Not eating much and not hungry
MaggieFinn
Posts: 13 Member
I'm on Day 5 of Keto and liking it. I have a question, though.
I'm also doing IF, so basically skipping breakfast. MFP gives me a 1200/ day calorie goal, but with two keto meals a day (recipes from Simply Keto), I'm full. I am often not reaching even 1000 calories a day, but I'm just not hungry. \
Something tells me that I'm not eating enough- is this just my body adjusting? I had a bout of keto flu on Day 3, but it cleared up quickly and I felt great again on Day 4. I've added more low-carb veggies because I was feeling kind of "sludgy" and heavy, but I'm still not hitting my 1200 calorie count.
Thoughts?
I'm also doing IF, so basically skipping breakfast. MFP gives me a 1200/ day calorie goal, but with two keto meals a day (recipes from Simply Keto), I'm full. I am often not reaching even 1000 calories a day, but I'm just not hungry. \
Something tells me that I'm not eating enough- is this just my body adjusting? I had a bout of keto flu on Day 3, but it cleared up quickly and I felt great again on Day 4. I've added more low-carb veggies because I was feeling kind of "sludgy" and heavy, but I'm still not hitting my 1200 calorie count.
Thoughts?
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As long as you're hitting your protein goal most days, you'll be ok... you don't want to lose muscle. Also as long as you're feeling energetic enough to get through your daily activities, you're good. I wouldn't worry to much about the calorie count during the fat adaptation period... lack of hunger is common in the beginning of keto
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Keto flu is nothing more than low sodium. I hope you are supplementing sodium every day. It may feel like it has past but keto is a naturally diuretic diet and you lose sodium with that water and without replacement on an ongoing and consistent basis, this will not be the last you feel “keto flu”.
Anyway, you’re on day 5. You have just opened the flood gates on energy your body has stored away for a rainy day. Body fat. Your body has figured out that it can use it and it will happily do that and you will not feel so hungry because you are still adequately fed. From the pantry. Instead of the mouth.
This will not last forever. Depending on how much you have available in your “pantry”, hunger will return when supplies begin to dwindle. However, this seems to happen long before we would like it to. There will likely still be plenty in the pantry when the hunger increases. That’s why it’s so hard to lose the last 10-20 pounds.
Reaching your protein intake needs is the only thing to be concerned about. You don’t want to be losing metabolically active lean muscle because you’re underrating protein.
Prioritize meat at each meal and that should help ensure you will prevent any ill effects while you are not feeling so hungry.6 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Keto flu is nothing more than low sodium. I hope you are supplementing sodium every day. It may feel like it has past but keto is a naturally diuretic diet and you lose sodium with that water and without replacement on an ongoing and consistent basis, this will not be the last you feel “keto flu”.
Anyway, you’re on day 5. You have just opened the flood gates on energy your body has stored away for a rainy day. Body fat. Your body has figured out that it can use it and it will happily do that and you will not feel so hungry because you are still adequately fed. From the pantry. Instead of the mouth.
This will not last forever. Depending on how much you have available in your “pantry”, hunger will return when supplies begin to dwindle. However, this seems to happen long before we would like it to. There will likely still be plenty in the pantry when the hunger increases. That’s why it’s so hard to lose the last 10-20 pounds.
Reaching your protein intake needs is the only thing to be concerned about. You don’t want to be losing metabolically active lean muscle because you’re underrating protein.
Prioritize meat at each meal and that should help ensure you will prevent any ill effects while you are not feeling so hungry.
Hmmmm.... after 8 months of fairly painless (and thoroughly delicious) LCHF eating, and losing about 55 lbs, I feel a bit of munchies returning. My shrinking “pantry” might explain that. Thank you for that insight!
My weight loss (by the scale) has slowed, and I find myself tempted to pay more attention to my caloric intake.... old “dieting” habits die hard. I still have 20-30 lbs to lose (which may be too optimistic for this 54 year old woman.)
Anyway, as a longtime lurker, I appreciate the wisdom and insights shared in this forum.
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My pantry is bursting to full. I could run a city-wide soup kitchen.
Thanks for the reminder about sodium. I knew I might be getting dehydrated, so I upped my water intake, but didn't think about sodium. I'll take another look at my protein, too. Coming from a diet low in animal protein, I'm definitely searching for enough non-legume ways to get my protein up. I foresee a lot of fish in my future...
Thanks again for the thoughtful responses.3 -
Just beginning keto and not being hungry are very often just a given. Same thing happened with me, but at 19 months keto, most of the time I'm not all that hungry because the fats and protein keep me feeling full. I will have a day here or there that I'm hungry a lot and I just eat extra fat, then I'm back to being just nicely satiated. Do make sure to keep that sodium number up though. BTW, I get a lot of my protein from fish too. Welcome to keto
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I had the same thing when I first started low carb, we have a lot of stored carb, and you have faster fat loss at the beginning of a diet, so you feel full and energized. This feeling unfortunately will past, so don't worry too much, when you start feeling hungry, go a head eat bit more.1
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SenchaJill wrote: »
Hmmmm.... after 8 months of fairly painless (and thoroughly delicious) LCHF eating, and losing about 55 lbs, I feel a bit of munchies returning. My shrinking “pantry” might explain that. Thank you for that insight!
My weight loss (by the scale) has slowed, and I find myself tempted to pay more attention to my caloric intake.... old “dieting” habits die hard. I still have 20-30 lbs to lose (which may be too optimistic for this 54 year old woman.)
Anyway, as a longtime lurker, I appreciate the wisdom and insights shared in this forum.
Don't forget, if you are keeping track of your calories too, you need to figure out your new metabolic needs - they will be lower because your body mass is lower. Try recalculating with your favorite calculator site.
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I've said it before, I'll say it again, my word there are some smart and helpful folks here!0
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I am at the end of my second month on Keto. I have lost almost 30 pounds, but after the initial wooosh it has been slow. So my guess is I had a ton of inflammation and my body was retaining lots of water. My appetite has diminished so much that I never get up to 1200 calories. I am doing Omad now with only one midday meal and it's how I feel best. It's now 7 in the evening and I ate my meal at noon and I still feel very satisfied. But according to MFP, I am not meeting my daily caloric requirement. So I'm conflicted. I know that I should eat only when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. But maybe I'll stall because I'm not eating enough. This is a totally new situation for me because I used to eat every waking hour of my life. If somebody told me I'd lose my appetite on a diet, I would have told them they were crazy. I can totally relate to you when you say you are feeling full. People say listen to your body. I guess that's what we have to learn to do. It seems counter-intuitive to eat just to hit an arbitrary number, if you are not hungry.0
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