advice please - ammonia smell

floop1207

almost constantly. its making me feel :grumble: its not a product that is used in the house at all and no one else can smell it - just me. there's a whiff of ammonia/bleach stuck in my nose.

i've used the search link above which found some threads on this problem after a workout. i'm not able to do a heavy workout (i have CFS and fibromyalgia) but i'm trying to combine my calorie tracking with body weight squats and some light exercises (mainly yoga) when i can.

could anyone explain why i might be experiencing this please - and how can i stop it?

thank you.

Hildy_J

Blimey. Unusual one. Have you got a cat/cat litter tray. Our kitty is the world's largest natural resource of ammonia. :sick:

ladynocturne

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/ammonia-smell-during-exercise-on-ketogenic-diet-qa.html


This is a fairly common report on very low-carbohydrate/ketogenic diet (defined, once again, as any diet containing less than 100 grams of carbohydrate per day), a report of a fairly strong ammonia smell in the sweat during exercise. This ammonia is produced due to the ultimate breakdown of ATP to ADP to AMP and ammonia.

This appears to occur more readily when muscle glycogen is depleted (as occurs with the combination of of a very low-carbohydrate intake along with training) and may be part of the increased protein requirements that have been known to occur with endurance training. I would mention that it appears that this ‘protein breakdown’ is not actually coming from the breakdown of skeletal muscle itself; rather it’s from the breakdown of BCAA (branched-chain amino acids) within the free amino acid pool.

So is this ok? So long as dietary protein intake is sufficient, I don’t see this as being any real problem. The effect is slight in terms of the absolute amount of protein being broken down (in terms of grams) and so long as protein intake is sufficient, there shouldn’t be any detrimental effect other than the smell.

And how do you get rid of the smell? Well, either wear strong deodorant or raise your carbohydrate intake above the ~100 g/day cutoff point so that you’re not in ketosis.

Wonderwoman2677

Research phantom smells. I believe it could be neurologic.

Mr_Knight

I've had this as well. However, I am decidedly NOT low carb, in the 250-300g per day range. Also in the 150-200g per day range for protein. It usually happens late night after a strenuous PM cardio workout, so I'm assuming it's tapping ingested protein for fuel, as it isn't possible to burn fat stores fast enough to keep up with extended cardio work.

But I'd be interested in hearing alternate explanations....

EDIT: It's definitely not neurological, this is a fairly common occurrence.

KarateMadMum

Have you changed body spray/deodorant?
My husband changed His before a work out and oh my word he STUNK! He really smelt of a combination of cat pee and ammonia... apparently it was his body reacting to the new stuff and rejecting it... If its not that then check the amount of carbs in your diet as mentioned above!

Oh, just a thought.. can anyone else smell it? It may not be as bad as you think it is

Good luck x

CarmenSRT

It happens to me as well, has for years. Once again, I'm not keto either. It's mostly after a workout. My husband can't smell it so to me it's no biggie.

floop1207

no kitties in the house and i've changed no products that i use or wear. no one else can smell it and its not as if its coming from my sweat pores, its just stuck in my nose!

i'm not doing a low carb thing but i have cut down a lot from the amount of carbs i was eating. i'm vegetarian and trying to make sure i have plenty of protein but i'm not sure how to work out how much i'm eating. i'm just calorie tracking on here, eating approx 20% under tdee and trying to move around as much as i can.

are the figures we enter into the food tracker on here shown as grams?

i've only lost 7lb in 6 weeks and thats ok as i know i can't do much exercise to speed things along but the last couple of weeks i've been stuck. :frown:

floop1207

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/ammonia-smell-during-exercise-on-ketogenic-diet-qa.html


This is a fairly common report on very low-carbohydrate/ketogenic diet (defined, once again, as any diet containing less than 100 grams of carbohydrate per day), a report of a fairly strong ammonia smell in the sweat during exercise. This ammonia is produced due to the ultimate breakdown of ATP to ADP to AMP and ammonia.

This appears to occur more readily when muscle glycogen is depleted (as occurs with the combination of of a very low-carbohydrate intake along with training) and may be part of the increased protein requirements that have been known to occur with endurance training. I would mention that it appears that this ‘protein breakdown’ is not actually coming from the breakdown of skeletal muscle itself; rather it’s from the breakdown of BCAA (branched-chain amino acids) within the free amino acid pool.

So is this ok? So long as dietary protein intake is sufficient, I don’t see this as being any real problem. The effect is slight in terms of the absolute amount of protein being broken down (in terms of grams) and so long as protein intake is sufficient, there shouldn’t be any detrimental effect other than the smell.

And how do you get rid of the smell? Well, either wear strong deodorant or raise your carbohydrate intake above the ~100 g/day cutoff point so that you’re not in ketosis.

very informative, thank you. i fear my protein intake IS too low and i'm trying to increase it. is it harmful to my body or weight loss?