I have been keto for the last month and a half. I’ve been experiencing leg cramps early every morning, usually between 3 and 4 AM. I take magnesium and potassium supplements every day, add salt to everything I eat, as well as drink plenty of water so why might this be happening to me? For the past week I’ve also been taking a multi-vitamin every day but that hasn’t helped. HELP!!! What should I do?
Matthew
Portland, OR
How long have you been supplementing magnesium? I’ve seen it posted other places here and was true for me that it takes several weeks for the body to adjust if it’s sufficiently deficient in magnesium.
5 weeks. Maybe I need to take another dose before bed. I saw some people suggest pickle juice on another thread about cramps but I absolutely DESPISE pickles and anything vinegary other than some types of hot sauce.
I believe this is for sodium. I’ve seen pickle juice mentioned but nobody says why. My guess is the sodium.
My anti-cramp combo also includes calcium, in addition to the magnesium, potassium and multi-vitamin. I really struggled with this at the beginning of my keto journey, so I sympathize!
Too bad I wouldn’t enjoy that as a means of getting more sodium. I do the bone broth when I’m fasting but I’m not big on the beef kind. I guess I prefer to eat my sodium rather than drink it but it’s hard because I don’t want to consume too many calories a day. I guess I’m gonna start eating salt by itself.
Yeah, I hated that! I just supplemented with magnesium at night. Got my potassium and calcium from food. It took a bit. I use to eat pink salt quite often. It takes awhile to get those levels optimized.
Have you looked at or tried magnesium oil? I keep a bottle on my night stand. You can spray it where you are getting cramps, and your skin will absorb what it needs. I’ve had pretty good success with this method in addition to my supplements.
If you’re supplementing and drinking a lot of water you may be peeing their benefits away. Try Ketoaid the recipe is available with a quick search. It may be just what you need.
You wouldn’t be alone. Lots of people pop coarse salt crystals and let it dissolve. Nothing wrong with heavily salting your food.
It’s actually potassium.
I use Wal-Mart’s Great Value Mio knock off (Lemonade flavor is the best) with Morton Lite Salt. 1400~ish mg per tsp. That’s more than 14 pills of K.
I have a 1.2 liter bottle, where I add 1tsp of salt and 4-5 squirts (to taste) of the flavor enhancer thingy.
I usually take at least 5 99mg (They’re limited to 99mg, that’s why the salt kicks ass) pills a day and eat tons of spinach and avocado. But if I’m working out, I make a huge jug of this, it really makes a difference. I even take it if I feel I’m not at my 100%.
Have you changed anything else like exercising and sleep pattern?
Energy increase?
