After listening to the endless buzz about keto as the ultimate weight loss diet, you gave in and finally started your own ketogenic routine. But now, you are constantly tired and looking for answers to the question "Why am I exhausted on the keto diet?"
The lack of electrolytes and minerals is one factor causing fatigue in the form of the keto flu. Besides, the less than usual consumption of calories, coupled with some hormonal imbalance, is another reason for feeling exhausted.
You might not have anticipated this challenge before setting on your quest for weight loss with a keto diet. However, if you make it through the transition period, there are many benefits on the other side!
So, read ahead to learn more about what’s causing fatigue and the best practices to deal with it.
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How does the Keto Diet Affect Your Body?
Feeling fatigued during a keto regimen is a cumulative result of several changes your body undergoes in the process. All these changes are collectively identified as ketosis, a condition of elevated ketone levels.
It is crucial to understand these varied changes in the state of ketosis to find the best remedy for the same. So, let us walk you through some reasons why you might feel exhausted on the keto diet.
Mild Dehydration
Problem: When you are in the state of ketosis, your liver produces excessive ketones. Your body produces these chemicals in the absence of enough insulin to convert glucose into energy.
In a keto diet, the low intake of carbohydrates forces your liver to convert all the fat into ketones. These ketones then end up causing your body to urinate more than usual, naturally dehydrating your body.
Solution: A glass of the Himalaya salt water lemon drink can do wonders for this situation.
Lack of Sleep
Problem: A ketogenic routine calls for a good 8-hour sleep every day. But in a state of ketosis, you will experience regular interruptions in your sleep with some cases of keto insomnia.
When you are on a keto diet, your body produces less melatonin and serotonin. This consequently leads to sleep deprivation.
Solution: Try Authentic Keto's Deep Sleep Support supplement to get your sleep schedule back on track.
Hormonal Imbalance
Problem: The lack of carb intake in a ketogenic routine can increase cortisol levels for many. One of the other effects also leads to reduced thyroid levels causing twitching in the muscles. Therefore, the low daily carb consumption is another reason for feeling fatigued.
Solution: In this situation, you can tweak your diet routine and increase your consumption of carbs to feel healthy.
Depletion of Minerals
Problem: Ketosis can significantly reduce the levels of minerals in your body. The lack of essential minerals like potassium, magnesium, and sodium is the major aftermath of following a ketogenic routine.
Solution: The best way to deal with this situation is to increase the intake of mineral-rich foods. You can consume things like nuts, leafy green vegetables, seeds, avocados, and more.
Reasons for Feeling Fatigued on a Keto Diet
Now that you know what kind of changes your body will experience during a keto regimen, let’s take a more comprehensive look at why it causes exhaustion.
Keto Flu
One of the most significant reasons behind the feeling of exhaustion is the keto flu. As opposed to the literal meaning of flu, this state is not a diseased condition. It merely defines the state of mild sickness you may experience when transitioning from a regular diet to a low-carb one.
The keto flu causes multiple abnormal reactions in your body, fatigue being a prominent one. In addition to this, you might also experience nausea, bad breath, and constipation.
Low Intake of Calories
At the end of the day, a keto diet is no magic path to weight loss. It’s a massive transition from your usual dieting habits.
In a ketogenic regimen, your calorie consumption changes drastically. From eating substantial amounts of carbs, you cut down on all sources of carbs for your body. This relatively sudden decline in calories can cause significant exhaustion.
Period of Adaptation
You have to understand that the keto diet makes wide-scale changes in your body’s metabolic flow. Your body undergoes significant transitions, be it physical or psychological.
This transition period can inadvertently take a toll on your physical energy levels while causing mood swings. Therefore, you end up feeling exhausted.
How to Fight the Exhaustion of Ketosis
Regardless of the few challenges you might face, the ketogenic diet remains one of the healthiest ways to lose weight. It allows you to not only lose weight but also keep your body fit and healthy.
The feeling of exhaustion, therefore, is a natural roadblock in your weight loss journey through keto. You can use some of these tried and tested measures to tackle this challenge with ease.
Consuming more fat and calories
The keto diet aims to transform your fat into fuel for efficiently running the body. So, the best way to energize your body and eliminate the feeling of exhaustion is to power up on the fats.
You can achieve this by increasing your daily fat intake. A point to remember here is that your body is still in the process of metabolizing fat efficiently. Therefore, you will need to keep the fat intake in control and increase it gradually.
Intermittent Fasting and OMAD
The idea of a keto diet is not simply about restricting carb consumption but also pertains to how much you eat and when. To that end, Speed Keto is a common practice encouraging the idea of one meal a day. This is when you pair your ketogenic routine with intermittent fasting.
In this approach, you will skip some meals and eat all your meals between a 4-7-hour window. Post that, you will go on a fasting period of 1-2 days.
Following a clean diet
There is keto, and there is dirty keto. While both these diets help you lose weight, the latter can prove detrimental to your health and wellbeing.
Some people subscribe to a different keto diet, with items like bacon, rinds, sausages, and pork frequently featuring in their meals. Many others make pseudo keto meals like Keto cake, pizza, and more.
Even though the ingredients are chosen as per a keto diet, the huge portions of these foods can ultimately kick you out of ketosis. In stark contrast with this rather unsustainable diet, you should stick to a cleaner diet plan.
Include cleaner foods in your meals, i.e., nuts, berries, vegetables, and more.
Engaging in healthy movement
Exercising in a state of fatigue might sound counterproductive at first glance. But it is, in fact, a great way to release that exhaustion and boost your energy levels.
The more you stay put and lie down, the worse your exhaustion can get. So, a great antidote to tiredness can be controlled exertion.
Completing proper sleep
A common consequence of ketosis is sleep deprivation. Your sleep schedule might fall into disarray when you are following a stringent keto regime.
So, making attempts to get a good 8-hour sleep is another potential solution for getting rid of fatigue. Our Deep Sleep Support supplement can do wonders for you on this front.
Conclusion
A keto diet is a healthy route for losing that extra poundage you have been trying to get rid of. But the process can prove daunting in the initial stages.
Exhaustion is among the most common aftermaths of the ketogenic routine. Rather than getting discouraged by the fatigue you experience, you can try the solutions mentioned above to eliminate the problem from its root.
Don’t forget to stay fit and healthy in the process!
Common Questions
When you are starting your keto journey, you might find yourself struggling with feelings of fatigue, both physical and psychological. This is primarily an outcome of your body’s transition from a carbohydrate-rich diet to a low-carb diet.
Some of the common causes for this tiredness are the sudden decline in the quantum of calorie intake, the state of keto flu, and the hormonal imbalance resulting from ketosis.
The process of transitioning from your usual diet regimen to complete ketosis can be either as short as a week or as lengthy as a month. Until you are in the state of complete ketosis, you might experience repeated bouts of exhaustion.
So, a period of 7-30 can be taken as a range for feeling fatigued in the keto diet.
Energizing your body through multiple ways is the best antidote to the fatigue resulting from a ketogenic regimen. Here are some useful steps to augment your energy levels.