Struggling with extreme fatigue and weakness - day 15 into keto

(Dan Morrison) #21

salt, potassium, and magnesium. eat more fat, hang in there

(Clara Teixeira) #22

You may be getting less salt than you think. Caffeine flushes a lot of salt out of our system. This doesn’t mean caffeine is bad but you need to up your salts to compensate! Measure out 2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp No-Salt every morning and try to have it used up by the end of the day. It may surprise you how little you have been consuming. And don’t forget magnesium! (preferably with malate in the mix)
You do feel a bit weak as your body learns to burn a different fuel source. But with time it gets way better!

(Celine) #23

Thanks for the encouragement

(Celine) #24

I have been definitely getting less sodium than that. I hope it will help me get through this to increase all my electrolytes. Thank you!

(Kitty) #25

When I was in bed for 24 hours I had gone cold turkey keto from a Paleo diet. I didn’t completely believe in keto in the beginning so I would revert back to higher carb Paleo constantly and spent a year and a half going back and fourth. But all during that time I couldn’t ever get into ketosis without the extreme fatigue. Then I started a herb called ashwaghandha and I didn’t seem to need as many carbs. That’s when I decided to try keto again and I’ve now been into nutritional ketosis for 2 weeks, without the fatigue. I don’t have any more energy yet but no less energy either so I’m going to give it a while and see if when fat adaption takes place I feel better. That’s the hope. I went into nutritional ketosis in one day because I was already low carb. I’m finding I feel better at ketone readings above 2.0, which some people feel good as little as 0.5.

So if I could go back I would do the 5g/week increments and I bet that would have worked. I don’t know if the herb had a role in it all but I’m assuming it did. The ashwagandha would relax my adrenals the way the carbs did so I’m assuming I had adrenal fatigue.

Are you feeling any better today?

(Celine) #26

Thanks for sharing your experience.
I do feel better today.
So I had what I would call a carb meal yesterday (oats + raspberries) and felt better for the rest of the day. For diner I went back to my strict keto meals.
I woke up this morning feeling less lethargic than yesterday morning. I am stil very weak but still managed to do 15 minutes of chores (which was way out of my league during last week).
That’s interesting that you mentioned adrenal fatigue. A few months ago I did a very strict high protein/low carb/low fat diet combined with intense training (I was prepping for a bodybuilding show) and got myself into a horrible situation being super exhausted and super obsessed with food. My doctor suspected adrenal fatigue because I also had weird symptoms like super frequent urination. He just told me to rest, to eat and to calm down the training. After a few months it got better, I could train again and everything. During those months I was taking ashwagandha, maybe it helped I don’t know. Also I switched to a high prot / high carb / low fat diet (the typical bodybuilder diet) but I have to say my food addiction got even worse after that. The more I upped my calories with carbs (through the reverse diet protocol) the more I thought about food all the time with some binging episodes. Also I was adding way too much body fat in my opinion and felt like my metabolism wasn’t really restored the way it was supposed to thanks to this reverse diet strategy.
While on the crazy diet I had done prepping for my competition I was contemplating the keto diet. Like I said in my first message, I was after the “energy rush” and the letting go of food obsession. The keto diet seemed like the solution to me, but I really wanted to wait for my body to heal from this fatigue before jumping into a whole different nutrition protocol.
So I don’t know if this intense fatigue I am currently experimenting could be a remain of the adrenal fatigue I probably have been through.
Since starting the keto diet, I already feel like my obsession with food is getting better. I don’t even crave carbs anymore, and this to me is awesome. I really want to stick to it, get my body adapted to be fueled with fat. I hope I will have my energy back. Before getting myself into trouble with my first ever diet, I never had any troubles with energy before that. I would eat crap and don’t care about health but still feeling like a million bucks everyday. Now I wish I could go back to that state, minus the eating crap!

(Kitty) #27

I totally understand. All I know is keto and LCHF has helped me a lot with my food addiction. That in itself is worth it. Just hang in there and know you don’t have to be in a hurry. This is a change in eating for life, not just for now so we have the rest of our lives to get this thing. Lol! It helps me to just slow down and enjoy the journey.

#28

@cOcOhOney I was experiencing the same symptoms as you are, added a selenium to my supps and I try to eat more carbs a couple of times a week, and it helped tremendously! good luck!

(Celine) #29

I will try that. Never thought of selenium actually. I just got myself a potassium supplement to complete the electrolytes panel.
How high did you go on carbs then? Did you still manage to get fat adapted using this protocol?

(Richard Morris) #30

I had a similar experience.

Before Keto I went to a Personal Trainer 4x 30 mins a week and worked out hard.

