[NSV][SV] Thanks for all the tough love a few weeks ago, ladies
I recommitted big time to Keto - sub 20 net carb days, calories under 1500, managing my electrolytes - everything. AND IT WORKED. After a couple of days of actually following the rules, I lost 3 lbs. Another 5 days, Dropped 2 more (Back to my lowest weight before shark week and my laxness hurt my weightloss!) and 4 days later, I'm at my new lowest weight! Yay, scale victories!
But even better? In the past 2 weeks I've lost: 1.5 inches from my waist; 2.5 inches from my hips; 2 inches from my band size; 2.5 inches from my bust (though if this slows down, that'd be cool with me!); 1.5 inches from each thigh, and; 1 inch from each arm.
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? Dying. The measurements alone motivate me so much more than the scale. And I made a post about buying a dress for Christmas parties that's a size too small? IT FITS ALREADY. I'm ecstatic!
tl;dr you guys are the best and thanks for all the tough love!
Edit: one day I will learn to make bullets. Today is not that day.
Posted Oct 19, 2014, 2:32 PM UTC
Great job. Could you explain a little about managing your electrolytes? I'm struggling a bit there. Thanks!
For me, it means using Electromix in my daily water (like a sports drink) and sometimes adding Mio drops or Powerade Zero to that. I also use Lite Salt - so I'm finally getting my potassium. I take a daily vitamin but it's limited to 99mg of potassium - way too little.
And, I've adjusted my magnesium (500 mg a day plus whatever I get from my food - which I do salt...I use quite a bit of regular salt and Morton Lite Salt).
There can be GI issues with too much magnesium - but it's important to figure out how much to take, and then to take it!
This is pretty much it! For me, I had been doing my electrolytes all wrong. I re-read the FAQ and with help from knowledgeable people like the ladies here, I realized I need 1000mg Potassium (which is less than a standard diet's RDV), 5000mg of salt (which is much more than a standard diet's RDV) and Magnesium. I had been doing 4500mg of Potassium and trying (and failing) to get 5000mg of Sodium. I found that once I started cooking my own food, it was much harder to get sodium. I took a 500 mg Magnesium supplement, which was the easiest electrolyte to "get." Even though I was having all that potassium, I was still having muscle twinges and headaches. Once I realized I was all wrong and really made sure to track, things got so much better.
After recalibrating my electrolyte needs, I easily hit my 1000mg Potassium from food (and add a little No Salt salt substitute to my drinks at night if I'm low for the day) and now I add .5 tsp of salt to my bottles of water. I add a bit of Mio Fit to make it more palatable, which also helps with the electrolytes. Once I did this, I felt 100% better, and my muscle twitches disappeared.
If you'd rather not drink a bunch of salt (.5 tsp in a 16.9oz water bottle is the upper limit of saltiness I can handle), a lot of people do bouillion broth, but I couldn't stand drinking that many cups of that, so I switched to pure salt in my water.
I hope this is helpful!
Edit for grammar.
Thank you for explaining in detail. I had a week I felt so crappy I began to wonder what was wrong with me! I'd read about Keto flu but didn't have any issues my first go round. This time I am really struggling. The food is relatively easy to manage and I was already drinking quite a bit of water before I started. Then I began to just feel really sick. Headachy & ached all over, needing more sleep than usual, etc. I had thought about adding a Magnesium pill and drinking bouillon but I didn't think it could make that much difference. I'd never had any issues getting enough salt & potassium in my diet before.
So I'm back to reading the FAQ again and info on electrolytes. This is a wonderful sub & people here are so willing to help out and explain.
Thank you, very helpful info! Definitely going to try the Electromix and get some Lite Salt.