starting keto symptoms

[TaniaKerins]

So I'm in the begining stages of keto. Done one clean week and I've got two more painful ones to go.

I have:
- consistant insanely depleated low energy ( moving my hands on this keyboard is effort )
- my reps have more than halved
- miserable
- no fat loss ( <1%, if that ) and overall weight loss which I fear may be muscle.

Did anyone else get this? Can I expect it to pass soon or is my level of low energy an indication that I'm doing something wrong?



Age: 21,
BF: 27%
LBs: 127
on a daily basis I've gotten through: ( give or take an item depending on the quantity of some )

Greens:
avocado, 30-40g leek, 50g zucchini, 80g spinach, broccoli
Protiens:
4 slices of choritzo, 2 eggs, 100g sardines in oil, chicken/ham slices , 75g salmon paste, 100g corned beef, 130g beef mince / chicken portion
Fats:
3tbsp oil, 30-60g full fat cream cheese, 1-2 tbsp double cream ( or 1tbsp if I've had 80g of reduced fat creme fraiche ( didn't realise when I bought it that it was reduced fat )) tiny nugget of real butter
Nuts:
hazelnuts/flaked almonds ( small pinch. Not a main fat source )

I measured my intake the first day and ended up going over maintenance because I was still hungry.
Appologies for bad categorisation and the fact that this is my third question on here ( believe me, I do look at the other threads to answer my questions )

[MetilHed]

So I'm in the begining stages of keto. Done one clean week and I've got two more painful ones to go.

I have:
- consistant insanely depleated low energy ( moving my hands on this keyboard is effort )
- my reps have more than halved
- miserable
- no fat loss ( <1%, if that ) and overall weight loss which I fear may be muscle.

Did anyone else get this? Can I expect it to pass soon or is my level of low energy an indication that I'm doing something wrong?



Age: 21,
BF: 27%
LBs: 127
on a daily basis I've gotten through: ( give or take an item depending on the quantity of some )

Greens:
avocado, 30-40g leek, 50g zucchini, 80g spinach, broccoli
Protiens:
4 slices of choritzo, 2 eggs, 100g sardines in oil, chicken/ham slices , 75g salmon paste, 100g corned beef, 130g beef mince / chicken portion
Fats:
3tbsp oil, 30-60g full fat cream cheese, 1-2 tbsp double cream ( or 1tbsp if I've had 80g of reduced fat creme fraiche ( didn't realise when I bought it that it was reduced fat )) tiny nugget of real butter
Nuts:
hazelnuts/flaked almonds ( small pinch. Not a main fat source )

I measured my intake the first day and ended up going over maintenance because I was still hungry.
Appologies for bad categorisation and the fact that this is my third question on here ( believe me, I do look at the other threads to answer my questions )

I wouldn't worry about the energy going down at first. It happens. I also wouldn't worry about the weight you lost being muscle (in only one week ?) the vast majority of the weight you lose in the first week will be water. (For instance, I JUST restarted Keto on monday and I am down 7.5 lbs in 3 days). I also wouldn't worry about going over on one day (esp the first day) as it may take a few days for the appetite killing effects to kick in.

Intake looks OK, do you have the macro breakdown ?

[TaniaKerins]

Oh, yes I do! I should have posted that to start with;

Protein: 92g
Fat: 172g

The low energy levels are -really- hard to deal with. Maybe I'm just being a wuss. Do you know if the energy/alertness of a carbohydrate diet returns after becoming accustomed to the fats?

[halfbr3d]

Get some coconut oil for more energy. Yes, symptoms will pass.

EC stack works too.

Don't worry too much about reps/sets. The weight on the bar is most important.

[carlray]

Your energy will come back when your body gets accustomed to the new diet. My body runs all morning on two bulletproof coffees. It took me about a week before I started hitting my macros correctly, so don't worry about that. Also for your body weight those macros look a little high to me. I think you should try bringing the fat down to about the 130g range but protein looks good where it is. Hang in there it gets better.

[TaniaKerins]

thankyou everyone! I'll get some coconut oil if I can find (and afford) it (yay student..)

btw what's an EC stack?

Also I used to lift 33kg (the heaviest I have in my uni house and shh, all you people who can lift 50x more than that) 3 times (because that's all I could do), then stop a minute and repeat till muscles wouldn't let me. Ususally that ranged from 5 - 14 reps in total ( at the higher end some time ago.. mostly stuck at 5 recently.. )

On keto I can lift it once..with bad form.

[halfbr3d]

btw what's an EC stack?

Ephedrine and caffeine. Do a search on here. Tons of info.

This site has good info too.
http://www.hotnfit.com/fat_loss/ecstack.html

[TaniaKerins]

sure thing. Thankyou!

[Joecool5150]

If you're a week in, I'd say you're about 2/3 of the way there. I was foggy for about 10-12 days. After that, I was clear as a bell and energy levels were back up!

[TaniaKerins]

That's good to know. I'm giving myself 3 weeks to acclimatise. The thought of another 2 weeks of this level of tiredness.. is just... dire. It's probably the hardest thing to deal with, ( aside from the Easter eggs taunting me in the drawer beside me! )

[lindseym631]

Wasn't until about day 13 I got my energy back, the only thing during that initial period that got my energy levels up was forcing myself to do some HIIT in the morning after a good amount of coconut oils and a fatty breakfast. That was hard to start but always felt better immediately. Stick with it because the energy returns and is much more balanced IME than on a carb diet.

Coconut oil is relatively expensive (also student and single mum) but solid investment, it lasts. Good luck!

