r/ketobeginners

I’ve only been doing keto for about 2 weeks, the biggest difference I notice is in my energy levels. I’ll get a random burst of energy in the evening and I go for a walk from 6-7. Dinner by 8pm, then I’m in bed by 9:30-10pm and actually fall asleep around 11pm. I have cats so they always wake me up around 4am. In the past I’m able to wake up, give kibble, and go back to bed. However, now I’m noticing I wake up at 2am then 4am and I’m tired but not sleepy. I even took a magnesium glycine last night and I’m more awake than ever, writing this post at 4am. Could this be due to keto, anybody else experienced this, ideas on how to fix it?

Hello. I am 21, an epileptic (recently diagnosed 11/2025, I get tonic-clonic seizures managed with Lamotrigine) and have some issues with anxiety and occasional insomnia. As part of my goal to get healthy and make some changes to potentially never have another seizure again, I’ve thought a lot about dietary changes and have the idea to give keto a try. I’m concerned about trying because I know that I’ll have to give up a lot of my favorite foods such as sweet potatoes. Also, my mom will definitely be concerned that I’m not eating any fruit at all (except for small servings of berries). I too am concerned about that. I don’t just want to be eating meat and bacon all the time.

Can I please have some insight from more experienced keto people here? How can I make keto healthy and what are some example meals and recipes? What has it done to you health wise. To any epileptics here, have you found any good thing out of going keto (not talking about the modified Atkins diet or epilepsy keto diet that barely allows any protein or trace carbs whatsoever used for drug resistant epilepsy)?

I’m probably just going to count total carbs and keep my carb intake to 50 grams a day max, keeping my protein high enough as I like to run, weight lift, and I have a job where I’m on my feet all day. Also, i want a gradual transition from my current high carb diet to keto as im concerned that keto flu could potentially lower my seizure threshold.

Thank you very much. 🙏

I'm not overweight, but thought keto might reduce my migraines. Also, "mental clarity" would be an improvement!

Five weeks in, I'm not feeling anything. No changes to mind, sleep, energy, weight. I suspect that's because I've been off sugar and junk food for a decade, so there's not that "gain" to be had.

Or, it's because I'm eating an absolute ton of calories (just like before). So I might be exceeding 50 g/day of carbs.

Typical day:

• peanuts (maybe 5 handfuls per day), almonds, cashews, and walnuts (maybe an additional 2 handfuls per day).

• tons of eggs, meat, yoghurt, cheese.

• a few non-starchy vegies

• 2 segments of mandarin orange

I'm hoping to not have to count macros, so your opinion is helpful here. Even if I did count, I wouldn't know what to make of the carb total, because I think maybe I should be looking at carbs as a percentage of my high daily intake? Or should I just cut carbs even further and see what happens?

I might or might not have been in ketosis, but I know I potentially gained weight instead of losing.

Everything seems to have sugar. It's hardcore, and my body tries to trick me into eating sugary stuff like fruits.

Google gives me mixed messages, or I just misread it.

One day, tomatoes are keto friendly, and the next day, they aren't, and I'm stuck with nearly a kilo of tomatoes. I have other examples. It is really hard!

I exercise quite a lot and am in perimenopause, which doesn't make this easier.

Sorry for the moan!

Whag resources have helped you figure it all out?

(I'm in the UK and am not interested in any keto products, like sweeteners or breads)

I don't understand what happens if a normal-weight person eats just above the calorie amount required for "ketosis". Say I eat 60g of calories/day - that's still not enough energy from carbs to keep me going as an organism, so the body would have to be turning all the fat I'm eating into ketones, right?

Is the state of ketosis only important for people wanting to burn stored fat?

Contexto: 🇦🇷22 años 76kg de peso 1.78 altura.
Hace 1 año que tome conciencia de lo mal que me alimentaba, pesaba como 90kg y muy poca masa muscular.
El cuerpo se me fue recomponiéndo, pero durante un tiempo tuve unos atracones brutales donde gané grasa y me estanque… porque era darme un gusto y devorar, la azúcar se me hacía adictiva.
Si bien fueron desapareciendo esos atracones, algunas veces en este tiempo aparecieron.
Con el tiempo fui bajando carbohidratos y los metía antes de entrenar. Pero lo mismo, a veces la bestia de adentro se me despertaba y terminaba comiendo por comer.

