struggling big time
msfutureskinnyminnie
Posts: 65 Member
I have been doing keto for over 80 days ....lost 5 lbs and gained 5 lbs ....this past week or so all I want is chips etc etc (which I caved) not sure why this is hard for me .... I am never satisfied and always hungry....my best friend Ms.smartypants has done extremely well on this woe ..she has given me tips but nothing is keeping the hungry monster at bay...Anyone have something that might work?
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What's your current regime? Do you eat when you're hungry? Without knowing exactly what you're routine is, it's hard to be able to comment.... I'm sorry you're going through a tough time.....1
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If you are, by your very nature, a volume eater, keto is generally going to prove difficult for you. My advice would be to focus on eating a lot more leafy greens/fibrous vegetables as filler.4
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How's your fat intake?0
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »If you are, by your very nature, a volume eater, keto is generally going to prove difficult for you. My advice would be to focus on eating a lot more leafy greens/fibrous vegetables as filler.
So true. I tend to eat off of salad plates because they are smaller. My food does not typically fill a dinner plate.
How low are your calories?
Have you taken care of electrolytes? Low carbers often need 3000-5000 mg of sodium per day, which is about 2 tsp of table salt. I mention this because feeling low energy is often mistaken as hunger, for me. Actual hunger is very rare for me, if I ate the day before. If I fasted for well over 18 hours, I may get hungry. Otherwise I just feel like eating - a very different thing, for me.4 -
Thanks for the replies ...My calories are 1660 carbs are 5% (21g) fat is 75% (138g) protein 20% (83g)...I work between 10 to 12 hour shifts as a med tech/care giver at a retirement home...My sodium is between 3000 to 50000
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Allison sorry your having a hard time
Your calories and macros look good. I am all out of tips . Hang in there and don't give up (HUGSSS) 0 -
msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thanks for the replies ...My calories are 1660 carbs are 5% (21g) fat is 75% (138g) protein 20% (83g)...I work between 10 to 12 hour shifts as a med tech/care giver at a retirement home...My sodium is between 3000 to 5000
Those calories might be low for someone with an active job, the ladies who work were my mom lives (retirement home) are very active. If you are over 5'5" then you probably need more calories with an active job. Sodium sounds ok but don't forget the potassium and magnesium.
How are those in your diet? And you might just be someone who needs more greens, some do, some don't.
Hope you find your sweet spot soon, chips are not the answer or I would have been super model thin a LONG TIME AGO.
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Thanks Megan
....Thanks retirehappy...I put my activity as lightly active because there is some days I am not as active...I am 5'6 and I take a mag. tablet and potassium everyday 0 -
It sounds like you are doing everything by the book. If you're eating to your macros you know that is enough food, so while you feel hungry - you don't need to eat. You may need to work through the cravings and find the inner strength to just drink a glass of water, go for a walk etc to distract. You aren't going to starve, just wait for your next meal and carry on.2
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Aside from the likely physiological benefits of intermittent fasting, I'm a fan of it because I can come home at the end of my work day and still demolish a huge volume of food.Gallowmere1984 wrote: »If you are, by your very nature, a volume eater, keto is generally going to prove difficult for you. My advice would be to focus on eating a lot more leafy greens/fibrous vegetables as filler.
That's not to say that I do it all the time, but it's pretty awesome to come home and have a huge spinach salad, a couple of strips of bacon, 2-3 eggs, a half pound of 80/20 with a couple of ounces of cheese, and a few spears of asparagus in bacon fat within a couple of hours.
I'll always be a fat kid at heart.5 -
I found that if I eat breakfast, I end up wanting to eat ALL day. For whatever, I'm not sure why, it just happens. So I started intermittent fasting and its went really well. I typically skip lunch now too. I was always a big dinner eater so it works for me. I make sure my dinner is full of greens and filling fats. I eat until I'm satisfied. Maybe consider trying fasting? I always felt I could never do it but it's worked fine for me so far.4
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msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thanks for the replies ...My calories are 1660 carbs are 5% (21g) fat is 75% (138g) protein 20% (83g)...I work between 10 to 12 hour shifts as a med tech/care giver at a retirement home...My sodium is between 3000 to 5000
Try increasing your protein a little, to about 95 or 100g. Some people feel satiated easier on a little more protein. Give it a try for a week or so and see if it helps.3 -
In looking at your diary the only suggestion I have is perhaps try eliminating the diet soda and mio - they are zero calorie, but for me artificial sweeteners definitely trigger cravings for sweets and carbs...they may be triggering yours as well.4
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Diet soda definitely sets off my insulin response and triggers cravings, as does any fruit other than blackberries and lemons. Every time I have been successful on LCHF I have always had to completely let go of soda and imitation desert replacements.
