No energy on ketogenic diet after 6 weeks. Please help.
the1brit
Posts: 6 Member
I have been following a ketogenic diet for the last 6 weeks. I even bought a ketone meter and my ketones measure 3.0 mmol on a fairly regular basis so I know that I am producing adequate ketones, but I am totally exhausted. I am on the verge of giving up. My macros are 83% fat, 3% carbs, and 14% protein. I am eating only moderate levels of protein, and my carbs are around 15 grams or below. I am having no fruit and no nuts. My carbs are only salad vegetables like kale, lettuce, spinach, or chives. Protein is mostly meat, eggs, and some cheese. Fat is coming from coconut oil, and ghee. I also am taking a teaspoon of salt twice a day to make sure that my sodium levels are adequate. I am not eating enough protein to disrupt ketosis as my ketone meter clearly indicates. My energy levels are extremely low, and I do not have increased mental clarity. Please help. I have been super strict and it does not appear to be working. I track my food daily in an online food log and I am very specific.
Am I just one of those people that does not function well on a ketogenic diet? Any suggestions?
Am I just one of those people that does not function well on a ketogenic diet? Any suggestions?
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Replies
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You're eating ridiculously low carb. Who advised you to do this?0
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Eat food!
Why torture yourself? Unless your doctor has a medical reason for you to be in keto, then it is unnecessary to weight loss.0 -
Three percent carbs is WAY too low. Carbs are what give you energy, and you have essentially none--no wonder you're exhausted. Eat some bread!
How are you getting fiber? I can't imagine how constipated I'd be on your diet.0 -
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You want help? Okay, but I don't think it is going to be what you want to hear. EAT some more carbs.0
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I am following a ketogenic diet, also at 5/6 week mark. My carb intake is between 25 -45 g and about 15% most days. I feel fine and am eating lots of veg and salad, limited fruit and meats/fish. Also able to exercise. You def need to up your carb intake and make most of your plate veg based. Also get a good quality supplement to help boost you back up from the recent deprivation.
Ketogenic can be really easy and not limiting - unless you limit yourself unnecessarily. Feel free to have a look at my food diary for inspiration.
Cat x0 -
A number of years ago I was on the Atkins diet. It started off at 30 grams of carbs per day, and then increased a bit as the program went on. In that program, they said that decreased energy as well as mental acuity could be a result. Talk to your doctor and ask about a healthy carb level.0
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Eat the bread, man!0
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Or woman!0
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Carbs give you energy.
Unless you have a metabolic issue like PCOS or diabetes and your doctor recommended this, why do keto?0 -
How many calories are you eating? You have been here for more than year with no forum posts and a private diary. Open your diary to see how much you are eating and what you are eating.0
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You want help? Okay, but I don't think it is going to be what you want to hear. EAT some more carbs.
All this right here.
Keto is unnecessary and can be downright dangerous. You can lose weight without it. Feeling ill and too weak to function...that's not a sign of good health.
Keto is nonsense. Eat and track your calories.
Bunch of BS. LOL0 -
You don't have increased mental clarity and wondering if you should change your diet. Is it your goal to lose weight or end up in a hospital?0
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Maybe this diet isn't a good fit for you.0
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You don't need keto
Ketogenic low-carbohydrate diets have no metabolic advantage over nonketogenic low-carbohydrate diets.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16685046
CONCLUSIONS:
KLC and NLC diets were equally effective in reducing body weight and insulin resistance, but the KLC diet was associated with several adverse metabolic and emotional effects. The use of ketogenic diets for weight loss is not warranted.0 -
You want help? Okay, but I don't think it is going to be what you want to hear. EAT some more carbs.
Yeah ... Keto doesn't work for everybody. And it doesn't seem to be working for you. Have some bread, it's okay! SO MANY people here lose weight and they never even think about Keto. You can eat what you enjoy and still lose weight, don't despair!0 -
You want help? Okay, but I don't think it is going to be what you want to hear. EAT some more carbs.
All this right here.
Keto is unnecessary and can be downright dangerous. You can lose weight without it. Feeling ill and too weak to function...that's not a sign of good health.
Keto is nonsense. Eat and track your calories.
Bunch of BS. LOL
I agree Keto is a bunch of bs.0 -
You don't have increased mental clarity and wondering if you should change your diet. Is it your goal to lose weight or end up in a hospital?
