Tweaks needed, food tracking app?

budgetketo
#1

Hello again,
I’ve been eating keto since March, almost 3 full months, and while my experience has been mostly good… I’m just not feeling quite right.

Pros:

  • I have been losing weight, about 20 pounds so far. I definitely make some two steps forward and one step back progress some weeks but it’s been pretty consistently going down overall.
  • My numbers from bloodwork all look better. My LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are down. No deficiencies found, though I worry over my electrolytes.
  • I’m getting more things done. Some of that is necessity since I have to shop and cook more now since the process is different and the non-keto cook of the house needs help with the conversion.

Cons:

  • I feel strange. Feeling both weak and tense with built up energy. But the energy doesn’t feel good, if that makes sense. More like I’m hopped up on something like the side effects of psuedoephedrine decongestant or have an uncomfortable nervous energy like a borderline anxiety attack.
  • My hypertention has increased to the point that my doctor has added an ACE inhibitor to the beta blocker I already take.
  • I had some chest pain for a few days after some rare consumption of alcohol.

So now I have a stress test tomorrow and get to carry around a bottle of nitroglycerin around in my purse. I feel like something needs adjustment and I’m just not sure what the trouble is. I’ve been resistant to really close food weighing and logging because “calorie counting” made me so food brained that all I could think about was how much I was “allowed” to eat and when would I be able to eat again.

So since I eat 3-4 times a day, I have tried to be sure that I consume no more than 5 carbs at one sitting. But this has all been estimated and eye-balled up until now. I’ve decided to bite the bullet and really measure and record everything now, but since I find the task so onerous, I really need a good, easy to use app or something. Preferably not expensive.

Also just general input, please. I don’t know what this is, but I don’t think I can go on feeling this way all the time. If I’m accidentally eating more than 20g net carbs or not getting enough protein or fat, can it aggravate hypertension?

(Jane) #2

I like Chronometer and it is free.

Are you eating that often because you are hungry? Or habit? You have been keto long enough you should be able to cut back to a max 3 meals a day and eventually 2. May need to eat more at those meals, but that is ok. Fewer meals keeps your insulin response lower.

Not getting enough salt can cause issues but I am not a medical expert so can’t comment on your health problems. Since you have hypertension you may be purposely avoiding salt… or you could be one of those who is hyper sensitive to salt.

#3

A little of both, probably. My 3-4 meals are 1) coffee in the morning, blended with KG butter, coconut oil, HWC, Whole Earth sweetener and some low carb whey protein powder. 2-3) Usually dinner, though if it runs late, I can get too hungry to wait and have to snack on some kind of deli meats or braunschweiger and some cheese as a snack. 3/4) Usually something that resembles dessert made ketofied, just to keep from feeling deprived and tempted while half my household continues to eat sugary treats while sitting right beside me.

So basically, I can be driven by hunger to snack if dinner is too slow in coming. We are still trying to eat as a family so it sometimes just can’t be helped.

I had some muscle cramps today, so could be I’m not getting enough electrolytes… but I am supplementing. It’s hard to know how much I need. Good news is my stress test said everything looks fine and I was feeling better today in regards to that anxious energy feeling. When I was on the treadmill though, I felt like the strength in my legs was depleted quickly and still feel strangely weak overall too.

#4

I would strongly urge Cronometer, the free version is better than the paid versions of others, but the paid version is VERY worth it! None of the others can touch it as far as the user interface, the speed you can add, the customization, seeing every macro/micro, knowing WHERE they came from, setting custom RDAs for yourself, health tracking, device integration you name it.

I currently have the Premium versions of Cronometer, CarbManager, and MyFitnessPal. I’d rank them in that order. I recently upgraded my CarbManager because I like the recipes section and REALLY liked the ability to set different macros on different days which Cronometer is working on but it isn’t there yet. But the micronutrient tracking in it sucks and it doesn’t have good device integration and I have toys I like to connect.

People will bash tracking but the reality is, you’re doing this blind without it. Good luck troubleshooting when you have no clue what’s going on. People like to get tons of blood tests and worry about nonsense like ketone levels for no reason, but don’t track that steak you ate! LOL.