Week 2, need reassurance!


(Steve ricci ) #2

more fat, dark meat chicken with skin, red meat, butter, . Get your protein from meat. Fat gives you energy and you need alot of it, % 70 give or take. I would up the MCT to an oz or so. this is my average day. I alway feel fine. . Nont stray, commit to this way of eating. it only get easier. Stalls are normal. This is my average day.


(Chris W) #3

This is absolutely the place for recommendations and welcome.
First off telling me what you are eating is of little help unless you tell us a little more about your self. In particular the same things you would find on any calculator for macros.

Got you age and weight, body fat would be the next thing, how active you are, and any known metabolic dysfunctions. So we can get a better handle on proper intake.

Second just by what I see you in taking you are getting metric but ton of potassium and that can cause a lot of problems. Esp if you had eaten a lot of banana previous to keto and have fat to store the potassium in. So cut back on the avocados first off and cut out the pea protein. Try and get your protein naturally for the moment, you are not going to be doing any major body building the next few weeks-sorry. But if you do it right your mind may straighten out.

Up your salt intake, a lot, salt everything all the time and then add some more. Add salt to water, put it under your tongue etc. When you can taste it and I mean really taste it then you know you have enough salt. 1-2 teaspoons every day, maybe more right now unless you have kidney problems. Your blood pressure can drop when your insulin drops which it probably has. Spread it out through the day don’t try and take it all at once.
The exhaling gasoline may be coming from excess ketones(acetone), lower your mct oil down to about 2 a day, better yet go for coconut oil. Although this most often seen as good thing you are not ready to have so many ketones yet(in a week or two yes). MCT can be a laxative if not careful. You need to let your body start up the fat burning machinery it takes a few weeks, we call this keto adaption phase.

Make sure you are drinking a lot of water, which is the other reason you need salt. Your urine should be bland not colorful and that could be coming from the multi’s check the contents to make sure the ingredients are keto friendly.
Ground turkey is not the best choice(potassium rich also) its lean, if I was in your position I would go for salmon or any high omega 3 food first. Red meat is good, 80-20 hamburger, bacon, sausages, deli meats are also good.

Hope this helps keep asking questions.


(Jason) #4

Thank you both so much for your responses, I really appreciate your help. Presently I’m sitting at about 20% body fat, no known metabolic dysfunction. I’ve been a bit of a gym rat in the past, however, I’ve been only moderately active for a few months. Gym 3x per week, but most of my time is spent sitting down at work.

MCT has definitely turned my toilet into an ICU already so I’ve been careful about using any in the morning.

I’m cooking up some sausage and going to put in a bunch of salt. Feeling real off, super headache.

Dropping my avocado intake to half tomorrow, cutting pea protein. Buying some coconut oil. Finishing the ground turkey and moving to another protein source for the time being.


(Jason) #5

What is the reasoning behind lowering MCT?

Steve believes I should up it, while Chris you’re telling me to lower it. Just want to make sure I understand!


(Ron) #6

MCT is free fat that has a direct line into your bloodstream so it is quick energy. It can also act like a laxative if consumed more than the body can handle and will cause major discomfort so you have to be careful.


(Jay AM) #7

I’m just going to share my general new people recommendations for you for now. Look them over and check that you’re roughly meeting them. The headache you’re experiencing is likely from keto flu and it’s optional. You need to intake electrolytes. Try some Ketoade. As far as exercise goes, if you’re currently exercising, dial it back for now. Keto depletes glycogen and you will notice less exercise stamina for at least a few weeks. You will have to train your body to work out in keto just like you had to before keto. Once you are further into fat adaptation, you should see increased endurance and others note faster recovery times. Jason Wittrock is a 5% body fat keto fitness model on YouTube that gives good information. I second lowering the MCT. MCT processes very quickly into ketones but your body isn’t great at using them yet. Get more other fats like butter, fat from foods, etc.

We have a few sayings here, “keep calm, keto on” and “trust the process.” Keto isn’t a quick weight loss diet. It’s a health gaining way of eating with fat loss as a side effect. If the scale is an unhealthy obsession, put it away for a couple of months or give it to a neighbor you don’t like.

There are two phases to ketosis and a ketogenic lifestyle.

Nutritional ketosis is phase one. Your body begins to produce and uptake some ketones while dumping the rest. It will still search for glucose to use as fuel. In this phase it’s not an efficient process. It has to work actively to get rid of stored glycogen, clean up excess blood sugar, and turn on the ability to use ketones.

Fat adaptation is phase two. Your body is efficiently producing ketones from intake and stored body fat and is also using them efficiently for energy. It takes around 6-8 weeks of strict keto to achieve for many but not all.

The basic “rules” I go by and many others can agree with especially for beginners are:

*20g net carbs max (you might tolerate more but, starting out, 20g net carbs or less will get you into ketosis.)

*Moderate protein (1g-1.5g per kg of lean bodyweight is a good goal based on the 2 Dudes recommendations.)

*Fat to satiety (add fat to every meal and, if you are hungry, eat more fat. Don’t be afraid of fat. It is energy.)

*Do not restrict calories

*Do not exercise excessively in an effort to lose weight

*Drink plenty of water

*Get plenty of sodium and other electrolytes


(Chris W) #8

My main reasoning is I suspected and was right that you are lean, and fairly fit. MCT is a highly refined version of coconut oil, it is more less a high octane keto gas and the coconut oil is premium. Your normal fats are standard grade gas if that analogy makes sense. At any rate you had a lot happening, and your liver has to process MCT’s directly much like fructose, so the only thing it can really do with the MCT’s is either metabolize them as fat or metabolize them as energy. If you are low on insulin as I suspect you liver will kick them out as ketones/energy. You were not used to that yet, and some may yell at me for this but I think you had to many ketones which can be dangerous as well. You had a lot happening, its best to remain simple on the diet end for the first couple weeks for certain, I suspect you will fat adapt quickly if you stick with and it will not be much of a problem in a few days.

