My 30-Day Keto Challenge – Results And Side Effects

Two weeks prior to my 30-day keto challenge, I stopped eating sugar, and about one week prior all grains. I was still eating some fruit, legumes, and starchy vegetables in small amounts. I believe that this preparation made my transitions to the ketogenic diet a bit easier.

I decided to start my 30-day keto challenge together with IF (intermittent fasting) 16:8, which means eating only in 8 hours window and fasting for the next 16. I was also planning to have only two meals a day without snacking.

Day 1 of my keto challenge – I resist the first temptation

I started my first day of the keto challenge with a big breakfast at 10 a.m. I had two eggs, smoked salmon, half avocado, and a bit of sauerkraut.

My first temptation was when we went out with my husband. He wanted to stop at the coffee bar. We are in Italy now, and all bars here have a lot of pastries. But my previous few weeks without sugar helped me to stay away of those.

The only difference now was that during the fasting window (or when I am between two meals) I can’t have milk because technically it is food and will cause an insulin spike. So I had to take a black coffee (I drink decaf) while my husband was drinking a nice cappuccino right in front of me. But it was ok for me, because I was very excited about starting my 30-day keto challenge.

I was not feeling hungry till my second meal, but I noticed that I wanted to eat just out of habit, that’s why it was a bit difficult. I had a bit of kefir and started my dinner at 5:15 p.m. I made shrimps with coconut curry sauce. After dinner I didn’t eat anything else till the next day. As normally I have quite early dinners that was not a problem for me.

Day 2 and 3 of my keto challenge – My first side effects

For the next three days, I continued to have just two meals and followed my keto challenge with intermittent fasting. On the second day, I started feeling more tired, dizzy, and I noticed some muscle weakness.

And on the third day, I became very thirsty no matter how much I drank. And I was drinking a lot. At night it was especially bad.

I was reading some keto forums and found that these symptoms are quite common when you start the ketogenic diet. My body was dumping a lot of water and loosing electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium. I was already taking magnesium before, but I needed to make some changes in my diet to get more sodium and potassium.

I ordered a potassium supplement and changed my diet a bit from the next day.

Day 3 was also the first day when I noticed some strong cravings. One fo them was for fruit and another for potatoes.

Day 4 and 5 of my keto challenge – I broke the IF

Still had potato cravings and start thinking that maybe keto is not for me because I like potatoes so much. But after adding more fresh vegetables (leafy greens, cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and some others) and a potassium supplement, I started feeling a bit better, and my craving started to go away.

I also had to add more salt to my diet as I had eaten very little of it, and on the keto diet, it became a problem. I found out the sodium deficency could be the reason of my fatigue and dehydration.

On day 4, I was feeling a bit less thirsty. But the real change happened on day 5. That was the day when I finally felt much better. I had more energy, better mood, and almost no dizziness.

I checked my weight for the first time, and it was 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds) less. But at the beginning of keto, you usually lose a lot of water, so I think that was it.

However, I didn’t do intermittent fasting that day. I woke up early at 6:45 a.m. and had coffee with coconut oil at 7:30 in the morning. My breakfast was at 9 a.m., and I didn’t stick to just two meals that day. I had a small snack around 3 p.m. and dinner around 6 p.m. But I was still following the ketogenic diet.

Day 6 and 7 of my keto challenge – Back to IF, don’t feel hungry

I am back to intermittent fasting with just two meals per day. These days I felt good, continued taking supplements, and eating more vegetables.

On day 7, I didn’t sleep well and woke up at 6:00, which was quite early for me. However, I didn’t feel hungry and had my breakfast only at 10:30, and my dinner was at 5:00 p.m.

It was the first day, when it was so easy for me not to eat between breakfast and dinner. I didn’t feel any hunger at all.

I still had some thirst and dry mouth, mostly at night time. But it was nothing compared to how it was in the beginning.

Day 8 and 9 of my keto challenge – I started to exercise

During these two days, I still ate just two meals per day. The first one was around 11 a.m. and the second one around 5 p.m. I didn’t feel hungry these days but still had a bit of dry mouth and thirst. It was getting worse at night. I drank quite a lot but still tried to control it and not overdo it.

On day 8, I felt a bit tired in the afternoon, but it got better after I went for a walk.

