Keto and exercise?

DarrelTurner

I have been on Keto albeit likely dirty Keto for about 2.5 months and have had exceptional results. Todate I have lost 42 lbs. and 6" off my waist. I can see staying motivated and driven to my goal is going to be challenging but luckily, I have a fitness coach for a daughter to keep me centered! My issue is that now that I am in my late 50's I am getting a lot of muscle fatigue even if I follow each workout with protein. Any suggestions out there for us old timers?

AnnPT77

DarrelTurner wrote: »

I have been on Keto albeit likely dirty Keto for about 2.5 months and have had exceptional results. Todate I have lost 42 lbs. and 6" off my waist. I can see staying motivated and driven to my goal is going to be challenging but luckily, I have a fitness coach for a daughter to keep me centered! My issue is that now that I am in my late 50's I am getting a lot of muscle fatigue even if I follow each workout with protein. Any suggestions out there for us old timers?

Don't lose weight so dangerously fast, because it's likely to cause more muscle loss than necessary?

Seriously: While it's not definitive, I've read research suggesting that there are limits on how much fat one's body can metabolize in a day (per pound of fat on one's body), and that losing weight extremely fast is therefore more likely to result in relatively more lean tissue loss, compared to losing more slowly.

You might be OK losing 4+ pounds per week if you started well over 400 pounds, but even then probably only if under close medical supervision, and only for a short time.

This is not an anti-Keto comment: Keto isn't relevant to what I'm saying. Losing weight too fast is dangerous, can result in more lean-tissue loss (including muscle) than the minimum; excess muscle loss will result in muscle fatigue/weakness; you might see strength gain intially with a new strength routine (due to neuromuscular adaptation) even if you're setting up in the longer run for depletion. Muscle is harder to regain as we age, so hanging on to what we've got is a really good plan.

(Depending on what you mean by "dirty keto", poor nutrition could make the situation worse. Protein is an important nutrient, but not the only important nutrient. Again, this is not an anti-Keto comment; it's a pro-nutrition comment.)

I'm 63. I got weaker for a while when I accidentally underate (because MFP underestimated my calorie needs - which is rare, but it happens). While getting weaker as we age can be an issue, despite best efforts, it isn't some sudden or speedy thing, and strength training helps delay it very materially. Losing weight very fast creates pressure in the wrong direction, toward getting weaker.

This may sound harsh. If so, I'm sorry. I truly like to see people stay strong and healthy while achieving weight-management goals! :flowerforyou:

MohsenSALAH

@AnnPT77 covered everything plus you don't have carbohydrates which is the fastest energy source. So ur body have to metabolize proteins and fat then convert them into energy. I tried it didn't work for me

knightreader

to answer your original question, i would recommend swimming, if possible, walking, cycling and weight lifting. id stay away from running or rowing as those are very harsh on the knees. good luck to you.

kimny72

I agree with Ann, you are losing weight aggressively fast and most likely feeling the effects of that, regardless of what diet you chose. Even allowing for a big drop in water weight in the beginning, you've averaged over 3 lbs per week. Unless you started at 350+ lbs, you are quite possibly losing muscle.

The typical recommendation is to lose less than 1% of your body weight per week, and that's the absolute max, unless a critical health condition makes a faster pace necessary under a doctor's care.

AnnPT77

knightreader wrote: »

to answer your original question, i would recommend swimming, if possible, walking, cycling and weight lifting. id stay away from running or rowing as those are very harsh on the knees. good luck to you.

Certain pre-existing knee problems can be a contraindication for rowing, but rowing is not inherently "harsh on the knees". I say this as a 63-year old woman with at least one torn meniscus (possibly both) and knee osteoarthritis, who rows several times a week, thousands of meters each time, on-water in Summer, machine in Winter. There are a lot of things I don't do because they aggravate my knees. Rowing is OK. (Walking, routinely but at short (2-4 mile) lengths, is not OK, for me.)

JBanx256

AnnPT77 wrote: »

DarrelTurner wrote: »

I have been on Keto albeit likely dirty Keto for about 2.5 months and have had exceptional results. Todate I have lost 42 lbs. and 6" off my waist. I can see staying motivated and driven to my goal is going to be challenging but luckily, I have a fitness coach for a daughter to keep me centered! My issue is that now that I am in my late 50's I am getting a lot of muscle fatigue even if I follow each workout with protein. Any suggestions out there for us old timers?

Don't lose weight so dangerously fast, because it's likely to cause more muscle loss than necessary?

Seriously: While it's not definitive, I've read research suggesting that there are limits on how much fat one's body can metabolize in a day (per pound of fat on one's body), and that losing weight extremely fast is therefore more likely to result in relatively more lean tissue loss, compared to losing more slowly.

:

@AnnPT77 may be referring to this study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15615615

to simplify, I'm going to copy/paste what James Kreiger wrote about it:
"...you’re referring to data from Dr. Seymour Alpert, who estimated that the maximum rate of fat loss would be 69 calories per kilogram of fat each day. So, if you’re 100 kilograms and 30% body fat (30 kg of fat), then your maximum deficit would be 30*69 = 2070 calories per day. This would be approximately a 4 lb loss per week (initially), which is about 2% of body weight. If you are 80 kilograms and 10% body fat (8 kg of fat), then your maximum deficit would be 8*69 = 552 calories per day. This is a loss of about 0.6% of body weight per week. This ties in nicely with another study that found that 0.7% loss per week maintained lean mass and training performance in athletes better than 1% per week. So, I would say, the best simple heuristic would be to keep the rate of loss to about 0.5% per week for lean individuals, and 1-2% per week for overweight/obese individuals (probably erring closer to 1% to keep the energy deficit more sustainable without causing severe hunger)."

Also, I personally don't do the keto thing but I have some friends who are competitive bodybuilders, endurance athletes, etc who do either CKD (cyclical keto diet) or TKD (targeted keto diet). Those keep fat pretty freakin' low if you are trying to lose bodyfat but allow significantly more carb intake for energy etc in a very structured way (either a refeed or timing carb intake around your workouts). So either/both of those may be worth taking a look at for you,

Emmapatterson1729

I recommend joining The Keto group and The Low Carber Daily Forum group.

Lots of long time ketoers of all ages that can give tips and advice.

If I had any questions concerning low carb or keto that's where I would ask.

I dropped weight very fast on keto too, eating 1600 calories.

I take magnesium 250 mg daily, and I cook with sea salt, and sprinkle a very light bit of potassium salt substitute on cooked foods.

If these electrolytes get low or too off balance it can cause muscle soreness.

Emmapatterson1729

Was trying to edit comment when my phone died.

I was going to add I also use epsom salt soaks (magnesium). I love Aspercream (another brand called Sports Cream); it's an aspirin based non odor ointment. If muscle inflammation, I ice 10 minutes on 50 minutes off.

Could very quickly and easily get a blood panel done too, just to see where mineral and nutrient levels are falling. (Magnesium, Vitamin D, B Vitamins, potassium, and sodium).

Any of these getting low can cause muscle fatigue and soreness.