You were high on refined protein, and probably high on potassium as well(something I went through at about week 2 as well.) I hope you are feeling better, there is a lot happening so be patient and try not to push to hard for awhile.


(Bev Walton) #9

What is mct plz


(Ken) #10

You’re in the major adaptive stage right now. Your body is just beginning to “ramp up” lipolytic processes that may not have been used for years. Especially production of lipase, the enzyme that breaks down fat. MCT (due to the fact it requires little or no denaturing) may be causing a system overload, as your stools should be getting smaller and firmer, a lower number on the “Bristol Scale”. I suggest eating more meat fat, and since your focus should now be on adaptation, a small amount of fiberous veggies would probably help as well. Try a half cup or so, like some broccoli and cauliflower in a fat sauce. Use fats like butter, cream, sour cream, etc. or the fat from cooking meat. My preference would be to make your own Hollandaise Sauce.


(Jason) #11

Thank you all for your information. I dropped some MCT and added more butter. Dropped turkey and switched to a higher fat ground beef and chorizo. Lowered my intake of avocados. When I do use MCT, it’s a tbsp with an avocado in a blender ( i dislike eating avos so I blend them up). I’ll be trying out making my own hollandaise sauce and I’ve been drinking a lot of salt water. Will also add some cauliflower with butter. I’m lactose intolerant so I may try to avoid too much cheese.

Hope some of these corrections help, still feeling a bit off today. I’m not exhaling gasoline anymore which is great, but still very cloudy and tired. I’ve been going to sleep early but waking up throughout the night more as well.


(Jason) #12

Also my vitamins are men’s sport from GNC. I looked them up and believe them to be safe. Was also wondering, are pre workouts like C4 safe?

Feeling a little better. Able to focus on work better than yesterday. Super headaches though.

Thanks again!


(Chris W) #13

I would say at this moment don’t use them, you need to sort things some, then whenyou are comfortable and things are a little more normal feeling try them out. It would really depend upon your own personal experiment, doing a bunch of things at once is not really a good thing for your body, and if something does go wrong its harder to trace it down to the root cause.


(Chris W) #14

MCT is medium chain triglycerides, this can come in many forms but the two most common are coconut oil and a refined version called MCT oil which is liquid to a much lower temperature unlike coconut oil. You will also see SCT (short chain triglycerides) which is primarily butter products, and LCT (Long Chain triglycerides) are basically animal fat, or your own body fat.


(Jason) #15

Some updates:

Last night I had a really vicious headache, and eventhough I’ve been salting the living he’ll out of everything, I decided to get a cup of beef broth, and mix in even more salt. 30 minutes later my headache mostly subsided and the lethargy of my day was completely gone. Whoa…

Some diet changes:

Magnesium supplement/megamens sports supplement

Coffee x2//tbsp butter, 2 tbsp heavy cream, tbsp MCT, tbsp instant coffee

3 cups non-lean ground beef with added salt throughout the day

3 cups beef broth (9 carbs total) with added salt

3 avocado (small hass brand) smoothie shakes (9 carbs) with 1 tbsp Coconut oil each.

Salt used: Morton’s lite salt for potassium and sodium

What do you guys think?

I feel pretty good this morning, which is a change! I’m going to go buy some keto sticks to test.


(Chris W) #16

Try just gong with pink or sea salt, I still think you may be heavy on potassium unless you are really sweating a lot.
Are you urinating a lot ?


(Jason) #17

I’m not peeing too much. Normal amount id ssay


(Rachel) #18

The headaches are an absolute pain, but they do go away. Like everyone says, Electrolytes are absolutely necessary. When I’m foggy, it really helps when I get some potassium from real foods like spinach, broccoli, and almonds. (That also seems to help me avoid the MCT oil tummy troubles).

I’m no expert, but it concerns me a tiny bit that you may not be eating enough veggies (within carb limits of course). I know you’re taking the vitamin, but the vitamins/fiber in veggies might help a bunch. Maybe the more experienced ketoers can weigh in on that…

Keep at it. :slight_smile:


(Jason) #19

Thank you :slight_smile:

I am conscientious of my carbs. Between the beef broth and avocados, I’m right around 18 carbs. With cheese I’m right around my limit. I’m trying not to worry too much about meeting my macros at this point, as suggested, but it’s tough to avoid as I’m trying not to lose weight.

I think the best choice will be to replace a cup of broth with some veggies.

I’ve been turning my avocados into a giant smoothie. Which by the way is actually pretty good. I’ll add some veggies to that.


(Jason) #20

Yesterday was the first day I felt good. I don’t have the clarity of mind as individuals have suggested, but the energy was there!


(Bev Walton) #21

Hello wondering if you can help…in order to get my fat ratio right iam eating 1800 Cal’s,which would normally result in weight gain,so IAM feeling bit scared that I will put on instead of loosing… I have fibromyalgia and limits my activity levels… so I only need 1500 Cal a day to stay the same weight… I am loving the fact I can have steak and cream and now discovered I can use almond flour to make lemon cheese cake :grinning:.any tips and info gratefully received… I have been on keeto only 2weeks…lost 4lb and a beer festival threw me off and put 2back on…but took me 5month to put this stone on so I am patient when loosing it lol as long as it’s b4july 4th for my holiday… have a Fab day ye all :grinning: