Karen, thanks for your suggestion. It was timely for me. I revisited the “Squat Challenge” I practiced shortly after my surgery two years ago. I’m already seeing results, and not feeling any aches or pains as a result.
Thank your for the support you show on this forum, for me and others. I had been “thinking about” getting back to daily exercise, but too frequently finding excuses.
This is not criticism but curiosity - why ingest only 350 calories instead of just doing a “pure” water fast? Are you doing PSMF or a fat fast? I’m reading more about fasting now and don’t recall seeing anything like this.
Can you or anyone else recommend a place to look for doing squats that won’t hurt or injure my bone-on-bone knee? Do I just not go down as far until my muscles are stronger? Should I do them while somehow taking a little weight off (support on a counter or something? Advice welcome!
@AussieNisi - C Section and hysterectomy for me. Two big long scars across the lower part of my abdomen. They are tiger stripes!
Hi Candy,
I was doing every other day 36 hour fasts before keto. I did that for 2 months straight. Then I was on a plateau and started keto. once I started keto I cannot do a full 36 hour fast. I get hungry and light headed (serious light headed) around 2 PM so I eat a pack of protein thing (ham, cheddar and almonds in it) around 200 calories. I then get hungry later around 6 and sometimes I eat something similar or I don’t. The max is 350 calories. I don’t know why I can’t fast on keto but I can’t do the regular fasts I did when I wasn’t on keto. Maybe its because its hard to pack in the calories on keto feasting days vs allowing some carbs. could be that I was living on the glycogen stores for half the time so it was easier to do 36 hours.
I went to my daughter’s piano recital today. The normal buffet of baked goods afterword. I went to the table with my daughter and really enjoyed the aromas. Isn’t that funny ? I find so many benefits to this that I don’t have any urge to cheat. I know that it could take me a couple of days of backslide. Thats enough for me !
Also, when I got home, a box with the coconut manna was waiting. OMG if you like coconut that is absolutely heavenly!
Never heard of it, but sounds like something I should avoid, knowing I like coconut.
K
its kind of like coconut oil consistency but its pureed coconut and has a very lovely taste. put some with a little 100 percent chocolate in decaf. mmmmm…
How long have you been doing keto? Are you fat adapted, it sound like you are not. Also have you tried using ketoaide while fasting? It restores your electrolytes so you don’t have the symptoms you mentioned.
If you are going to supplement with foods when fasting, trying using fats instead of protein. Or atleast a very fatty salami.
Good luck sorting it all out.
I have been keto since the last week of January so although I’m sure there’s been an adjustment switching over, I would think I would be fat adapted by now. I am taking salt and lite salt. I don’t do the “bullet proof coffee” rather about a teaspoon of heavy cream in my coffee in the morning. I’ll have to try something that is mostly fat today and see how I do. I have to be able to function at work.
Good luck Moriah. I’m impressed you had already been doing 36 hour fasts. Before keto I only fasted if I had colonoscopy.
K
I thought I’d introduced myself before but I guess I didn’t!
Age: 67
Weight:144, starting weight in January 170.
Height: 5’-1"
I’m an old hand at low carb and Atkins, but just started this WOE in January when the scale crept out of the 160s and into a category I swore I’d never reach again-- the 170s. I call myself a slow loser but when I look back, I’ve lost 26 pounds in 3 months, which really isn’t that slow! I’m about 20 pounds from my goal weight now. My weight has yo-yoed for years between 130 and 180. I have clothes of 10 sizes in my closet!
What really started me on this was two things: I had elevated liver enzymes that led to a bunch of tests showing that I have non-alcoholic liver disease. My husband has had a liver transplant so that was a road I wanted to get off. And when my hepatologist finally tested my insulin levell, it was 37! That was a wake-up call. I know now that the only reason my numbers weren’t diabetic was that my very high insulin was keeping my glucose lower–for now.
The second thing, which might sound more trivial, is that my sister and mom have moved out to my area, and people keep thinking my sister(3 years younger) is my daughter! It was funny at first but now it’s not. She’s thin and always has been, and is a lot much more stylish than me in every way! However, she’s also a Type 2 diabetic on insulin. But she looks great, and I’m tired of the constant comparison. Sibling rivalry, it lasts a lifetime!
I’ve been lurking here for quite awhile sand enjoying everyone else’s story, so I decided it was time to tell mine. My NSVs have been numerous:
No more hypoglycemia!!! This is huge for me, not having to constantly carry food with me for fear of getting shaky.
No more bladder spasms! I always felt like I had to pee. Sounds like a little thing, but it was incredibly annoying.
No more hangry feelings! My mood is much more stable.
Decreased joint pain. Unfortunately, after back surgery and numerous hip injections, I’m afraid this is always going to be with me. I’m an RN and after 30+ years, your body pays the price.
I feel like I already know many of you from your posts and am looking forward to joining the “club.”
Welcome! We are dieting twins. I’m a champion yo-yoer. And that sister thing… It’s real. I’m now the slimmest ( albeit not slim) of my sisters. I am so trying to lead them to keto.
