Constantly full (but can't lose weight on fewer calories) and heartburn/puking a little bit

food
(Eureka Bailey) #1

I started keto about five weeks ago for weight loss. I started with 1200 calories and have since decreased to 1000 because I wasn’t losing enough weight. I’ve lost more weight on fewer calories, though it’s still not ideal, and I don’t really want to decrease anymore. I don’t want to starve, that won’t accomplish anything. Two weeks ago I did try to eat 800-900 calories a day but I maintained weight so I went back up to 1000 this week to boost. And I just feel constantly full and I have heartburn and I keep throwing up a little bit. It’s constant throughout the day, even if I’ve just woken up and have just had water.

(I have a somewhat obscure theory, maybe it’s my sleeping schedule? My husband works night shift and we like our schedules to match so I’m up until 3-4am and sleep in until 11-12 and waking up multiple times for various reasons.)

Common solutions I’ve found on this site that haven’t worked for me, salt (I get plenty of salt, everything I eat besides the chocolate has salt), apple cider vinegar (help for like ten minutes then goes back to the way it was), lots of water.

Food I’ve been eating includes
Coffee with Half and half
3 slices of bacon
5oz Chicken breast with 2Tbs sour cream and 2Tbs shredded cheese and 2Tbs slalsa
2 Eggs
Asparagus or green beans, maybe cabbage
Steak cooked in butter
A hand full of pumpkin seeds
Something chocolaty with monk fruit sweetener
I occasionally have a protein powder shake with almond milk but it’s really like less than once a week and probably not the cause imo.
I usually eat between Noon and 10pm with an occasional snack at midnight since I don’t sleep til around 3.

It’ just really annoying and starting to burn more and I don’t know what to do. It makes me not want to eat anything. I just want want to understand. I don’t want medication.

#2

Hi there, sorry to hear of your issues.
From the food inventory you posted, there could be multiple reasons for the heartburn. You will need to take out several of the variables for some time to determine what is causing or making your indigestion worse… Also, Keto is not about calorie counts. Cutting calories won’t resolve the heartburn.
You’ll want to read up on this site and research on Macros - you’re aiming for percentages of fat, protein and carbs.
Good luck, it will take you a little time to figure out what is causing the issue but you’ll get there!

(Consensus is Politics) #3

Shorten the eating window. Make that window as narrow as you can. Don’t eat until you feel full, just eat until you don’t feel hungry. Check the protein drinks list of ingredients to see if any of them are sugar, dextrose, maltodextrin, and any name you don’t know off the top of your head why it’s in there, then check to see if it has a high glycemic index. Maltodextrin for instance causes higher blood sugar than sugar does. Maltodextrin is in almost every processed food (it’s even in iodized salt!). Once I cut that completely out I broke my plateau and started losing weight again.

The eating window is very important though. Ten hours might not be narrow enough. Try for six. I try for a four hour window, but I’m never hungry anymore so it’s very easy for me, sometimes I just skip eating for an entire day or two.

The reason the eating window needs to be small as possible is to keep insulin levels as low as possible. Another reason for my short window is because I am Type 2 diabetic. I’m highly insulin resistant.

The reason to keep insulin low is because it blocks fat burning, and puts the body into fat storage. Several things cause insulin to go up. Eating is only one of them. Stress can as well. Stress causes the release of cortisol, another hormone. Cortisol causes the release of stored glycogen, which causes the release of more insulin. Which blocks fat burning.

I know, it’s not an easy thing to just “stop being stressed” but it’s possible to get it under control. Just the worrying part can cause the release of cortisol.

Not getting enough sleep can cause the release of cortisol as well. This one is a tough nut to crack. And by the looks of your post just might be the stickler for you. As far as sleep goes, we have a circadian rhythm that doesn’t want to be interrupted. Doing so will cause stress, and release cortisol. Which in turn causes insulin levels to rise.

If you feel you must keep the same sleep schedules, then you just need to get your body trained to the schedule. That might be the hard part. Life has a way of keeping us from doing things the way we want or should, and forces us into chaotic schedules.

Look into something like this that might help. Do a google search for “Steve Gibson healthy sleep formula”. Steve is an electrical engineer, not a doctor. But he’s really good at putting the pieces of a puzzle together blindfolded (my opinion). He is the one that led me to Keto, and basically saved my life from diabetes. His website, grc.com, is a tech site, but he has a section devoted to health. Vitamin D3, Keto, sleep. He does some very, very, good work on those subjects. After (years?) of self experimentation he has found several supplements that work extremely well with one another to give you a good nights sleep. And he doesn’t sell it, he just gives you the info, and you just have to find the supps. I think they. An all be found at Amazon or in just about any supplements store.

