Struggling on Keto

EmmaT1986 · September 2018

Hello, my name is Emma, I am 32 and started on a the keto eating plan 5 weeks ago. Prior to this my diet was not especially healthy. I would normally eat around 1000-1200 calories a day. I am ashamed to say within that calorie limit was 2 - 3 candy bars (most days of the week!) the rest of the calories would be made up of egg white omelettes, oatmeal, tuna, chicken, home made burgers etc........Since i started Keto I have dropped about 10 pounds. I mainly lost this in the first 2 - 3 weeks and since then i have plateaued........ My main issue is that I am SOOOO hungry all of the time!

I am try eating around 1400 calories with between 80- 100g fat. My net carbs has never gone past 25g, but i find i am so hungry and have had a few keto style binges. I read lots of peoples experiences of Keto and even have a close friend who has lost 70 pounds on Keto and they all report after 3 or 4 weeks hunger subsides and they tend to skip meals, but i have not found this...
I dont know what i am doing wrong. I try to eat an avocado a day (normally grilled with a bit of butter and garlic salt) most of my lunches are baked eggs with chicken or ham, spinach, olives and cheese. I normally cook homemade burgers, steak, tuna,chicken for dinner with salad or green beans or broccoli.

Any advice would be most appreciated

Thanks

L1zardQueen · September 2018

Maybe eating a high fat is not for you. I had a hard time too.

Lillymoo01 · September 2018

People often have success with weight loss on keto, not because of keto as such but because they find the fat/protein combination to be the most satiating. This makes it much easier to stay within their calorie allotment.

I personally need a good amount of complex carbs/fibre included with my protein for best compliance because this is what satiates me the most and is also the food I enjoy eating.

If you are doing keto purely because of weight loss and have no medical condition to do so maybe this isn't the right way of eating for you. You could experiment with your macro percentages until you find the best ratio for you. You could still be low carb but aim for 50-100 grams a day by including some starch/fibre/whole grains and see if this stops that hunger from creeping in.

VUA21 · September 2018

Calories dictate weight.

Now, the way to have a deficit for weight loss is personal. Different methods work for different people. There isn't any one plan that works for everyone. It sounds as if keto isn't the plan for you.

Finding out that a particular diet plan isn't for you is just a learning experience, not a failure. Time to try something different. Try a new method for a few weeks to see if something else works better for you.

If you find yourself constantly hungry and struggling, check out "volume eating". Basically a forum full of food/meal ideas that are high in volume and low in calories.

If you have a problem with just several foods, you probably need to either eliminate a few of those foods or get single serving snacks packs. That way even if you indulge in them, there's only a single serving available to eat.

Also, making a plan about what to eat for a week at a time can also help with making better choices. Basically, once a week make a weekly menu of what to eat for your meals (to make it easier, even just pre-planning one of your meals a day is helpful). When we pre-planned meals, most people make food choices that are more nutritious. Use your weekly menu as a grocery list as well.

AlabasterVerve · September 2018

720-900 calories of fat when you're only eating 1,400 calories to begin with doesn't sound all that filling to me. If you like the diet and want to continue with keto try cutting back on the fat (like the avocado & cheese) and eat larger portions of your meat and vegetables. So your macros might look like 35g of net carbs, 125g-150g of protein and 75-85g of fat.

All you need for ketosis is carb restriction so concentrate more on eating the low carb foods that you enjoy, in quantities that are satiating and see how you make out. Best wishes.

ETA: I didn't ask but I'm assuming 1,400 calories is a good calorie level for you, you have weight to lose and your deficit isn't too aggressive? Those are things to consider as well.

jenilla1 · September 2018

When Keto works for someone, that's awesome. But Keto's not for everyone.

Why make it harder than it needs to be? If you're struggling, maybe it's not the method for you. Just try a balanced diet with a calorie deficit and see how that works. Just make sure whatever method you use is sustainable long term if you want the results to last.

There are plenty of ways to lose weight, but few of them are long-term sustainable for most people. If you can't or won't stick with a method for life and it all comes back when you quit, what's the point? Good luck!

P.S. I've been maintaining at goal for over 7 years and counting. I eat what I want as long as I stay within my calorie goals. It's really very simple and straightforward. No weird rules or food restrictions. Some people like it complicated. I don't.

rsclause · September 2018

I am on a keto way of eating but something is not right here. You say you were eating candy bars and below 1200 calories a day. How were you not losing weight if your count is right?