Bueno vamos al post, la semana pasada decidí empezar la Keto (antes había metido ayuno de 36 horas, me gusta ayunar así como atracarme🤣) y la verdad los primeros días me sentí genial, con claridad mental, sin antojos dulces aunque reconozco que en el aburrimiento del domingo me comí unos 200gr de queso Reggianito, pero sinceramente no me cayó mal como los dulces, no me hinche y no sentí esa culpa que tenía cuando salía de la dieta.

Por ahora en tema comida no estoy ni contando calorías, el miércoles me voy a pesar a ver qué tal.
Acá en 🇦🇷 la carne es riquísima y eso ayuda, además que amo la carne.
Hoy me sentí un poco fatigado la verdad, pero igual caminé unos 8km pero estoy cansado, creo que es normal… igualmente la semana que viene tengo turno con un especialista en esta dieta.

PD: me compré potasio, magnesio siempre consumi, además tomo creatina, y tomo omega 3.
A veces meto las aguas con electrolitos, eso siento que me pega brutal.

Algún consejo? más que nada estaba buscando algún “PRE ENTRENO”… siempre fui a entrenar con horas de ayuno y un café negro sintiéndome bien, hoy la verdad estaba saciado pero necesitaba algo de comer/tomar que me de energía.

Hi everyone.

I’m a few months into my Keto journey. I am male 59yrs old. I have been using the urine strips to measure (roughly) my ketone levels and check that I am in Ketosis. At first, after the first few days, I was showing a dark/high level of ketones.

Recently the color has been very light. My diet has been much the same but the strips are showing a very mild (at best) level. Is this normal for someone 3 months in or do I need to review my diet?

Thank for reading and any advice!

Contexto: Buenas soy de Argentina tengo 22 años. Hoy día peso 76kg. Hace 1 año cambie mis hábitos alimenticios y empeze a entrenar fuerza en el Gimnasio, además de sumar más cardio del que hacia (Boxeo y Fútbol en la semana recreativo). Baje mucha grasa, gane musculo y siento que hoy tengo un buen cuerpo multifuncional y estético pero nunca logro definir en un porcentaje de grasa bajo. Y ese no es el mayor problema, sino que estoy cansado de contar calorías, de ver cuando meto hidratos, de masomenos calcular el peso de la comida. Ademas siento que a veces cuando como algun hidrato de carbono, se activa algo en mi que no me deja parar de comer, como una adicción y a veces caigo en atracones que termino compensando.

Y ahí aparece la dieta Keto: Hace tiempo escucho a un nutricionista argentino que su canal es Manu Keto, me interesa lo que cuenta de como el cuerpo empieza a usar la grasa y tiene sentido... además de que me olvidaría de estar pendiente a la comida como me pasa ahora.

Solo me surgen algunas preguntas , y si alguien es amable de contar su experiencia lo agradezco, me sirve.

¿es real eso de no contar calorías? (siempre y cuando coma vegetales y carnes/huevos)

¿se gana paz mental/ o mejor relación con la comida?

lo recomiendan para alguien como yo que no compite en ningun deporte de alto rendimiento?

PD: No soy fan del aceite de oliva, osea si es necesario lo uso pero si sigue la limitación de calorías prefiero usar comiendo huevos o carne.

Entreno fuerza 4 veces a la semana (trato de superarme semanal/mensualmente en pesos pero lejos estoy de ser culturista)

Quiero lograr una buena definición

Hey all,

This should be an uncommon post here, as I, started this keto journey as a “test” for health improvement and possible prevent some kind of health issues, rather than for loosing weight.

At the same time, I am committed to gain weight and build muscle, which has been a really hard fight to win. As on a high fat, low carb diet, my hunger just evaporates so I feel that I will need to force myself to eat if I actually want to gain weight (muscle).

I am really interested in some tips or recommendations you could give me, or if anyone already gone through this and found a dense calorie food “hack” to have a calorie surplus easily. I already eat a lot of butter, fatty beef cuts, avocados, etc… I am 22, workout calisthenics 4 times per week (medium intensity sessions), weight 61kg and it just does not go up xd.
I’m on this for 3 months.