[TaniaKerins]

Thankyou. Maybe it's just difficult acclimatisation, but I'm really struggling motivationally at the moment. Asking myself rather deep life questions and overall, wondering whether the foundations for my reasons to bodybuild are really all that healthy. I mean I adore muscle and strength endlessly, but if a heavy part of my reasoning for this is an eating disorder, a self hatred at 28%, instead of a love for the sport and lifestyle, maybe I'm not cut out for the restrictions that keto places and I should focus more on accepting my body instead of trying to push myself harder than I enjoy.

Sorry for the heavy speech! I'm very 50/50 as to whether to carry on with this keto atleast.

[MrBillson]

Oh, yes I do! I should have posted that to start with;

Protein: 92g
Fat: 172g

The low energy levels are -really- hard to deal with. Maybe I'm just being a wuss. Do you know if the energy/alertness of a carbohydrate diet returns after becoming accustomed to the fats?

I have more protein than that, I've seen some really great results on keto before, without too much of an issue with energy (although obviously my energy does deplete eventually which is when I carb up). Personally I follow the calorie split of 60% fat 35% protein 5% carbs. Bearing in mind there's 4 calories per gram of carbs and protein and 9 calories per gram of fat, you would still be eating more protein than fat, but getting more calories from fat.

Of course I'm no expert, but this is what I do and I actually enjoy going onto keto. I see great results and it takes about 10 days for my energy to completely deplete (and I exercise a lot).

[Blowmahheadoff]

Thankyou. Maybe it's just difficult acclimatisation, but I'm really struggling motivationally at the moment. Asking myself rather deep life questions and overall, wondering whether the foundations for my reasons to bodybuild are really all that healthy. I mean I adore muscle and strength endlessly, but if a heavy part of my reasoning for this is an eating disorder, a self hatred at 28%, instead of a love for the sport and lifestyle, maybe I'm not cut out for the restrictions that keto places and I should focus more on accepting my body instead of trying to push myself harder than I enjoy.

Sorry for the heavy speech! I'm very 50/50 as to whether to carry on with this keto atleast.

Sometimes pushing yourself can be good, sometimes it can be bad. Only YOU will be able to decide what direction YOU want to go. Keto is a commitment... And if you do decide to commit, it pays off. You've already come this far already. You're almost there.

[TaniaKerins]

hahah thanks. My plan was to do this until the 5th of June, see where it takes me. By then I'd hope to have made a decision about the sort of lifestyle I want to lead.

A small carb snack would make working out so much easier. Must resist!

Do you think 3 weeks of acclimatising is necessary or do you think 2 is acceptable?

[hfce354]

So I'm in the begining stages of keto. Done one clean week and I've got two more painful ones to go.

I have:
- consistant insanely depleated low energy ( moving my hands on this keyboard is effort )
- my reps have more than halved
- miserable
- no fat loss ( <1%, if that ) and overall weight loss which I fear may be muscle.

Did anyone else get this? Can I expect it to pass soon or is my level of low energy an indication that I'm doing something wrong?



Age: 21,
BF: 27%
LBs: 127
on a daily basis I've gotten through: ( give or take an item depending on the quantity of some )

Greens:
avocado, 30-40g leek, 50g zucchini, 80g spinach, broccoli
Protiens:
4 slices of choritzo, 2 eggs, 100g sardines in oil, chicken/ham slices , 75g salmon paste, 100g corned beef, 130g beef mince / chicken portion
Fats:
3tbsp oil, 30-60g full fat cream cheese, 1-2 tbsp double cream ( or 1tbsp if I've had 80g of reduced fat creme fraiche ( didn't realise when I bought it that it was reduced fat )) tiny nugget of real butter
Nuts:
hazelnuts/flaked almonds ( small pinch. Not a main fat source )

I measured my intake the first day and ended up going over maintenance because I was still hungry.
Appologies for bad categorisation and the fact that this is my third question on here ( believe me, I do look at the other threads to answer my questions )

Add coconut oil as a major source of fats and you will see a huge improvement. Not just a little but a fair amount makes a difference in getting right into Keto and for energy levels. It really is like a fake carb since the MCT part of it is not processed in the same way.

Folks at work think im nutz because I always keep a natures way bottle on my desk and use it in coffee, on food, protein drinks, and even as a hand lotion, LOL.

[aaaaaaaaaachooo]

If fat loss stalls a little, drop some fat from the diet. (NOT protein)
This should help break through plateaus.

[TaniaKerins]

been looking for coconut oils.... wow.. they're certainly expensive. I can't seem to find any mention of MCTs on the label info I'm finding online though ( is it a given? Or do some products actually not have it? ). There's a 250ml~ brand in Tescos for £1.69 which, I imagine, is probably missing out on a lot of the quality, but when I'm in the area I'll have a look at the packaging first hand. The label info isn't online for that one.

Thankyou both! I've been a silent stalker to this forum for a while and it still baffles me that everyone here is so selfless and open minded. Not as a backhanded compliment to the members of course, but as forums go in general, it's nice to see a community unaffected by the mentality of the internet culture.

[Atavis]

been looking for coconut oils.... wow.. they're certainly expensive. I can't seem to find any mention of MCTs on the label info I'm finding online though ( is it a given? Or do some products actually not have it? ). There's a 250ml~ brand in Tescos for £1.69 which, I imagine, is probably missing out on a lot of the quality, but when I'm in the area I'll have a look at the packaging first hand. The label info isn't online for that one.

You want to look for medium chain fatty acids with chains 8-12 carbon atoms long. These would be lauric acid (48%), capric acid (7%), and caprylic acid (8%). They are a naturally occurring part of coconut oil and you can consider them a given.

[Grifts]

Goat milk also has MCTs(mostly capric/capryllic), but a significant amount of carbs as well.

[TaniaKerins]

I shall be on the look out, thank you both