Why am I exhausted on the keto diet
So you have started KETO . After some time you are exhausted. Now you don’t want to continue.
Because its been a couple of weeks or perhaps even a few months. You are feeling fatigued . Somehow you are feeling the lack of energy in every work.
The Reality is that the Keto diet supposed to give you more energy. But for some reasons it is not working for you like it should have. Hence the question comes to your mind “Why am I exhausted on the keto diet ?”
In this article I am writing about the possible reasons for your tiredness that you think is caused by keto diet.
Our body reacts to ketosis in a different manner according to our ability to accept new diet style. And it also depends on the period of time We are following keto. Understanding this will help you to recognize the problem that you are facing and hopefully come out of it.
And Yes I Don’t want You to quit keto Diet
Let me break it down for you.
In different period of time ketosis in our body takes place in a different way.
If you are feeling exhausted within the first few weeks of starting the keto diet then the following could be the reason for your fatigue.
Why am I exhausted on the keto diet? The first reason
Deficiency of mineral in our body
You may have heard it before But allow me to throw light on this matter in a different way.
have you heard of Keto flue? The fact of the matter is unlike other flues it occurs when your body runs very low on essential minerals .
The main mantra of keto is avoid carbs on a daily basis.
Generally our body is habituated with high carb diet
When we first start to control the intakes of carbohydrates for some period of time our kidneys do something unusual . As a natural response to a new limited carb diet our kidneys get confused .As a reaction it starts the excretion of water more than usual.
Hence the suggestion comes when you are in a keto diet you should drink a lot of water.
It’s not only water that your kidney expels But also the important mineral that our body needs gets out with the water rapidly .
AND this is where the problem starts
Minerals like sodium potassium magnesium are essential for our body to function properly.
Although all the Minerals are very important. But the problem of fatigue takes place in your body when you are deficient of these 3 minerals. SODIUM, POTASSIUM and MAGNESIUM
Sodium
For some reasons if your sodium level is running low you end up having a massive migration of fluid from outside of the cell to the inside .
The cells of our brain is exceptionally sensitive to this sudden change . So your brain starts feeling wired. the usual side effects are dizziness fatigue etc . Although you are not physically fatigued but your brain tricks you to think that you are exhausted.
Potassium
Potassium controls nerves and muscle of our body. lack of potassium in our body can lead to things like weakness cramping etc
Magnesium
Magnesium is also a very important mineral that our body requires for functioning smoothly.
Magnesium deficiency results muscle weakness in our body
When you are in the early stage of your keto diet its perfectly natural to face this kind of issues .
Things that can be done
Electrolytes is a great choice when you have mineral deficiency in your body. But it is not guaranteed that drinking it would make everything smooth for every one.
It will take some time for your body to adapt to the new situation. Ketosis is a simple and natural process and your body will adopt the new process smoothly over a period of time .
If you are following keto diet for a couple of weeks and you’re still fatigued then it must be the carb transition in your body and it’s reaction with dopamine in your brain.
What happens
when we consume something that feels good or tastes good we get a reward in our brain. It is because we receive dopamine hits in the nucleus accumbens portion of the brain and they give us the satisfaction sense of reward. It is almost like recreational drugs.
In multiple studies, it is proven that carb activates mesolimbic pathway (the feel-good part of our brain ) in almost the same way as the recreational drugs do.
Our brain is very much dependent on carbs for pleasure. When we start a low carb diet like keto our brain starts to send signals. And we become very moody we start to have anxiety and mostly we start to have fatigue.
A study was conducted by The Journal Nutrients. They found that there was a significant change in cravings and Hunger after 12 weeks on a ketogenic diet compared to a high-fiber diet which is also supposed to be a very highly satiating diet.
Solution
If you can follow the keto diet strictly for ten to twelve months. You can surely overcome the dopamine issue. That is how long it takes for the brain to reset from an addiction.
That is assuming that you have a carb addiction. It doses not constitute every one that is fatigue
Simple solution
the best way to overcome this carb addiction is using ketones faster and hopefully get out of this.
The only way to speed up the process of ketosis is exercise.
Aerobic exercise instead of high-intensity exercise
You have to be very careful when you are doing exercise.
High-intensity interval training comes into play after you are fat-adapted.
Fatty acid oxidation and fatty acid mobilization occur better at 25-60% of your maximum heart rate range. In simple words, Easy cardio mobilizes fat a lot better.
The more fats get mobilized the more it gets into the liver. In the liver it transform into ketones. You can get through this carb addiction much better if you can start producing ketones faster.
The bottom line is if you do low-intensity work out you will create ketones much faster,
Are you inefficient at creating Ketones?
The insufficiency of creating ketones is a related to varius factors like genetics and age maybe environmental factors also.
A study published in the journal Metabolism: Clinical and experimental regarding the excretion of ketones. they were finding about the acetoacetate beta-hydroxybutyrate.
They were interested to see what happens when individuals were producing a bunch of ketones over a period of time . Interestingly they found that over time our bodies learn to produce ketones efficiently and increased the retention of it .
At the beginning of the study, ketones were excreted heavily through the urine. That is why when you use those test strips you see a ton of ketones and then over a period of time it falls off.
It is simply because when you start keto you have a big influx of ketones as your body is not efficient, it’s making too many ketones. Unfortunately it is is not using them at first.
As you get more efficient your body holds on to ketones and dose not excrete them through urine.
If your body is having to spend a lot of time creating ketones all the time and you are not adapted and adjusted to it , your body could make you Fatigued.
It comes down to the fact how long your body will take to be efficient that is why it depends on person to person. It could take a month or it could take a few months for you.
solution
Unfortunately there is no solution for it. The only way to get out of it is going through the process.
Fat Adaptation
Fat adaptation is al about how the cells of our body learn to use fat and ketones.
In the beginning, the cells of your body will find it difficult to adopt the new source of energy that is fat. As you start getting more adopted, cells will be in harmony with the new source.
It comes down to mitochondria and its ability to utilize those fats.It could take anywhere
from 5-10 weeks for the mitochondria to become truly become fat-adapted.
The thing that I want to tell you that it could take 10 to 12 weeks for you to get fat adopted.
If you are still exhausted after ten to twelve-week
You might need to re-evaluate what you are eating and find out the mistakes you make on a keto diet.
Maybe keto is not working because of your food habit.
It is very important to eat the best foods for keto diet .
Finally
mineral imbalances curb addiction transition withdrawal inefficiency of creating ketones true fat adaptation and your body utilizing those fats.
I hope this article helped out to find the real reason why you are exhausted on a keto diet
Why am I exhausted on the keto diet
