Keto and athletic performance?
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Princesstri
Posts: 18 Member
I’m new to keto although I’ve been LC/SC for years. I’m fit and not overweight but have put on some pounds as I aged that I’m trying to lose. I do low carb for headaches and because there’s a lot of diabetes in my family (both my parents). I’m definitely both a carb addict and carb sensitive.
What do people do about the carb counts in relation to athletic performance? I’m a cyclist that already struggles to keep up with my buddies who are faster than me and am planning on training for a triathlon soon.
Anyone else here a keto athlete? Do you increase carb count on long training days or carb re-up or anything that I’ve read about?
I’ve only been doing under 50g net carbs for two weeks and it has definitely made me feel more sluggish during workouts. But I’m hoping that will pass.
What do people do about the carb counts in relation to athletic performance? I’m a cyclist that already struggles to keep up with my buddies who are faster than me and am planning on training for a triathlon soon.
Anyone else here a keto athlete? Do you increase carb count on long training days or carb re-up or anything that I’ve read about?
I’ve only been doing under 50g net carbs for two weeks and it has definitely made me feel more sluggish during workouts. But I’m hoping that will pass.
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You will feel sluggish for a while, your body still wants to use carbs, it can take a while to become fat adapted. Carbs give immediate easy energy, but after you have been in keto you will become fat adapted and then you will have better endurance. Make sure you keep up the electrolytes, but if you are doing keto, then eating casrbs once in ketosis can make things worse and make you feel crappy.2
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There are something called “carb ups” that I’ve heard of athletes using. I wouldn’t recommend it before you keto for at least 4-6 weeks and fully fat adapted. But the basic gist is increasing your carbs and timing it your sports activities.
That said, carbs are NOT necessary and you may be surprised to fine that once you are fat adapted and your brain is a well oiled machine running on ketones, that you don’t need them. If your body needs Glucose, it can always make it through a cool process called gluconeogenesis where it converts protein to glucose, but that is an “if needed” process, and isn’t needed near as often as the keto-haters would make you think.2 -
I exercise a high amount and tend to only take upper level carbs/protein in on a timing basis to fuel the muscles during weight lifting days. I'd imagine there are some benefits to doing that in the cycling world as well. After 45+ minutes of exercise fat for fuel is ultimate and can almost keep you going energy wise until you decide to quit.
Just today I did an intense 2-hour Ashtanga Primary Series Yoga class and had taken in exactly 7 grams of carbs in the past 20 hours. Had zero energy issues and felt like I could have gone into hour 3 easily.
Give yourself a solid 2 months of very strict keto to become fat adapted. Your athletic performance may be impacted initially but it is worth it in the long term to get to that fat reserve fuel tank. It is important in the initial phase to keep your sodium and electrolytes up to avoid issues on that end. Be sure to get that protein in as well.1 -
Thanks everyone. I feel encouraged to keep going for the next few weeks to see how I feel then. I’m not having very many “keto flu” symptoms except feeling slower, running out of energy during workouts. I hope I can experience all the great things successful keto -ers get. Energy, mental clarity, not hungry all the time, weight management, etc. Not quite there yet though the test strips say I am in ketosis.1
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Are you supplementing electrolytes? You really need to take seriously especially during your rides. You will find keeping them up, especially sodium, will help a lot.
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I haven’t been doing anything about electrolytes except using salt to taste in my food or and adding a sprinkle of salt in my herb tea. I will start researching what else I need to do. Sodium is easy to add, not sure what to do about the other salts like potassium and magnesium or whatever else.0
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My workouts definitely suffer if I don't get extra salt. Anytime I get that feeling like I'm queasy or lightheaded or suddenly out of gas, I stop and have more salt, it's amazing.
That said, I also do carb cycle, so I used to eat more carbs on my lifting days, and less on other days, but I am currently experimenting with eating more carbs the day after my lifting days instead - it seems to improve the recovery time and quite frankly the day after is when the appetite really kicks in so I expect it will improve adherence as well.0 -
@tcunbeliever how many more carbs do you add on your up days? And did you go into keto for a few weeks before you added them back in? I’m the same as you. Hungry the day after and I get DOMS, soreness 2 days later.0
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Read "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" by Phinney and Volek.2
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I cycle between 51 and 100 carbs, though I don't always eat all of them...I would say my low day I probably average more like 30, and my high days are probably more like 65ish.
I did not carb cycle in the beginning, I think I was keto for several months before I started that.1 -
@tcunbeliever thanks for the advice and the book. Very helpful. Just what I needed.1
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Even if you decide to add some carbs, you’ll still no doubt be fairly low carb and will need to supplement electrolytes.
