It's near Lake Tahoe.

JS

That's great to hear! 

Most likely you'll find that the longer you eat this way, the more independent of food and hunger you'll become.  I'm still experiencing slow changes after nearly a year.

JS

I've been doing a ketogenic diet for about two years now, and have read just about every piece of material available on the matter.

I think JS hit the nail on the head with his diagnosis: keto-adaptation. I don't think you necessarily need a PHD style approach if you're willing to spend more time adapting.

One issue with your little bout hiking is a well-known phenomena described by studies of fasted exercisers. Introduction of carbohydrate at certain points in the exercise actually caused hypoglycemia (light-headedness, fainting, etc). This comes from a lack of metabolic flexibility - and the kind of met-flex that JS writes about isn't the same as switching from fat to sugar metabolism when you have a sustained, high need for it.

If you opt for staying with the keto paradigm,

1.) Do not introduce large carb boluses (oranges and bananas on your hike).
2.) Ramp up your activity gradually. Studies seem to show that you will get your endurance back (and more - bonking is, theoretically, impossible on keto), but it must follow adaptation.
3.) Keep up with electrolytes and hydration. Keto has a natural diuretic effect; try to get ~5g of sodium every day.

From what I've read of your blog, you're dealing with keto-adaptation.  "I have been feeling weaker and less energetic at the same time I've been feeling calmer and more healthy" ... that's a classic symptom.

You might ask yourself if you really want to be in ketosis long-term.  If you push through this period you'll gain some of your performance back, but it'll take several weeks...and if you're not losing weight on VLC, then it might not be your best approach. 

To that end, you might consider eating a more Perfect Health Diet level of carbohydrate, i.e. 15-20% of daily calories.  Let us know if that lifts you out of your performance slump, and what other effects it has.

However, the fact that you're feeling "calmer and more healthy" is good...that means you're making progress!  I believe that weight loss is a consequence of good health, functional metabolism, and healthy diet -- not the cause of it.  As has been amply proven, you can't starve yourself into good health.  

For future diet questions, may I request that you post them in the Talk forum?  Right now they're scattered as comments to random articles, and it's hard for others to understand what's going on because they're always coming in at the middle.

JS

I took photos of every single thing I consumed that had calories in it for an entire week hoping to ask you folks if you thought I am taking in enough protein or too much fat or otherwise screwing this up. But now I'm starting to worry that I'm becoming very ill. Here are the photos if you are interested.
http://farewelltospring.blogspot.com/search/label/low%20carb%20diet%20diary

I continue to eat similar things (this week I have chorizo to go with the eggs, as an example of what I mean by similar.) But I don't feel well. I am not sure how to describe how I feel. It's not the low carb flu. I may need to see a doctor but my own doctor is not amenable to this type of eating, having admonished me for decades to avoid red meat and saturated fat. So I have to find a new doctor who can help. In the mean time, maybe you guys can tell me if you see anywhere that I'm going hoplessly wrong.

Anyway, as J. put it, this might take some time to adapt. So I don't know, maybe you shouldn't push it too hard to start. I'm not very familiar with that, but as an example maybe you shouldn't try to push yourself into ketosis for now. You know, maybe do something milder (of course always eating nutrient dense "real food") and give it some time to see if you can progressively go longer on a fast without feeling so poorly or anything like that, but don't try to be too extreme.

As I told you before I'm not really "qualified" to be giving much advice, but to me it seems reasonable to draw a parallel with exercise. You'd never start an exercise with the heaviest weight available, would you? Also remember you should be seeking something you'd be able to live, and live well on, not some diet to make some changes and then go back to "normal".

Oh, and sorry if we seem to assume things, but it's a bit hard not to in this "media". Anyway, good luck, I hope you find your answers somewhere.

Thank you!  We're enjoying Indian summer right now: it's chilly (especially at night) but sunny and beautiful during the day...time to get any last hikes, rides, or outdoor projects in before the snow starts and/or water on the trail stays frozen.

Diane:

I know you're frustrated, but once again: your metabolism didn't get screwed up in a week or two.  Also, we've given you quite a bit of advice, including several specific experiments and recommendations to try.  Please try those.

JS

I can't say I'm not a little disappointed. It seems a lot of the blogs have gone dormant, just when I found them. I was hoping to ask for some advice, but since all the blogs have gone dark, I guess that idea's toast.