On the edge of quitting

#1

Hi all.

I am just in my 7th week now, for th last 2 weeks i have the feeling i lost the plot :roll_eyes: dont know why because i am basicly doing the same thing as before.

In the first 2 weeks a was a bit nausious, very light headed but saw results pretty quick within that time,my anxiety disorder went waaaay to the background,my depression that was popping its head around the corner again dissapeard again, no cravings, no hunger,way more energy, hudge improvement in my skin. :disappointed_relieved: sometimes had the feeling it was going to easy.

for the last 2 weeks i have the feeling i am losing the plot, maybe just because its all becoming routine ?
But also (especialy the last week) my energy seems way lower (:joy: except saturday afternoon near the end of my 16/8 when i was completely hyper). today sins like 4 this afternoon i am just absolutely depressed (and not like just down or sad but how i felt a couple of years ago when i had a severe depression)

But then the thing that makes me want to quit is my heart rate, the last 2 weeks it has been all over the place, and that is realy bad when you have a anxiety disorder ( for me any way) when i say all over the place, i mean all over the place. I had days when sitting down my HRT was between 80/100 other days it would b e normal just sitting down ( normal for me between 55/75) but the most worring , when i do anything it shoots up, has a hard time coming down.
:open_mouth: i mean, i cycle to work every day (10/15 min) but within minutes its up to like 160 (sometimes higher).

I just dont know it anymore

(:blush: my sweatest hubby keeps telling me “your body might just be in the stage to fat adapting” just to calm me down :heart_eyes: he is so sweet for trying to make me feel better)

oh and i tried playing around with my electolytes (tried all, none, some)

:disappointed_relieved: sorry for the long story

(Frank) #2

Have you had your vitamin d levels checked? Many of us run at a deficit due to lack of outdoor activity and prodigious use of sunscreen. I know I feel better when my levels are up. I take 5000 d3 daily. Just a thought.

(Frank) #4

I was thinking the same thing but they did say that they’ve messed with their electrolytes up and down so I passed.

#5

Have you tried this?

#6

Hello “ItsMe”. Your post was the same thing I went through a week ago. I went to the doctor because of my lack of energy. My doctor knew I was on the keto diet so he checked my Iron level for that very reason right away. It was low, so I started taking an Iron supplement and now have my energy back to normal.

Here is a little info to help you make an informed decision.

(Chris) #7

There is no quitting. Unless you don’t plan on waking up tomorrow, its just another day. Keep calm and Keto on.

#8

Depression is the worst. It makes everything seem pointless even when nothing changes. You just wake up and want to throw everything out the window. If you quit what do you plan on eating? @Untraceable is right. There is no quitting really, you have to eat something. I mean it’s one thing to crave foods or have an idea of what you are wanting and then give in to it (for good or bad), but it’s a whole other thing to feel like what your doing isn’t right, but also feeling like what you were doing before wasn’t right either. So where do you go from there. Back to a SAD?

My advise is take it day by day and moment by moment. Don’t make any decisions when you are depressed. You don’t want depressed mind directing your life choices. If you are panicky and feel like you need more carbs, eat more carbs. See what happens. Does it make you feel better or worse. Did it help or hinder? Play around with this. Learn your body. Be kind to yourself. You can (and should) jump back on the keto horse any time, it’s not going anywhere. If you have a mentally off day and it causes you to make a poor diet choice then let it be and then KCKO.

You don’t need to be all or nothing “I am keto” or “I am not Keto”.

I am a “keto” person who goes over 20g of carbs sometimes because I am still learning my body and what works and what doesn’t and I get ragey and depressed, and binge-y sometimes so I don’t always eat great and I’m just going to stick with it because overall I am making better choices. If that’s not keto enough for the keto police - well I’ll tell you a secret there’s no such thing as the keto police. So I’m not really sure any of that was helpful, but basically relax and take care.

#9

@ Mnketo46 unfortunaly here its not that easy to get your bloodwork done. But i will defenedly have a try when my dokters office is open again after the holiday.