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I will agree with the IF suggestion because I think many of us will get hungry because we ate breakfast. When I started IF a few months back, the first hour after I would normally have breakfast was a bit challenging with regard to hunger, but it took a week or so before my body adjusted and it was no longer an issue.
Also, artificial sweeteners are tricky. Some people can handle them with no problem while it causes huge struggles for others. What worked for me was dropping all sweeteners - real or fake - for a few months. It was amazing how that changed the way I tasted food. Foods like celery started tasting sweet. Everything actually tasted better.
After a while, I slowly tried different sweetened foods to see what happened. Some seem to spike insulin which is a hormone that makes you feel hungry. Acesulfame Potassium (a.k.a. Ace K) has been to shown to spike insulin in most people. Given that seems to be the sweetener of choice for nearly everything that is sugar free now a days, that may be an issue for you. In the US, Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper and Diet Mug Root Beer seem to be the last hold outs in terms of diet sodas. Those all use Aspartame which seems to have a negative effect on fewer people.
Lastly, if volume is an issue like it is for some of us, I would concur with an earlier poster about getting all or nearly all of your carbs from leafy greens because 1) they have more volume to fill you up, and 2) they take longer to eat allowing the food to get far enough along the digestive track to signal your brain you are no longer hungry. In addition to leafy greens, I find celery helps with this volume issue for me.2 -
Thank you everyone for your suggestions....I changed my macros to 5% carbs(21g)...70% fat (129g) and 25% (104g)protein....I am over on fat and low on protein but I am out of calories ...As for IF I don't think I would be able to do it I suffer from hypoglycemia0
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tcunbeliever wrote: »In looking at your diary the only suggestion I have is perhaps try eliminating the diet soda and mio - they are zero calorie, but for me artificial sweeteners definitely trigger cravings for sweets and carbs...they may be triggering yours as well.
This! I just discovered this recently by accident when I finally gave up ALL sweeteners (natural or artificial). A lot of my hunger issues disappeared.2 -
msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thank you everyone for your suggestions....I changed my macros to 5% carbs(21g)...70% fat (129g) and 25% (104g)protein....I am over on fat and low on protein but I am out of calories ...As for IF I don't think I would be able to do it I suffer from hypoglycemia
Do you actually test your BG levels? Frequently, hypoglycemic symptoms come from more from rapid drops rather than truly being low BG. Someone can have BG that is over 100 and feel hypoglycemic because it dropped too rapidly from 200.
If you haven't measured with a glucometer and are only going by symptoms, I think you would be well served to measure. Glucometers are pretty cheap now and simple to use.
Here is a short article that is helpful if you have never used a glucometer before:
https://chriskresser.com/how-to-prevent-diabetes-and-heart-disease-for-16/
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cstehansen wrote: »msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thank you everyone for your suggestions....I changed my macros to 5% carbs(21g)...70% fat (129g) and 25% (104g)protein....I am over on fat and low on protein but I am out of calories ...As for IF I don't think I would be able to do it I suffer from hypoglycemia
Do you actually test your BG levels? Frequently, hypoglycemic symptoms come from more from rapid drops rather than truly being low BG. Someone can have BG that is over 100 and feel hypoglycemic because it dropped too rapidly from 200.
If you haven't measured with a glucometer and are only going by symptoms, I think you would be well served to measure. Glucometers are pretty cheap now and simple to use.
Here is a short article that is helpful if you have never used a glucometer before:
https://chriskresser.com/how-to-prevent-diabetes-and-heart-disease-for-16/
Definitely agree! Please test to be sure. If it's not truly low then you're perpetuating the very cycle that's causing the wild swings in the first place.
Also, you can use something like smarties to correct actual hypos during IF. Fasting is the fastest way to fix the underlying issue causing them in the first place.1 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »cstehansen wrote: »msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thank you everyone for your suggestions....I changed my macros to 5% carbs(21g)...70% fat (129g) and 25% (104g)protein....I am over on fat and low on protein but I am out of calories ...As for IF I don't think I would be able to do it I suffer from hypoglycemia
Do you actually test your BG levels? Frequently, hypoglycemic symptoms come from more from rapid drops rather than truly being low BG. Someone can have BG that is over 100 and feel hypoglycemic because it dropped too rapidly from 200.
