Is ketosis possible?

BMKN

Hi guys I have been maintaining my weight now for 3 years. I have been doing alot of training for cycling events,am I am an endurance athlete at his stage, my carb intake can range from 300 grams per day to 600 grams per day to keep my energy levels up for long rides, My question is I have been getting symptoms of Ketosis like headaches, fruity urine,, tiredness and irritability and frequent urination. The other day day I only had about 100grams of carbs as I did an hour cycle about 27-28km. Is it possible that I entered ketosis? I am not trying to do this but it seems on the days that I exercise I have the symptoms . that evening or the next morning, I am male and usually do about 10 hours training per week. On my rest day I dont have the symptoms the next day, I drink about 2-3 ltrs of water per day.

chani8

Sure, sounds like ketosis. Why do you want to do that? You need your carbs if you're an endurance athlete. Keep your carbs no lower than 150 on lazy days, but seems to me you could stay at 250 and feel better.

Boogage

I really don't know but you normally have a lot of carbs and I think it takes about a week of low carbing to deplete your carb stores enough for ketosis so I wouldn't have thought so. If carbs keep you feeling healthy then eat them. Low carb could have caused you to feel ill I suppose. If you are training hard then you need a lot of carbs otherwise your body will break down muscle for fuel. I saw a study where 2 brothers each ate either very low Sugar or very low fat for a period and they both lost weight by the end of the trial but for the brother that ate low carb, half of his weight loss was muscle. After seeing this I'd never recommend low carb diets. My only other thought is that maybe you are over training and doing yourself more harm than good. Even athletes have to take a week off sometimes.

BMKN

Im not trying to do it I just find it so difficult to eat the amount of carbs on my heavy workout days as I am usually so full, I am taking High 5 drinks but they ae expensive and I do not want to rely on them, If I have a 100k cycle at the weekend I find it very difficult to eat the carbs required for that cycle. as I burn nearly 2000 calories I usually eat about 150-300 grams on my off day but as I burn nearly 1300 calories per day its quite alot of carbs tats nearly 600 grams of carbs.

sijomial

Im not trying to do it I just find it so difficult to eat the amount of carbs on my heavy workout days as I am usually so full, I am taking High 5 drinks but they ae expensive and I do not want to rely on them, If I have a 100k cycle at the weekend I find it very difficult to eat the carbs required for that cycle. as I burn nearly 2000 calories I usually eat about 150-300 grams on my off day but as I burn nearly 1300 calories per day its quite alot of carbs tats nearly 600 grams of carbs.

Are you eating while you ride as well as pre/post rides?
Big bowl of granola before and Soreen malt loaf while riding is my favourite at the moment!!

ETA - this is an interesting read....
http://www.bicycling.com/garmin-insider/featured-stories/eating-tour-de-france

tennisdude2004

It is possible to be in ketosis and have a higher level of carbs to fuel your sports (but it does require timing).

Personally if you are endurance training I would keep my carbs high and not mess around with ketosis (or do a lot of research to make sure you can combine the 2 comfortably).

Good luck.

LKArgh

Talk to your dr to rule out diabetes.

BMKN

I've only started eating on rides longer that 90 mins this season, for shorter rides I use High 5 energy source 2:1, I am going to have to start getting better at fuelling, I used to always bonk last season as I used to do group rides just on my breakfast from that morning as the biggest pain is the frequent urination as I would be up in the night 2-3 times or yest going like a race horse all day. I always manage to track it back to when I had only 100-150 grams of carbs or even less. That article is crazy about how much they have to consume

BMKN

Already done and did electrolyte screening. All my tests came back normal which is why I may think it's Ketosis

pennyllayne

Your body enters ketosis any time you are in a fasted state and it has to use body fat for fuel and glycogen stores are depleted. Carbs are actually best for high intensity exercise and your body can only store enough glycogen to fuel up to 180 minutes of endurance exercise so you'd have to keep refuelling, which is what athletes normally do. 100g wouldn't have lasted very long and after that your body would have had no choice but to burn fat for fuel. This is not a bad thing as long as you are not in an energy deficit and are not feeling tired and weak, but it sounds like you are having unpleasant symptoms and need to be fuelling your activity better. There is absolutely nothing wrong with burning fat for fuel for low intensity activity, but in some cases it can take some time for the body to adapt to this and this is when you get these unpleasant symptoms. So the choice really is to keep refuelling with carbs when you are training or give your body time to adapt to burning fat.

nxd10

Talk to your dr to rule out diabetes.

This.

If I'm reading you right and you are okay, then it sounds like you're working out hard enough and this is an odd enough problem I'd make an appointment with a sports doctor or nutiritionist and ask. Not a trainer (unless you know they are really excellent) but a doctor.