Thanks everyone! Actually, I had originally had my macros set for 15%c, 20%p, and 65%f....that was great for the first two weeks. As soon as I hit the two week mark, for a couple of days it was as if I hadn't eaten all day. Even at 2000 calories! It was extremely distracting!

My aim was to keep carbs between 50g and 100g per day...closer to 50g if I could help it. Then it just wasn't enough....I thought perhaps a temporary shift to 5% would help and I could start adding back sweet potato and banana. I really miss my banana. lol

I guess I'll just have to wait and see.....if I had only toughed out the next four days that would have put me at the 3 week mark and perhaps it would have been the breakthrough point! Hopefully I'm not starting a complete ground zero again.....:) Perhaps you guys are right and I should just go back to what I was doing the first week or two and 'muscle' through the hungry days!! haha

In their recent book The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living, Volek and Phinney describe two stages of keto-adaptation. In the first few days of a keto diet, your body is still running on glycogen stores. This is the toughest part of the process, because in order to break the vicious cycle of glucose-based metabolism, you have to avoid eating carbohydrates, even though your glycogen stores are dwindling. Fat metabolism is still not optimized, and ketone production hasn't become significant.

Another noticeable effect in the first days is water loss. One of the inefficiencies of glycogen storage is that it needs to be stored with water. It takes about 3 or 4 grams of water to store a gram of glycogen [1] . This means that as you deplete your glycogen stores you could lose up to 2 kg of water! Not only that, but high circulating insulin levels cause water retention by inhibiting sodium excretion (see e.g. [2]). The keto diet lowers insulin levels and increases insulin sensitivity, allowing excess fluid to be released. These combined effects are the origin of the claim that the weight lost on keto diets is due to water loss. In the very beginning, this is true, but subsequently, of course, it is not.

When glycogen runs out, you start producing ketones, and some are excreted in the urine. This is easy to measure, and some keto dieters use it to know if they are hitting a low enough level of carbohydrate restriction. This also marks the beginning of the second stage of keto-adaptation. Ketones are now becoming available for fuel, but they haven't yet risen to their stable adapted level. There is an interesting interplay between ketone use in the muscles and the brain. When ketone levels are low, the muscles tend to use them directly for fuel, but as levels increase, the muscles use them less, turning to fat for fuel instead. The brain, on the other hand, uses ketones proportionally to their concentration in the blood. This means that at low levels of ketones, the brain's supply is not much affected, because the muscles intercede, but above some threshold, the brain's supply rapidly becomes much higher. At this point, the brain can rely on ketones, and since it is no longer susceptible to running out of fuel, the need to eat frequently throughout the day to maintain mental function disappears. The muscles in turn now rely on fat: they finally have access to a virtually unlimited supply of energy, which is particularly valuable for athletes.

Finally, keep your dietary carbohydrates low. The worst scenario is to eat some every few days -- you will set yourself back, and be in perpetual limbo. Now is not the time to experiment with your carbohydrate tolerance, or eat foods you aren't sure about the content of. Commit to a very low level of carbohydrate intake, and stay with it consistently for at least long enough to get ketone production in full force. Most people we have talked to, if they experienced any discomfort at all, felt fully functional within 4 or 5 days. However, metabolic changes continue for at least two weeks and often more [6]. We recommend a 30 day trial at near zero levels of carbohydrate, to give yourself a chance to experience a completely keto-adapted state.

Orione2 wrote: »

Thanks for this post. I struggle to get into ketosis, even staying at <50g for 30 days had no effect. When I go lower i get so crabby and eat everything in site my cravings are so strong. I do loose weight, but am holding on to belly fat. Even after cycling across europe this summer I still can't get rid of that belly.... I'm going to try again to get into Ketosis.