Blood pressure/exercise on keto
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Terracotta71
Posts: 12 Member
So- since starting keto almost 3 weeks ago I’ve been noticing going to the gym is tough for me....like really really tough. Can’t seem to explain how tired I am. Nothing works the same. While on the elliptical today I decided to check my blood pressure- sky high- like to the point I needed to stop working out and stretch out for awhile. Is this normal when first starting? Does anyone have some advice? I am a huge cyclist and cardio shouldn’t be this difficult for me .....but for some reason I am hitting a wall:(
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That sounds like the keto flu/carb flu, which is normal and to be expected. All it is is the process of your body transitioning into ketosis. Lots and lots of water and replenishing sodium, potassium, and magnesium is what's been recommended to me. Also, while in the flu stage people say taking it pretty easy on the exercise helps quite a bit.0
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Sounds like keto flu for sure. Up the electrolytes. Especially the sodium/salt. You can drink a few cups of chicken broth a day. I use the knoor powder, pink Himalayan and Redmond real salt.
Look into “the salt fix” on youtube/podcast from high intensity health, really informative.0 -
As said above, completely normal, and good advice. You can expect diminished capacity/results, til you fully transition.0
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The so-called keto flu is a fallacy and 100% avoidable. It is an electrolyte imbalance situation.
@Terracotta71
When you drop your carbs, a number of functions cause the body to dump a large volume of sodium. We must replace this sodium daily - usually 3500-5000 mg or more for some folks - every day - and even more when active...
The low sodium would cause a blood pressure spike because it also goes along with massive dehydration, etc...
However, the majority of your gym struggle actually sounds like the fact that your body has to go through and create all new muscle mitochondria to be able to use ketone energy instead of glycogen. This generally translates to a 4-12 week delay in gym performance. Most people back off of workout intensity at this time - or temporarily pause the workouts while the body adjusts.
The harder you attempt to push through, the longer it may take to build these new mitochondria. And any time you hit a gym wall while eating a low carb diet, get in electrolytes, mostly sodium, but possible magnesium, and maybe even potassium if you get excessively dehydrated - but be careful with potassium. Too much is as deadly as too little. Magnesium will just dump excess in loose stool...1 -
I think the Phinney and Volek book, "The Art and Science of Low Carb Performance" has some good information in it explaining this...1
