Advice please - not enjoying food

#1

Hi,
I am 3 weeks in and struggling with food. I think I may have overdone fat in the first week as the thought of anything overly buttery or cheesy makes me feel sick. I don’t really look forward to eating anymore, not so much because my appetite has decreased but because of the protein/fat components. I have researched hundreds of recipes but so few appeal to me. I hardly even salivate when I eat. It isn’t the best feeling.
Has anyone else experienced this? Will I get my food mojo back? Will I start enjoying eating again?
TIA

(icky) #2

Hey Jenstar,

I struggled with this too initially, and still do a bit.

If you find that this problem doesn’t resolve, my advice would be to go low-ish carb “paleo” for a week until you get your appetite back and then ease yourself back into keto, without overdoing the fat this time.

I’m about 12 weeks into keto now (I’ve stopped counting) and I am now doing the following:

Mondays, Tuesdays = fasting
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays = keto
Saturdays, Sundays = low-ish carb paleo style food

As someone who loves fasting, I find that I enjoy 2 days of fasting per week

And the paleo style foods with a bit of fruit, carby veggies, low-carb bread and similar stuff thrown in on the weekends makes me feel a lot happier and like my food is more varied.

I stay in ketosis throughout the week and if my weekend low-ish carb paleo-y food intake does mildly push me out of ketosis, then Monday and Tuesday’s fast kick me straight back into ketosis.

Good luck finding something that works for you!

It’s tricky adjusting at first and it’s easy to overdo something and then need to correct it. You’ll get the hang of it! :blush:

(Alec) #3

You may have overdone it. I would go on a fast day or 2 and see if anything changes.

(Chris Robertson) #4

I cook and consume with the same amount of fat and oil as I did before I went keto. I then use fat bombs like fat supplements.

#5

Thanks for your advice. I didn’t want to come across as one of those “I don’t like the food” whingers! Believe me, I love food, which is why this is so frustrating. I will take on board your suggestions and see how I go. I don’t want to give up! Cheers :+1:

#6

Hi Jenstar,

I could relate to what you’re experiencing but I don’t know if it’s for the same reasons. When you say your appetite hasn’t gone down but just the desire for protein/fat, it reminded me of how I felt early on but for me I think the root problem was attachment to carbs and also to a schedule of more frequent meals.

Appetite is different from hunger, and it takes a while to adjust to repaired hunger/satiety signaling. So it took a little while to adjust to lower and less frequent hunger. Because of my previous WOE and the constant eating that resulted from it, I was emotionally attached to frequent eating, but due to a lack of true hunger it was carby foods that I wanted. As the Whole30 folks say, if a meal of steak and veggies doesn’t sound good to you right now, you’re not really hungry but rather responding to long-engrained cues to reach for appetite-satiating foods. Jimmy Moore also gives advice that worked for me, when you have a carb craving, eat fat to make it go away. It may take a little time but denying my body the carby food did eventually lead to a point where when I’m hungry, even my taste buds are happy to get fat and not carbs.

Lastly, another thing I found is that while there are standard foods that many of us reach for in this WOE (bacon, eggs, etc.), you have to make it your own. This means figuring out meals that fit your macros that you personally find appealing. It’s okay if cheese isn’t your thing. Find what works for you. Lots of ideas here on the forums.

Best of luck to you!

#7

Thank you Callisto. What you say makes sense. If someone put a cake in front of me I would have no problem devouring it and enjoying every morsel! I will continue plugging away with keto. At least I am seeing a loss on the scales. Let’s hope my taste buds and brain readjust. Cheers, Jenstar

#8

Yay!!! :grinning:

#9

It’s a massive adjustment because your essentially going against what you were likely brought up to eat and of course society which accepts limitless forms of refined carb products. Just psychologically it can be difficult to push through; the fact you are shows strength as I expect many just give up and allow refined goods back in as regular ‘foods’.

I am mainly fasting, but trying to include fats when I eat; so my calories (even though they don’t really matter) area also relatively restricted, so when I eat I’m sticking to fairly simple meals (maybe some who are hardcore into Keto would not agree with; but if they do not contain carbs then I’m happy for now).

I’ll list some of my common very simple eating and see if any appeal to you;

  • Edam, EV Olive Oil and Spinach Salad (regular lunch)
  • Fatty steak with garlic veg (Spinach, broccoli, asparagus.
  • Guacamole / Avocados with numerous things! (fish, pork chop, lamb…)
  • Bacon & Eggs; of course mentioned 100 times a day; it can seem plain and simple and ‘boring’ but I find just an egg and bacon a great fall back food for breakfast, lunch or dinner… I always have them in my fridge now; of course cook both items differently or combine with a Salad or something.
  • Bullet/Keto coffees; I’ve only had a few, but if you like coffee then adding a bit of double cream surely can’t be a bad thing… with 100% coconut oil; amazing!
  • Keto Pizza; I haven’t made it myself but my friend does regularly (made with almond flour and red Leicester; once you make one it looks fairly quick process to make again and you can combine with numerous other toppings)

These are probably fairly regular and ‘newby’ type things to eat, but hopefully some of them may just tempt you? If you think about it there are actually a lot of meats you can have; how you then prepare it (Butter/Lard) and accompany with good veg you can experiment from the basics and new receipies will come to you over time? That’s my plan anyway.

(Jenn Monaghan) #10

I get this way every now and then. Sometimes all I want to eat is salad with ranch dressing when I get that way…

(Beth) #12

My fiancé and I really missed carby favorites and it helped a LOT to find low carb recipes for cake, chocolate frosting, biscuits and gravy, keto pizza, ”cornbread”, oopsie rolls, muffins, etc. I doubt we would have stuck with it if we had not had those options in our first months. We don’t eat them as often now like we did then, but they sure help add variety!

(Omar) #13

Exactly

I made keto bread to be able to eat it with almost anything and make sandwiches and pitza. even eat it by itself and drink HWC. that is a full meal.

bread is essential in preventing the termination of keto due to lack of appetite because you will have lots of variation.

it is so good and healthy that my wife is not on keto but she eats all my keto bread.

#14

I do this too, and it’s a genius way to get lots of calories in without being physically full.

(Pinar Ertekin) #15

hi - you are probably doing this already - but following IG accounts for anything keto gives a huge amount of ideas. I also use cheeses to make bagels scones breads so you are getting the fat but it doesn’t feel like it.

(Mark P) #16

Sugar-addict, what type of fast are you doing on those 2 days. I kind of like this idea for when I get to a maintenance phase. Are you eating anything, or just broth/water on those fast days?

(icky) #17

Hi Mark :blush:

When I’m fasting on those 2 days I will have water, broths, coffee, electrolytes if needed.

I don’t have any food while fasting - although if I feel my blood glucose drop weirdly/ badly, I will have a tiny bit of something to stabilise it. But that’s just for emergencies, really.

#18

Excellent and helpful advice everyone. Nice to know others have experienced this. Thank you!

(Bunny) #19

That’s the point, you are not hungry (…for it = satiety?); sounds like it’s working to me?

Eat more leafy greens (raw veggies) and you will start desiring more fat and protein?

Your hungry-to-hangry ratios will become more balanced as you adapt to it with time?

Also helps lower meal frequency or what is called Intermittent Fasting/IF ratios! or How long you can go from one meal to the next without being hungry or hangry?