K
My sister was a labor and delivery nurse for many years, and I have worked in the healthcare field for 25 years. I know that nurses are the backbone of healthcare. They are well known as being better at using their energy to take care of others instead of caring for themselves. Its good to hear how well you are doing. Congratulations!
Hey, it’s okay to be frustrated, it is just tough sometimes. I bet you will get no judgement here. Everybody has mountians to climb, and ups and downs. You are doing your best to cope with your challenges, and figure out the irony of weight gain and what our bodies are thinking when they store reserves. I respect that. When I have the blues, I force myself to think “my body is with me, and for me, trying to protect me.” It helps. Thank you for your authentic, and vulnerable share.
Hi, all! I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Vette and I am new to the keto lifestyle as of March 6th. Have been trying to get a hang of this new way of eating! I am 43 and weigh about 214 as of April 6th. I am aiming to get to 150 and so have about 75 pounds to go.
I would say that I’m more lazy keto and just trying to listen to my body. I did track on an app for a few weeks and will still do the odd day here and there. I aim to stay around 20g of carbs and don’t freak out too much about the protein and fat.
One of the main reasons I haven’t been super strict there is because I have been struggling so much with feeling bad that I was just really trying to get my balance back. That is priority number one at the moment.
My second week of keto I felt awesome! I had such mental clarity and crazy amount of energy. I accomplished so much stuff around the house and felt like the energizer bunny! That was the week leading up to St. Patrick’s Day and that whole weekend. Ever since then I’ve really struggled and not felt well at all. I had headaches, tired, racing heart, heart palpitations, etc.
I started taking some supplements: potassium, multi-vitamin, 40,000 volts electrolyte supplement and taking pink himalayan sea salt under my tongue a few times a day and taking Natural Calm at night before bed. That has definitely helped, but not back to how I was feeling that second week. My brain still feels foggy and not having the kind of energy that I did. This past Saturday I felt pretty crummy, but I think that may have been because I didn’t have enough water and possibly didn’t eat enough. I’m guessing that I’m still not fat adapted or the not eating wouldn’t have affected me so much. I ate a good breakfast and a bit for lunch and by the time I got home around 6:30 or 7 I felt nauseated. I downed a bunch of water and made a bite to eat and felt some better.
The heart palpitations have really been irking me. My heart seems to race very easily. Maybe this is contributing to my head feeling muddled? Today, I’ve been pretty sleepy and tired this afternoon. I’ve had about 64 - 70 ounces of water so far today and have taken all my supplements. For breakfast I had two strips of bacon and a fat bomb because I had to head out the door early for work. For lunch I had some beef jerky and macadamia nuts. Tonight for dinner I’ll probably have either cube steak dipped in egg and coated with pork rinds or salmon. On the side, I’ll do either mushrooms sauteed in butter or spinach sauteed with cream cheese and sour cream.
It’s very nice to meet all of you and I’m just hoping that I can get a handle on not feeling awesome. I had a little taste of it and now just can’t seem to get it back! I want to start working out a bit, but I’m afraid to do that until I get my other symptoms under control. Appreciate any wisdom or words of advice from you all!
Hey Vette! Welcome to keto lifestyle!
I have been keto since the last week of January. I can say that I have been seriously insulin resistant (meaning my body puts out more insulin that is required and my fat cells are always on storage mode). So, for me being insulin resistant, my body would not let go of energy at all, meaning I could not loose weight. Because my fat cells were on storage mode, any energy then had to come from what I ate. As a result, I would get shaky, headaches when I hadn’t eaten for several hours. Until my body lowered my insulin and insulin response, I was not able to use any of my fat for energy. This takes time for your body to adjust, if the only energy a person can use is from what you eat, your body is probably trying to use fat for energy but it can’t because your insulin level is too high. If I ate the amount of food you are describing in your post, I would be a shaky blob on the floor. I would say do a keto calculator and figure our your basal metabolic rate (meaning how many calories does your body need in a day) look at nutritiondata.self.com for a calculator but don’t look at their macros they suggest!!! figure out your macros, carbs, protein and fat, on an app such as ketodiet and make sure you are doing what the 2 keto dudes say and eat fat to satiety which is full where you don’t want to eat anymore. At first, I would eat maybe 300 calories a day less than your BMR. (on the app ketodiet make a goal between their setting for weight loss and maintaining weight for me that would be around 1600 calories) For me, that is a ton of food. (I calculate my BMR at 1900 calories so I would make sure that I would eat 1600 calories). The reason is that until you are fat adapted, you need to eat your calories, your body can’t have access to the stored fat until you are “fat adapted” which really means that your fat cells are no longer on storage mode but are able to provide some energy. The way for this to happen is that your body has to lower insulin response and insulin levels. I cannot be sure but I think not eating enough calories might be why you are feeling crummy. I have been keto since January and I am just now feeling like I am fully fully fat adapted. After you are fat adapted, then you can start to lower the calories that you are eating because your body will make up the rest because you are able to use your stored fat. For women this is a slow process but well worth it to be healthier and not putting out so much insulin. Hope this helps, again welcome !