In fact I really understand why is it so effective for weight loss, as I know that I would loose weight if I didn’t “force” myself to eat more.

Thank you :)

If feels like Big Food decides what is in and what isn't. I'm not talking about those of us who made this a lifestyle, I'm talking about gen pop. For a while, they slapped Keto on everything, today its protein everything. Protein ice-cream, cereal, soda. Wild times.

So today is day 2 and I feel extremely weak, I am consuming 30g of net carbs. Today I had 8 egg whites plus 2 whole eggs, chicken with onion and tomatoes, and I also had Okra.

now my question is when do I start taking this "lite-salt" thingy which is supposed to be a combination of sodium and potassium, also called as ketoade?

I do feel super weak but I don't know if it's just because I am starting out or I need to start adding lite salt, I Just don't know when to add salt because I do have kidney stones and I want to be cautious of salt.

First - I've read the FAQ, etc. I'm 39M / 225lbs. Overall healthy, active, competitive swimmer. Just have young kids and the dad bod has crept in. I am on a daily dose of Wellbutrin 100mg.... this is my only medication.

I am on day 13 of my first time trying Keto. I am doing this under medical supervision.

Eating 20-25 grams of carbs per day. Heavy on eggs, chicken thighs, steak, pork chops, cheese. Veggies are either fried cabbage, roasted zucchini, green beans, cauliflower. Having some (few) raspberries for additional fiber. I am experiencing constipation. I've taken a couple doses of miralax over this period, and some metamucil capsules. I AM going, just not enough.

I've lost 3-4lbs during this time. Certainly not the water weight I was expecting to lose.

Day 1 - Didn't feel much of anything

Days 2-3 - Bad headache

Days 4-10 - Felt literally euphoric. Zero carb cravings. All joint pain gone. I have a bulging L4/L5 in my lower back that I've been treating for nearly a year... feels 90% better. Brain fog - gone. Any lingering depression and anxiety symptoms - gone. Waking up 30-60 minutes before my alarm and getting good workouts in. High energy all day - never even thought of having an afternoon coffee (after my 1 typical morning coffee).

Days 11-13 - Taken a turn for the worse. Quite a bit of dizziness (this is the biggest complaint). Fatigue, muscle soreness, more tired (not feeling the gym - at all). Brain fog is back. Thankfully joint and back pain are still gone.

I'm having trouble figuring out my electrolytes. My food is pretty salty already. I'm I'm getting close to 3000mg sodium from food alone. I've been taking 200mg magnesium glycinate before bed, and tried adding another 100mg in the morning. I was drinking 1-2 LMNT packs a day during the first week (1000 sodium/200 potassium/60 magnesium in each). Towards the end of the week the dizziness was increasing, so I increased to 3 LMNT packs a day. Then tried adding some NoSalt to the LMNT packs as well (400-600mg per bottle/pack). But I just keep feeling worse!

Yesterday I woke up and peed a lot at 6AM. Went back to bed and peed a LOT again at 7:30AM. Felt dizzy. Drank an LMNT and my normal coffee. Went out with the family to breakfast and had a meat lovers omelet - high in sodium, plus a plain water and coffee. Kept feeling worse. Was out in the sun at the playground, sipping on LMNT. Kept feeling worse. Went home, chugged some LMNT and closed my eyes in bed for 30 minutes - felt better. Then drank a bullion cube in water. Was tired for the rest of the day, but at least not dizzy. I've been checking my blood pressure at home several times and it has been in the normal range.

This morning I had an LMNT (with no added potassium) drank by 9AM and currently working on my second (at 10:30). Feeling better than yesterday but still way worse than I was early last week.

I as able to speak with a PA at my weight loss doctor's office. She suggested I'm taking in TOO MANY electrolytes. She wants me to dial back to just one LMNT per day and see how I feel, keeping in mind all the salty food I've been eating too. She said its not uncommon to feel good and then revert to Keto Flu for up to 2 weeks. She encouraged me to stay the course this week, thinking I will get back to that "euphoria".... and I hope she's right. She said if there is no improvement by mid-week I can get some bloodwork.

Anyone have any thoughts / advice? Completely understand from my research that everyone's electrolyte needs are different. I just didn't think it would be so hard to dial it in.

Thanks.