NovusDies · September 2018

I have already lost a lot of weight and I don't do keto. I am not telling you this so that you will do the plan that I do because I have customized it to fit me and my personality. Through experimentation I have found what controls my hunger the best and how to keep myself satisfied (mostly). I believe that for some of us that bending a weight loss plan or way of eating to us is the only way we will be successful instead of trying to bend ourselves to a plan. The only thing that matters for weight loss is staying within your calorie goal most days. The only thing that matters for doing it day after day is sustainability. Some people find both with keto (or other scripted diet plan) others, like me, need a flexible plan.

You also may need to tighten up your logging. I suggest reading this:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

davidylin04 · September 2018

My understanding from the brochures (I did not develop a deep scientific understanding or look at more than one study) is that the main purpose of a ketogenic diet is to train the body to metabolize fat for energy, something that most bodies accustomed to a typical western diet (of primarily carbohydrates) is going to resist doing.

What you will do is keep trying to burn whatever carbs you have, plus whatever glycogen is already stored in your tissues. Then your brain will tell you that it's starving once it runs out of carbs and low on glycogen.

At some point in the process, your body will shift to protein metabolism to start filling in the gap. Which I imagine should make you feel kinda sucky. I experienced this phase of hunger and craving on keto as well.

At some point your body will likely take note of all the fat in your diet and just switch to fat metabolism. This is when you can start noticing things like ketones in your urine, assuming you have some test strips to pee on. A lot of people report feeling a lot better once their body has started actually burning fat for energy. Once I was feeling better on my keto diet, my test strips started showing ketones at the same time.

I experienced a huge hump to get over, metaphorically speaking, before I started to have evidence of ketosis. Now that I am turning my test strips light purple, however, I feel ok - no massive cravings for carbs, no starvation. I'm tired of the high fat diet and sometimes I think about cakes and watch the great British baking show on Netflix, but for the most part, I'm feeling much better.

davidylin04 · September 2018

Another piece of advice I've seen floated around is that it can help to do a lot of brisk walking to kick your body over into fat metabolism. That's the scuttlebutt. But then again, low-intensity exercise doesn't really hurt, so why not give it a try?

EmmaT1986 · September 2018

Lillymoo01 wrote: »

People often have success with weight loss on keto, not because of keto as such but because they find the fat/protein combination to be the most satiating. This makes it much easier to stay within their calorie allotment.

I personally need a good amount of complex carbs/fibre included with my protein for best compliance because this is what satiates me the most and is also the food I enjoy eating.

If you are doing keto purely because of weight loss and have no medical condition to do so maybe this isn't the right way of eating for you. You could experiment with your macro percentages until you find the best ratio for you. You could still be low carb but aim for 50-100 grams a day by including some starch/fibre/whole grains and see if this stops that hunger from creeping in.

Thank-you for you comment! I wanted to try Keto, not only for weight-loss but to also try and kick my sugar addiction. So far it has worked quite well, i have had the occasional 1 square of 85% chocolate but that's it. I have fond myself craving more acidic foods, mainly fruit even though i never really ate that much of it before. Over the past couple of years I have found when i eat things like rice, pasta, quinoa, cous cous i get terrible stomach pains that stay with me for a day or two. I will experiment with my macros and see what happens

CharlieBeansmomTracey · September 2018

davidylin04 wrote: »

My understanding from the brochures (I did not develop a deep scientific understanding or look at more than one study) is that the main purpose of a ketogenic diet is to train the body to metabolize fat for energy, something that most bodies accustomed to a typical western diet (of primarily carbohydrates) is going to resist doing.

What you will do is keep trying to burn whatever carbs you have, plus whatever glycogen is already stored in your tissues. Then your brain will tell you that it's starving once it runs out of carbs and low on glycogen.

At some point in the process, your body will shift to protein metabolism to start filling in the gap. Which I imagine should make you feel kinda sucky. I experienced this phase of hunger and craving on keto as well.

At some point your body will likely take note of all the fat in your diet and just switch to fat metabolism. This is when you can start noticing things like ketones in your urine, assuming you have some test strips to pee on. A lot of people report feeling a lot better once their body has started actually burning fat for energy. Once I was feeling better on my keto diet, my test strips started showing ketones at the same time.

I experienced a huge hump to get over, metaphorically speaking, before I started to have evidence of ketosis. Now that I am turning my test strips light purple, however, I feel ok - no massive cravings for carbs, no starvation. I'm tired of the high fat diet and sometimes I think about cakes and watch the great British baking show on Netflix, but for the most part, I'm feeling much better.

