Anxiety about not being hungry

#1

Disclaimer, I have generalized anxiety and a type of primarily obsessive OCD, which means I literally overthink EVERYTHING.

Last night was 4th day back on Keto after the holidays, and I am back down to almost exactly the weight I was before the holiday carb binge (so I probably lost mostly water weight). Last night I got full before finishing dinner which is great because it means I am starting to readjust my hunger and fullness signals I am guessing, I hadn’t even dished up as much food as I usually do. But this morning I had an uneasiness with not feeling ravenously hungry. This week I have been hungry in the mornings. But waking up this morning not feeling a NEED to eat kind of worried me. I think it’s the anxiety and OCD but just trying to get an idea of if others kind of had mixed feelings about this transition. I mean, it’s a weird feeling at first right? I am sure some of it is the indoctrination of “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” combined with previous episodes of not eating being associated with a sever anxiety/OCD episode having me worried. But that’s not what it is this time, I just woke up not really hungry.

Again any insights as to how others felt when they started not eating breakfast or not feeling a NEED to eat would be nice to just help reassure me this is normal feelings.

(Bud Zimmerman) #2

The same thing happened to me my first week on Keto. I read a lot about this and it seems to be a normal reaction. I did get some of my appetite back but not like it was when I was on a “normal” carb diet.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

I regret not being hungry in the mornings, because it cuts into my bacon eating. Otherwise, I kind of like it. I often don’t eat until 2 p.m. or so, and often it’s bacon and eggs so that I can get my bacon macro in. :grinning:

(Ken) #4

What is really happening is that you’re experiencing a very strong leptin response, which is a good thing. Very common for those that have developed leptin resistance when following a Carb based pattern. Your body is very sensitive to it, since this pathway has been unused for some time. Take advantage of it, don’t eat until hungry, and your body fat will melt away that much faster.

(Adam Kirby) #5

Does this go away eventually? It’s a reasonable explanation for why many people seem to completely lose their hunger at first but it returns in time.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #6

If you find yourself hungry after you’ve lost a quantity of weight, it’s time to increase your caloric intake, because you have less fat to make up any deficiency. This is why Dr. Phinney recommends eating fat to satiey: it makes it completely unnecessary to count calories, because you will automatically increase the amount of fat in your diet to compensate for the diminishing amount available in your body.

#7

It’s funny. I haven’t thought to mention it elsewhere yet, but when I was counting calories earlier in the year, I made this spreadsheet that showed how many calories I needed in a day for BMR through my goal weight. The difference across 100 lbs was only 500 calories. Across 100 lbs that might seem like a lot, but that’s only a 50 calorie difference across 10 lbs. I just remember it being eye opening, because it really isn’t a WHOLE lot if you think about it. When you look at macros, that so little. So every 10 pounds, you’re only reducing your diet by the equivalent of HALF of a TBSP of butter a day. This is akin to the argument Taubes makes about calorie counting equating to one bite of food a day to prevent weight gain over time.

(Justin Jordan) #8

If such a thing as satiety exists for you. It’s an entirely meaningless word for me.

(Dan Dan) #9

I have learned the importance of self-awareness when it comes to food. It takes time and practice and now I know how much food I need to comfortably get to the next meal or fast for several days. :smile:

#10

I also don’t feel satiety in the way others apparently can. And I’ve watched for it for years. But what does work for me is preparing an amount I know works, either visually or by weight, eating that, and getting on with life. I’ve stopped trying to figure it out what ‘satiety’ feels like for me since that just doesn’t work. If I’m still physically hungry in an hour (as opposed to just wanting to eat) I’ll eat a little more. Problem solved.

#11

A few weeks ago as I have been transitioning into fat adaption, I realized I had not been hungry for several hours. Since that has been such a foreign concept in my life, my first thought was that I must be coming down with some bug. :scream_cat: But I wasn’t - I was just… not hungry!!! What a novel concept.

(Ken) #12

Satiety is when you make yourself two Juicy Lucies, stuffed with cream cheese and chopped scallions, and grill them along with about the same amount of beef fat. The fat will shrink by about half. You then eat’em by cutting a piece of fat half the size of the meat, stabbing both with your fork and stuffing it into your pie hole.

Satiety is what you feel when realize you have absolutly no desire to eat the second burger, the mere thought of it being distasteful, despite the fact you could easily eat two in your past.

(Vladaar Malane) #13

I personally have a hard time recognizing satiety when I’m at home. When I’m at work, no problems skip breakfast with just black coffee and eat lunch till I get home. When I’m at home, I have a strong calling to snack. Even when I make that snack something like cream cheese, I will still feel like I need to grab a handful of almonds. It’s always keto snacks, but I’m a snack machine at times when I’m home, as opposed to being at work. Maybe there is a psychological thing with it as well. Because I know I’m not hungry at times and I still snack when I’m at home.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #14

I know—weird, isn’t it? But that is satiety rearing its lovely head.

Now you’ve got it. Just KCKO! :bacon: