Daily Check-In for Keto Friends 2017 Version
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jdavidcamacho wrote: »Hey there! I'm crazy late to this challenge, but I just found this board. Mind if I join in???
Welcome! There's no specific challenge and it's never to late to join. We just share and discuss what we face day to day as we muddle through our individual keto journeys.
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Just started keto along w/ IF today - eased myself into it a bit last week. Looking forward to positive changes
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Just checking in. Limping along on a kind of slow paced gelling of several food and lifestyle adjustments.
Halfway between LC and keto at the moment...adding in a very basic daily yoga practice, continuing to expand my social circles, hoping to get back to my daily painting routine. Continuing to declutter.
All of these changes are in baby step format, with the hope that I don't crash and burn in a couple weeks from overdoing it. I'm really struggling to find a sustainably paced, fulfilling lifestyle and to be able to be authentic and open hearted in my relationships.
It feels like I'm on the right track, but as in all areas of self care...I tend to be my own worst enemy. So, slow and steady is the name of the game.
On a positive food note, I was successful in not bringing any trigger foods into the house this week. That feels like a good first step in reclaiming my new improved food plan, and here's to hoping for good news on the scale very soon.
Hope the weekend is going well for my pals! I'm watching Svengoolie tonight!
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I'm not sure what Svegnoolie is but I hope you had a good night.
As for me, I keep sabotaging myself. I have a great week, then one day of bad choices undoes all of my efforts from the week before and isa hindrance to any effort for the next week. I finally get things under control, undo the damage, have another great week or two and then one day or bad choices and 'round and 'round I go...
This has been happening for almost a month now and I've had no movement on the scale in at least that long.1 -
Hey, Christy. Totally relate. Looking at my weigh ins since about a year ago, the numbers show, basically, a pattern of 2 week progress then 2 week sabotage every single month. Almost like clockwork!! I'm currently at the top of the weight range and, as always, am hoping the 12th time (this time!) will be the charm.
When I quit chain smoking, I remember that for a solid year I would quit in the morning but by night I would be smoking again. Every day! For hundreds of days!! But then one day.....I didn't. And that time lasted 13 years. So, one thing I got from that was keep after it, keep your focus and intention clear, and one day....it will work.
I started regaining some of my losses last fall after a long distance relationship ended, and then again after my more recent romantic disillusionment. So, I'm pretty sure it's a self protective weight gain, and since I'm working hard on bettering my own life, I'm sticking with the idea that I will be able to let go of it when I feel able to take that kind of risk again. Or at least when I feel more like myself again.
In the meantime, I'm doing everything possible to hold the line of unhappy, emotional regain at a respectable 20 pounds...and not let the regain creep up the whole 145 pound shebang!
So far, so good on that, at least.2 -
Have any of you tried EFT? It's Emotional (Freedom or something) Tapping, I think. A friend in my feed has been using it to great avail, and I've begun looking into it. Since we're mostly emotional/sensitive type people, I've really been wondering if this could help some of us... thetappingsolution.com was recommended to me...
Let me know if y'all want me to look up more info. @elize7 @4031isaiah1 -
Hey all, I've been doing Keto since April along with my husband. He is MUCH better than I am at keeping to the diet and tracking his intake. I've dropped from 168 to 155 and just can't seem to get below that 155 mark but I'm not unhappy about it. I have two main questions:
1) My biggest issue is having enough energy to do my long runs. I'm doing a marathon in December and am up to 10 - 12 miles runs and I just run out of energy. I'm just wiped out afterwards and don't recover as quickly as I should. Any suggestions for that? Anyone know of a runner who does low-carb that has a blog about diet/running?
2) My husband has always had his blood work done twice a year. We were hoping that he would be like the normal Keto person and have his cholesterol and "bad stuff" drop. After five months on the diet (and he's strict about it, 20 grams of net carbs or less) his bad cholesterol is still exactly the same, at the high end of the scale and there's no change in his good cholesterol. What was really concerning was that his triglycerides were way high. He doesn't do sugar, uses one pkg. artificial sweetener in his coffee or tea and that's it. He doesn't do sweets. It just blew us away that it was so high. High enough that the Dr. wanted him on medication for it. This really upset him but we both feel so much better with the Keto diet he's unwilling to change from it. So any insights on this? Why his triglycerides would go up?
Marcelyn in Houston
where believe it or not it's raining again!
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Hey Knit, I'd be interested if you found a link. I think I've heard of tapping before, but have no real info on it or understanding.
More tools for the toolbox...always good.
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Hey all, I've been doing Keto since April along with my husband. He is MUCH better than I am at keeping to the diet and tracking his intake. I've dropped from 168 to 155 and just can't seem to get below that 155 mark but I'm not unhappy about it. I have two main questions:
1) My biggest issue is having enough energy to do my long runs. I'm doing a marathon in December and am up to 10 - 12 miles runs and I just run out of energy. I'm just wiped out afterwards and don't recover as quickly as I should. Any suggestions for that? Anyone know of a runner who does low-carb that has a blog about diet/running?
2) My husband has always had his blood work done twice a year. We were hoping that he would be like the normal Keto person and have his cholesterol and "bad stuff" drop. After five months on the diet (and he's strict about it, 20 grams of net carbs or less) his bad cholesterol is still exactly the same, at the high end of the scale and there's no change in his good cholesterol. What was really concerning was that his triglycerides were way high. He doesn't do sugar, uses one pkg. artificial sweetener in his coffee or tea and that's it. He doesn't do sweets. It just blew us away that it was so high. High enough that the Dr. wanted him on medication for it. This really upset him but we both feel so much better with the Keto diet he's unwilling to change from it. So any insights on this? Why his triglycerides would go up?
Marcelyn in Houston
where believe it or not it's raining again!
@Marcelynh
Others can speak better to the cholesterol issue...SO...
As for the energy wipe outs, that tells me that you are still primarily functioning off glucose for muscle power. Once you become fat adapted, you'll be burning fat stores for energy - and have nearly endless energy, as long as you have essential body fat on board, plus a little.
If you cannot stay low enough to maintain the ketone energy as your source, you will continue to struggle with this. Additionally, if you are low on sodium/electrolytes, you'll hit that same wall.
If you do eat some carbs over your planned amount, you need to within 30 minutes do a good workout worth to burn through most of it. Until you push your body to stop using glucose fuel, you'll continue to struggle.
I think Phinney and Volek have a book called The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance that can spell this out better!
@Sunny_Bunny_ @FIT_Goat2 -
I know several people who are runners who eat nothing but meat, so zero carb. Many of them run marathon and ultra-marathon distances. Over time, you adapt to it. It does take a few months. Just keep the protein up (it is important for recovery and healing), and trust your body will get back where it was.
The cholesterol is a symptom and not the problem. A "one off" result wouldn't be something that I would consider bothersome. But, if it is still high in 6 months, you should investigate what could be causing them problems. Right now, it could be a temporary thing. Keep track of what he is eating and his weight. If things don't improve in six months, then we can look for trouble spots.1 -
Thanks for the book recommendation. I right now am about 60% fat and less than 5% carbs leaving about 35% protein. Maybe I need to up my protein a bit more? I do refuel during a run about every 7 miles, usually almond butter or a fruit/energy bar and I work hard to keep my electrolytes up. Usually alternating water and electrolytes at water stations in a race. In training I carry Nuun electrolytes in my water belt.
Is there a way to check your sodium? I think I'm okay with it since I do the electrolytes but with the way you sweat in Houston weather you never know..... I'll pay more attention to it.
As to my husband he's not concerned about the cholesterol. It's the triglycerides.... he's not eating sugar or high sugar carbs so it's confusing as to why it's gone up since going Keto.
Does anyone use the Ketonix breathalyzer? After three months Ketone strips (urine strips) do nothing but turn up negative for me. I'm wondering if I need to try a different method and the Ketonix looks to be a better option than blood testing for me. Any input?0 -
Thanks for the book recommendation. I right now am about 60% fat and less than 5% carbs leaving about 35% protein. Maybe I need to up my protein a bit more? I do refuel during a run about every 7 miles, usually almond butter or a fruit/energy bar and I work hard to keep my electrolytes up. Usually alternating water and electrolytes at water stations in a race. In training I carry Nuun electrolytes in my water belt.
Is there a way to check your sodium? I think I'm okay with it since I do the electrolytes but with the way you sweat in Houston weather you never know..... I'll pay more attention to it.
As to my husband he's not concerned about the cholesterol. It's the triglycerides.... he's not eating sugar or high sugar carbs so it's confusing as to why it's gone up since going Keto.
Does anyone use the Ketonix breathalyzer? After three months Ketone strips (urine strips) do nothing but turn up negative for me. I'm wondering if I need to try a different method and the Ketonix looks to be a better option than blood testing for me. Any input?
If you are refueling during a run, you are NOT anywhere near fat adapted. You may have to temporarily dial back on your training to allow your body to build those new muscle mitochondria to use ketones. Once that is done (usually 6 weeks), you should be able to ramp up your training more quickly than a standard "carb burner" and shouldn't need to refuel with anything other than electrolytes. @lodro has done some ultra racing and is fully keto. I forget who other does this, but there's a pushing point where you can be a dual-fueled person, allowing more flexibility, but you have to form those new muscle mitochondria first...
As for the triglycerides, the simple fact is that any single cholesterol test is a snapshot of a moment in time. It is not considered actionable until it is supported by multiple other fasting results. Additionally, was your husband fasting by a full 12 hours prior to the test? Most of us have the highest carbs of our day at night, even while in ketosis. Even if they are just broccoli or veggie carbs. Any carbs can spike trigs. Anything less than 12 hours of fasting makes the results inaccurate anyway. And unless he's had multiple results of the same numbers, they don't matter much while losing weight. No cholesterol numbers are really valid anyway until his weight has been completely stable for about 6 months. Anything during active weight loss can spike way up or drop way down and doesn't necessarily mean ANYTHING. When you burn through fat stores and lose weight, tons of cholesterol is released back into the body to be processed. Until he's been at this a while longer or until his weight is stable, I would probably just tell the doctor that he wants to retest in 6 months, etc.1 -
For the average low carber, we must replace 5000 mg of the sodium we are dumping via the process. If you are an active, sweating athlete, that number could be almost double! the 3000-5000 mg of sodium being replaced is generally accepted as a minimum recommendation due to certain aspects of nutritional ketosis and low carbs dumping the sodium out like crazy... Unless I had a heavy exertion day, I found that I could not add potassium without it making me dump magnesium. Now that my magnesium is pretty level, I don't have need of potassium outside of food, aside from a heavy exertion/heavy sweated/massively dehydrated day...1
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KnitOrMiss wrote: »If you are refueling during a run, you are NOT anywhere near fat adapted. You may have to temporarily dial back on your training to allow your body to build those new muscle mitochondria to use ketones. Once that is done (usually 6 weeks), you should be able to ramp up your training more quickly than a standard "carb burner" and shouldn't need to refuel with anything other than electrolytes.
Do you run marathons? If so you understand I cannot take 6 weeks out of my training when I have a scheduled marathon on the horizon.0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »If you are refueling during a run, you are NOT anywhere near fat adapted. You may have to temporarily dial back on your training to allow your body to build those new muscle mitochondria to use ketones. Once that is done (usually 6 weeks), you should be able to ramp up your training more quickly than a standard "carb burner" and shouldn't need to refuel with anything other than electrolytes.
Do you run marathons? If so you understand I cannot take 6 weeks out of my training when I have a scheduled marathon on the horizon.
@Marcelynh - No, I do not run marathons. I apologize if you took offense to my statement above. From the study of the science of muscle mitochondria, as well as a number of folks who have shared their experiences here, keeping yourself from fully fat adapting will cause you stay in that limbo state and keep you from reaching a peak performance, either as a carb fueling performer -- or as a ketone fueled performer. As an admitted outsider to marathoning, I will say that even to me, this seems miserable!
I did not mean to suggest that you take the 6 weeks off at all! When I said "temporarily dial back" your training, what I meant was pulling yourself back to point where you do not feel like you have to refuel. My understanding is that you have to burn through the stored muscle glycogen several times to convince your muscles that they must build new mitochondria to run off of ketone fuel. If you are refueling, you are prolonging this process and making it less efficient.
Again, I fully admit that I do not have personal experience with this process at your level. My understanding has been that by reducing the intensity of performance back by a percentage (25%, maybe up to 50%, for a short time), instead of the standard improvement progression when you are able to fuel by ketone energy as your primary source, if not sole source, that your endurance and intensity progression will ramp up faster than a person who "bonks out and must refuel" because ketone energy has a flow about it - that it seems like your muscles get more efficient the more and longer you use it... From others training in similar situations (with a December marathon date), you are getting close to not having enough time to completely adapt - BUT - I say that only partially, because you have been eating this way since April, your actual adaption could be far, far shorter. I would venture a guess that you're already partially there, because my understanding from most folks who have done either HIIT or endurance training is that 20-30 minutes and they are usually tapped out in the beginning. If you're hitting 12-18 miles before you hit your limits, you've already surpassed some of the major issues. Like that you've built the foundation, but you just need to switch over one more gear so your transmission's athletic performance hits that premium, optimum phase.
This - all of this above - is why I suggested the book that I did. There is far more technical data on this subject matter, and there are groups on reddit that probably have more specific advice. I know that training, building your endurance, and pushing yourself, stacking progress and successes on top of one another to push yourself to near superhuman feats is absolutely critical and crucial to your success and maintaining your health, preventing injuring, and providing the best performance you can. I get that, absolutely, and stepping back at this point seems absolutely like throwing in the towel, but as far as I understand, it isn't that at all. It's more like slipping into a specific protocol in training, as if you'd endured an ankle or knee injury and must give it a slight break enough to heal enough to continue your training and performance. I don't know if my analogy makes sense to you...but I hope it does.
Personally, at this point, if you aren't already using various supporting supplements and such - like BCAA's, recovery protocols specifically to low carb/keto performance, and pre/post workout supplements/eating/etc., I'd suggest digging in to research those (and things like those) as soon as you can. It sincerely might be as simple as an amino acid complex (or something else relatively uncomplicated you need to add or remove from your current regimen) you need to facilitate your recovery or something. Each person's body and training is different. I'm hoping some of our athletes weigh in here...
