Ketosis?
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kjwalker2014
Posts: 17 Member
So I started Paleo a couple of weeks or so ago. Its been great besides that starving hunger the first few days or so; I know that is a pretty normal transitional period. But now I am experiencing almost complete lack of appetite. Most of what I eat I have to force down my throat. I haven't been tracking what I eat lately but I would hazard a guess at maybe 600 calories a day. I've been this way for a few days or so now. Have I accidentally gone into Ketosis? I know it's not necessarily a bad thing but just trying to figure it out.
I don't feel any less fatigued than normal (been working with my Dr on bringing up my very low vitamin D so I've got good days and bad). No nausea or stomach cramps or anything else wacky. Usually only hungry late morning. It's particularly difficult eating meat right now...and I was by no means a vegetarian before Paleo. The appetite just isn't there.
I don't feel any less fatigued than normal (been working with my Dr on bringing up my very low vitamin D so I've got good days and bad). No nausea or stomach cramps or anything else wacky. Usually only hungry late morning. It's particularly difficult eating meat right now...and I was by no means a vegetarian before Paleo. The appetite just isn't there.
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I would make sure you were tracking. It's easy to underestimate your calories.0
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Logged everything for today, I'm at 431so far. Dinner will be about the same as lunch, most likely less. That brings me in at less than 700 for the day. Last few have been very similar. I know tracking calories doesn't matter much anyway...the FDA allows a 20% discrepancy in either direction so you never really know how many you are eating anyway.0
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I know nutritional ketosis is supposed to happen with 50g or less of carbs. I wish I knew what to say to help you. I've NEVER lost my appetite. I get less hungry, but i'm always ready to eat something, especially meals. Maybe it is just an adjustment period and will reset itself in a few days/weeks? Could it be hormonal somehow? Instead of "eat all things" or "kill all things" you just have the opposite?0
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Would there be any problem with eating a bigger meal when you ARE hungry, late morning? I can't see your diary, so I have no idea where your numbers are, but the main things that cause problems when switching to a ketogenic diet are electrolytes (need more salt, magnesium, and potassium), and not enough calories because people are scared of fat.0
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This happened to me. I ended up logging to see how many calories I needed to make my minimum, otherwise I would have been satisfied with 600-800 calories a day. This is a bad thing. Too few calories send a "famine" message to the brain, slowing down the metabolism. Weight loss stalls and it can be pretty difficult to get it going again. If you are going for weight loss, this is counter-productive.
Usually I try to get in 800-1000 calories in my first meal, and the rest in my next meal, choosing calorie and nutrient dense food. If after dinner I'm significantly short, I indulge in a fat bomb or two. (Coconut oil, raw cacao, and a little honey. Very little. My sweet tooth has ratcheted way down.)0 -
p.s. My minimum target for the day is 1500 calories. More would be better, but 1500 is surprisingly hard to achieve some days.0
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This has been really helpful. Thank you! I have noticed that I'm not dropping weight like I was. I do get pretty hungry in the morning after I've been awake for a couple hours. I will try to make that meal bigger and take the advice of the extra fat after dinner. I'm not afraid of fat, I think part of my problem is that I have been trained to keep my meals small and that doesn't work with Paleo. I am still very new to this. Thank you all for your help!!0
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I've also made my diary public, although I have not logged much since Friday.0
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I drink hot tea with cream or coconut oil/milk in it in the evenings (I'm experimenting with cutting out my beloved cream).
Can you keep veggies and/or lunch meat with you during the day for snacks if you're used to eating smaller meals?0 -
That's a fantastic idea and quite a coincidence since right before looking at this I decided to go out tonight and buy some coconut milk! I have cut out all my dairy. I do generally have a snack at work of cut veggies and nuts. I ate a heavier breakfast than I usually do and my appetite seems to be coming back. I will try adding oil/milk to my tea tonight! It's interesting that when I started eating less I stopped losing weight.
How on earth can you get a healthy 800 cal meal?! Please tell me!0 -
Meat plus veg with fat. I like most veg cooked in bacon grease.0
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I have a lot of experience with low carb/ketogenic Paleo lifestyle but I eat that way to resolve metabolic disorder and to reduce craving/bingeing. I don't have any experience with having difficulty eating enough so I can't offer much useful advice there, although obviously being keto does reduce my appetite so as to avoid bingeing entirely. However, I find it only too easy to have a 1000 calorie supper and since I usually only eat twice per day, that's often appropriate.
I also drink a version of Bulletproof coffee. I drink two coffees in the morning with a half tablespoon each butter and coconut oil in each coffee, emulsified with hand blender. Lately I've been adding a half tablespoon of Great Lakes gelatin in each coffee too. It's a perfect breakfast for someone like me who hates solid food in the morning.0 -
kjwalker2014 wrote: »That's a fantastic idea and quite a coincidence since right before looking at this I decided to go out tonight and buy some coconut milk! I have cut out all my dairy. I do generally have a snack at work of cut veggies and nuts. I ate a heavier breakfast than I usually do and my appetite seems to be coming back. I will try adding oil/milk to my tea tonight! It's interesting that when I started eating less I stopped losing weight.
How on earth can you get a healthy 800 cal meal?! Please tell me!
Take a look at my diary for today. I had a 300 calorie "breakfast" -- bulletproof coffee with butter, coconut oil, and grassfed collagen. It doesn't really count as a meal (in terms of intermittent fasting), I'm told, because it has no carbs. I had about 750 calories for lunch - lovely steak and stir-fried veggies (mostly red cabbage) and more fat. I will have another, smaller meal (so I don't go to bed uncomfortably full) in about six or eight hours to round out the day.
The steak actually had way more protein than I realized, so I may settle for baked sweet potato with lots of butter, and a salad.0 -
yea i would recommend the BulletProof coffee to start the morning. It will give crazy energy and you getting some fat calories. We switched over to Paleo/Keto type lifestyle.. it is amazing how little we(my wife & I) desire compared to before. Fats just fill you up better and without grains/sugars you don't have the cravings as before. Chia seeds are great food source to add on stuff.. little things that add nutritional value plus don't produce cravings. We have had those days when we bounced out of "ketosis" feeling and had normal cravings.. be then we reduced carbs and gained control over our food urges.
good luck and congrads 0 -
Hmm I'm thinking I went through this too for a while. I still don't get hungry in the middle of the day because I eat breakfast late, but I'm always hungry when I wake up so I will oftentimes make that my biggest meal. And when I started tracking, I wasn't counting my cooking fat when I was tracking (I didn't really consider that food? lol). I add full-fat coconut milk to my tea, found out that avocados are awesome for calories, healthy fat, AND fiber, and a TBS of coconut oil can help add calories. I think the Paleo guideline is to eat when you're hungry - just make it count when you do.0