This is the sad truth.
OP, please eat something. 0 -
I just did the initial phase of Atkins for 5 weeks straight. It is great for appetite control but I got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I am going to slowly add carbs back in. Honestly, I didn't see any more weight loss being in ketosis than I did on a low calorie diet.0
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I love my ketogenic diet. It's the only way I've lost weight and kept it off. Tried to lose weight for 15 years, and since going low carb, this is the most I've lost and the longest I've gone without gaining anything I've lost back. I tried a moderation diet for 15 years, and it just didn't work.
If you really want to stick with it, I would up my carbs and see if that helps. 3% carbs is really low. I wouldn't even know how to get 85% fat without drinking whipping cream. There's a lot of calculators out there. Go to yahoo or google and enter 'keto calculator' and it'll come up with several of them that will help you. My carbs are 10% which counting exercise usually ends up being about 40 grams a day.
Also make sure you're getting enough calories. I upped my exercise a lot a couple of months ago without upping my calories, and I started feeling really bad. Once I started eating more, I felt better, and I was able to go on.
And sometimes the low carb lifestyle just doesn't work for some people. I feel better eating the way I do (of course that may just be because I lost 40 pounds), but my boyfriend tried it with me, and it didn't work for him. He had to go back to eating the way he was.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck!
EDIT: Oh, and like the person above me said, I don't think you lose anymore weight any faster this way than if you did a moderation diet. Every year for the last 15 years in January, I start a new diet. This January I started just a moderation diet, then went low carb in February. I lost about the same both months. What it did do was make it easier for me to stay in a calorie deficit and not struggle with wanting to eat a whole box of Oreos. In the years past, I gave up at about April or May and started eating anything and everything and a lot of it....0 -
Where are the low-carb zealots? Why aren't they all over this thread? This has to be all in your head, not the product of your diet! Low carb is perfect!
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And back to reality.
Sarcasm aside, please eat some carbs. And get off this stupid diet.
Eat real food, don't cut out any macros, and stay at a calorie deficit.
Any diet that requires you to restrict food in some way needs to be ignored.
Best of luck.0 -
Unless you have some reason to be on this diet, that is a ridiculously low amount of carbs. How many total calories? Because it really is all about calories in/calories out. I try to meet my protein goal (to keep muscle while losing fat) and my total calorie goal but the protein is the only macro I track. The majority of my carbs come from vegetables and I only consume whole grains or brown rice. But that is still a nice chunk or carbs.
Gimmicks are just that - gimmicks.0 -
Thanks GMstarr1. Very insightful0
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That study is based on healthy individuals. They did similar studies with people who have insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or are prediabetic, and there is a metabolic advantage in this demographic. The insulin resistant people lost more weight on a low carb diet. It depends on your metabolism.0
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I know it isn't new or exciting, but why not try eating a healthy diet? Include all the food groups.
If you haven't tried a plain old healthy diet, give it a whirl. See how it goes.
Talk to your doctor and see what they recommend.
I honestly don't know why more people don't just ask their doctor and follow that advice. You really don't need to outsmart the doctor or lose weight on some weird diet that includes or excludes things you don't need.
Eat well and exercise. It works.
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Eat some carbs. There's all the help you need.
A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0 -
Even on VLCD's that are designed to limit carbs usually the carb intake is somewhere around 50-100. I personally gave medifast a go and it was around 100g carbs.
When you're unhealthy and overweight your body gives you signals that it's hurting... Joint problems, digestion problems, sluggishness, headaches, high blood pressure and diabetes... Listen to your body again now! It's trying to tell you to give it the nutrients it needs to keep going. Good luck to you and I hope you enjoy some pizza soon
(If you're under the care of a physician and have medical issues we don't know about, ignore everything I just said lol)0 -
You want help? Okay, but I don't think it is going to be what you want to hear. EAT some more carbs.
All this right here.
Keto is unnecessary and can be downright dangerous. You can lose weight without it. Feeling ill and too weak to function...that's not a sign of good health.
Keto is nonsense. Eat and track your calories.
Bunch of BS. LOL
I agree Keto is a bunch of bs.
No the post is BS. Shows how much the poster knows about Keto.0
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