Day 4(again) and struggling
1thankful_momma
Posts: 298 Member
This just sucks. I'm completely convinced that Keto is what is best and what I should do, but getting on it and staying on it just sucks the first two weeks. Day one and two are fine. Three is kinda crummy, but day 4.... it just sucks. I am so close to giving up, again. I'm grumpy and just annoyed.
How do people do it? How do you get through the withdrawals and actually stay on plan?
I have about 100 pds to lose, more if I want to be in single digit sizes.
How do people do it? How do you get through the withdrawals and actually stay on plan?
I have about 100 pds to lose, more if I want to be in single digit sizes.
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Replies
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What are your bothersome symptoms? What is making it difficult for you?1
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Carbs.. I want them. I'm hungry, but not hungry. I just want to eat a plate full of noodles I'm grumpy. Kinda feels like PMS grumpy but shouldn't be that. A little headache, but had a bad day at work and that happens0
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eat some fat! maybe some pepperoni, shack such avocado or a fat bomb :-)2
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Allow yourself to eat but only keto foods.
It helps so much to at least get to eat when you're withdrawing from the sugar.
Don't count calories for the first month. Just allow yourself to eat all the cheeses and fatty meats, eggs and such you want. Make all your veggies with butter and cheese.
Try not to make low carb sweets during this time. Just drink coffee and tea with stevia or erythritol for seeets. Try some dark chocolate 86% without added sweeteners. Green & Blacks is the best! With its higher fat count it has a smoother texture than many other dark chocolates.
And try to relate your carb withdrawal to drug withdrawal or alcoholism... what advice would you give a loved one that cleaned up from heroin? You'd tell them to hold strong and it'll get better and they can't go back to it if they ever want to live a healthy life.
Also, put your "suffering" into perspective. It always works for me. I basically kick my own *kitten* and think of things that people have to go through that are truly very difficult and how they can do it... but I am crying over wanting food when I'm not even hungry?!?! Like really?!?! That's my big complaint?!?! Lol it really helps me get over it when I realize how small my struggle really is.
You can do this!10 -
Allow yourself to eat, but keep it keto. I'm also going through this
it's blah. 2 -
8 weeks in and I still sometimes struggle. Allow yourself to eat but keep it Keto. Eat more fat. Have Keto friendly foods readily available - I buy cracker cut cheeses, olives, hard boiled eggs, macadamia nuts - things I can pop in my mouth quickly and easily so I don't feel "deprived" of what I want. Find substitutions for trouble foods. I have to go to a weekly meeting and they always have pastries, so I started bringing something Keto. My biggest thing is record before you eat. Sometimes just logging in down makes you reconsider. Much of this lifestyle is not only eating Keto, but breaking old habits - like learning not to eat when you are not hungry, or stopping when you are full, or portion control - granted ... In the beginning it's hard, and it does take work to plan, but once you get past the initial phase it truly does get easier - plus we're all here for you and we've got your back,3
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i am 2 years in and still struggle some days... keep calm and keto on!5
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You are not alone! I just restarted the diet this week and I'm now hitting the day 4 keto flu. I knew it was coming and I know it will pass. My advice is similar to others, eat more fat to help satisfy the cravings. My absolute favorite snack for this kind of feeling is cheese wrapped in salami or pepperoni and a cup of warm chicken broth...yumm! Stay strong and stick with it. I promise by this time next week you will notice your energy returning, you will think clearer and the scale will start tipping in your favor. It's worth it!2
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I'm a couple months into keto, and I honestly don't even think about the carbs anymore. Eat the fat, don't worry about calories for now, and listen to everyone here. They know their *kitten* and won't steer you wrong. You've got this!!!1
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I find that sometimes it is just the act of eating that is being craved and not hunger. The things that I have found that help are having an occasional snack that is time consuming. By that I mean things like sunflower seeds in the shell. It is hard to overeat sunflower seeds, but it helps with fulfilling the urge to eat. It also helps another issue which is increasing salt.
Drinking more water has also been helpful for me. A sedentary person should drink at least 1/2 oz per lb of body weight. If you are active, you need to bump that up. This is especially important if you are losing fat because in addition to storing fat, your fat cells also store toxins. When you start burning fat, that goes into your blood and you need to flush it out.
When you do eat, eat slower. This is ridiculous hard for me, but it makes a huge difference. It takes time for your brain to get the message that you are full. Many keto friendly foods don't take as long to eat per calorie consumed as carb heavy food especially in the snack type food (think cheese vs popcorn).