During the first 6 weeks of keto I would ride to the gym and be fine, but 5 mins into the session I’d have to sit down because it felt like someone had pulled by power cord out of the wall. And then after 5-10 secs I’d be good to go again and then 5 mins later it’d be time for a sit down again.

The problem was I wasn’t adapted to using fat for energy. So my ability to get new fats into my cells to burn was limited by my cellular transports (monocarboxylate transports). I would go to the gym with some energy in my cells as lipid droplets … and then I’d burn through those at a rate faster than they could be replenished … and I’d quickly bonk. Also I wasn’t eating enough salty so I’d get light headed and feel awful.

I pushed through and eventually made it to the point where my body upregulated cellular transports so it’s now very difficult to ask of my body more energy that it’s able to supply.

so that’s the mechanism … at least of my energy problems during adaptation.

What I would do if I had to adapt all over again is I would eat coconut oil like it was a gell pack for energy. A gell pack is just fast acting gluocse - fast energy for the carb fueled. Coconut oil is the same for teh fat fueled - Coconut oil is primarily medium chained fats that go straight to your liver from your gut - in your liver they are not inhibited by insulin from being used and excess to immediate needs are shunted into ketones which will be transported through the rest of your body to be used for immediate energy.

Long chained fats by contrast go via lymph to everywhere but your liver first … so they take the slow train. Also they are inhibited from being burned if you still have high insulin from carb ups, or being recently carb fueled. Eventually you’ll get good at burning those too and you’l;l be off to the races.

So in adaptation specifically I would whisk some coconut oil into a coffee about 15-30 mins before a work out and you might find that that extends your time between rests. I don’t use Bullet proof coffees much now I’m adapted but I think they are great for getting people through adaptation - specifically because they are an easy source of medium chained fatty acids.

(Celine) #31

This is an awesome input especially for me as I am working out. I do follow a few bodybuilders on social media who are on keto and they mentioned using MCT oil as a preworkout so this is what I have been doing since day 1 on keto. But thanks to you I do have an explanation as to why MCT and coconut oils are the fast acting fuel energy sources.
My first meal of the day which is actually 1 to 2 hours before my workout consists of what I call my bullet proof cacao ( I don’t like coffee).
I’m doing 1 tbsp of MCT oil 1 tbsp of unsweetened cacao and 1 cup of almond milk. This is really satiating. As for the energy effect I guess I’m not sure I’m quite feeling it yet as I have been so exhausted lately.
During my first week working out on keto I was surprised My lifts were not suffering too much. The beginning of my session would be challenging but I noticed that my energy was consistent through the entire workout.
The thing is that for the last week so from day 8 to now day 15 I just haven’t been able to work out. This extreme weakness I’m dealing with right now had me give up the thought of working out. Just the fact of leaving my desk to get to my car and drive to the gym would sound like the biggest challenge. Climbing the stairs has me feel like I’m gonna faint.
Today I have been feeling better. Not sure if it’s the mini carb up of yesterday or the electrolytes I made sure I got in today ( also started to introduce a potassium supplement today). I went back to the strict keto macros I started with.
I really hope this adaptation phase is gonna end soon …
Also I really wanted to thank those who have been providing me with great advice and encouragement. I really appreciate the help I got here.

(jilliangordona) #32

This isn’t a popular opinion here but I would also consider getting some exogenous ketones for the transition as well as workouts!

They help me tremendously avoid keto flu, and I use them for a pre workout on heavier lifting days. I also use them for extra brain power on longer work days. I’ve seen an increase on weight loss since taking them.

I use perfect ketones. Make sure you start SLOW with your doses, otherwise you may have some tummy troubles until you are used to it.

#33

Hi Celine, I didn’t go very high, maybe not even 50 grs, I am fully fat adapted(started keto beginning of August). Don’t stress about it, give yourself some time, it’ll get better.

(Celine) #34

That’s interesting, I actually tried to place an order for the perfect ketones product but the 76 USD shipping charges threw me off …

(Celine) #35

I hope it will. It seems that it’s getting a bit better. I am not at my best for sure, especially in the morning. But I still made it to the gym yesterday and I felt so much better afterwards. But to me honest every day waking up is a struggle to me …
But I’ll be hanging there.

(jilliangordona) #36

I got through a can like every 3-4 months so the cost is worth it for me. I enjoy using them.

(jilliangordona) #37

Wait, $76 just for shipping?

(Celine) #38

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(jilliangordona) #39

Where are you located? There’s also the $14 standard shipping

(Celine) #40

I could go with standard shipping but from experience it is very unreliable. I’m still waiting for an order I placed 5 weeks ago with standard shipping.
I live in french polynesia