,you burn body fat in a deficit no matter how you eat. your body doesnt use body fat for energy in keto, and a typial western diet if you are in a deficit you will still lose weight and fat. I know I have. ketones are produced when your body is depleted of carbs,and glycogen and it produces ketones as an alternate fuel. as for protein metabolism, protein can be turned into glucose if needed by way of gluconeogenesis.. My diet is high in carbohydrates because I cant do high fat. I still lost weight and fat

CharlieBeansmomTracey · September 2018

davidylin04 wrote: »

Another piece of advice I've seen floated around is that it can help to do a lot of brisk walking to kick your body over into fat metabolism. That's the scuttlebutt. But then again, low-intensity exercise doesn't really hurt, so why not give it a try?

may I ask where you got this info from?

sunfastrose · September 2018

Just to point out - it is highly unlikely you were eating 1000-1200 before you started keto. Where do you get those #s? You would be losing weight on that unless you are very short and/or VERY inactive.

Lisa8823168 · September 2018

Ive been on keto for a long time...it is a way of eating the works well for me, for various reasons. It took me 2-3 months, not weeks, to adjust my hunger desires. However, having tried various plans and ways of eating, include CICO, I felt that way on EVERY one of them. Not unique to the keto plan. The high fat diet works well for me and Ive had not issues my HDL/LDL but I DO get most of my fat from fish- and different varieties of fish have different fat and protein content, as well as calories. Of course, I also have other sources and try to gear that to mono saturate fats. For sure, this sort of plan takes both planning and constant learning of nutritional values in food. Something I believe should happen even if your a CICO person who thinks you can eat anything as long as your in a deficit. What you put into your body matters. If all of our bodies were internally the same, we would be a society of clones. If all diseases were a hard line instead of something that happens when you reach a thresholds (statistically places by the medical community) then all would be much simpler...but with diversity of genetic codes, different plans work for different people. I have a friend who believes in only CICO and eats almost entire diet, every day, of some sort of candy, except for her morning Starbuscks, yet complains about low energy, skin problems, excessive hormone symptoms and high cholesterol. She is in her late 30's and still eats like that...but hey, she is a 1400 CICO plan girl and that means healthy, right?

My point is that not every plan works for every person but what ever way you go, do it smart, be diligent, be educated and be fair about your attempts and evolution. I stuck with it through the 2-3 months of hunger and lost over 40 pounds, over the course of 14 months. I still eat this way, it works for me, I do it second nature now...and a bonus for me (another controversial topic), Keto is pretty light on gluten and low gluten controls my hot flashes...yes, I have tested it! My husband is a keen observer of it and it works for me!!!! Love that I can control hateful symptoms, naturally, through my diet instead of ingesting synthetic estrogen- or moving to Ant-Artic where the feeling of internal combustion might be worth while. But, that's just me! You gentic code might desire something totally different.

Lillymoo01 · September 2018

lisawolfinger wrote: »

Ive been on keto for a long time...it is a way of eating the works well for me, for various reasons. It took me 2-3 months, not weeks, to adjust my hunger desires. However, having tried various plans and ways of eating, include CICO, I felt that way on EVERY one of them. Not unique to the keto plan. The high fat diet works well for me and Ive had not issues my HDL/LDL but I DO get most of my fat from fish- and different varieties of fish have different fat and protein content, as well as calories. Of course, I also have other sources and try to gear that to mono saturate fats. For sure, this sort of plan takes both planning and constant learning of nutritional values in food. Something I believe should happen even if your a CICO person who thinks you can eat anything as long as your in a deficit. What you put into your body matters. If all of our bodies were internally the same, we would be a society of clones. If all diseases were a hard line instead of something that happens when you reach a thresholds (statistically places by the medical community) then all would be much simpler...but with diversity of genetic codes, different plans work for different people. I have a friend who believes in only CICO and eats almost entire diet, every day, of some sort of candy, except for her morning Starbuscks, yet complains about low energy, skin problems, excessive hormone symptoms and high cholesterol. She is in her late 30's and still eats like that...but hey, she is a 1400 CICO plan girl and that means healthy, right?

My point is that not every plan works for every person but what ever way you go, do it smart, be diligent, be educated and be fair about your attempts and evolution. I stuck with it through the 2-3 months of hunger and lost over 40 pounds, over the course of 14 months. I still eat this way, it works for me, I do it second nature now...and a bonus for me (another controversial topic), Keto is pretty light on gluten and low gluten controls my hot flashes...yes, I have tested it! My husband is a keen observer of it and it works for me!!!! Love that I can control hateful symptoms, naturally, through my diet instead of ingesting synthetic estrogen- or moving to Ant-Artic where the feeling of internal combustion might be worth while. But, that's just me! You gentic code might desire something totally different.

pssst - CICO (calories in, calories out) isn't some sort of diet plan. It is a formula for how we gain, lose or maintain weight, regardless of our choice of ay of eating. Counting calories is a whole different ball game and a tool many use to stay within their calories. Some may count calories and eat whatever they want, but most still follow a wholesome and nutritiously balanced diet also because they understand that weight loss is about how many calories you consume but overall health and wellbeing is about the types of foods you consume. This includes the occasional treat in moderation which is great for the soul and overall compliance of an eating plan.

