**I have been keto for 10 weeks now and became fat adapted a couple weeks ago. Just completed my first 48 hr fast with no problems, This really wasn’t a planned fast and just sort of happened. The last few weeks I have been IF’ing OMAD and literally had to make myself eat without signs of hunger (even during thefast). I have lost 18 lbs and everything (aside from keto flu) has went letter perfect, except - I feel FULL all the time. It is like my stomach is bloated but not uncomfortably. No gas and bathroom habits are as they should be. I am new to the “satiety” feeling we are supposed to eat too coming from sugar eating where it was always a binge to all I could eat. This feels different and I am uncertain if everything is as it is supposed to be.
Is this what satiety feels like normally?
Curiosity about Satiety?
Everyone’s normal satiety is pretty individual but, you’re around the average point for fat adaptation. However, bloating isn’t really what you want exactly. But, feeling full from what you’re eating is good.
You could consider being concerned if you too frequently take in very low calories because of not being hungry. But, beyond that, sounds like things are going smoothly.
That was my experience too.
At first, I reduced the quantities I served myself a still felt bloated. Reduced further. Till I found how much to eat. Was a fraction of the original quantities. Then I found myself spontaneously skipping meals when I was still full from the previous meal. That lead to fewer meals - 3 a day was just not feasible. I was IF’ing before I knew that was a thing. Then I learned about Fung and fasting, and I started EF.
I felt it was a natural progression.
Never felt better or as in control of my weight and eating as I do now. What a feeling!
@mtncntrykid This is my experience too. Like Rajseth I found myself lowering the amount I eat at each meal to prevent that over full feeling. I frequently skip meals and my body seems to like one meal in the early evening. Not really doing the 24 hour fast on purpose, just listening to my body.
I do IF 18:6 or 20:4 and I rarely feel bloated. If/when I do it tends to pass quickly.
Are you eating a lot fiber or other bulk that can fill your stomach and make you feel bloated?
Yes I think that is satiety.
At 10 weeks you are probably becoming fat adapted, that was a turning point for me, I would start my day keep going and never eat. Work would get busy and I would not get a break, all of the sudden I had not eaten in 24 hours.
One thing for me is that it seems to take longer to react to being “full” when I eat mostly fat. So a few times esp early on I would feel nauseous shortly after eating. This is were the macros seemed to help me the most, I had a tendency to go over on the fat after I adapted, I desired it much more. But if I would over indulge esp too quickly and with lot of short and medium chains following long chains I would be running for the bathroom shortly after if I was not careful. I adapted to this in my way by instead of a couple meals, I try and do one meal and then more a less a snack for my dinner, inside my feeding window. I will trickle fat in, fat bombs, or milkshake after the meal by at least one hour and I eat my veggies with fat. This makes me satiated over the whole day most of the time, I will admit there is that odd off day I wake up and must eat but it rarely happens these days. typically my window is noon to 6 I work second shift.
Thank you guys for putting my mind at ease. Your responses have allowed me to feel like everything is ok and my progression is normal. Learning is part of a process involved in this venture and with this communities help it will help insure my success. I will adjust habits according to my body signals and proportion to comfortable satiety. I do not eat a lot of fiber but do have a salad a couple times during the week so I don’t think high fiber is an issue at all. I do monitor my macro’s closely as well as vitamin and mineral intake amounts.
As a beginner of this WAO, it was easy to under estimate the magnitude of discomfort and affects that my body has had to go through during the transitional phase of this journey. For those just starting, stay strong and keep going. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn’t just fantasy what you read if you keep on KCKO.
For me, satiety isn’t so much a feeling of bloat, as a complete lack of interest in food. The first time it happened, I had prepared a lunch of the size I normally ate as a sugar-burner, and halfway through had to put the plate in the fridge. My normal pattern up till then had been to eat until my stomach was full almost to the point of literally bursting—and I would still be hungry! Now, I get to nowhere near that kind of fullness, but feel strongly that I have had enough and just don’t want any more. I’ve been keto for a year, and it still feels weird, I have to admit.
I can so relate to this!
The feeling of bloating stomach now is only after a meal of less than half proportions of what I used to consume and I think I will cut that size down even more as I still have no hunger issues. I believe that when the portions get low enough to start feeling minor hunger pains it will be time to up slightly and then level off. Am I right in my way of thinking? This control over my own body is something I am unfamiliar with and will have to rely on the knowledge of other fine people here who have experience.
It still blows my mind. It’s the weirdest experience, especially compared with how I used to be.
There is a difference between fasting and taking in low calories. We can look at the Minnesota Starvation Experiment for an example of low calories.
+1 well put. I havent thought of that part. Meals in general do not interest me. About the only things I look forward to are liverwurst and chicken wings. all else is just sustenance now. Great place to be “eat to live”, not “live to eat”
Im guessing liverwurst is feeding my need for deep dense nutrition, and chicken wings - well they are just awesome!!
My understanding from the Jedis of Keto and Fasting, you shouldn’t be calorie restricting. I do understand that you are saying go by hunger and satiety signals, and not by some computed concept of amount to eat. That should probably be OK, as long as you are honest with your body, and your mind’s corrupted thoughts about eating less to manage weight do not intervene. I just heard an Obesity Code podcast about how the appropriate concepts for the metabolically deranged are “counter-intuitive”. I think the problem is that our “intuition” has been corrupted by years of BS from the USDA, ADA, AHA, AMA and just about every other institution. So, if you can’t trust your intuition, what do you do?
