New and looking for advice about workouts while in ketosis.

kittypires

New Here. Hello! I've been on keto for about 2.5 weeks and likely in ketosis for 2 weeks. I've kept it around 20g fat daily. I'm feeling pretty great aside from a couple days of "keto flu". Experienced symptoms once in the beginning and once the day after I had a couple ounces of whiskey (totally worth it btw). I've lost 9.5Lbs.

I feel like I have adapted to eating keto and I'm ready to ease into 3x week short HIIT work-outs plus strength training. The goal is weight loss. Any advice? Tips? Cautionary tales? Resource recommendations?

All appreciated thanks!

ki4eld

Make sure your salt intake is sufficient. If you get lightheaded during/after a workout, add more salt. On my heavy workout days, I take 6g of sodium tablets plus what's added to food. You'll need a lot more salt than you think.

sammyliftsandeats

Ditto on the sodium. You may find yourself a little weaker than before as your body is learning how to run on ketones rather than glucose but don't worry. Don't let this stop you from exercising. Keep working on it and things will go back to normal in a short time.

But watching your electrolytes is very important during this time. Losing sodium through sweat from exercise is naturally occurring but you can make it not so unpleasant by keeping up your intake.

ambergem1969

Take it easy to start - you may be in ketosis but not yet fat-adapted so your energy level may not be what you are used to if you were working out before starting keto. It'll get better and definitely keep an eye on electrolytes!

kittypires

That looks like a solid vote in favor of more sodium. A rep gave me a ton of nuun electrolyte water tabs.. Any thoughts if these would be worth the 4 carbs? I'm typically around 20g carbs give or take a few.

nutrition facts:
serv. size: 1 tablet (prepared with 16 fl oz water), servings: 10, amount per serving: calories 10, total carbohydrates 4 g (1% dv*), sugars 1 g(#), vitamin c (as ascorbic acid) 38 mg (63% dv), magnesium (as magnesium oxide) 25 mg (6% dv), sodium (as sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate) 360 mg (15% dv), potassium (as potassium bicarbonate) 100 mg (3% dv). *percent daily values (dv) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. #daily value not established.

sammyliftsandeats

You can take nuun tabs but there's a recipe on the Launch Pad in the Electrolytes post for homemade ketoade. More cost effective and no carbs!

lodro

I'd say, let the keto take care of the weight loss, use the workouts to up your metabolism and gain strength and endurance. I started training for ultra cycling events (200+ km) when I was almost at goal weight, not before. I figured I was able to concentrate on one thing at a time, haha.

I do a lot of intervals on training rounds, speedplay exercises and such and usually do one or two long rides a week, to get the endurance in. I do make sure I'm in deep ketosis during workouts, and I'll take MCT oil on rides to fuel up. I also use a homemade electrolyte drink, but I also use coffee.

Someone above said that you probably won't have fat adapted yet and to take it easy: I couldn't agree more! I had to ramp up training carefully to let my body adapt to the higher activity level, but now I'm conditioned well and can build on that. Keto and training is a special ballgame, also because all nutrition advice is based on the notion of carbing up. You don't have to, but it's trial and error, so make small changes, watch what happens and adapt.