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Nicky1010

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Hi everyone I just wanted to post and say how helpful this forum has been. I've only realised in the last couple of weeks I have RH, well I'm pretty sure I do, I have a lot of the symptoms and when I saw my doctor she agreed with me (not exactly a diagnosis). I first off started eating small balanced meals every 2-3 hours this included brown rice and sweet potato that I thought were ok because they're low GI and I actually started to feel like my normal self again. Then because I was feeling so good I decided it was a good idea to go swimming but for the next three days felt absolutely terrible it was so bad. I was also eating brown rice and sweet potato thinking it was making better but I think it made it worse. During this time I happened onto this forum and so many of you were saying to go low carb which at first I was resistant to but eventually I just had to give it a go. Lo and behold I've finally started to feel better so thank you all very much.

I was just wondering about exercise because it was a big part of my life and I used to exercise a lot. Now I just can't exercise if I do I struggle for days even something that doesn't seem all that strenuous like swimming I can't do. Does exercise make RH worse? Because that's what it's seemed like that the RH has got progressively worse since about February when I first noticed I felt terrible after exercising but I had no idea what was going on back then. I'm just worried that it's going to keep getting worse. However, now that I'm getting back on track and seem to have my diet sorted out will it get better? Do you think I'll be able to exercise again? My favourite things to do are running, weights and I had recently started surfing.

Thanks so much everyone
Nicky
 
Well done! Sounds like you are right there in the driving seat

What sort of exercise do you do?
And how low carb are you?

The reason I ask those two questions is because ketogenic eating (that is very low carb, usually under 50g of carbs a day, and sometimes under 20g of carbs a day) takes a while to adjust to. It can take anything from 2 weeks ish to 6 weeks ish. During that time most people find that exercise is challenging. However, once they have adapted to the new way of eating, and their body has switched to fat as the main fuel, they usually find that their stamina has improved again, and they can enjoy exercise with their usual enthusiasm. BUT (always a but, isn't there?) being keto is usually best for endurance sports. Running, cycling, etc.

Sprints and intensive sports often need more carbs available, for bursts of short term energy.

So your exercise capacity may well depend on giving it time to adapt, and what type of exercise you choose to do - and of course what quantity of carbs you are eating. Your swimming and running could well be something that is enjoyable when in ketosis, but the weights and the surfing will probably depend on whether they are intense bursts or steadier. I would just play it by ear, and see what happens.

My own experience is that when I am in ketosis/fat adapted I have good stamina (can walk all day, etc. ) but long steep hills, or several flights of stairs are more challenging. I can do them fine, but do it slowly and steadily, rather than running up them - but then it sounds like I am a lot less fit than you!
 
Hi @Nicky1010,
Welcome to the forum.
Many thanks for the kind words.

Exercise is something you have to trial and error.
In my experience, anything that is too intense will make you feel worse.
You are more likely, unless as Brun said, in fact burning mode, to get glucose pushed into your blood stream as the energy derived from carbs is depleted. Your liver should always boost your glucose doing exercise and the harder the exercise the more the liver pushes the glucose.
If your exercise is steady and not intense, your body should be less inclined to boost the glucose.
It has been reported many times on the forum that strenuous exercise will boost your blood glucose levels higher even without food or drink before exercise, which if you do have a type of hypoglycaemia is not needed.
Whereas walking or gentle swimming can be so beneficial to controlling or lowering blood glucose levels.
Then again, if in ketosis, your energy levels are much better and you can do a lot more depending on age, physical fitness and capability.
I'm an OAP, I work manually full time, and it's rare I'm physically tired!
I use intermittent fasting even when working and I have no trouble having energy problems. I now only eat when I want to. During a fast my blood glucose levels do not go out of normal levels regardless of how much I do, but I don't do running or weights etc.
If you have a glucometer, you can track what happens to your blood glucose levels whilst exercising.
Again welcome to the forum and keep asking, let us know how you are doing.

Best wishes.
 
I find now when I exercise my blood sugar rises slightly but it has got better when I exercise every day. I am walking a couple of kilometres every day now which I could not do before. Swimming uses every muscle in your body so take it easy till you find an ideal tempo whether it's a slow swim or very fast/hard!
 

Hi @Brunneria

I am very lucky because I've been fat adapted in the past so I think it's made it easy for me when I decided to stop eating carbs this time. I've been eating about 30g of a carbs a day mostly just because I can't tolerate any type of carbs except for what I'm getting from veggies. I've had no carb flu or anything which I feel lucky about. I've started walking so I'll just do that for a while until I feel a lot better. I've had such bad experiences after exercising for the last few months I'm not going to make the mistake of doing that again. I think down the track I'll have to experiment with adding carbs and exercising and as you say play it by ear and see what happens. Thank you so much for your reply it was really helpful
 

Hi @Lamont D

All such great information thank you so much. At the moment anything other than light walking is too intense for me. I'm hoping it'll get better the more fat adapted I get. From reading your post I've started developing a plan in my head to get me back running again. You've given me hope! Thank you so much. The intermittent fasting is something I'll be looking into down the track too. I also just bought a glucometer so that's definitely going to help when I start experimenting with exercising
 

Hi @Ann1982

Thanks for your message
That's good news that your blood sugar rise has improved with exercise and you can walk a couple of kilometres now. I've started walking as well so hopefully the same will happen for me. Hopefully I can work up to swimming, definitely slow
 
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