Something is off

[steka]

Hi,

I’ve been on keto for 5 weeks now. Struggled the first two weeks as usual with headaches, low energy, etc… but got some relief afterwards.
My usual diet is just to make sure to not eat carbs. I eat when i’m hungry most of the times, but then again, I get hungry at my preset times. That’s 11:30-12AM and ~ 6 PM. I eat until full. In between, i’d have some snacks like nuts and pork crust. A typical day is around 1.800kcal for me. I don’t stick to typical fasting patterns (anymore).
I’m 1,92m and currently weigh around 132kg - coming from 168kg one year ago (been doing that with OMAD w/o keto, KETO, IF, …all kinds of diets).
In terms of supplements: i take fish oil, magnesium, creatine.

In terms of exercise: heavy weight lifting, 3-4x per week. Normally in the mornings when i’m fasted.

Since Monday of last week, however, things are off.
I continued my weight lifting program after being off sick for one week. Immediately gained 2kilos once again. Going from 130,x to 132,x. I’m used to this. Normally it falls right off again after a few days. This time it doesn’t.
Instead, this time i’m feeling really low on energy and continue to gain weight.

Don’t really know what to do differently. I bought a blood ketone meter and my readings were 1,2 ; 0,8 and 0,7 mmol/L last three days in the mornings. I don’t know if that’s good/bad as well.
I really don’t want to quit keto, but I’m a bit clueless right now about what’s going wrong and afraid things are going into the wrong direction.
I get my normal sleeping hours right now and still feel down quite a bit. To be honest - i felt better a few months back when i was on a carby diet.

Since yesterday, i decided to cut my caffeine intake at 10AM in the morning. Normally i’d have somewhere around 2 litres of caffeine drinks per day - until late in the night. Let’s see if that makes up for something… currently it’s just giving me a badass headache.

Sort of thinking about giving it this week - and if i’m not feeling better i’d go back to a low fat diet and do OMAD w/o keto once again.

This is my weight in the last 3 months.

Fat %

Muscle %

Water %

[Diygurl19]

Maybe no snacking? Add more fat?

[atomicspacebunny]

Instead, this time i’m feeling really low on energy and continue to gain weight.

One idea (combining the list below) you could try that I’ve done to encourage the burning of body fat and give me more energy:

• Grass fed butter

• Parmesan cheese (really helps burn up body fat like grass fed butter believe it or not); you want the real solid block aged stuff not the powdered KRAFT stuff in the can. The more stinky the Parmesan cheese is the better it will help burn body fat.

•Nutritional Yeast (non fortified)

•Brewers Yeast (non fortified)

• Wheatgrass Powder

• Chia Seeds

• Resistant Starch

[AuntJane]

Normally i’d have somewhere around 2 litres of caffeine drinks per day - until late in the night.

What are you drinking 2 litres of? Keto is amazing, so I hope you don’t give up! If your “caffeine drinks” have a lot of artificial sweeteners, that could be your problem as they will cause an insulin spike basically all day long if that’s your pattern, especially if you’re drinking them “late in the night.”

I suggest KCKO and keep working with your diet until you find what works. Check out the videos by Thomas Delauer as I think you would find them very helpful.

[steka]

Around 6 cups of coffee and the rest is Coke Zero.
Thomas, by the way, says aspartame is technically keto-safe…

[Shortstuff]

Thomas, by the way, says aspartame is technically keto-safe…

He says it isn’t shown to spike insulin, but still advises against it due to its general toxicity.

[steka]

exactly. That’s also why i try to avoid it meanwhile. But now that comes with generally avoiding caffeine after 10AM.

[AuntJane]

Thomas, by the way, says aspartame is technically keto-safe

I’m aware that Thomas says that aspartame and saccharine won’t cause blood sugar spikes, but I wouldn’t equate that to “keto-safe” or safe in general. Dr. Jason Fung (author of The Obesity Code) talks about the need to avoid sweeteners of all kinds because sweet taste spikes insulin. There is a thread on this site about the research showing that this is true. Insulin leads to weight gain–it is the hormone responsible for fat storage. I think giving up Coke Zero is going to be key for you. Try black iced coffee or unsweetened bulletproof coffee if you miss the caffeine. Good luck!

[pamplemousse]

In terms of supplements: i take fish oil, magnesium, creatine.

What about the other electrolytes, most importantly salt? If you are feeling low energy then I recommend upping your salt. Also research potassium intake.

[OgreZed]

Struggled the first two weeks as usual with headaches, low energy, etc…

That doesn’t necessarily have to be the usual. It could just be an electrolyte imbalance. Have you ever tried ketoade?

[240lbfatloss]

One thing you can be fairly certain of is that your weight gain is not fat. I’d look for other reasons, such as water.retention and muscle gain.

It’s times like this that you should have a historical set of body measurements and pictures to compare to. With a 70 pound recent weight loss in your history, and the fact you’re Training opens up a lot of possibilities in regard to simple scale weight gain.

[charlie3]

I’ve been doing 30-40 net carbs and lots of exercise for 18 months. -30 lbs of fat +10 lbs muscle, normalized bio markers, looking amazing for a 70 year old. I was noticably low energy in the early months. My perception is fat adaption may happen fast early on, as in months, but perfecting it takes much longer. I think I’m still getting more fat adapted if at a much lower rate. To live a low carb, after a life of high carbs, seems to require paying some dues. It has been worth it but didn’t seem so every step of the way.

[David_Stilley]

Lose the diet soda, switch to black coffee, resume an IF routine with the smallest eating window you can manage, cut any snacks if you’re having them, add fat if you feel low energy not carbs, try extra salt for headaches it fixes me 90% of the time, ween down on the caffeine don’t go cold Turkey if you’re suffering, don’t go backwards…keep moving forwards.

It seems to me like you’re making great progress from looking at your charts. That 2kg bump is just that. You can definitely recover easily from it and it’s probably just a shift in body composition and water retention. Don’t give up. KCKO

[PetaMarie]

My advice is to trade the coffee and soda for good old fashioned water. This made an enormous difference for me, more than I would have thought. I know it’s boring and hard sometimes, but it grows on you! (former Diet Mt. Dew and Monster energy drink addict). Not to mention when you do have caffeine you’ll really feel it, instead of needing it to avoid crashing.