Am I supposed to be hungry?

wisdomckr

Hello everyone
I’ve been doing Keto for 1 1/2 weeks so I’m still a newbie. I’ve lost 11 lbs in my first 9 days. I’ve set a limit of 20 g carbs per day & I'm struggling to stay at that limit. I’m never reaching my fat, protein & calorie (2,000) limits each day which is fine but I find I’m usually left hungry each day. I’m not eating processed foods (lunch meat, kielbasa, etc) & cooking all my meals at home. Am I just supposed to be hungry until my stomach shrinks? What am I doing wrong? It’s causing me to constantly be fighting with myself to not cheat or go over that limit.

chinatowninchina

Heavens above don't go hungry that's the whole point of Keto (well not exactly the whole point!) If you are at your carb limit stick to that but and it's a big but (to get rid of the butt like me?) eat to your protein and fat limits, especially initially.
Why aren't you going up to your calorie limits? It is NOT the idea that you train your stomach to shrink or that you go hungry. As you become used to and adapted to the diet you will find that you are naturally less hungry and that's why a number of people end up doing IF (intermittent fasting) just because they don't feel hungry as they are eating sufficient protein and fats and they make you feel full for longer.
In short, don't go hungry, you won't ever stick to a diet if you feel hungry all the time. Eat until you feel full, eat when you feel hungry and only then. Stick to your carb limits and eat to your protein and fat limits. When you are in the swing of things and loosing weight you may be eating less food naturally but you still need to stick to your carb and protein limits and maybe drop the fat down a bit if you can't manage all the calories.
Again, that takes time and it is of no benefit to you at all to try to shrink your stomach by going hungry! Good luck and start eating your fats and protein!

NYPhotographer2021

Yes, everything China said! When you are eating at a calorie deficit, you will be hungry. That is why calorie deficits don't always work. With keto, the only real restriction is carbs. It's easy to reach your protein macros. I'm constantly going over. Fats are a little harder, but doable. You can add butter to just about anything! Heavy whipping cream adds a bit of fat and calories. Don't go overboard though because they do contain carbs even though the carton says zero for carbs.

Also, most lunch meats are processed. Try buying whole meats instead. Choose dark chicken meat instead of breast. Eat the skin. Eat steak, pork chops. Buy the lowest percentage of ground beef. They are all higher in fats. Bacon and eggs are my main breakfast. You can cook eggs anyway you want. Just eat the whole egg, not whites only. A lot of us transitioning from calorie deficit diets tend to go for skinless chicken breast, 93% ground beef, egg whites, etc. Because we were taught to eat low fat and high carbs. This is the other way around. If you are still restricting your calories, you will be hungry. Stop that! LOL! Start feeding your body with good food, and eventually it will realize that it is getting fed regularly and feel satisfied and the hunger pangs will go away. Good luck!

KnitOrMiss

If you are looking for advice as to how to achieve the fat and protein macros while limiting carbs, please let us know, and we can suggest things...

Otherwise, the advice above is fantastic.

Especially while your body is building all new muscle mitochondria to effectively use the ketones you're now making, you may even need to eat up to maintenance calories or a little over while your body gets used to not screaming at you for carb/starch/sugar when it's hungry...

Sunny_Bunny_

Eat more meat. You NEED to hit your protein. It’s a minimum goal to prevent muscle loss. Lose muscle and you’ll have a really hard time with weight maintenance long term.

ladipoet

Besides which both protein and fat help most people feel full and satiated!