Hunger

riaward1990

Hi. Just finished my second week of a ketogenic style diet and was wondering if anyone else experiences this...

Never feeling hungry! !!

I honestly can't eat three meals a day, I struggle with two, and am most happy with just one. For example, today I didn't feel up to breakfast. Had a late lunch at 3pm of 2 eggs 2 bacon and a sausage and I can't face eating anything else. I just constantly feel full. Is this normal?

My husband thinks I'm starving myself and I'm honestly not. I wouldn't be the size/weight I am now if that was an issue.

Basically, does anyone feel like this and how do you manage to increase your calories. Most days I can't do more then 900.

AshleyC1023

I'm the same way, I feel "full" constantly. 1 cup of bulletproof coffee - full until 2-3 PM usually. This is good "stick to your ribs" food. I say, eat when you're hungry, and don't when you're not.
One mistake I made was yesterday. I did too much on the liquid side and not enough substantial food. By dinner time I was "hangry" and my resolve was getting thin to not snack. So today I cut back a few calories on the coffee and ate breakfast and feel great! So I learned that while I may not be hungry for half the day, when I get hungry, I'm really F'ing hungry.
To increase my calories up to a non-starving level, I drink protein shakes. They aren't half bad if you use the blender and a few ice cubes, but be careful on what type you get because some have excessive sugar. I like the vanilla creme and strawberry the best.

My profile is open as is my food log I believe, you're welcome to look. I'm not saying I'm perfect, very far from it, however, I'm very close to my calories and I'm not even thinking about eating (I've already logged dinner and snack but haven't eaten those)

riaward1990

Ok I'll give it a try. This is so weird for me. All previous conventional diets of 1500 I've been constantly hungry and tired. Now I never feel up to eating and have so much energy now. Probably because my body's got a nice big store of fat to burn.

auntstephie321

It's very common to not feel hungry much of the time with this way of eating. you will also have days where you may feel like you can't eat enough. Many have found by following those hungry cues they are able to lose weight without having to log all their did daily. Eat when hungry, don't eat when not hungry. It's awesome!

erinseattle

I've been LCHF for 18 months and do get hungry. I can go longer without eating than I used to, but sometimes my stomach can be heard by others. Just don't want the hungry people to feel alone

Sunny_Bunny_

Just follow your hunger cues. Learning to do that is key to reaching maintenance eventually.
The lack of hunger is why many people say you don't need to count calories on Keto. It's not that calories don't matter, but that you won't be overeating if you're following hunger cues.
There will be days that you're hungrier too. So again, just follow the hunger cues. It all evens out in the end. You aren't starving at all because you're body has resources stored to use, which is the goal after all. As long as you also eat more when feeling hungry, you don't need to worry about the very low calorie days, even if you have more of them than anything else.
Enjoy it! That's one of the reasons this woe works so well for so many people.

LowCarbInScotland

I had a hungry day today, doesn't happen often anymore. I'm diabetic and barely taking any meds anymore, so I try to eat eat three similar sized meals each day. Can't have one big one as my blood sugar would skyrocket. On my hungry days I don't beat myself up if I need extra food, as long as I maintain my macros. It's nice to be able to add another tiny LCHF meal when the hunger pangs start without the devastating guilt I felt in the past.

nvmomketo

LOL It's pretty neat, isn't it?!

I have some days where I'll eat 1000 kcals and then hungry days where it is more like 2200 kcal. At first that averaged out to about 1500kcal per day but now it is more like 1800 - I'm a bit hungrier now for some reason. As long as I don't eat more than I feel like, I am slowly losing pounds or inches.

I find very low carb food often doesn't look like much. Tonight I ate hamburger pie (beef, cheese, mayo, butter, mustard, eggs and spices. It is pretty claorie dense. I had a bowl for dinner. It didn't look like much compared to my kids' one large pizza each but I was full. They often comment that I don't eat much but then I point out my coffee and calories to show them that I still out eat them

110challenge

I do one meal a day but make sure I get my calories to at least 1200, usually 1300. I just use my leftover calories as play room and have a tablespoon or two of natural peanut butter, etc., maybe some bacon.

It depends on what I'm eating as well. I find cauliflower extremly heavy, so days where I have faux shepherd's pie etc. I need to reduce the 'real' food and add treats.

auntstephie321

Oh I need your faux shepards pie recipe

JessicaLCHF

I'm convinced it's an insulin issue. Plus I tend to eat more regular on LCHF. I'm never hungry either, but then again, I make sure I have good food to eat three times a day. Off diet I'm much more lax.