The last part is keep moving. Boredom or sitting still seem to make many of us have the desire to munch. At work, when I get that urge (which is pretty regular), one way I combat it is to get up and get a refill of my water or coffee or just do a lap around the office area. You may not need the physical motion. It may work just to have something that occupies your mind enough that you don't think about munching.2 -
Are you logging your food currently? Perhaps you are not eating ENOUGH. As other people mentioned, eat more fat. It could be possible that your intake calories are too low or your trying to eat more protein than fat and it's not satisfying you. I would continue to log (or start) if I were you just so you know exactly how much you're eating and what your macros are at. People mention snacking on cheese, bacon, eggs, etc. Those all have a lot of protein as well so it can be easy for your protein levels to outdo your fat. As someone mentioned, try fat bombs and cooking food with butter or ghee. As coconut oil/MCT oil where you can.1
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Get onto YouTube, watch one of the programmes on how the sugar industry, paid governments to con us all, get mad, I have done this twice now & it's kept me on track, coz I hate being conned & don't want to give them my money. I am also on day 4. If that doesn't work brush your teeth, I know it sounds mad but it does work. Good luck, hope you manage this bump in the road.4
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Get onto YouTube, watch one of the programmes on how the sugar industry, paid governments to con us all, get mad, I have done this twice now & it's kept me on track, coz I hate being conned & don't want to give them my money. I am also on day 4. If that doesn't work brush your teeth, I know it sounds mad but it does work. Good luck, hope you manage this bump in the road.
On this note, check out this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10456568/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat#latest
which includes a link to this article in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html?_r=1
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I'm only on day 10 - but I already feel so much better every day, physically and mentally.
I haven't had much in the way of the keto flu other than an occasional mild headache, but I did find myself mindlessly browsing in the fridge earlier this week and that was out of habit/boredom?- What I've been doing is being inspired and motivated by looking at the success stories with before and after photos - I also love when people share their health info (lab work or prescription med reduction)
- Listening to keto podcasts - they're informative and motivating (I work from home, so podcasts are in lieu of radio)
- Pre-logging my food every day with built in snacks so I have something to look forward to.
- Exploring a whole bunch of LCHF recipes on Pinterest - I've been so fat restricted the past 10 years that I feel like I'm cheating on this woe.
Thanks for those links to the sugar industry - I'm going to check those out.2 -
I like challenges and shared accountability. When I am down, I spend a ton of time on this board to remind me of the benefits and help me through it all. When I first started Keto, I read every message a bunch of times.
I also join challenges to get me focused and busy.
I just joined another challenge. I did the same one this summer as well. It is called the "Amazing Race". Each participant is grouped into 1 of 5 or 6 teams of 20 people each. You log a mile for each minute of workouts. As a team, you "travel" from destination to destination.
At each stop (each week), you are challenged to do each of three challenges. You are not graded for quality, only time invested into the challenge. For instance, you might have to follow a 10 minute yoga video 3 times. Again, not graded on quality... just do your best. You may have to track all your food and drink for 5 days of 7 days, and you may have to climb a given number of steps.
If you body is not capable of doing a challenge, there is always a workaround. Ultimately, you get points for time invested and effort in completing the challenge. I assure you I failed miserably on the highland dancing challenge last time round but found yoga quite intriguing. Never would have done either without the challenge in the first place. The lady that hosts the event is spectacular.
The reason I like them is that I don't want to let your teammates down and when we do well it feels great to be part of a team. To me it is part of the whole package of working on yourself.
Just remember, the first few days or the hardest. It only gets easier with time.
Vowder
I found the link to the challenge I mentioned above;
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/116418-amazing-race-fall-fun
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coloradoartstudio wrote: »I'm only on day 10 - but I already feel so much better every day, physically and mentally.
I haven't had much in the way of the keto flu other than an occasional mild headache, but I did find myself mindlessly browsing in the fridge earlier this week and that was out of habit/boredom?- What I've been doing is being inspired and motivated by looking at the success stories with before and after photos - I also love when people share their health info (lab work or prescription med reduction)
- Listening to keto podcasts - they're informative and motivating (I work from home, so podcasts are in lieu of radio)
- Pre-logging my food every day with built in snacks so I have something to look forward to.
- Exploring a whole bunch of LCHF recipes on Pinterest - I've been so fat restricted the past 10 years that I feel like I'm cheating on this woe.
Thanks for those links to the sugar industry - I'm going to check those out.
We're twins!!!!! Well I don't do podcasts but I did enjoy the days of Keto Summit I listened to and I have signed up for the Fat Summit.1 -
