Struggling

plipsurt

Hi,
I have been following a low carb diet for 5 weeks now (keeping it under 50g per day) I know many recommend less than 20g but I can't get that low. I am in ketosis (according to the ketostix) but I am always hungry (especially so this last week) and am not losing weight (well I have lost a total of 6lbs in 5 weeks and 4 of those in the first week). I am tracking carefully but beginning to think that I am punishing myself for no reward. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance

ali59oc

Eat fat. Lots and lots of fat. It is so satiating. I stay under 20g carbs a day and I'm never hungry.

plipsurt

Eat fat. Lots and lots of fat. It is so satiating. I stay under 20g carbs a day and I'm never hungry.

MFP has me set at 1500 cals a day so that doesn't leave me much room to eat lots and lots of fat?

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

Screw MFP. It was telling me to eat 1500 cals/day and I ate till my body was satisfied. Initially I was eating 3500-4000 cals and losing 3 lbs of fat per week. Also Ketostix are useless, eating potatoes will spike your insulin and with 20+ carbs from potatoes in single meal will likely kick you out of ketosis. I eat one big meal a day and never felt the need to snack or hungry. I used to be always hungry before I got rid of starches and sugars from my diet, 5-6 meals didn't help either. You need to go through induction and it seems you are eating ton of onions and potatoes, keep your veggies to greens for next 2 weeks.

toez79

Yes I agree with more fat! It seems weird, but it's how keto works. And you should eat more fat than protein. You can check out the calculator here: http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/ and you might find that you need to get 75% of your calories from fat, 20% from protein and 5% from carbs, or whatever your personal numbers are. Then you can fiddle with your MFP goals to match this. I found that weight came off better when I did this adjustment. Too much protein just turns into sugar, especially in women, so you might think you're eating great by getting a ton of protein, but it's not doing you any good.
And I'm about 5-6 weeks in too. I also noticed that the scale doesn't go as fast as you think, but your pants might be feeling looser and you might be losing inches. I eat around 1500-1600 calories with under 20g net carbs and I'm rarely hungry too. And I get like 133 grams of fat at that level!
Good luck, keep at it!!

Dragonwolf

Eat more. Your diary shows you consistently several hundred calories under. Try getting closer to the calorie targets.

Also, it might help to eat more foods that are naturally fatty. IE - Instead of adding butter to grilled chicken breast, eat a rib steak. And swap that "extra lean" bacon for the real stuff. Pork belly is supposed to be a fatty cut. The variety in fat sources will also help you meet micronutrient needs (fats, even animal fats, are not identical).

Fat in general should be a "go for red" goal. It's okay to go over it. Protein, you want to make sure you get about goal. It's okay to go over or be a little under, but try to not be too off in either direction.

Are you craving something in particular? Provided it's not junk food (which suggests a habit trying to hang on), your body might also be telling you that it's missing certain nutrients. Your diary looks pretty good, overall, but it's possible you're deficient in something. For example, I've recently wanted nothing to do with pork or chicken, and was really craving beef (kind of), bison, and venison. I quickly realized that my iron levels were low (I'm prone to anemia), and was craving those three meats, specifically, because they are high iron (venison has about 25% RDV per 100g, to give an idea) and what I'm familiar with (I'm unfortunately not at the point where I can eat liver, yet, though I know I probably should, it blows everything else out of the water for iron).

Try getting more fiber. It's hit or miss whether this one will actually help, and it's hard to do on keto, but it's worth trying. It may require increasing carbs a bit, but since you appear to be active, you do have more wiggle room on that front. Keto isn't (IMO) about an absolute carb number. The 20-50g is a base, usually for people who aren't very active. More activity means burning through glycogen more, which means more tolerance for carbs while still being in keto. That doesn't mean, of course, that you can jump up to 150g and still think you'll be in keto, but on your active days especially, you might be able to afford going a little over 50g.

To illustrate with an extreme example, Dr. Peter Attia was able to eat 321g of carbs and stay in ketosis. This was made possible by his exercise conditions -- bike riding 110 miles, with a 6,000 foot climb, and strong head or crosswinds.

Now, of course, your workouts won't require that much, but the point here is that the body doesn't go into ketosis based on some arbitrary, hard line number of carb intake. Just watch your ketone level based on your carb intake and exercise requirements, and use it to help tweak it to your needs. I'd try the other suggestions, first, but this is an option.

Reference -- http://eatingacademy.com/sports-and-nutrition/ketones-carbohydrates-can-co-exist

SisterMable

My calories are set at 1600, or 1800. I can't remember BUTT, my main thing is to try to eat enough fat so my fat:protein ratio is at least 2:1. Sometimes I'm way under my calories, sometimes way over. My carbs come mostly incidentally to my fat (like with HWC).

Slow down on yer carby veggies. Stick to green leafies. Have a hamburger patty with bleu cheese and butter. Spend a couple of weeks just getting the fat in and ignoring the carbs, and your hunger AND macro desires will change considerably.

If you lower the sodium and add some more water, you might start seeing results after a week or so

(I should add that I can't see your diary, so I'm making assumptions based on your post alone

Good luck!