3 days into keto

#1

Hello everyone! Just a few questions as I’ve recently got started on keto and figured I’d ask a few questions about it, to you more experienced few.

Okay, first thing’s first… I Started 3 days ago, but had a very high ketone reading from some test strips within 36 hours of starting. Probably worth mentioning that I severely restricted carbs (Probably less than say… 7g). I’d read it takes 3-5 days to generally hit keto, so figured that was a pretty rapid time to hit it. Not sure if I’ve done it too quickly and maybe should have eased my way in. The reading seems correct though, as asked my mum to try it and my girlfriend and both of theirs came back completely normal.

Secondly, and actually finally… the cravings, my god! In the evening mainly, I seem to just get so hungry. In the mornings I wake up feeling really weak, this morning for example, if I as much as stood up I just wanted to sit back down again immediately. This did pass once I’d actually eaten, but if it’s avoidable I’d like to know (Although possibly keto flu)? And also the evening cravings, these are the worst ones. I can’t even open the fridge without gazing into a bar of chocolate; is this something that’ll pass?

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with this diet at the moment. The fact that, for dinner, I could have cheese, fried eggs, sausage, bacon & mushrooms and eat it, is just wonderful. On the other hand, being sugarless is an absolute struggle.

Any beginner tips? Thanks!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Firstly, keep your salt intake up, in fact, increase it a bit. The weakness/dizziness is from not getting enough sodium, and the reason your sodium is low is that high insulin levels cause the body to retain sodium and water, and now your kidneys have started excreting them at a higher rate than you are used to (this is actually the true normal rate).

Secondly, you are probably not eating enough. Replace all those carbohydrate calories you are no longer eating with fat, keeping your protein moderate. Fat stimulates insulin production at a far lower level than the other two do. Since carbohydrate stimulates insulin the most, that is the macronutrient to avoid. We have to have protein, yet it stimulates insulin as well, which leaves fat as our main source of calories. Our mantra is “eat fat to satiety,” which means eating until we are no longer hungry.

At first, you will probably eat a lot, and this is normal. In a few weeks, however, your satiety signaling is likely to kick in and you will find yourself naturally limiting your food, because you won’t be hungry. But at first, your body needs a lot of energy in order to begin the healing process, and to be convinced that it is safe to metabolize some of that excess stored fat most of us have been carrying around. So just keep on, and eat enough to be able to go several hours between meals. If you find yourself needing a snack, make it something fatty (buttered cheese is very tasty, for example), and add more fat at the next meal. Remember, fat is your friend!

P.S.—You can get chocolate with a very high cocoa content; try it. You can also heat some unsweetened baking chocolate with some heavy cream, and stir in some artificial sweetener. I used to enjoy that quite a bit, now I just eat the unsweetened chocolate. You can also have some berries in heavy cream or in whole-milk, unsweetened yoghurt.

#3

Thanks for the reply - 4th day certainly seems to be an improvement over yesterday. Didn’t wake up feeling tired, seemed to do a bit better with hunger, however it still is the evenings I’ve been struggling the most.

In terms of low carb treats, I’ve been digging into a few pistachios, some strawberries and cream, and a yoghurt that’s sugar free - seems to be 6g of carbs per pot and does help quite a lot with the sweet tooth; it’s true about eating a lot though. That being said I’m sort of forcing myself under 2200 calories a day, while my bmr is about the same, so should essentially burn a few calories from basic daily living.

For meals I’ve been eating seasoned sausages, meatballs, eggs, cheese and mushrooms. Carbs usually are below 25g although today I’ve possibly hit 35g, shouldn’t be a huge issue though.

Again, thanks for the reply :slight_smile:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #4

Don’t worry about the calories, especially not right now. The body reacts to calorie restriction by lowering the basal metabolic rate and hanging on to its fat store with a deathly grip. Whereas if you give it all it wants (and as long as you keep carbohydrate low), it kicks up the metabolism, even to the point of wasting energy, and starts metabolizing its excess stored fat. Eating fat to satiety is what tells your body it’s in a state of abundance, and as I posted earlier, once your insulin level has been low enough for long enough, your satiety signaling will kick in and start limiting intake. The point is to stop trying to out-think your body; it knows what it’s doing.