Difficulties reaching caloric intake

(Andrea) #1

I’m on the intermittent fasting keto diet and I have trouble reaching my daily caloric intake. Should it be lower than a standard keto diet since I’m fasting 16 hours? I feel totally satisfied but I have days like today that I didn’t even break 1000 calories. Most days are between 1000 and 1200. Is it ok to continue or should I find a way to raise it even though I feel totally fine.

#2

I am finding after 7 weeks on keto that I don’t need as many calories every day as I used to on a standard carb loaded diet. I used to eat at least 1600 calories, usually closer to 1800+ calories but with keto I’m satisified at around 1200. I think that’s the point of the diet is that we naturally eat less because we are full a lot longer. I wouldn’t force yourself to eat more if you are full, as long as you are at a healthy weight.

(Ron) #3

Until your body becomes fat adapted it is strongly advised to not restrict calories. In a IF eating window you have 8 hours so try to get at least 2 meals in (preferably 3) to help reach you maintain macro’s. There are also tricks to help up you calories in the meals you eat.

Eating at a deficit before you are fat adapted is not a good idea for many reasons. The first priority of the body when you change to a healthy LCHF diet is to heal all metabolic damage that has been done of the many years of eating a SAD diet loaded with sugars. It also has lots of inflammation to begin the healing processes. In order to do this it need as much fuel as it can get. Restricting this fuel will slow and hinder the process. Another reason to consume high fats are because you are trying to train the body to accept fat as it’s main fuel source instead of glucose. After the body depletes all the glycogen stored in all the storage cells you want it to use fat and if there isn’t enough dietary daily fat consumption the body will slow down metabolism in an effort to conserve energy. Even though you will lose weight, you will not be able to maintain it because the metabolism will match the lower fuel requirements and you will stall, When you try to eat a little higher level of food your weight will skyrocket back up because of the slow metabolism. In starvation mode your body will also feed on protein in the muscles for energy and you will experience muscle loss.
When you become adapted and the body chooses fat for fuel over sugar then the body will burn dietary fat and after that excess stored body fat. You maintain a high metabolism and the weight falls off.

@PaulL explained it best -
There are three macronutrients: fatty acids, protein, and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate stimulates insulin production, and insulin is the hormone that causes fat to be stored in the fat cells (adipose tissue). At the level of carbohydrate consumption recommended by the U.S. government, most people’s bodies produce insulin at a very high rate, forcing most ot the carbohydrate to be stored as fatty acids in the adipose tissue. To mobilize excess stored fat for metabolism, therefore, we have to find some way of lowering our insulin level. The good news, however, is that the body’s daily requirement for carbohydrate is 0 (zero) grams.

Protein stimulates insulin production, but at about half the rate of carbohydrate. Since we absolutely require protein in our diet every day, we need to eat enough protein to avoid malnutrition while avoiding eating too much (for one thing, that way lies ammonia toxicity). For most people, a good range to eat is 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass each day.

Fat hardly stimulates insulin production at all, so to give our bodies the calories they need, it’s the only really safe macronutrient to eat. The reason we say “eat fat to satiety” is that doing so allows the body to tell us how much it needs; for most people, a few weeks of eating a well-formulated ketogenic diet is enough to restore satiety signaling, a sensation by which we lose interest in eating for a while. So there is no need to count calories, because the body decides what it needs, and all we have to do is eat fat until we stop being hungry. For most people entering ketosis, eating fat to satiety leads them to spontaneously limit their calories to around 1500 or so a day. But there are verified records of study participants eating far more than this while still losing excess fat, so don’t worry about how much you’re eating. When given an abundance of calories the body ramps up the basal metabolic rate and even finds ways of wasting calories, whereas limiting calories runs the risk of giving the body the impression there’s a famine on, and it needs to conserve energy at all costs.

#4

There are numerous accounts of people wrecking their metabolism by hypocaloric dieting. It’s theorized that being in a state of ketosis is protective since the body
can compensate for potential energy deficits by accessing internal fat stores.

I understand the concept, but I’m not taking any chances. As I’ve lost weight, I’ve had my RMR tested periodically. I fast a lot, but when I eat, I make sure it’s not at a deficit. If the meal isn’t adequate, I supplement with nuts: a handful of pecans is 400 calories.

(Ken) #5

Eating more calories when you’re sated is not necessary. Calorie counting programs are subjective, and only a rough guide. They have no way of determining your genetics, activity level, or metabolism. It’s nutty to go by them as Holy Writ when your body is sending you clear signals.

(Ron) #6

If you’ve been following a lower carbohydrate diet you may have lowered your leptin to a point that your body is not able to effectively burn fat. Leptin is a protein released from adipose tissue and is being recognized to play an integral role in endocrine regulation of metabolism. Over time caloric deprivation contributes to lower leptin levels and slows down your metabolism, making it virtually impossible to lose all the weight you want. When your body doesn’t get food, your metabolism slows down. This is because our bodies are ingeniously programmed to protect against starvation—when your body senses that another meal may not be coming it holds onto your body fat to use as energy.
Digesting food takes energy, and a different amount of energy is required for each macronutrient.
Aside from giving your body a surplus of fuel in the beginning to assist in metabolic healing and inflammation reduction, you will speed up your BMR to assist fat burning.

(KetoQ) #7

I’m dealing with the same issue. This past week, I’ve been feeling absolutely full on 1400-1500 calories, most days. The week previous I was eating 1800-2100/day. And I IF 22-23 hours. And I’m not ravenously hungry when its time to eat.

What I’ve been doing is making sure to eat my primary fats first, so I get them in, then some vegetables, then finish with peanut butter mixed with greek yogurt. I find that finishing with fat helps keep me satisfied until the following afternoon.

We’ll see what happens. I do have a concern that I am undereating, and may stall my progress, or worse yet, my body may crave carbs with a vengeance and I give in.

(karen) #8

This sounds like a good idea to me. I alternate fasting and keto, and I find it frustrating to know how much to eat in order to keep some of the fasted weight off at the same time maintaining RMR. What kind of a test do you use? Is it expensive? Do you think it’s accurate?

(Katie) #9

If you can, it might be worth it to hire a keto coach to help you reverse diet (this means to increase your calories responsibly and healthfully). I recommend Crystal Love (femaleketogenicathlete.com) or Robert Sykes (ketosavage.com).

#10

The test consists of lying in a chair while connected to a face mask that captures your expired air. Via methods way to complicated for me to understand, it can determine metabolic rate, fat vs glucose fuel usage, and caloric recommendations. I don’t know how as accurate it is, but it’s the best tool we’ve got. You’ll have to Google your area for specifics, but the test is typically available at fitness facilities, hospital wellness centers, and universities. It’s not expensive, the place I go charges $80.

Here’s a good explanation of the process, including an example report.
https://www.bodyspec.com/what-is-rmr

#11

if you have excess bodyfat there is no such thing as being in a caloric deficit. all this talk about lowered metabolism leptin etc is silly. if you are fat adapted you will never be in a caloric deficit until the single dgit body fat % levels, and perhaps not even then.

it is extremely unlikely that a situation exists that you are not eating enough and your body is choosing to “lower your metabolism” rather than access stored bodyfat in a person who is fat adapted and off the glucose train. it makes absolutely zero biochemical/physiological/evolutionary sense.

(Andrea) #12

Thank you so much. That makes a lot of sense! I am totally satisfied with that caloric intake. I start getting hungry at no more than an hour before my regular meals, which feels totally right. I definitely have plenty of fat to burn off! I figure if the goal is to tap into the primal survival mode for your body that if I take in so few calories and eat low carb, that it will work that much better. Thank you for the information.