@ FueledbyFat thanks :blush: i did i used cream of tartar instead because we cant get lite salt here.(used only 1/8 tsp)

@ dead-fred when the dokters office is open again after holiday, i will have to push the to get some bloodwork done!

@ Mangusdog thanks for your response, the reason i did not “stop” the keto way of eating yet is because i dont see whats not healty about it ( man, i hate getting comments from people around me “what you doing is bad” etc like W*F is bad about cutting crap out of your food). It’s just that high heart rate that feeds my anxiety disorder and that is just realy upsetting and frustrating :wink: i will keto on.

(Luc) #10

Hello, I’ve had similar problems to what you’re describing.

Keto flu hit on the 5th day of my starting keto. It only lasted 3 days, but for the following 8 weeks or so, my energy was pretty low. Sporadically I’d go from feeling energetic to really tired. I struggled to do my 3x a week runs, something which I have been doing for years. I found this very frustrating. Luckily I had already read Volek and Phinney’s book so I kind of knew what to expect with exercise.

My resting heart rate went from 53 bpm pre-keto to 63 over the course of 8 weeks.

I strictly kept at it because I was seeing results but I remember thinking if this keeps up for another couple of weeks, I was going to stop keto.

Things changed sometime around the 10th week. My energy levels shot through the roof. My resting heart rate is now at 57 and I simply feel great. Though I never measured ketone levels, I think my body has now become fat adapted.

If my experience is anything to go by, your hubby is correct and not just trying to make you feel better.

I hope this helps :slight_smile:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

Heart palpitations can be a sign of low sodium, so be sure to keep your salt intake up. A high level of carbohydrate in the diet promotes water retention and sodium retention, and lowering intake permits the kidneys to return to their normal, higher rate of excreting them, so on a ketogenic diet we need to work at increasing salt and drinking to thirst.

What medications are you taking? The beneficial effects of a ketogenic diet can enhance the effect of certain medications for diabetes and blood pressure to the point where they can cause heart palpitations, as well. If you are taking any such medication, see your doctor to get your dosages reduced or stopped.

A final possible cause of some of what you describe is too many polyunsaturated fatty acids. Most vegetable oils on the market have an extremely high percentage of PUFA’s, and they will make you feel ill. Stop using them and cook with butter, lard, tallow, or bacon grease. At least switch to olive, avocado, or coconut oil, which have a far lower PUFA content.

#12

Make sure you get enough sleep, hon. And drink a lot of water.
I’m sorry to state the obvious here but these basic things usually are forgotten or fall to the wayside. Try not to overanalyze the weeks or what you’re doing on a day by day basis.

You might want to actually get some legit medical advice from a doctor regarding your nausea if it’s prolonged and you have no idea or history of such things.

When I first started I had mild-moderate headaches, off/on lethargy. I had no nausea or any other issues. The headaches and lethargy eased up in under two weeks. Everyone is different but don’t ignore any issues or getting real medical advice from your doctor or even getting a second opinion.

#13

@ luela tnx for your response :slightly_smiling_face: in the sensible side of my brain i know i need to stick with it, cant wait for my energy level to go up again haha, thanks for sharing.

@ PaulL tnx for you response. i am leaning :blush: especialy in the beginning weeks it was hard to up my salt intak as i never used to add salt to my food. atm it trial and error to figure how much i need of it all.

i do not take any medications, so thats not it. i did ditch my sunflower oil and liquid “butters” i used to cook with from day 1 , i now use butter, ghee, coconut and olive oil.

@ CampWoman tnx for your response, :joy: sleep is not a problem i get between 8/9 hours a night. i do drink enough (maybe to much a flush my electolytes?) always have been drinking at least 2ltrs so it was not hard to up that further on keto.

my dokter will be back from holiday in a week and half, hope my heart rate is down by then but think i will try get bloodwork done, just to be sure :slightly_smiling_face:

(Sharon S ) #14

These are beautifully stated
remarks!

(Sharon S ) #15

I have anxiety also and I understand what you are talking about out. When your heart.is racing it adds to your anxiety. I am new to keto also but believe it is better than before.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

You seem to have a handle on things, so I hope everything settles down and you can enjoy this new way of eating. :bacon::bacon: