Keto insomnia

The good news is I dropped 30 lbs in 7 weeks. The bad news is nearly all that time I've had insomnia. I can get to sleep OK typically but wake up in the middle of the night and often cannot get back to sleep.

I cannot find definitive information on the why and have seen scattershot ideas such as low calcium, low magnesium, or too little carbohydrate.

Anyone with experience here?

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  • EDIT: I had a trial carb binge yesterday of kidney beans and hash browns and slept 12 hours. Today's weigh in was 33 lbs lost.

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    • AJQ
    • AJQ
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Try saving some of your carbs until before bedtime. Try a bit of Greek yogurt with berries. 

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  • Ive had that issue. I think its from the extra energy.  Try some Melatonin or GABA. There is also a magnesium SoCalm kind of tea that ive heard works great. 

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  • I think I made a mistake, actually, and the mistake was magnesium deficiency due to diarrhea from eating more saturated fats than my body could handle. I noticed I'd feel OK until I had a bout of diarrhea and then after I felt all weird, as if I pooped out my mojo. Sounds funny, I know, but unfortunately this error had me thinking I couldn't do keto so I slacked off the past couple months until I did the research and am now correcting the issue (more eggs and avocado and less bacon and sausage grease) and getting back on track. What I was doing was eating a lot of the grease from bacon, especially, and I think that's what got me. I noticed I kept getting indigestion from it and then came the loose stools. Cutting back on grease/saturated fat consumption seems to have solved my problem and I'm OK. I notice that I can generally only take one tablet of mag malate every other day or I start getting the loose stools, but that's enough to keep away the ferocious foot and toe cramps I get when my mag is low.

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  • AJQ It's hard to do this due to my work and meal schedule but I can give it a shot. Also, I think the most likely culprit was magnesium deficiency from the loose stools I was getting from overdoing it with eating saturated fats. My liver couldn't keep up with it.  With all the diarrhea I kept feeling funny and noticed that if I wasn't having diarrhea I would rebound and feel better. I think I was losing a lot of electrolytes there.

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  • Diarrhea is a common induction keto adaptation symptom.  I get it too. Most people get constipation in the beginning.  I have also had insomnia with keto. Also very common. Diet Doctor says if it becomes a problem to increase your carbs.   I just watched Keto Connect on youtube and they said contrary to doctors saying it takes 6 weeks to become fat adapted, everyone is different. It could take years. They've been on keto for 4 years and they said it took a while to become fat adapted.  They are in their 30's .. so imagine older people how long it would take?  I also take magnesium after dinner every night. I learned another tip. Take vitamin D supplements in the morning. I was taking them at night after dinner and my insomnia was bad.  My coworker said she took her's in the morning because she felt D gave her energy, so I tried taking D in the morning instead and I have been sleeping very well. 

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    • AJQ
    • AJQ
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Biff Tannen I have reached goal weight and have been adding a bit more net carbs in; I went from 17 or less to 25 or less. I’m sleeping better, but I also take melatonin. 

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  • Mayflowers Well I have been easing back into Keto this past week and I have intentionally not had so much saturated fat that I'm giving myself diarrhea. I've been taking some intermittent electrolytes as well. If anything, I'm constipated or nearly constipated this past week.  When I had diarrhea, I could feel myself physically feeling worse, like I was losing nutrients and fluids when I went. No doubt I was. I think the excessive saturated fat (especially bacon and sausage grease) consumption was the culprit. I'm currently skirting the edges of ketosis so I'm not in deeper ketosis yet.

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  • Biff Tannen  Hang in there.  the diarrhea is temporary. If you cut down too much on fats, you'll get constipated.  Keep up the fats, and water. 

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  • Definitely having issues with sleeping. This is my first week, first time keto or any low carb diet. Basically my whole diet was carbs before so maybe it’s a shock to the system, but I feel like adrenaline is coursing through my body at night. It freaks me out a little, to be honest.  I’m doing about 14-25 carbs a day.

    my first week and I’ve lost 3.6 but honestly I thought it would be more. I feel like weight is dropping off. I feel like the diet is easy so far! I still have the idea in my head that low fat high carb is what’s healthy though. Trying to open up to maybe it’s not the best way.

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  • Are you eating enough? I had a 4 month bout of insomnia like yours years ago. The reason why I was waking up was that I was hungry.  Took me 4 months to figure it out.  If you wake up try eating something.. cheese..  I like almond butter, and see if that helps. You may be not getting enough calories, and eat a bigger dinner.. especially dinner. 

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    • Marce
    • Marce.1
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    My road on losing weight started with fasting then I got into keto. Since fasting I’ve been sleeping around 6 h per night, couldn’t sleep more but I felt good. Since on Keto I’m having around 8 h sleep per night. It’s perfect for me. But yesterday I’ve started taking magnesium for constipation and I’ve slept for 9 hours aprox. So magnesium definitely helps I would say. 

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