(Raj Seth) #4

Calorie Restriction as Primary (CRaP) doesn’t work. Please read “Obesity Code” if you want more detail on that. All you will do is wreck your metabolism and slow your body down. If you want to adopt the Keto way of eating (WoE), then you need to stop counting calories and start eating till full.
It is a HUGE step to overcome a lifetime of being told to deprive yourself, not eat fatty food, eat smaller meals more often, stop being lazy and exercise, stop cheating on your diet and all the other things we have all heard from those around us ready to criticize and blame us for being overweight
However, the truth is simpler. At its simplest it’s only one thing - and I am stealing from another post
“Replace the carbs you are eating with healthy fats”
Healthy fats - all animal fats and avocado and coconut oil- NO industrial seed oils

Next step is 3 rules (thanks Dr Fung)
Eat whenever hungry
Eat till satiety
DO NOT eat when not hungry
(Eat means eat mostly fat, and protein will come naturally with it. No carbs except green vegetables)

Note - there is no mention of restricting your calories. This a BIG step to take, but there is a lot of science behind this method - the Ketogenic way of eating. Since you are here, you are already aware of keto. Just do your research and follow the path. The keto Force is strong and will not fail you
To get more info:
Listen to the first 10 2ketodudes podcasts
Read Obesity Code
Read idmprogram.com blog
STOP eating carbs
STOP counting calories
STOP being hungry

I’ve lost 80 lbs (60 to go), stopped taking all medications, reversed diabetes, reversed high blood pressure and lost 12” on my waist size (was 48”, now 36”). And there are thousands of other success stories like mine on the keto way of life

(Karen) #5

Don’t know your weight, but this works for me. 163 lb

1356 cal TDEE
121 g fat
50 g protein
<20 g net carbs

Here’s yesterday’s food between 11am - 5:30 pm
Coffee, monk fruit drops, 4 T HWC
1 1/2 Eggs, scrambled with 1slice bacon, green chili’s
1avocado w salt

2pm
90 sec chocolate muffin
Topped w 1 T butter, 1 t natural peanut butter

5:30
2 oz 50/50 mixed greens
10 blue berries
5 asparagus
1T chopped pecans
4 oz grass fed Angus ( clearance section)
1T olive oil, 1 T avocado mayo ( primal spendy), Dijon

Less protein, a!so ACV for digestion
More fat likely

K

(Shantanu) #6

Hi

I think you should check out this conversation , particularly @richard’s first post. it clearly explains that calorie restriction under high insulin levels isn’t going to work. Of possible, have your fasting insulin checked. It is the #1 reason for the body’s inability to burn fat and calorie restriction will only make the problem worse.

Good luck.

(Candy Lind) #7

You’re getting some good advice here. I’ll toss in two things I hope you’ll consider trying:

  1. (This comes with a caveat - you said you’ve been throwing up - like bringing up part of a meal? Or kind of a “burp-throwup” where some food comes up with some gas? If you can’t keep food down, that’s a sign of a major problem and you should see a gastroenterologist. Otherwise, check this out:

I bet dollars to donuts that you are taking oemeprazole (Prilosec) to reduce acid. If you were taking oemeprazole when trying the ACV, it wasn’t going to work. It’s probably making things WORSE instead of better. IMHO it is one of the absolute worst drugs ever put out there. You need MORE acid in your stomach, not less. Stop taking oemeprazole, & give it a couple of days for your acid pumps to start working again. Then, at the end of a meal, put 1-2T of organic apple cider vinegar in a small glass of water and drink it down. The vinegar will cause your esophageal (sp?) sphincter (the one-way valve between your esophagus and stomach) to slam shut and prevent reflux. If one shot doesn’t work, try two. REALLY. Try this, it works. If it doesn’t, then you should see a gastroenterologist to see if your valve is not working right, or if you actually have an ulcer or something.

  1. The sleep thing will really wreck you if you can’t get into some kind of regular schedule. I can understand wanting to keep the same schedule as your hubby, but don’t do it half-way; if you’re going to do it, do it 100% so your body will get some decent sleep. If you’ve got kids to get off to school and such, then sit down and come up with a compromise that will give you time together but still allow you some uninterrupted sleep. And set some rules to make it happen. Your cortisol levels have got to be through the roof, and that’s not helping the acid issue OR the sleep.

I’m speaking from experience in both of these matters. Either one of them could be a big obstacle, and the two of them together must really be throwing you for a loop! I hope some gem of wisdom here from someone (not just me) will help you, and that you continue to check in and let us know how you are doing. Keep your chin up!

