Workouts and electrolytes

(Christina Seaman) #1

Hey everyone!

I’m new to the forum but I’ve been on keto for about 7 months now. Lately, my workouts have gotten more intense and I feel like my electrolytes are just going right through me. I’ve noticed that my heart is really pounding during my cardio workout and i can feel it in my chest. I also was getting fairly dizzy during the workout. I also have a raised heart beat the rest of the night and trouble sleeping. I did go to the doctor and everything was normal. During my last workout i tried drinking 1/4 tsp of salt and water. After, I had some of dr. berg’s electrolyte powder, then had a meal with at least half and avocado and some broccoli. Seemed pretty potassium rich in general. That night i still had trouble sleeping, could hear my heart beat while lying on my back and on my pillow. How do you guys handle electrolytes after heavy workouts? Am i missing something? I didn’t seem to have this problem a few months ago. I did accidentally fall out of ketosis three weeks ago so i thought it was maybe the fat adaption was gone as well.

Thanks

(Carl Keller) #2

Hello and welcome Christina.

The dizziness, pounding heart and sleeplessness are likely from imbalanced electrolytes. So my first question is are you getting enough sodium in you day? I believe around 2 teaspoons per day (over the course of an entire day) would be proper. This might seem high to you but in the absence of carbs, our bodies tend not to retain it very well. Couple that with losing weight and drinking a lot of water to aid the fat burning process and we are constantly losing sodium as it is constantly flushed out of our bodies and we need to replace it… or we suffer.

The key to balanced electrolytes is sodium and @PaulL says it better than I can so I will leave you with this:


PaulLTake time to stop and eat the bacon!Regular

Nov '18

My understanding is that sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium are all regulated by interlocking mechanisms, and that the key is being sure to get enough sodium. It certainly seems true for me, because I don’t get cramps and the other symptoms of magnesium and potassium deficiency as long as I work to keep my salt intake up.

I suspect that things get handled better in the absence of carbohydrate, for a lot of people. I find the Stefansson experiment quite intriguing, for example. Here are these two guys who go a year eating nothing but meat, and they never develop scurvy or any other mineral deficiency.

We know now that vitamin C is unnecessary in the presence of β-hydroxybutyrate, because it restores the body’s built-in anti-oxidant mechanisms. I suspect that ketones may play a role in determining how much of other vitamins and minerals we need, as well. After all, our hunter-gatherer ancestors seem to have done just fine without supplements.