our caloric needs. For example, 133.3 g of fat supplies the same amount of calories (1200 cal) as 300 g of carbohydrate.

When we’re not eating carbohydrate, insulin drops, and the body switches from glucose metabolism to fatty-acid metabolism. It is known that eating more (under keto conditions) helps the body metabolise more, but there are limits in all things. Eat to satiety. As long as you are keeping carbohydrate low, your appetite hormones are a good guide to how much you need.

(Jenna Ericson) #14

Is that generally everything you eat in a day? It seems like enough calories, but maybe not enough protein. You could be experiencing some muscle loss. I would say keep eating to satiety, but I’d try to get at least 60 grams of protein. If that’s a normal day of eating that may only be like 30 grams.

#15

Intake per day:

Morning: coffee with butter and MCT oil (no breakfast, not hungry)
Lunch: 2-3 hard boiled eggs, 1 avocado
Dinner: Cooked greens (broccoli, cauliflower) or green salad and a good piece of meat or salmon, fresh sheeps cheese and 1-2 crackers (made of seeds, 1 g of carbs per cracker)

Throughout the day 2 coffees with heavy cream, handful of nuts (just macademia).

Fasting 1-2 days per week (to get rid of Covid spikes), then l‘m having 3 coffees with heavy cream

My fats come mainly from animal sources.

#16

I will back off the heavy cream on eating days. Might be too much. As my Covid symptoms are mainly neurological ( horrible brain fog, terrible sight) l was trying to follow the mainly fat approach that seems to be very beneficial for that according to Dr. Stephen Phinney.
But l am willing to try other options. Anyhow, the only immediatly noticeable effect l get from everything l’m doing is after 1-2 days of fasting.
After that l also have the highest ketone levels (around 2,5).

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #17

Sorry monalisa, I don’t have much help to offer. I wish I could.
And I don’t know too much about you but for me that would be light meals depending on the size of fish or meat.
I did notice this story on long covid.

BBC Story - Long Covid

#18

Thanks for the link, l‘ll check it out:-)

(Robin) #19

Could be mostly Long covid… we are still learning about the issues.
It’s called LONG covid for a reason. Not sure of your age… but us older gals seem to be the most commonly affected.

#20

Yep…l‘m 57, menopausal, hurray!