Weight gain, palpitations, anxiety and feeling tired

(Miguel Pereira) #1

Hi everyone,

I am (again) in desperate need of help.
I am 26 days in doing a keto diet and I now that I am far from being keto adapted. I survived the first 2 weeks and managed to even do some calorie restriction and exercise (including some intense workouts).
On day 16, I woke up extremely anxious and stress and could not make it through the day without binging on carbs (and then fats and protein in the evening).
Since this binge, I tried to up my calorie intake and eat until I felt full but this meant eating a lot! I basically, chugged enormous amounts of butter and mayo down my throat… :confused:
Anyway, this helped with energy levels but not completely. I also tried to take things slower, reduced my physical activity and overall tasks in life but still feel like I can’t cope with the normal things in life. In the midst of this, I gained weight, had several episodes of extreme anxiety (with the concomitant increase in hunger, cravings, poor sleep etc), the full-blown picture of “fight or flight” response. I could barely sleep last night because of my palpitations…

Last week, I was able to do swim 3 days in a row. The last swim was on Saturday and I then did a 30-min bike session at an indoor velodrome, and sweated quite a lot. I felt weird after the ride and, at lunchtime, ended up falling butter/mayo binge followed by a
Yesterday, I spent the day at the beach and failed to drink much water. After dinner, my heart was pounding out of my chest, I was anxious and ended up eating a bunch of cheese, mayo, salami and spinach.

Having said this, I seem to get completely knackered after I do some more intense exercise and after being without carbs for sometime. I have experienced these feelings in the past which always improved after eating carbs. More recently, in the form of crappy refined sugars (out of despair) and, since I decided to stick with keto, in the form of cheese/butter/mayo binges.
I am starting to wonder if all of this has to do with electrolytes and that my binges are a form of trying to get my body to restore its electrolyte balance. Even when I eat fat to satiety, I always go for salted butter and mayo (sometimes getting into a little binge). I seldom want to eat coconut or MCT oil.
In my previous history, I have always done badly in hot (or warmer weather), have experienced hyponatremia after long runs and, sometimes, my hunger improves when I up my salt intake. Also, I have recently moved to Los Angeles (coming from London, UK) and, naturally the weather is much warmer here.

Could electrolytes be the reason why I am having such a bad time?
I have been controlling my carbs, following some of Diet Doctor’s Keto recipes.
I have not been obsessively controlling my salt, potassium and magnesium intake but I take 400-800mg of magnesium per day, I have been taking around 10x99mg potassium (tablets) and eating spinach. Regarding sodium, I started using less in the past few days because I had fluid retention but overall my sodium intake increased as I never added salt to my food before.

If my symptoms are likely due to electrolytes, what targets should I aim for? I have read lots of stuff online but I am confused and desperate… :cry:
For example, today I did this:
48oz of water with 6gr of lite salt (1500mg potassium + 1242mg sodium) and added 2 sachets of Propel for flavor/minerals/vitamins (65mg of potassium + 210mg sodium).
I did two batches of this mixture which I am aiming to drink through the day. I have also taken 400mg of Magnesium and 4x99mg of (extra) potassium.

Trying to fast during the day and having only a salty dinner at night as I ate too much yesterday. Also, the anxiety crisis and poor sleep surely kicked me off of any ketosis state I might have gotten to…
How does this sound?

Thanks in advance!

(karen) #2

The common wisdom here is that “bingeing” on fat is not bingeing, it’s just satisfying your hunger in a way that keeps you in ketosis. Don’t fear the fat! It’s also suggested that you not restrict calories while you’re trying to get fat adapted, just restrict the carbs to 20 or less. So there’s no such thing as “eating too much” (except for net carbs) right now, unless you mean you ate so much you felt sick from it. And remember, the first part if KCKO is, keep calm. That’s not about the panic attacks but about your feelings of anxiety and guilt toward your new diet. It’s really ok to let yourself give this a chance. :slightly_smiling_face:

Also, feeling tired is very normal in the beginning, your body is still trying to figure out how to use all those ketones it’s making.

(Miguel Pereira) #3

@kib I felt totally sick! Plus, I have been doing this for almost a month and was hoping that my hunger would have been suppressed by now. However, my stress and anxiety keep piling up and this triggers a cortisol/adrenaline response that is making me gain weight, is hindering my keto adaptation and making me feel like crap most of the time. :frowning:

(karen) #4

I’m pretty new at this and I don’t know very much about electrolyte balance, hopefully someone else can step in here. I’m experimenting with my own salts while trying not to overdose on potassium or magnesium. I do know that on keto here in the desert I can’t seem to get enough sodium, I will put a pinch under my tongue and it tastes delicious to me, it seems to improve basically every keto-flu symptom I might have.

(Miguel Pereira) #5

Thanks @kib! I think the fact that I moved to a much warmer place might have something to do with electrolytes and explain my symptoms. I have also been under a lot of stress due to this move, new job, PhD thesis that I had to finish. I was trying to go keto whilst doing all of this and always failed. After I submitted the thesis, I jumped back in with the hopes of losing all the weight that I put on. However, I only seem to put on more and more weight and have seen no reduction in my stress levels even though most of my stressors should be gone. I only see diet and exercise as my current stressors… And I am not exercising nearly as much as I used to!

(Kaite) #6

I am far from an expert, but I think you are on to something with your electrolytes. I would keep experimenting with adding more until you feel better. As far as the stress and anxiety, it sounds like you have a lot going on in your life that would cause anyone to be stressed and starting a Keto life style is just one more component. I have experienced some pretty intense anxiety in my day and for me, Lavender oil was an absolute life changer. This isn’t mind altering at all, it just quiets your brain down and relaxes you in a very subtle way. It also helps me sleep if I need it by just calming me down. Here is a link to what I use. I hope it can help.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0072POIB8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(karen) #7

Wow, no wonder you’re stressed. Deep breaths dude, deep breaths. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Omar) #8

I would not exercise hard at this transition state.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #9

There are two tings going on.

  1. your electolytes are probably out of balance. Work on getting more salt and supplement magnesium. As long as you get salt in check, potassium should be good, but a good all around multivitamin wouldn’t hurt.
  2. you’re still going to go through a week phase while you adapt. There’s no way around this. But binging on carbs here and there is going to slow down the adaption phase.
    Because you are not giving your body carbs as energy (most of the time) it doesn’t have its primary fuel source anymore. But because your body isn’t fat adapted yet, it doesn’t efficiently use ketones for energy. Thus the sluggish, tired feeling. Slow down on workouts for a while or rest altogether. I went from running 4 miles 3-4 times a week Pre-Keto to only being able to walk 2 miles for a workout. And that was a struggle.

The good news if you tough it out is that you will get your energy and strength back and then some. Saturday I just completed a 10k race. And I’m 8.5 weeks in.

Good luck.

(Miguel Pereira) #10

Thanks @Anniegirl9!
It’s really difficult for me to put the salt in. I try to have it with water but feel that I retain a lot and get very swollen. :confused:

Regarding the workouts: the funny thing is that I can put a few good workouts in and then get absolutely knackered and have to stop for 2 days. I used to workout everyday, sometimes 2x/day. Now I can barely workout once a day. :frowning: I don’t feel like myself.

(Ron) #11
(LeeAnn Brooks) #12

I completely understand. Even though I think I’m 90% fat adapted, I’ll have a week of good runs, then I’ll wake up and just know I’m off. I’m lathargic and feel heavy in my muscles. I tried to run like this once and hit a wall at the second mile. I had to walk all the way back. And I had taken a ton of salt that day leading up to the run, hoping it would help. That was after completing a couple 6 milers with no issues.

(Davy) #13

Don’t know if you’re still reading this, but your salt needs to be minimum 4000mg per day; and at your exercising level, maybe 5 to 6 g per day.
Around 5000mg of Potassium and 500 to 800 of Mg is good, which sounds like you’re getting.

Personally, I exercise only about and hour a week, spread out for 3 or 4 days per week, and shoot for
Mg 500mg Sodium 3000-4000mg Potass. 4700-5000mg

I wonder are you getting enough D3 and K2 vitamins?