I’ve noticed that overall, I feel calmer and more stable emotionally.

On day 9, I understood that I wanted to move more, that my body was kind of asking for it. And I started to exercise.

Day 10, 11, and 12 of my keto challenge – My hunger was back

During these three days, I noticed that I was getting hungry around 3 p.m. even though I had my breakfasts at the same time as before.

Also, on day 10, I had carb cravings, so I started to have a small keto snack one or two hours before dinner.

Later I realized that I started to exercise while also eating less, so altogether it probably gave me a hunger. So I decided to add more calories the next day and It helped.

Day 13 and 14 of my keto challenge – It’s getting harder for me

When I started my 30-day keto challenge, I was excited and motivated. It was easier to follow the ketogenic diet even though I felt physically worse than I feel now. I had more cravings, hunger, and different side effects, but I was motivated to continue.

And now, two weeks later, I feel much better, I have less hunger or craving, but it’s getting difficult for me because I am losing motivation. I start missing all the food that I can’t eat. And I see that these are not physical cravings for carbs. It is a psychological thing. I noticed how eating certain foods connected with some positive emotions.

For example, having a nice croissant for breakfast in the Italian bar is connected with feeling happy. Almost every day, I see these kinds of connections when I start missing certain foods. So now I have to be more aware of these things. I am working on my motivation and looking for ways to break these anchors between carb food and positive emotions.

Fortunately, being a life coach is a a big benefit in this situation. I implemented some of my transformational coaching tools to change my mindset and to get my motivation back.

Day 15 and 16 of my keto challenge – I started snacking

My motivation was better these days, but for some reason, I found it too difficult to stick to just two meals a day. However, It was quite easy not to eat in the morning till 11 a.m., but I was snaking later.

I continued to exercise in the morning before breakfast, and as a result I got more energy and a better mood during the day.

Day 17-20 of my keto challenge – I am back to 2 meals a day, no hunger

These days I was feeling that everything was stabilizing. It was easy to eat just two meals a day without any snacking. I felt stable emotionally and didn’t feel hungry.

I’ve noticed that I am calmer, and the ketogenic diet didn’t even feel like a diet anymore. I started getting used to it. It just felt easier for me. I didn’t have any new side effects. The only one that I still had was a thirst. But it was better than before. And considering how hot it is in Italy in July, maybe that thirst was not keto-related anymore.

Day 21-24 of my keto challenge – I am feeling great

There is not much to say about these days because I just feel great. My mood is good, I have more energy, exercise every day, and I am more productive than usually.

I really like how I feel on the keto diet, yet I miss other food. I start thinking about what I will do after this 30-day keto challenge because I am not sure I will be ready to continue this diet long-term, but I want to continue feeling the way I do now.

Days 25-28 of my keto challenge

Everything is good, and no hunger. I exercise every morning and have my first meal between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. My second meal is usually between 5 p.m and 6 p.m.

Intermittent fasting became very easy for me. I also noticed I have a deeper sleep most of the nights.

Days 29 and 30 of my keto challenge – I am feeling more tired and missing carb food

I don’t know what happened, but I started feeling more tired, and my mood was more down. I was still eating keto and tried to be below 20 grams of carbs, so it shouldn’t be diet-related.

I am waiting for tomorrow and thinking of eating something that is not keto.

Day 31 – My bad reaction to carbs

As I finished my 30-day keto challenge, I decided that I finally can have something with more carbs. I ate a small pear after lunch, and a bit of potato with my dinner.

The result was not great. I felt bad and couldn’t fall asleep almost till 6 a.m. While having this terrible insomnia, I decided to return back to keto tomorrow.

Day 32-33 – Back to keto, my conclusions

On day 32, I did a fat-fasting to make sure that I will be back on ketosis as soon as possible. Today, on day 33, I already feel great again. I finally bought the ketone test stripes. They showed that I am in ketosis now. Probably it means that I became fat-adapted if I was able to return to ketosis in less than two days after eating those carbs.

I understood that I feel much better on keto, so I decided to continue for at least another month, but this time without dairy. I want to check if it will help with some symptoms.

Even though I had some side effects and difficult days, I am really positive about this experience. The main benefits for me are a better mood, more energy, and better sleep.

The keto diet is delicious and satisfying. I like that I almost never feel hungry and that it’s easier to do intermittent fasting.