💯 Day 1 of Keto/eliminating sugar...painful

lilkim89
lilkim89 Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Introduce Yourself
I survived Day 1 of the Keto diet and I've drastically cut out how much sugar I'm consuming due to staying around 20-30 carbs daily.

I forgot to look up the side effects of taking it out of my diet. I had the worst headache/brain fog...was super out of it and basically going through a bad withdrawal.
Has anyone experienced this when cutting out sugar/carbs? Is this normal?

Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    You need to research the keto diet. Most guides will talk about keto flu. Basically, you are dehydrated and need electrolytes. Try a sugar free drink, like Nuun or Ultima or you can make your own. It may even be enough to just add more salt to your food and drink more water.
  • Emmapatterson1729
    Emmapatterson1729 Posts: 1,295 Member
    The Keto group and The Low Carber Daily Forum are great groups on MFP. I recommend anyone going at keto join for support, tips, advice, and recipes.

    https://drbubbs.com/blog/2017/1/top-3-mineral-deficiencies-on-a-ketogenic-diet-and-how-to-fix-it

    He talks about the need to increase sodium, potassium, and magnesium the first few weeks.

    Good luck!
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    Keto requires serious research prior to starting. Visit the forums referenced above. Otherwise, you'll feel like you got hit by a freight train.

    Good luck!
  • KashSenpai
    KashSenpai Posts: 10 Member
    Just starting Keto for the first time starting this week, i'm experiencing the same symptoms as you, feel sick etc but through the videos i've watched on the diet, it would take 3-7 days for your body to adjust to ketones. I've been doing intermittent fasting for a while and i know for sure it's the keto flu which has hit me, so i'm trying to just have really high fat meals as my first meal and drink plenty of water with salt added. If you ain't liking mixing water and salt, maybe add salt as seasoning to some of the meats you eat.
  • lilkim89
    lilkim89 Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks for the tips :smile: Made sure to up my electrolytes today, along with staying hydrated and felt better. Also doing more research on the whole process.
  • Emmapatterson1729
    Emmapatterson1729 Posts: 1,295 Member
    edited August 2019
    It's way more simpler than the internet makes it out to be.

    Eat proteins and veggies (except starchy ones) fill in rest of calories with healthy oils (olive oil, avocado oil, real butters, eggs, creams, and cheeses).

    Increase electrolytes. Most everyone I talk to in the keto group takes a magnesium supplement (in my house we take 250 mg magnesium. Sea salt to cook with, and a potassium salt substitute--very lightly sprinkled on our cooked foods).

    Everyone debates tracking calories, I suggest tracking calories to make sure getting enough in.

    Easiest snack is nuts if you can have them. Also good: fruits like cherries, berries, or cherry tomatoes, avocados. Boiled eggs are easy.

    I keep my macros and calories in ranges.
    70-80% fats
    15-25% proteins
    5-10% carbs
    As a female, I shoot for 1300-1650 calories daily.

    As long as I hit anywhere near these ranges, I don't stress.

    If wanting to workout while starting keto, it's recommended to keep it light... Light cardio, light strength training, at least for the first few months until the body gets used to keto.

    Keep it simple!

    Hope any of this helps. Don't stress, try not to get overwhelmed by all the research.

    Good luck.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,026 Member
    Reddit's r/keto, unless they've changed it, has a great, bare-bones FAQ on keto.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

    The only thing I would add that I didn't see in a skim is that is ok to chase macros (%s), but at some point it's going to tip to where you will have to start paying attention to calories. For me it was 3 months. You'll start to plateau, and you won't lose any more because you're eating too much. A lot of folks just can't trust satiety cues. I liked keto food so much I still ate too much. Plus, my satiety cues are lazy, and I don't feel full until after I've already eaten too much to maintain. I know for certain that this happens to MANY.

    Calories matter, even if you don't care about them. :smirk: At some point, you'll probably need to start caring, so watch out for that.
  • Emmapatterson1729
    Emmapatterson1729 Posts: 1,295 Member
    baconslave wrote: »
    Reddit's r/keto, unless they've changed it, has a great, bare-bones FAQ on keto.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

    The only thing I would add that I didn't see in a skim is that is ok to chase macros (%s), but at some point it's going to tip to where you will have to start paying attention to calories. For me it was 3 months. You'll start to plateau, and you won't lose any more because you're eating too much. A lot of folks just can't trust satiety cues. I liked keto food so much I still ate too much. Plus, my satiety cues are lazy, and I don't feel full until after I've already eaten too much to maintain. I know for certain that this happens to MANY.

    Calories matter, even if you don't care about them. :smirk: At some point, you'll probably need to start caring, so watch out for that.

    Exactly! That's why I tried to start out higher is so I can drop a little at a time when I hit plateaus. I see so many people coming new into a keto or new to a calorie deficit, shooting for 1200 a day... Which leaves no wiggle room to play with later at plateaus.

    I also agree that after on keto for awhile, most adjust macros to meet individual needs. I see a lot of ketoers go higher protein after months or years on keto. Some slowly go from keto (under 20-30ish grams) to low carb (50-150 grams).

    After getting adjusted, most do play with macro and calorie requirements for individual desires and needs.
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