Potassium supplement issue

#1

Hi, i am struggling with electrolyte ratios. I supplement 4g sodium 3g potassium and frpm food i get 1-2g sodium 1 g potassium. End of the day i get 5-6g sodium 4g potassium and 400-600 mg magnesium. But is 3g potassium supplement is too much(i use lite salt with 1 liter water)?

And i still cannot find balance here is why; i felt terrible when i don’t track my electrolytes for a days. i only drunk some lite salty water and i felt very restless, agitated. And then i drink chicken bulllion after 2-3 hours i felt awesome it was day-night then i thought “ahaaa it was sodium for my problems” and then i supplement heavily sodium little potassium like statrted supplement 5g sodium 1g potassium. But it does another effects on me i started cannot breathe properly like shortness breath and i wasn’t calm maybe too much sodium maybe too little potassium idk.

So my question is what should i do? Is it too much potassium for supplement? Because i think something is incorrect about ratios. I experienced this 2-3 times i felt awtul then drunk very salty drink i felt awesome but only for a 1-2 days as a continue with high sodium then everything started worst again, cannot find balance ://

#2

I am started to thinking all keto benefits i felt at first become slowly opposite ://

#3

The ratios are correct, but they have zero to do with how you feel and more about your body running correctly and water retention / blood pressure etc.

You’re getting in a LOT of electrolytes, are you super active? Runner? Endurance athlete? I can’t see a situation when you’d want that much, including when you first start out and have that fast diuretic effect.

Shortness of breath from electrolytes are when you’re severely depleted, there is ZERO chance you’re electrolyte depleted taking in that much.

How long have you been eating keto, and what are you eating aside from massive salts? Are you tracking your intake otherwise? What’s your physical activity level, and if working out, what are you doing?

Nope, but something’s not right with what you’re doing. The more details, the better chance we have to find it.

#4

Hi, i don’t eat very salty food, so i supplement so much i don’t know if i need that much. I work from home so not much active life but hit gym 2-3 times a week.

I got shortness breath when i increased my sodium heavily and decreased potassium heavily.

I started thinking all benefits becomimg opposite because my sleep duration lessened but i cannot wake up refreshed, i have fatigue etc etc :(( What do you suggest to me? I am trying eat more nowadays maybe in case of slowed metabolism and will stop taking my all multivitamins in case of overdoing it

#5

Btw i cannot track sodium in my meals most of them prepared my family but guessing i get very little from food.

(Allie) #6

You know it could just be that you need to allow your body time to get adapted to keto as you’re only a couple of month in… if you HAVE to supplement electrolytes just get a ready formulated mix, but otherwise just salt your food and let your body do its thing.

Messing with potassium is not a good thing to do, people have made themselves seriously ill playing with it when they don’t really know what they’re doing. I add either a little lite salt or an unflavoured electrolyte powder to coffee, sometimes to water too if I’m training, but beyond that don’t give it any thought.

#7

So how do you reach daily 4.7g potassium requirement without supplement ? Or do you even try to reach? Am i unnecessarily force to myself get daily min 4g potassium?

(Allie) #8

I don’t give it any thought and never have done.
It’s not considered a safe supplement which is why the supplements you can buy are generally limited to only 100mcg.

If you search this forum you’ll find posts from a guy who put himself in hospital and almost died as a result of messing with potassium.

#9

So am i doing it wrong? Because i heavily supplement potassium i mean 3g potassium from lite salt. It makes 12g lite salt at least

(Megan) #10

Hi Megadeth,

Most people don’t consume anywhere near that amount of potassium. You may find this link helpful (Mayo Clinic)

Potassium Supplement (Oral Route, Parenteral Route) Description and Brand Names - Mayo Clinic

One of the things it says is “Because lack of potassium is rare, there is no RDA or RNI for this mineral. However, it is thought that 1600 to 2000 mg (40 to 50 milliequivalents [mEq]) per day for adults is adequate.”

I’d try to get it from food, if possible. Also get your levels checked next time you see your doctor, if it hasn’t been checked already. People usually have to be quite deficient before supplementation is recommended.

#11

I came from doctor few hours ago my potassium levels seems be ok, but i heavily supplement it. Should i aim like 2000 for daily? Maybe max 1000 from my supplement?

(Allie) #12

Maybe not at all…

(Marianne) #13

This kind of piqued my interest. For me, it would be more difficult to follow keto and know what I was eating if I didn’t prepare our food (my husband is on clean keto, too - mainly carnivore). We generally eat twice a day, first meal being whatever we can pull out of the fridge (cheese, hard boiled eggs, left over meat/chicken, bacon), or 3-4 scrambled eggs in ghee - stuff like that - easy. Dinner for us is always just a large piece (or two pieces) of beef, pork, hamburger and/or chicken wings (air fryer) made on the grill. Nothing has salt on it except what I put on it. My husband eats the same, but he will have also have a couple of hard boiled eggs, a piece of cheese on his meat, and a large pickle. He is very lean, has always worked out almost every day, and is very muscular and fit. He requires more fat and calories than I do because his metabolism runs higher. I would find if I/we cooked anything more elaborate, it might be more difficult to know how many carbs, sodium and minerals in what is being eaten.

#14

So what about sodium? Should i keep continue supplement like 4g daily?

(Allie) #15

Sodium varies wildly person to person, you may not need supplement it at all, I don’t as my body gets what it needs from my food. You need to learn to listen to your body and the signals it gives you so you can supplement IF needed, not just randomly throw loads of different things on the off chance they’re needed and hope for the best as you’ll likely make things worse.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #16

I’m not at that place, yet. I understand that most carnivores, after a few years, stop wanting salt on their food and don’t worry about it, but if I don’t get enough salt, I experience constipation and migraines. As you say, it’s quite individual.

#17

@PaulL Do you also not supplement potassium?

(Bob M) #18

I don’t supplement potassium, but do go through phases with salt. Less in winter, more in summer. I also take magnesium at times.

Right now, I’m taking in quite a bit of salt (including pickle juice and olive brine and salt itself), and some magnesium. I also sweat a lot while doing my 5 hours or so of exercising. I will up the Mg and salt content when I get cramps, which has happened lately, during my body weight work outs.

I should note that we are on a soft water system that uses potassium as its softening agent. That must add some potassium to the water.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #19

I don’t take any supplements, unless you count salting my food as supplementing, which I personally don’t. I may just be fortunate, but I’m not aware of any nutrient deficiencies resulting from the way I eat.

#20

This is so confusing that everyone doing this electrolyte intake in very different ways :slight_smile: because finding what my body need is very experimental and i am struggling to find out. Do you have any suggest to 2-3 month experienced newbie :slight_smile: It would be very thankful…