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Comment by mgraczyk | Hacker News Reader

As a counter point, I did keto for several months last year and found that my concentration and mental clarity were significantly worse while on the diet. My mind operated at about the capacity as it would have, had I slept only 5 hours the night before.

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Most people find that their alertness and focus improve significantly on keto.

The trick is that

a) it takes quite a while for your body to get adjusted to ketosis. 6 months to fully adjust, but the primary adjustment will take at 2-4 weeks for most people

b) during this adjustment period, you'll usually feel like shit. since you're running empty on the fuel your body is used to. but many people cheat, or accidentally ingest too many carbohydrates, persistently keeping their body out of ketosis and ensuring they feel terrible endlessly and blame keto for it.

Plus you have to up your electrolytes of sodium, magnesium, and potassium. If you don't you tend to have a foggy head.

100%. i take pills for the sodium and magnesium (they usually have potassium too but usually not enough). and avocados are a staple when it comes to potassium

I've never found potassium in sufficient quantities in pill supplements - but low-sodium salt gives you 500 mg per 5g teaspoon (and another 1000 mg of Sodium, Ironically)

Unsweetened Almond Milk is also an awesome source of both sodium and potassium - a staple for me while doing Keto.

Thanks! Really appreciate the recommendation - I'm going to hit up all our local stores for some. Went jogging this evening, and for the first time in about 2+ months didn't get any cramping in the legs (which happens to me 100% of the time for any run longer than about 8-10 minutes), and the only change I've made is supplementing potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

In keeping with this thread - I guess I could vary different dozens of variables, one or more at a time, apply the same Ketosis machine learning algorithm, and see what really makes the difference.

So, pedialyte? Or does that still contain too much glucose?

I'm finding mixed info online but always assumed it had too much sugar. I think it has 25g but some sites are saying 6g. 25g would be more than you are allowed in a day on most keto programs.

I typically take ZMA and potassium then drink something like Propel while at the gym. Then I have chicken broth when I get home to get some salt back.

A keto checking strip[1] would help to be in the know of whether the body is really doing keto.

1. Its available online

I wonder if anybody on Ketosis has ever done an endurance event and not ended up feeling absolutely miserable/exhausted. I was on a fairly low carb regime (< 15 grams/day) for about 6 weeks, and something as simple as climbing fifty stories would always end up with me breathing heavy, and sweating. A simple 500 gram carb-load the day before, and I could that same climb 4x over without being anywhere near as exhausted.

The research that I've read says that the ideal training regime is to work-out in a carb-exhausted state, so as to encourage your body to develop the low-carb metabolic pathway, but for actual endurance events, definitely carb load as your primary fuel.

Yes, Peter Attia is good source of knowledge on ketosis + endurance. Check out his amazing blog at eatingacademy.com

I can recommend this book http://www.artandscienceoflowcarb.com/the-art-and-science-of...

I've been training for triathlons while adhering to a ketogenic diet since October 2015. Initially I struggled. It definitely felt like a step back. Over time my body adapted and 3-4 months later I was performing on the same level without consuming copious amounts of carbs as prior to going keto.

These days I can wake up from a 12-18 hour fast and run a marathon at an easy pace while ingesting zero carbs in the process.

I ingest some carbs during actual races when glucose utilization is higher due to higher intensity. You will always need some glucose and the ratio of fat/glucose metabolism depends on intensity. Basically if you push the pedal to the metal your body will utilize what it has got. With that said, I feel like keto adaptation definitely broadened my options for how to pace myself and how to use my energy reserves during training and races.

50 stories? Or 50 steps? Because 50 stories sounds like a lot, not something you should be able to do without a lot of endurance training beforehand. At my best I could climb maybe 15 stories without running out of breath.

This probably had to do with too little salt consumption. I had to increase my salt intake from 2 to ~5 grams per day. If I don't, I have a mental fog (and cramps and stuff).

This talk digs into it a little bit:

http://quantifiedself.com/2015/12/effects-year-ketosis-jim-m...

Did you measure ketone levels in any way?

Your symptoms is very common during the ketosis adaptation phase which shouldn't last more than two weeks at most.

If they persist any longer than that you are probably not in ketosis.

The best way to measure ketone levels are through blood ketones (beta-hydroxybutyrate) with a blood tester such as the precision extra or similar.

There are some breath analyzers such as the ketonix that measures acetone levels in your breath - and they are alos pretty good.

Urine sticks don't generally don't work very well after the first month.

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