I am not certain if my nausea is the keto flu or something else.
My first week of the keto diet i started by eating three meals a day. I used a keto calculator and an app to make sure I was getting the correct proportions of marcronutrients. I lost ten pounds in the first four days, I’m presuming mostly water weight, and no further weight loss the rest of the week. The second day of my diet I experienced a major headache. I also had a couple days of the brain fog which after subsided.
My second week I moved to an 18 hour fast with an 8 hour window to eat two meals. I would eat three eggs scrambled with mushrooms spinach and butter, and have a keto coffee for first meal, and I would have meat and a salad with cheese, real bacon bits, and 3tbsn of low carb dressing. There were a couple days I would have diarrhea but went back to normal. I stopped counting my macronutrients late in the week because I was getting the correct proportions and would never hit the calculator totals before feeling completely full. I lost 4 pounds that week.
In week three I started a two meal a day with a 20 hour fast and 2 meals in 4 hours. The first 3-4 days I felt like I was stuffed and over eating on my second meal. On my fifth day I was very full after eating my first meal which was just the eggs like I mentioned before and the keto coffee. I was making chicken drumsticks in the oven for my second meal, and even though they didn’t have a bad smell, I felt like I was going to vomit. I skipped that meal for the day and went right into once a day fasting. By my last day I was feeling nauseated and has lasted all day even into the next day. I only drink water during my fasting times. I feel like I’m getting enough water but have been having diarrhea again. I lost 6 pounds making my 3 week total 20 pounds.
I have used test strips that show I have ketones in my urine since week two. Is it possible to be having the keto flu at about three weeks in? It’s just very confusing because I haven’t had that bad of side effects up until now, and I had the understanding that I was already in ketosis for at least a good week. I’m going to be drinking some bone broth today as well as eating more vegetables to see if that helps. Any knowledge, experience, or advice would be much appreciated.
Edit: The reason I put this in the fasting section is because it seems like the longer I fast, the more I felt nauseous and bloated while eating less food.
Week 3 major nausea. Flu?
Sounds like you are doing great, otherwise! Congrats!
You don’t mention electrolyte supplementation. I’m wondering if a little salt might set you straight.
I do add salt to the meat I make as well as my eggs, and my butter has salt in it. I guess I don’t keep track of my sodium intake but I guess it’s possible I’m not getting enough.
On 20 hours fasting, it is the likely culprit. Luckily, it’s easy enough to do an n=1 test and see if it helps. I take pink himalayan rock salt (the kind you’d put in a salt grinder) like pills, just swallow a couple with a large glass of water.
Are you using MCT oil in your Keto coffee?
That could explain the diarrhea and some of the nausea.
But other than that, it’s probably your electrolytes. I was getting nauseous every time I ran. I discovered if your ketones are high, you are depleting your electrolytes faster than normal as well, so I needed to add even more salt on top of salt on top of salt to keep it in check.
I do put coconut oil in my coffee with butter. From my understanding coconut oil has a small amount of MCT in it.
Yes, it shouldn’t be causing the diarrhea then. Just thought I’d check. I would just work on your electrolytes then and make sure you are getting enough salt and magnesium. See if that helps.
I looked it up and coconut oil has about 65% MCT. I also just read that the effects are worse on an empty stomach which would explain why the effects would get worse with the longer I fasted. Thanks for pointing me in what I think is the right direction.
So if that’s the cause, the good news is you will adjust. Dial down the amount you use and work back up slowly.
I had the same issue with MCT oil. The very first thing I ever made on Keto was a BPC and less than a half hour later it hit me. I thought “man that Keto Flu hits fast.”