Second pssst - there are also people out there that do keto and calorie count because they realise that they can gain weight on keto just as easily as they lose if they are not mindful of how much they are eating.

nvmomketo · September 2018

It's possible that you need more sodium. When people do low carb they usually need at least 3000-5000+ mg of sodium a day or they experience low electrolyte symptoms of fatigue, headaches, stomach upset or bm issues and muscle weakness. Sometimes those symptoms end up feeling like hunger.

You could try making sure you get about 2 teaspoons of salt a day (1 tsp salt = 2300 mg sodium) by drinking broth or some salt with water.

I've done keto for years. I still have hungry days, but my hungry days aren't every day like it was before. While losing I ted to average around 1500 kcal a day, but I still have 3000+ calorie days here and there. Some days might be 2500 kcal and others might be less than 1000 kcal.

You are losing about 2 lbs a week. That's a fair bit. It's also possible that you just need to eat more. Right now you are at close to a 1000 kcal deficit. That's pretty large.

You might do better with other foods too. More fats or more carbs or more protein.... but I would try more sodium first - it's a pretty common thing.

FlyingMolly · September 2018

For the record on 1400 calories you could eat up to 35g of net carbs and likely stay in ketosis. Maybe that would free you up to eat a wider variety of sating foods?

CharlieBeansmomTracey · September 2018

lisawolfinger wrote: »

Ive been on keto for a long time...it is a way of eating the works well for me, for various reasons. It took me 2-3 months, not weeks, to adjust my hunger desires. However, having tried various plans and ways of eating, include CICO, I felt that way on EVERY one of them. Not unique to the keto plan. The high fat diet works well for me and Ive had not issues my HDL/LDL but I DO get most of my fat from fish- and different varieties of fish have different fat and protein content, as well as calories. Of course, I also have other sources and try to gear that to mono saturate fats. For sure, this sort of plan takes both planning and constant learning of nutritional values in food. Something I believe should happen even if your a CICO person who thinks you can eat anything as long as your in a deficit. What you put into your body matters. If all of our bodies were internally the same, we would be a society of clones. If all diseases were a hard line instead of something that happens when you reach a thresholds (statistically places by the medical community) then all would be much simpler...but with diversity of genetic codes, different plans work for different people. I have a friend who believes in only CICO and eats almost entire diet, every day, of some sort of candy, except for her morning Starbuscks, yet complains about low energy, skin problems, excessive hormone symptoms and high cholesterol. She is in her late 30's and still eats like that...but hey, she is a 1400 CICO plan girl and that means healthy, right?

My point is that not every plan works for every person but what ever way you go, do it smart, be diligent, be educated and be fair about your attempts and evolution. I stuck with it through the 2-3 months of hunger and lost over 40 pounds, over the course of 14 months. I still eat this way, it works for me, I do it second nature now...and a bonus for me (another controversial topic), Keto is pretty light on gluten and low gluten controls my hot flashes...yes, I have tested it! My husband is a keen observer of it and it works for me!!!! Love that I can control hateful symptoms, naturally, through my diet instead of ingesting synthetic estrogen- or moving to Ant-Artic where the feeling of internal combustion might be worth while. But, that's just me! You gentic code might desire something totally different.

you do realize that diet alone doesnt cause high cholesterol? for many fats and other dietary foods have no bearing on their cholesterol. I have high cholesterol due to a genetic defect that was passed down to me. someone like me cant do keto because the high amounts of fat, whether healthy or not does raise my cholesterol and causes my body to store fat in my arteries and other places. my body cannot process fats and cholesterol like most people can. as for eating what you want. I have and still lost weight and my health markers improved. I have no skin issues,no hormone issues, energy has alway been low(health issues not caused from diet)I try to eat a balanced diet but some days its not as balanced as it should be.

you can eat what you want in a deficit, not saying you should eat nothing but junk but there is nothing wrong with fitting in things you like as long as its not crowding out other macros or micros. and a starbucks drink can contain,fat,proein and carbs depending on what you order.

JanesWorld1985 · September 2018

I drink at LEAST a gallon of water a day.. sometimes two. I drink a lot prior to meals and first thing in the morning. Sometimes you have to power through that hunger!

GaleHawkins · September 2018

You might consider just focusing on eating the keto WOE yet eating when you are hungry for a few weeks with NO calorie counting while you learn this Way Of Eating.

4 years ago I went full Keto to improve my health eating about 3000 calories daily the whole time. It was nearly 2 months before I started losing weight but within a year I had dropped for 250 to just under 200 pounds have maintained at that weight for the past three years.

Best of success.

Struggling on Keto

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