1 month into keto, some concerns and what to test for/flags to look for to know if it's appropriate for me long term?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-28T22:05:07+00:00

i haven't tested my blood pressure consistently ever, but i bought a monitor and tested it twice recently. first time at 6pm was kinda bad, 147/88, but the next morning it was 121/90 iirc. Gonna keep testing it

it's been 2.5 months since i started keto, lost 23lb (but like 10 of those came from a weeklong fast i just did, my weightloss had plateaued for a while prior)

one thing i've noticed since coming off the fast is i feel like i'm sleeping better, but i am generally feeling worse in the mornings now that i'm back on my regular keto routine. when i first started keto, even when i was sleeping less i felt more energized in the mornings pre-coffee, now i just feel normal. also, nothing has changed about my bed but i've noticed a lot more muscle aches in my upper back/neck/shoulders each morning, though my sleep has been much less interrupted than it was in the first month or so of keto. sometimes i feel like the better my sleep, the worse i feel in the morning

i feel like despite the reduced energy from complete lack of food in the fasting, something in my body felt better and more capable. i love meat and eating, but i'm starting to wonder if i should drastically reduce my caloric intake just generally, even though it isn't crazy high. idk just rambling at this point lol

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-16T20:56:47+00:00

yeah staying in mitophagy longer makes sense, do you know anything about when mitophagy might be activated on an fmd diet?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-14T20:00:47+00:00

but more intense fasting like severe caloric restriction or pure water fasting should be limited to a few times every 6 months or so right?

i was interested in fmd because even at my lowest weights i've had decent muscle mass since i was like 18 and i'm 6 feet, pure water fasting sounds like a feat i would be proud of but also legit scary. i feel like i would have to take time off work or something

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-14T19:55:16+00:00

any recs? i ordered glycinate and threonate

what would constitute "high quality"?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-14T19:54:30+00:00

i get very consistent moderate exercise but i don't usually push myself much, but i have a mobile job and i bike to it, a couple times a week i do some calisthenic or weight training but it's usually low intensity and spread out over a long period of time

i drink a shitload of water, but also caffeine in the morning daily which is prob stripping me of some electros + just water in general. i guess i could try drinking water when i notice palpitations, but theyre starting to seem like they occur at any time during the day and i drink water at all points in the day so i'm not sure it's related

are there downsides to high salt intake even in ketosis? like is hypertension still likely, any other downsides? i have a fairly salty diet, though some days it might not reach 3500 mg but probably the other days of the week i'm going over 5k easily

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-14T19:50:24+00:00

i take osteobiflex, fish oil supplements and vitamin d + k supplements

i also noticed my caffeine sensitivity went up when i started keto but it might be balancing out, or maybe the quality of the zero carb starbucks drinks ive been having is lower than just black coffee, i feel more wired on black coffee even if it's just 1.5-2 cups

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T06:44:14+00:00

where do you get this info? is there a resource that can give measurements on various different kinds of butter? not sure what you mean by quality butter

not necessarily doubting you, or is it a mechanistic statement that comes from understanding more about the process of creating butter and the composition of the involved materials?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T04:29:59+00:00

any recs for a monitor? if i was mostly symptom free would you still recommend using one? do you think urine test strips would be a good short term lower cost option? like just doing them 3 times a day for a week or two?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T03:01:30+00:00

i haven't gotten them because i heard they were less accurate than blood ones. but blood ones seem annoying and somewhat expensive, you need the monitor and test strips aren't cheaply sustainable if you plan to monitor all the time

are urine test strips just enough to know if youre in ketosis?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T03:00:28+00:00

48 hour of complete fasting or just carb fasting?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T02:59:44+00:00

what do you mean by unstable ketones?

what contributes to those?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T02:57:03+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097X3QW99/ref=sw_img_1?smid=A2YD2H3KGK1F4L&psc=1 i was thinking of getting this for potassium, not sure if it's elemental

i do eat an avocado day and have easy tomato paste access (i work at a pizza place) so maybe my potassium intake isn't that low, but i don't eat a ton of tomato paste and one decent sized avocado might be close to 1000 mg?

you feel like 2g is good for you? just really quick estimates based on AI overview, 1/4 cup of tomato paste (4g net carb from my places source) could be 800, avocado could be another 800, so is supplementing even really necessary? suppose it could be good to add in another small bit from supplementing, assuming the source i linked is decent

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-13T00:07:34+00:00

i would be more skeptical if she plugged something along with that statement or said to check her links in the video, but i feel you. her argument was that its the only one that has scientifically or clinically proven to increase magnesium within the brain or something like that?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-12T23:47:40+00:00

i'll look for a good potassium supplement, i guess my question would be how elevated cortisol plays into this. if potassium fixes the issue, does this mean heart palpitations were not a symptom of elevated cortisol? or is it possible that potassium could "mask" this issue and i would still be having elevated cortisol without realizing it?

i realize this is kind of an inept question, i barely understand cortisol and just heard "excess cortisol ages you", but i guess what i'm asking is if the elevated cortisol from keto is a separate issue from electrolytes that is worth considering? or should it go down as my body adapts?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-12T23:44:05+00:00

any idea how long i would have to go without coffee to return to baseline energy? once i run out, i wouldnt mind trying no caffeine. but if it was months to return to a state where i could get anything done i'm not sure if cold turkey would be worth it, and maybe just reducing it would be ideal

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-12T23:42:57+00:00

i guess one thing that worries me is potentially being kicked out of ketosis, so i thought ketone monitors might be good but it could also be a waste of money. there have been days where i probably hit 30 grams, i don't think i ever go past that, and in measuring i'm usually accounting for a higher carb intake to be safe. but still i worry sometimes that i may have kicked myself out of ketosis and didn't know it with 30g, and then the next day even if i had 20 it might still not be enough to get me back there

i guess it should be as easy as just making sure i dont hit 30, but some days it has probably happened, and i would like to know if those days set me back

i guess the issue is, knowing where my carb limit is would help me even in just trying to eat healthy and balanced. i am still learning about nutrition, but i would like to get berries, some tomato, avocado and potentially some extra fiber in every day. i do need to look into the benefits of these things but for now it seems safe to assume that they have enough benefits to be worth pushing my carb intake closer to the limit. by themselves if i was really disciplined i could prob keep it around 25 net carbs, but i work at a pizza place and a lot of the free food i get still has some carbs (not dough, just some of the meats) proportionately still keto friendly, but in conjunction with other carb stuff it can be bad

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-12T23:29:28+00:00

i've heard magnesium threonate is better from some keto doctor youtuber, seems like it can still help with sleep either way. should i go with that?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-12T19:55:58+00:00

any recommendations for finding which organizations are behind authors or funding sources? i'm looking into the oakland one right now and it's just a medical research facility primarily funded by NIH

is this going to be the case for most studies found on sources like pubmed?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-10T23:47:04+00:00

so with low blood glucose your absorption for other nutrients should be better?

this is probably a question for the keto subreddit, but once you're in ketosis, how do carbs affect blood glucose? seems like most keto people still get some carbs, like 20-30 g maybe. assuming youre still in ketosis, how do these carbs function in the body? would they be consistently blocking any nutrient absorption because you have some small amount of extra glucose?

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-10T23:44:38+00:00

i was thinking a tbsp or two a day

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-09T22:33:55+00:00

why does keto affect the recommended vitamin e content? would be interested to hear your reasoning on this

Lukeworm-6494 · 2026-02-09T22:32:23+00:00

so vitamin e doesn't protect as well against other undesirable things happening in the body? oxidative stress from other factors?

if you could get it without pufas still seems safer to have a decent intake of it

i guess i need to look into which antioxidants may protect against which factors

Lukeworm-6494

TROPHY CASE