My cals (not that I count them, I try to ignore them in fact, but MFP is calorie concentric) are usually around 1200. Some days I do have to add the fake food option to get them to log (under 1000).

Gremlin131313

I am soooooo hoping I get to not being hungry anymore, because right now I'm STARVING all the time! I'm only a few days in though.

KarlaYP

The feeling of not being hungry is foreign to us! We've starved to dang death on every other woe!

It sure is wonderful though! Embrace that feeling as your new normal and before long you will question the hungry feeling (you will have days where you are hungry too)! My opinion on the lower calories is as long as it's not everyday, it evens out with the higher calorie days. Wonderful work OP!!

@Gremlin131313, if you're hungry, you aren't eating enough. During the first few weeks (for some) it's best to throw the calorie counting out the window, and eat from the LCHF menu of foods. As long as you stick with LCHF foods, hunger will soon be gone, and your calorie count will naturally decrease. Make sure you're getting your fat grams too! Not getting enough can continue the hungry feeling too! Good luck! Don't be afraid of the fat, it works!

SamandaIndia

I just broke my 18 hour fast. Not because I was hungry but because I wanted to share lunch with SO who cooked a lovely piri piri chicken, oblivious to me "fasting" as I did have a bullet proof coffee this morning. Some days I get hungry and feed up, others I need to remind myself to eat.

JessicaLCHF

Karlottap wrote: »

The feeling of not being hungry is foreign to us! We've starved to dang death on every other woe!

It sure is wonderful though! Embrace that feeling as your new normal and before long you will question the hungry feeling (you will have days where you are hungry too)! My opinion on the lower calories is as long as it's not everyday, it evens out with the higher calorie days. Wonderful work OP!!

@Gremlin131313, if you're hungry, you aren't eating enough. During the first few weeks (for some) it's best to throw the calorie counting out the window, and eat from the LCHF menu of foods. As long as you stick with LCHF foods, hunger will soon be gone, and your calorie count will naturally decrease. Make sure you're getting your fat grams too! Not getting enough can continue the hungry feeling too! Good luck! Don't be afraid of the fat, it works!

Agree. Eat more fat. But also I always have in my mind "eat till satisfied, not stuffed". Something I found impossible to do with a bag of chips in the past!

Sunny_Bunny_

@Gremlin131313 if you haven't tried Keto coffee with coconut oil and butter yet, I highly suggest adding it to your daily routine. It's a big time hunger killer.
I make mine with 12 oz coffee, 7g MCT and 7g butter. I have two cups in the morning around 6:30am and I don't feel a bit of hunger until around 2pm. The only time this was different was when I was having too much artificial sweetener. Then I was hungry all day long!

riaward1990

Thanks everyone.

I've had to freeze so much food. I meal planned and shopped for my calorie goal over 3 meals but I'm just not getting through it.

I was also struggling to keep my levels of fat up but by changing to fattier cuts of meat and trying a fat bomb its not too bad now.

I don't feel like I'm starving myself because I always have so much energy

riaward1990

Don't know whether to be proud of myself but today I went over 1000 calories and I actually ate them, not just enter a fake item to be able to compete my diary in MFP.

riaward1990

Gremlin131313 wrote: »

I am soooooo hoping I get to not being hungry anymore, because right now I'm STARVING all the time! I'm only a few days in though.

Are you maybe feeling the keto flu? I know I felt a little rough the first few days. I took painkillers, drank loads, put extra salt on food and took a magnesium supplement.

Don't quote me as an expert as I'm only now starting my third week but it definitely helped me. X

Gremlin131313

I dunno what was going on with my hunger. May have been due to PMS...either way I didn't limit myself. I figured my body needs time to adjust to not running off of sugar all the time. Today, I'm less hungry. I'm sure for the next couple weeks while I'm adjusting it'll be hit it miss, but I can now see what everyone is talking about.

ladipoet

Gremlin131313 wrote: »

I am soooooo hoping I get to not being hungry anymore, because right now I'm STARVING all the time! I'm only a few days in though.

You will get there. The whole "not being hungry" thing I found very difficult to believe when I first changed to this WOE; however, once I experienced it firsthand for myself, it was like, "OH!!!! SO THAT'S WHAT NOT BEING HUNGRY ALL THE TIME FEELS LIKE!!!!" lol I thought it was a myth. Now I know better and I'm much better at listening to my body's real hunger signs (no more mindless grazing / snacking).