Struggling to adapt

#1

First, hello, this is my first post.

I decided to try the keto diet after a lot of research, not to lose weight, but to see if it might help with joint pain. A little background on me for some context.

I’m 48 (male), 6ft, 160 pounds, highly active (serious mountain biker and calisthenics), body fat around 8.7% and BMI of 20. My metabolic rate has me burning around 2,000 calories at rest. As I said, weight loss isn’t my goal, but thus far it’s coming off wether I want it to or not.

So I’m about 10 days in and I feel like garbage. I have no energy, brain fog, fatigue with no interest in exercising. I know all about the keto flu and expect it to take a few weeks. So I have a question. For someone like me who is only interested in reducing joint pain, is this type of diet worth the effort? Or should I look at alternative options? I’m a bit skeptical about how a long term keto diet will benefit anaerobic and endurance activities.

I wasn’t a huge carb consumer before this diet. I like my beer and occasional cheeseburger, but for the most part I eat a pretty balanced diet, stayed away from breads and starches and ate brown rice and brown rice pasta on occasion. I honestly don’t know how much longer I can take feeling like this. I hate this feeling.

Oh, to give you an idea of what I’m eating, today I had:
• Keto coffee (with coconut oil, ghee, heavey cream)
• Chicken bone broth
• Plain whole greek yogurt with almond butter mixed in
• A bowl from Chipotle with only chicken, salsa, sour cream cheese, lettuce and guac
• tree nuts (almonds and macadamia)
• 3 eggs with a whole avocado and swiss cheese
• tons of water

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

If you’re insulin-sensitive, perhaps a ketogenic diet is not for you. What I love about this way of eating is (a) not having to worry about metabolic disease ambushing me and (b) the way I am no longer under the spell of sugar. But if sugar is not causing you the sorts of problems it causes most people on these forums, why would you want to do without it?

(Rick) #3

First, welcome to the forum! You will find a great spirit of support and information here.

Might I suggest raising your salt intake, as well as your electrolyte consumption. Keto will raise the excretion rate of salts, magnesium, potassium. Your high water consumption, while being the right thing to do, helps this flushing of salts/minerals to happen. And, this bad feeling too shall pass.

Not only am I eating Keto to get my metabolic derangement under control, but equally as important is I wish to use the benefits of reduced inflammation and its effect on arterial health, and to give my body the correct nutrition that is functionally best for it. I have also enjoyed significantly less joint pain as well. Even if I had no metabolic issues, and were at a healthy weight, I would still eat Keto. Hang in there, boost your salt and electrolytes, and it WILL get better!!!

(Richard Hanson) #4

Hi Ian,

Worth it?

More and more endurance athletes are eating keto to improve their athletic performance. Dr. Jeff Voflek has done some clinical work looking at perfromance and a ketogenic diet. You can find YouTube videos on this topic and along with Dr. Phinney, he authored The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance

Joint Pain?

I suffered from both knee and hip joint pain, The pain in my hips was bad enough that it would wake me up multiple times at night, I sleep on my side. My personal n=1 experience was that my joint pain disappeared within a few weeks with the exception of my right shoulder where I have a rotator cuff injury. The pain went away long before the bulk of my weight loss and a ketogenic diet is shown to improve many, if not all, of the markers of inflammation.

10 days?

One of the problem with the science that examines the comparative efficacy of different diets is that many of these studies are short term, a few days to a few weeks, which does not afford those eating at the LCHF end of the dietary spectrum the requisite time to become keto adapted. They “feel like garbage.”

Back to is it worth it?

For myself, this is a very easy question. When I look at a loaf of bread I just imagine a gallon zip lock back with all of my prescription medications for T2D, hypertension, and cholesterol sitting right next to the bread. I no longer take any medication at all and it is quite easy to forgo the bread, or the pasta, or the rice because those foods and my long list of prescription medication are consumed together. For myself, “is it worth it” is a very easy yes.

