Day 2: weight loss expectations and not hungry

(Katie Murphy) #1

Greetings! I just started keto yesterday. It has been years since I’ve done low carb (back when Atkin’s diet was popular). I’m 45, 5’5 and 220 pounds. My average weight until a couple years ago was 170-180 and my goal is 160.

A couple questions:

  1. Since I’m pretty overweight, can I expect to lose a lot the first month? Would love a 20 pound kick start. I’m already in moderate ketosis.

  2. I’m not hungry. I enjoyed a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. Then had shrimp, small salad, string cheese for lunch. Serving of almonds for a snack. Another small salad with a couple ounces of beef for dinner. Using carb manager to input food and I haven’t broken 1000 calories yet. Should I eat some more nuts before I go to bed? I’m at 17 carbs. I don’t want to eat too little and shock my body into starvation.

Thanks!
Katie

#2

  1. 20lbs would be a lot to lose. The average for most people is 0.5-2lbs a week at max. There will be some weeks you don’t seem to lose any at all, tho it’s possible to lose fat at the same time you’re putting on muscle mass or increasing bone density. My advice is don’t put too much stock on the scale, go by how your clothes fit.

  2. The general advice is to eat when hungry, eat until you’re full, and don’t snack. You want to limit your insulin spikes, and they go up every time you eat. 1000 calories isn’t a lot, but I know the first couple weeks can have your body being wonky as it begins to learn how to handle fat. But try not to under-eat on this diet, as a rule of thumb.

(Joseph Bagdanov) #3

Hi Katie!

Welcome to the Keto-Wagon! I echo a lot of what KetoCobra said (expect 0.5-2lbs a week) However, there is also the possibility you will lose quite a bit of water weight (Carbs cause water retention, so getting rid of them can flush a lot from your body, reducing weight and inflammation at the same time). But mostly, trust the process and try not to get discouraged. This works, but it may take some tweaking and managing expectations.

But as far as the nuts… I would say probably not. You are at 17 Grams of Carbs right now, and many nuts contain carbs in various amounts. So it depends on what kind of nuts you have on hand. Check their nutritional values online and make sure eating them won’t add too many carbs at this point. Again, I echo KetoCobra on generally listening to your body, but if you do decide to eat, with where you are with Carbs for the day I would probably opt for something high fat and no carb, like Bacon.

(Katie Murphy) #4

Thanks! I appreciate your insight.

(Katie Murphy) #5

Thank you! As far as nuts, I’m sticking with mostly pecans and almonds. One benefit of being a lifelong dieter and past exercise science freak, I can recite calorie, fat, carb and protein content for most foods! :joy: I’m encouraged by all I’m reading on this forum and look forward to this journey with you all.

(Charlotte) #6

Welcome! I lost 20lbs my first month (11lbs first week, 3lbs following 3 weeks) but every week after that has been about 1-2lbs lost. IF you do get that 20lbs in the first month, DO NOT expect that afterward. 20lbs is pretty lofty. I eat a lot of fatty meats like 8oz 80% ground beef pressed into a patty with guacamole and cheese on top with 1-2 cups of broccoli with 1-2 tbsp of butter and some salt. That will help the calorie count a lot. Stick to cutting off pieces from a block of cheese as opposed to string cheese or preshredded cheese. That will help with carb count. I also by personal choice stayed away from nuts until a was adapted and when I did add nuts to my intake I go with macadamia because they are fatty and only 1 carb in 1/4 cup. Almonds are 2.5 carbs per oz on average. Thats just from my personal experience. Results may vary. lol

(Katie Murphy) #7

Thanks Charlotte! I’m going to go out and buy block cheese and guacamole cups from Costco tomorrow. I have avocados but they aren’t close to ripe yet! The burger idea is fantastic! I’m so used to eating chicken breast and mozzarella - I need to remember these things!

I’m hopeful for a big loss the first few weeks to get me to a more comfortable place with clothing but can have all the patience I need to have to see this out slowly. My health and energy depend on it!