If you haven't measured with a glucometer and are only going by symptoms, I think you would be well served to measure. Glucometers are pretty cheap now and simple to use.
Here is a short article that is helpful if you have never used a glucometer before:
https://chriskresser.com/how-to-prevent-diabetes-and-heart-disease-for-16/
Definitely agree! Please test to be sure. If it's not truly low then you're perpetuating the very cycle that's causing the wild swings in the first place.
Also, you can use something like smarties to correct actual hypos during IF. Fasting is the fastest way to fix the underlying issue causing them in the first place.
Just one note, BG of 100, which normal is below 100 for fasting, is only 5 g (I think, but it may be 4) of glucose in your blood, so you don't need to eat but 1 smarty to get more than enough sugar to fix a hypoglycemic event. You could even fix it with less than a mouthful of fruit juice, and that would resolve it faster than a smarty.1 -
I am new to this forum, but the IF has been a god send to me. I don't eat breakfast anymore, and rarely am even hungry for lunch most days.3
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cstehansen wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »cstehansen wrote: »msfutureskinnyminnie wrote: »Thank you everyone for your suggestions....I changed my macros to 5% carbs(21g)...70% fat (129g) and 25% (104g)protein....I am over on fat and low on protein but I am out of calories ...As for IF I don't think I would be able to do it I suffer from hypoglycemia
Do you actually test your BG levels? Frequently, hypoglycemic symptoms come from more from rapid drops rather than truly being low BG. Someone can have BG that is over 100 and feel hypoglycemic because it dropped too rapidly from 200.
If you haven't measured with a glucometer and are only going by symptoms, I think you would be well served to measure. Glucometers are pretty cheap now and simple to use.
Here is a short article that is helpful if you have never used a glucometer before:
https://chriskresser.com/how-to-prevent-diabetes-and-heart-disease-for-16/
Definitely agree! Please test to be sure. If it's not truly low then you're perpetuating the very cycle that's causing the wild swings in the first place.
Also, you can use something like smarties to correct actual hypos during IF. Fasting is the fastest way to fix the underlying issue causing them in the first place.
Just one note, BG of 100, which normal is below 100 for fasting, is only 5 g (I think, but it may be 4) of glucose in your blood, so you don't need to eat but 1 smarty to get more than enough sugar to fix a hypoglycemic event. You could even fix it with less than a mouthful of fruit juice, and that would resolve it faster than a smarty.
Absolutely agree!
Treating an actual low, doesn't require a lot of glucose. You want to use the least possible to avoid starting the whole circle of events all over again.
1.) test when feeling symptoms. If you're low...
2.) eat a smarty or two depending on how low you are...
3.) test again in 15 minutes. And go from there
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IF and hypoglycemia are not mutually exclusive ...I started slowly...not all at once...just expanding my fasting window each day by 30 min or so to get to 16:8...however, after being on that for a few months, I find that my hypoglycemia is pretty much non-existent now...it's nice to be free of it because it was getting worse as I was getting older...not that I'm OLD or anything...4
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You sound like me. I lost 25 pounds last year and then the holidays came. I went high carb until January. In January I got serious again but have not lost a single pound. In fact I gained 5 pounds. But I did lose 2 inches off my waist and I look like a deflated balloon in certain parts.
I wish I had measured my arms and bust because I can tell I've lost inches there even though the scale is lying. So, you may want to examine other parts you didn't measure before and see if they have shrunk due to losing body fat. Clothes fitting loser is a good give away.
I've been telling myself it's my illnesses. I've been off and on antibiotics due to a an unknown foot infection. I stepped on a huge nail that went all the way through my foot back in July and it healed rapidly and easily. But there seems to be some grit left in there that got infected. So my foot had been swelling and I didn't notice until one day I couldn't walk. The first antibiotic was fine but I had a horrible reaction to the 2nd antibiotic the doctor gave me and I had to recover from that too. So, now my foot is pretty well healed and I get the flu. The stuffy nose, headache, sore throat, cough, ache all over flu, NOT the keto flu - I wish it was the keto flu, I know what to do about that. I'm still feeling pretty exhausted from it all.
I don't know anything that has worked so far. I just keep plugging away. I did discover that a low carb (4g total carbs) crescent almond cookie recipe that helped me get over my cravings and I've discovered a 3g total carb keto soft pretzel recipe that seems to keep me from being hungry. I tried some good low carb breads (Bob's Red Mill low carb bread mixes) but they seemed to stimulate my cravings instead of dampening them. I'll post a link to the useful recipes if you're interested.
If you find something that works please share. I would really like to see that damn scale move down.0
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