For me, I just spent the last 3 months fast=feast cycling. On feasting days, I would eat till I thought I was full, and then have a little more - like a few slices of Liverwurst, or a handful of macadamias, etc. a couple hundred calories extra. Goal was to hop up my metabolism. I think it worked. I feel juiced all the time. Even though I didnt lose any weight, I lost 4-6" in pant size. I believe my metabolism got ramped up. To my mind, fast feast cycling is the only way to accomplish this. I am open to other plans - please chime in.
I think we should all think of ways to hop up our metabolism and keep it high. Give the body all the energy it needs to do all necessary and optional functions. Lets live up to our body’s full potential.
I think that healthy, sustainable satiety is largely unknown to the sugar-burner physiology - and it can take some time to learn the difference between very healthy satiety (with a robust, fast digestive tract) and less healthy satiety and/or bloat (stagnant/congested digestion bloat with distinctly slowed transit times).
Also is important to keep in mind that lots of folks in the early months of keto have microbiome changes going on, with enzymes as yet to catch up. The microbiome is literally repopulating itself, changing out types of bacteria, and even addressing fungal overgrowth. (For more on that see the work of Dr. Grace Liu’s How To Build A Warrior Gut she addresses athletes but the principles apply to all).
Most folks have a wide range of digestive/bowel changes in the early months - and it can be tricky to discern what is digestive malaise compared to satiety, as many people are relearning their body. I know for me, in my early months of keto - my body confirmed to me the importance of properly cooked and spiced food. And the importance of avoiding overcooking meats and eggs, as well as making a point to add condiments like spicy Indian pickle or good sauerkraut or hot sauce… or cooking with spices or adding a dab of good mustard or a SIDE OF BACON 
(the most neurologically stimulating food on the planet apparently having 120 or so different flavor nuances) helped me a lot.
Otherwise, bland food like eggs, cheeses, avocados, plain cooked meats, and undenatured whey smoothies (harmonious/handy when one is doing intense strength training, esp in summer) just sat in my stomach - and were slow to digest. I was concerned with the ill effects on nutrient absorption thereby. So I started prioritizing seasoning/spicing of meals, and added powdered Ginger to my shakes for that reason (which got me on the path of then learning so much more about Ginger as a superfood for metabolic healing and body recomposition).
If you cook with or eat food seasoned w/ aromatic digestive spices, the palate stimulation elicits digestive responses with enzymes. Spices such as fresh sauteed garlic and ginger paste (a common asian thing, you can make your own or buy the industrial stuff with nasty preservatives) - or a Thai curry paste. And many other spices such as Cumin, Fennel seeds mixed with a little dry red chilli (an Italian secret spicing for sausage - makes anything taste good in that sweet Italian way), Coriander, and Cardamom.
In the case of heavy dairy French/Italian cuisine, I was happy to make sure to have a small glass of wine with it, as I don’t suffer from alcohol addiction and could do that easily. Lchf/keto physicians Dr. Mary Dan Eades, Michael Eades, and Phinney & Volek talk about small amounts of wine with certain dishes as acceptable for certain types of people (and French & Italian & Greek wine drinkers whose cuisine traditionally is lower sugar/carb - only tiny servings of pasta and bread with main focus on meat & fat - and only dessert on Sundays - have been studied for their fascinating health and longevity… nothing like American style mountains of carbs and dessert every night, etc).
Or, some folks supplement with digestive enzymes while the body is undergoing so many changes. Downside of them is that they are very strong, pretty pricey, and lots folks can get digestively dependent on them (as plenty of folks I saw at wellness clinics I worked at in past years). Whereas dry Ginger capsules are a superfood themselves and a great digestive and microbiological aid - Ginger enhances enzymes among other many wonderful things it does for metabolic healing.
Wait—you ate dessert only in the evenings before going keto? 
To be fair that study was a high-carb diet. And it shows exactly what happens to people who go on calorie-restricted high-carb diets. I would like to see a hypocaloric HC diet vs a hypocaloric LC diet, though.
Hahaha, well, to tell you the truth, I never really had much of a sweet tooth pre-keto, wasn’t a soda drinker etc… but always had Belgian/Swiss chocolate in the cupboard for emotional support, which meant at least a half of a big bar of it 
I also loved my heavily sweetened indian hot tea after an indian feast, and the triple-sweet indian style sweets which only are a couple bites.
Keto sure is freedom though!
I like this idea and it seems that this seems to be the natural direction I am heading (from what my body seems to want) right now. The only problem I see with it is that even when I feast, my calorie intake is still a couple hundred below my macro guidelines. If I were to continue eating my bloated feeling stomach gets uncomfortable and takes a couple hours to settle down.
As SlowBurnMary said, my digestive tract and microbiome is probably still re-populating itself and causing the discomfort. Just more of the journey into this unknown.
There should be a thread for newbies explaining all the discomforts ahead of them that have to be dealt with so they understand the whole challenge. This has been an extremely hard undertaking and digging deep has been a constant to continue. I am just as of late beginning to enjoy some rewards from the struggles. I AM glad I pushed on through and encourage other newbies to do so as well.