Katie

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #8

It’s not a good idea to hope for these things. People who come in with that mindframe, who are then sorely disappointed, find it hard to get motivated because they compare their results to others. It’s your second day, you need to be realistic, you did not put on 20lbs overnight, you aren’t going to lose it either.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #9

Hi Katie and welcome to the forum and keto lifestyle. Snacks in the beginning especially are okay. But it’s best to try and eat enough at a meal to carry you to the next. The snacking habits we develop eating the standard American diet are usually carb/sugar cravings because your blood sugar is dropping between meals. These habits die hard. Your body doesn’t really need the snack when you’re eating enough fats or burning your own fat when adapted to do so. A little rumbling in your stomach is still going to happen sometimes but not the “I need ______ and a cup/can of ______to get through the afternoon.”

You must have noticed an increase in energy after a while eating low carb? When your stomach is making a little noise instead of interpreting it right off as hunger and need for a snack try drinking a big glass of water, or some green tea, and maybe wash down a pinch of salt. If you’re truly hungry in 15 minutes have an ounce of nuts or cheese, some salami or pepperoni, olives, a pickle, celery and cream cheese or whatever. Fatty and small is best. Salty is good too. And some find celery good because the fiber hangs around in your stomach helping you feel full. But try to work towards no snacks.

Your next goal might be eating two meals a day instead of three once you’re able to go without snacking. I do well on late breakfast and early dinner. I often make a thermos of green tea for the in between meal time.

Keeping your insulin as low as you can for as long as you can is the goal with minimizing the hours and frequency of meals and eliminating snacks. Insulin is the fat storage hormone and that’s why we try to minimize triggering it’s release. It comes easy when you stop eating by the clock and focus on eating when you’re truly needing food to refuel and not for oral entertainment. I’m not saying that you’re doing that but I think most of us did, pre keto. Snacking is a big part of modern culture. I wish you great success with the keto lifestyle. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Charlotte) #10

I think being optimistic is a good thing. It helps with weight loss because you are less stressed and stress really does impact your progress. When I started out I was 5’7, 247 and 4 months in I’m down almost 45lbs. I think being optimistic helped me, but you have to make sure your optimism is REALISTIC.
Don’t weigh every day if you can’t handle the ups and downs the scale will give you. I only weighed once a week in the beginning until I knew I could see the ups and not stress out.
Don’t eat to fill your macros, eat whatever keto stuff you want that will fill you up until your next meal.
Eat at set meal times so your body will adjust to knowing exactly what time you’ll eat and that will help reduce snacking urges down the road.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better. While you’re detoxing from carbs, sugar, and junk… you’re going to feel miserable and cranky, but it will pass. It took me a week of hating life before i started feeling much better.
Slow and steady wins the race!!. Take your weight loss slow, you don’t want to lose weight too fast. Its better to take your time and do it right at a healthy pace. I average about 2lbs a week eating around 1500-1700 cals a day (thats fills me up). I’m crap about exercising so I just function off of diet alone. I give mad props to people who can go to the gym regualrly.
Eat real food! Skip prepackaged stuff because even if it says keto on it or 0 carb, it can still have hidden crap like starches that can be counterproductive. So get to know your labels and what all those ingredients are. If I don’t recognize an ingredient, I whip out my phone and google to make sure it’s not some cockamamie name for something that I shouldn’t have. I stick to real whole foods as much as possible so I know nothing has been messed with in the production process.
Make sure your expectations are realistic and don’t compare yourself to anyone else because you are unique and your body will do its own thing in its own time, so…
Don’t sweat the small stuff… you’ll have stalls and blocks down the road so make sure when those times come along, you take a deep breath and tell yourself that its okay and don’t let it keep you down. I was stuck at the same +/- 2lbs all of March and I knew it would eventually break so I kept solidering on… and it did break. So don’t panic or give up.
This community is a great support system, take advantage of the vast knowledge and use the archives to answer questions and of you can’t find it, just ask. There are lots of gurus that can help.