To the personally inexperienced, based on science and anecdotal evidence, it looks like digging into the endurance fueling transition research is your best option. After that, deciding whether to keep straddling the glucose/ketone fence, or to hop back solely to one side or the other to allow your body a more solid performance seems like a lesser preferred but feasible back up plan... Again, I think if you find places to do research more specific to your personal situation, you can find the pieces you need to solve this puzzle... You seem like you are already 75% or more down the path you need to travel...just that you're at a fork in the road and need to decide which way to continue...
Sending you the absolute best luck for your improvements in your training - and complete admiration for your marathon adventures. My boss decided to run his first one at 50 years old, and he's a complete inspiration.
@cstehansen @Gallowmere1984 @lodro @RalfLott @FIT_Goat - Any of y'all have better resources, suggestions, or resources to better help here?1 -
Side note here, L-Carnitine is one of the supplements that I used when I had to move my work office and needed to better fuel my muscles and aid recovery. I only use it for specific events, though, as it can negatively affect thyroid dysfunction, from which I also suffer.0
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@KnitOrMiss Thanks for the extra explanation.
I do find my age to be a factor with marathons.... 58 and chugging along. and I like you have a thyroid issue, although going Keto has helped to some degree with that. A by-product I didn't expect.
I will look into the areas you suggested.
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@JessicaMcB is keto and a distance runner. Perhaps she will pop in and offer some personal insight @Marcelynh.0
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@Marcelynh Here is some information regarding Keto and endurance sports in a Facebook group. The poster is a runner.
ADMIN POST: Endurance Sports
(Running, cycling, etc)
We get pretty frequent questions about how keto and endurance sports. Are they compatible? How to fuel? How to recover?....
First, I would like to start with a couple of caveats. Exercise is not required for weight loss. Cardio, in particular, can be very taxing on the body and the longer duration exercise can stress the body, which can raise cortisol, which can actually prompt fat storage rather than fat burn (this is not universal, but is part of why some people gain weight training for distance races). This is geared more towards someone who is already interested in doing endurance sports and wants to know how to be successful while eating a ketogenic diet.
Most of my information comes from The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Phinney & Volek. I highly recommend it! Other authors you may be interested in are Timothy Noakes and Peter Attia.
A ketogenic diet is perfect for endurance athletes. When you are fat adapted, your body can burn the fat you have stored rather than glucose. Your body is capable of accessing MUCH more energy from fat than from glucose. With glucose, you can get about 30 minutes of effort and then your body stores are gone. This is where people hit a wall sometimes. With fat, your body just keeps going (lots of info in Low Carb Performance). No need to carry gus or gels or energy gummies anymore.
When you are first starting a ketogenic diet, it is normal to have 3-4 weeks where you will find exercise very difficult. This is your body struggling to burn through the last of the glucose as it makes the transition to burning fat for fuel. There is no need to be miserable these few weeks - scale back your training and just wait it out. Once the switch is complete, you will be back to your previous level of training; you may even find you can perform better! One word of caution - do not try and scale down your carb levels gradually. If you keep trickling carbs into your system, it will take longer for that fat burning transition to be complete.
Fuel! There is certainly no need to carb up before a big endurance event anymore. High fat and some protein are the keys to keeping your energy levels high.
If you are going for a long run or ride, and are used to sugar energy supplements on the trail, you will be pleasantly surprised that you don't need those anymore. In fact, during and after exercise is the WORST time to consume carbs. Once you are in fat burning mode and you ingest carbs, your body will stop burning fat and switch over to burning that sugar instead. Then, as your blood sugar spikes and falls again, your energy level will be much lower than it was before.
So, what do you need for a long run/ride? Electrolytes! If you keep your electrolytes up, you can help stave off the muscle cramping and soreness as you recover. As with all supplements, make sure you read labels. The products I was using before were packed with rice bran or had dextrose/sorbitol in them. Definitely not ideal. I have found 2 products that have clean ingredients and are working very well for me so far (there are more out there, these are just 2 that I know are clean and work well). For a capsule to take every 30-60 minutes, check out Salt Stick Caps. For a water additive, I have been using Lyte Show. Both are pretty much straight electrolytes with no junk. I got them from Amazon, you may be able to get them locally.
Recovery - again, avoid the carbs! Don't give in to the siren call of a cold beer or soda after your long run or ride. Your body is still burning fat. Don't turn that off by eating carbs. Pickle juice, more water and fat/protein. More bacon! You can also enjoy an epsom salt foot soak or bath as the magnesium will help stave off cramps and it aids in muscle recovery.
There is a lot of amazing research being done in the field of exercise as a fat adapted athlete! I hope this is helpful to those of you who enjoy endurance sports.4