(Eureka Bailey) #8

@rwmKetoReboot I really only use calories as an overall guide and so I definitely aim for less than 20g carbs and %60-75 fat and %20-35 protein. The reason I used calories here is just to give an idea of the total amount of food I’m eating because I know a person can still overeat even while on keto, which is what I thought might be the problem.

@Robert_Johnson
I’ll try shortening my eating window. But the thing is, I just don’t get hungry like other people do. I would probably starve myself if I only ate when I was hungry. So I use calories (and fat and protein percentages) as a guide.
The ingredients on the protein powder look good to me. It’s unsweetened and %100 whey protein. But I definitely did just throw out my iodized salt which I have been using a lot of lately, I never knew that it could be a problem!
So I have been super stressed this past week. I had no idea that being stressed could contribute but that makes sense. I will look also into the healthy sleep formula. Thank you!

@Rajseth
I don’t really get hungry, so I use calories (and fat and protein percentages) as a guide. I was restricting calories and wrecking my metabolism before keto and counting (and not losing weight). Right now I’m working to repair it, I’m not restricting calories. Overtime, once I’ve gotten used to keto I’ll stop counting calories and just listen to what my body is telling me.

@CandyLindTX
It’s like a burp-throw up. And I don’t take anything for it. But I’ll try the ACV again and see how it goes. Thanks!

(Sheri Knauer) #10

It sounds like a digestion issue. I highly recommend listening to this podcast series as their main focus is correcting your digestion naturally. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/kick-it-naturally/id784834163?mt=2

(Katherine Robinson) #11

Hey I am really new to keto but I had an idea. A few years ago I was having very similar issues heartburn I just could not get rid of. Took them forever to figure it out but it turned out it was my gall bladder, not heartburn at all. But the pain and symptoms were the same as heartburn. I also read somewhere that the keto diet can cause gall bladder problems. So you might want to ask your doctor to check.

(Eureka Bailey) #12

@KatieMR That’s very interesting. Was it very sudden when it started or was it like a slow progression getting worse? Not sure if that’s really a relevant question but I’m curious, cause for me it was pretty sudden.

(Meeping up the Science!) #13

Disrupting the circadian rhythm is known to cause weight stalling and weight gain, actually. There is a lot of research coming out now indicating this. As I am accustomed to working 2nd and 3rd shift I know how hard a battle that is, particularly wanting to be about when our partners are awake.

GERD can be a histamine response, FWIW. It may be you are allergic to something you are eating. The other second most common cause is obesity.

I developed GERD after having a gastrectomy. My stomach, because like me Harvey must always be an overachiever, began to overproduce acid. I also was getting some GERD from dairy, though, which apparently I have a histamine response to.

It might be good to do an elimination diet and examine why.

How much weight are you looking to lose? The closer we are to our body’s ideal weight, the slower we lose. 3-5 week stalls aren’t necessarily weird.

(Katherine Robinson) #14

Well I had never had heartburn problems before. But once they started it got progressively worse. It took them 6 months to figure out the real problem.

(Eureka Bailey) #15

Here is a full list of symptoms and an update. I think I might have solved it.

Heartburn, bloating, feeling very full for 6 hours or more after eating, lethargy, chest tightness, minor difficulty breathing, heart racing, overall very uncomfortable.

Before I thought that the chest tightness, difficulty breathing, and racing heart were due to anxiety because I get that a lot. But it’s been more severe and a bit different in a way that I can’t really put my finger on. However, I decided to take these symptoms into consideration.

(Just to be clear, the weight stall is not the issue I was trying to address or the amount of calories I was eating. I only mentioned those things because I thought I was just overeating and thought those would be good for reference.)

UPDATE: ACV still hasn’t done anything, I tried to take a half ACV half water shot and it was just painful (because of the soreness from the heartburn) and ineffective at aiding my digestion in any way. But I do feel SO much better (still not 100% but that will probably take more time) after having some earl grey tea with lemon juice and blended ginger. I just threw some ginger root into a blender and then froze it. Then I broke off a couple of small pieces equaling about 1Tbs or a bit less and poured hot water over it through a tea infuser.

So from what I know I’m guessing it was an inflammation problem. And according to the digging I’ve done, it could be:

  1. a histamine response like @Donna said, and I’m guessing if that is the problem then it would be dairy because other people in my family have had problems with dairy too so it just makes sense to assume that.
  2. (not sure if this is the same thing or not cause it still has to do with immune system response) Inflammation due to food being improperly broken down due to low stomach acid (or bacterial overgrowth) causing inflammation in the small intestines.
  3. I’ve been taking a magnesium, calcium, and zinc supplement that I noticed early on made me feel really bloated but it wasn’t uncomfortable like this at first. I just assumed it was good for me to take it so I didn’t actually think that it could be the problem. It’s a CVS value brand and I realize now that the times that I felt the worst heartburn and bloating line up with the times I took the supplement, even when I just took 1/3 of the dosage.