Obviously, I can not eat for you or decide this question for you, but you might consider that eating a ketogenic diet may have many long term health benefits that are not obvious when just looking at a person. There is not a lot of clinical science looking at eating LCHF, and I am not willing to make speculative claims, but what scant information that is available certainly is shifting the balance of benefits toward the LCHF diet.

Also, to be transparent, you are likely getting a lot of the health benefits just by limiting your carb intake and eliminating sugar and the more processed grains. The fact that you are experiencing carbohydrate withdraws, that you feel like garbage, and that you are loosing some weight, is rather indicative of anyone who is switching from burning glucose for fuel to fat and it will take some time before you will experience the performance benefits of a ketogenic diet.

I truly hope this helps.

Keto for Life!

Best Regards,
Richard

#5

I’m not too concerned about metabolic disease catching up to me. And sugar has never been an issue. I avoid added sugars already, and other than the cookie and then I don’t consume much. Thanks for the feedback!

#6

Hey Rick, I’m already taking supplements, so my magnesium and potassium levels should be OK, but no hard in raising them during this ‘test’. Thanks for the advice. I’ll look at increasing these minerals.

#7

My joint pain consists of primarily arthritis in my hands, along with wrist and elbow pain. Since I already maintain a low inflammation diet, I’m not sure if the keto diet will make that much more of a difference. I can only imagine how bad it might be if I ate a heavy carb diet. But I’ll stick it out a bit longer and see. I’ve been fortunate in not having to take meds for anything, and grains weren’t an issue for me either. One thing is for sure, I need to up my calories. Even though I’m eating a fair amount, I’m still losing weight. And I’m as light as I ever want to be.

Thanks!

(Richard Hanson) #8

It sounds like you are finding your way to an answer that is going to work for you. That is fantastic! I would just hope that you give the ketogenic diet enough time so that you truly know if it is going to help you or not and 10 days is only a very good start on the road to keto adaption.

Best Regards,
Richard

(Beth) #9

My husband is your same age, height, body composition & activity level. He is 165, 10% body fat and struggles to keep his weight up. He is gradually gaining muscle on keto and a 14-16 hour fast daily (8-10 hour eat window).
He started feeling better when he made a point of getting the salts plus considerably more food.
He eats a couple more meals/protein shakes than you listed in your example. He makes the shakes with canned coconut milk and/or heavy cream, last shake at 9:30-10pm each night. Then works out fasted the next morning.
His joint pain disappeared in about 7-10 days and has not returned.
He also eats keto desserts I make for him at the end of meals, such as cake, brownies, ice cream. If you like that stuff it’s a fun way to keep your intake up. The ice cream is just heavy cream, egg yolks, vanilla & Swerve sweetener.
The coolest part is watching him gain muscle without fat. Two years ago he did it with a trainer the carby way & gained muscle plus fat that he then had to starve off. Eating keto with IF he is gaining muscle without fat, with the added benefits of better sleep and no more pain/inflammation.

(Ethan) #10

You likely can up the salt and probably even the calories.

#11

Well, I gave it a shot, but this diet just isn’t for me. I did the due diligence and researched the best way to approach the keto diet based on my needs and my body simply doesn’t function properly eating this way.

I’m consuming more than enough calories (over 4000 per day), supplementing to make sure I get the magnesium, potassium and sodium I need, but every day I feel worse. On top of that my body fat dropped to 7%, which is way too low for me. I would definitely recommend this diet for anyone looking to lose weight. But for me, it’s just not healthy.

Thanks for the advice and best of luck,

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #12

Wow! Guess you’re right, and good luck to you! By all means do what works best for you and your body. :+1:

(Connor L) #13

This happens! Keto is not meant for everybody. Your body might be very insulin-sensitive, and that’s wonderful. Figure out what works for you. Thanks for coming by.

(Rob) #14

If I were insulin sensitive there would be a donut with my name on it, quaking in its little fried booties… oh well, in a few years :thinking: