I have been doing keto for a little over 3 weeks and within the last few days I have developed horrid body odor. Think a teenage boy who hasn’t showered for a week in summer. What can I do about this? I’m not sweating more and I am showering regularly. I can’t think of anything different that I’m eating (that I haven’t been from the beginning). This definitely is not the fruity or sweet smelling scent I’ve heard described and my breath seems to be fine.
Why do I stink
Bahrutile
(Dustin Cade)
#2
I’ve not noticed this in myself, i am curious to see other responses to this.
Fiorella
#3
For me I noticed that too much protein does that. By lowering protein and increasing fat, it gets better. I also will get it with some spices, like cumin, fenugreek, and other stuff normally found in curry type spice mixes.
KetoFied
(Jaidann)
#4
Oh yup … I got this too. Hubby wasn’t pleased with it. As Fiorella said, I was a bit too much in the protein and not enough fat. I switched that up and it’s ok now. However I still do get that keto breath every once in a while.
David_Driver
(David Driver)
#5
That’s weird because I don’t have BO and I go without deodorant on the weekends too. This is the first time in my life that I haven’t been continuously concerned with how I smell. I am kind of weird about smells too, not just my own.
Sara_Lamberto
(Sara Lamberto)
#7
I used to be that way, but seem to have shifted the opposite direction!
BillJay
#8
Too much protein produces an odor in me too, but like @David_Driver, I don’t normally have any body odor now, but I’ve not only been doing keto, but actively trying anything that would purge myself of toxins.
If someone is still losing body fat, it’s important to realize that fat stores a lot of the toxins we’re exposed to in our environment and when we start losing that fat, the toxins are released… and I don’t think those toxins would have a pleasant odor. 
Brenda
(8 year Ketogenic Veteran)
#9
If this is true, using “antiperspirant” would prevent the toxins from leaving our body in one of the most common ways nature intended, our armpits!
Do you know what antiperspirant does? Yes. Exactly that. Prevents us from perspiring.
Not good.
Sara_Lamberto
(Sara Lamberto)
#11
Please excuse my odor, I’m burning fat right now. Can I get that on a t-shirt? Lol. I will consider that the silver lining! I’ve been storing this fat for a very long time so whatever it takes.
A_Pitty
(Adam Pittman)
#13
A good reason to opt for deodorant, since it kills bacteria rather than clogging sweat glands.
Wouldn’t really help with putting off toxins or anything, though.
richard
(Richard Morris)
#14
There are a couple of different volatiles that keto can cause on your breath / body.
Acetone - nail polish remover odor
Ammonia - Ammoniac odor
Hydrogen Sulphide - Rotten egg odor
Methylamine - Fishy odor
The first ketone we make is acetoacetate, which we can use for energy but it is unstable and degrades spontaneously to acetone which we can’t use for energy and is volatile - so it moves from your blood to the surface of your lungs and is exhaled in your breath.
Eventually as we adapt we become efficient at converting acetoacetate to the 3rd ketone betahydroxybutyrate which is not unstable. So after a few weeks aceteone should drop off. It won’t go to zero but it will be maskable with some sugarfree chewing gum.
When you are keto, you are making glucose all the time in your liver to feed your brain. We make that from a bunch of things, but primarily the glycerol backbone of fats that we burn, and proteins that your liver removes the nitrogen and sulfur elements from. If you have a LOT of body fat and are burning a LOT then you may not need to burn much protein at all.
The more protein you have to burn the more likely those waste materials will have to be shipped off as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide and methylamine.
Unfortunately the odor probably increases as you lose more weight and have to rely on stripping protein to make glucose.
One other factor about protein is we can’t store much, about 1% of our lean mass and beyond that protein is just burned for energy - and in that process the sulfur and nitrogen is stripped off … and that ends up causing the protein volatiles.
There are volatiles related to lipid metabolism too. Ethan is odorless. Ethene is sweet and musky. 1-Pentale smells like gasoline. But it is difficult to reduce lipid metabolism in a ketogenic diet.
My reference is
Bad smell
Brenda
(8 year Ketogenic Veteran)
#15
Right. There are several commercial brands without the antiperspirant part.
What if that bacteria is supposed to be on our skin though? Lol. Flora and fauna all that. Heh. Srs
I’m interested in eventually using all soap and skin products that are homemade. @Terri is my current inspiration.
For now?
I wash my armpits often.
Lol
TMI? We also talk about shit here. As in, feces. Lol
Fiorella
#16
Thanks for this explanation, Richard. I guess this is why I noticed that when I eat more than normal protein, the odor increases, and then I can decrease the odor by increasing fat and decreasing protein. Very interesting.
Sara_Lamberto
(Sara Lamberto)
#17
Thank you @richard for that very in depth explanation! Sounds like my issue stems from lipid metabolism, so I guess for now I will just be showering more 
Brenda
(8 year Ketogenic Veteran)
#18
This finally happened to me, after 3 years ketogenic, and I was even zero carb for 7 months in 2015.
During the steak challenge, the first week or so I ate approximately double the protein I needed. When I did my full lift routine at the gym for the first time ever there was a significant ammonia smell.
I didn’t need further convincing to up my fat and lower my protein. The remainder of the month it did not happen again.
I found that n=1 very educational.
richard
(Richard Morris)
#20
Cats as carnivores are protein chuggers after all. Their urine is probably full of ammonia and urea. So yeah that’s exactly the smell.