I think that the first thing I will do is stop taking the supplement. It seems very much like the most likely cause. I feel pretty good right now having not taken the supplement since yesterday, just a tad sore from the heartburn. Even after having coffee with half and half I don’t feel like my issues have been triggered by the dairy. So I’ll just see how this goes.

(JGL) #16

As usual, I am just popping by to agree with Cindy and much of what others are saying.

I think the calorie restriction mentality you’re approaching this with puts you in a punishing/self-limiting affect that won’t emotionally or psychologically support you the way that is necessary to have a healthier, more intuitive relationship with your body. I don’t think you want to look at going under 1200 calories, definitely not doing IF for all of the reasons that Cindy is explaining in terms of acidity.

Please consider her suggestion of seeing a gastoenterologist or talking to your GP about this. They may very well want to look at your gallbladder functionality, given what you are talking about re: feeling full despite the fact you are already eating under the minimum threshold considered necessary to maintain proper nutrition and fully functional metabolic health (~1200).

Nourish your body, feed your body, don’t limit your body’s ability to be nourished in order to achieve a number on a scale. It is a biomarker of limited utility in order to indicate what is going on from a holistic, full body health perspective. At the very least, this level of caloric restriction is going to poorly impact your body’s grehlin and leptin levels, which relate to the production and regulation of appetite and satiety. Disregulation here can help to explain why there is a conflict between your experience of hunger, or lack there of, and your body’s need of greater nourishment and holding on to and storing all it can as fat in a triggered starvation mode, along with, I am suspecting, an increased inflammatory state that is exacerbating the heartburn.

All best of luck, and do please, look at increasing your calorie intake and moving away from that restriction mentality. I think your body will thank you and it will be easier to get a handle on these other issues, including sleep and stress and gastric issues. And read up on gallbladder functions! xo

(Meeping up the Science!) #17

People told me to try ACV, but for my GERD it was basically like drinking liquid napalm. I eventually needed surgery, but eliminating dairy helped 1000x. The other thing that triggers it like woah is gluten proteins, but I also have Celiac so it makes sense.

Unfortunately, a lot of supplements may have weird things like glutens and sometimes even milk proteins. It is…really annoying.

However, you sound on the right path to figure it out at least. :slight_smile: Keep being persistent and try to remember that there are folks here to help and support you when you get discouraged!

(Candy Lind) #18

YAY!! :tada: :balloon: :confetti_ball: So happy you figured at least part of it out! It’s quite confounding sometimes when you figure out that something supposed to be good for you ends up causing so many problems. Keep us informed as you continue your “N=1” journey. :+1: :muscle:

(Eureka Bailey) #19

This will probably be my final update. After I stopped taking the supplement my symptoms subsided quite a bit, my energy is back up, heartburn is almost completely gone, I still feel pretty full but I can eat normal meals now, and my breathing is easy and clear. As for bloating, it’s still as bad as it was previously, maybe this will be something that will take more time. I hear stress can cause bloating and this experience was very stressful on top of just my life in whole. I’ll be looking into a cure for that. So in conclusion something in the supplement (I don’t know what exactly) was causing all of these problems so I threw it out. Thanks everyone for your responses! I don’t think I would have figured it out without your help. :slight_smile:

(Steve ricci ) #20

I agree with the eating window but i make myself eat. When i ate too little i stalled. I make sure i get a certain amount of calories, 2000 for me. If I’m not hungry i eat high calorie, high fat food so i don’t have to eat as much

(Ro Sitaram) #21

I completely agree!!! You don’t have enough acid in your stomach. I had Reflux so bad for many years as a result of Tums and countless prescriptions to lower acid. All of which just made it worse to the point I would throw-up nightly.

I’m no doctor but my experience tells me when you feel like that after eating its because you don’t have enough acid in your stomach to break down your food. What also happens when you don’t have enough acid is the signal to release food from your stomach never happens. Then food sits in your stomach too long and starts to ferment there.

It took a long time for your stomach to get this way so you’ll need to be patient in letting your body heal.

I used Carl’s drink to help me drink apple cider vinegar:
1-2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
Splash of Bitters
Sparkling water (I got a soda stream which works great!)

At first I drank this drink multiple times a day. Later I reduced to once / day and now I do it on occasion whether I just feel like one or if I feel my food isn’t moving.

I hope you have success in healing your gut! Hang in there.