This is a very important part of a low carb diet.
https://blog.virtahealth.com/sodium-nutritional-ketosis-keto-flu-adrenal-function/
If you want a simple product to buy that has a little of everything I like Ultra Salt by Pure Vitamin Club. You will still need an additional 1 to 2 tsp of salt a day in addition to using the Ultra Salt though.2 -
@Sunny_Bunny_ I’m going to have to do something. After riding my bike yesterday on >40 carbs I felt so bad I couldn’t eat dinner. Everything I ate yesterday just made me feel sick and I woke up today to some muscle cramps. I still feel dizzy today even though I’ve upped my carbs a little already. I’ve had more salt and some potassium foods, too, but not as much as your recommendation. Salt makes me so thirsty and I struggle to stay hydrated as it is. Not ready to give up on keto yet as those it works for say they feel so good and it takes a month to get there.0
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It takes more than a month, and you need water to help electrolytes flow. 2-4 months to become fat adapted.1
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Yes once you are fat adapted you should feel great exercising while in ketosis. Have been in ketosis for a year and a few months and have tons of energy while either doing strength training or cardio. Did a 22 km high elevation 460 meter elevation gain hike on Saturday completely fasted (45hr fast) and just took in pink salt and electrolytes (mag,potassium, B12 etc) while on the hike. Also packed a back pack with 13.5 extra pounds to burn more fat than my own body weight would burn on the hike. Give it some time and if you stick with it you will see the turn around of your metabolism in very positive ways.
Some views from my 22KM hike on Saturday.
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Princesstri wrote: »@Sunny_Bunny_ I’m going to have to do something. After riding my bike yesterday on >40 carbs I felt so bad I couldn’t eat dinner. Everything I ate yesterday just made me feel sick and I woke up today to some muscle cramps. I still feel dizzy today even though I’ve upped my carbs a little already. I’ve had more salt and some potassium foods, too, but not as much as your recommendation. Salt makes me so thirsty and I struggle to stay hydrated as it is. Not ready to give up on keto yet as those it works for say they feel so good and it takes a month to get there.
Sodium is a major player in hydration. You can’t retain the water you drink where it belongs if sodium is low and you definitely have low sodium. I’m sure by now you’re low on potassium and magnesium too.
Seriously. This has landed people in the hospital. Please get more salt.2 -
If you don't have much body fat on you and you want to live the keto life and work out whether it be endurance, strength training, cardio etc you may want to make yourself some fat bombs or fat bomb/protein combo snacks to have before, during, after your exercising. After awhile you may find what your body/metabolism needs/wants and can tweak things from there. A lot depends on your body comp and your goals etc.
An example of one of the home made energy bars I make:
Chocolate coconut protein/fat bars. Macadamia nuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, golden berries, pecans, dry coconut flakes, Brazil nuts, Sejoyia coco thins, protein powder, coconut oil, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, instant coffee. All ground up in NutriBullet to creamy consistency then hardened in the fridge then freezer. If you want a quicker fat energy source you can make them with some MCT oil (they will be softer in texture) or if you want a longer sustaining fat energy source coconut oil is a good choice. Or of course you can use other sources of fats and if you don't like processed MCT stick to natural ingredients. Personally I love them with the coconut oil.
Some folks have a bad time digesting MCT and some don't like it cause it's processed..
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Had a bunch more salt today and more calories and went over my carb limits to eat 1/2 a banana and I feel better, except I’m thirsty, lol. I doubt I’m still in keto today but we’ll see what the test strip says in the am. @PaulChasinDreams your hike looks beautiful. I haven’t learned how to do fat bombs yet. My previous homemade energy bars were lots of nuts, cocoa, coconut oil raisins and dates
so if this is the right WOE for me, I’ll have to figure those out. I don’t know what golden berries are! Have to look them up. 0 -
Princesstri wrote: »Had a bunch more salt today and more calories and went over my carb limits to eat 1/2 a banana and I feel better, except I’m thirsty, lol. I doubt I’m still in keto today but we’ll see what the test strip says in the am. @PaulChasinDreams your hike looks beautiful. I haven’t learned how to do fat bombs yet. My previous homemade energy bars were lots of nuts, cocoa, coconut oil raisins and dates so if this is the right WOE for me, I’ll have to figure those out. I don’t know what golden berries are! Have to look them up.
Right on ya I like to use lower carb dried berries to add some sweetness/flavor to things. Doesn't have to be Golden Berries, they were just the ones the store had at that time I made them. Dates, figs, raisins have a lot of sugar so be careful with those. I add the Sejoyia coco thins cause they are relatively low carb but pack a lot of great flavor. I don't use too many of them though. Nice thing is you can tweak home made energy bars to whatever fat/carb/protein ratio's you want. If I want more protein I make a batch with more protein powder added. If I want more fat I tweak it that way. The main base ingredients usually stay the same though. I love a nutty/coco/coconut flavor so I just mess around adjusting from there.0 -
Maybe some no/low sugar gatorade or some other similar electrolyte drink would help. I had some issues with dehydration after my last blood donation despite drinking more than enough water and having plenty of salt...I'm not sure what else is in those drinks that helped but it did seem to help immensely when the dizzy/fainting/nauseous feelings would kick in.
The other thing to consider may be time of month. I definitely perform poorly during Lucifers Waterfall...it's a pretty terrible time for me in terms of energy levels anyway, but more salt and a few more carbs seems to help along with tons and tons of protein, I try to cram in as much protein as I can stand during that time and not worry as much about calories as long as my overage is protein.1
