Eating LOADS; where's it all going?

malabsorption
weightloss
calories
(Aaron) #1

(UPDATE; THE SCALES WENT UP AGAIN SO A POINTLESS QUESTION)…I thought I posted this yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared; apologies if I’ve somehow double posted it!

So far the ketogenic diet seems to have gone well in terms of adaptation, as I’m feeling good now, even though I’ve only been completely keto for just over a week. The thing is, my appetite has been quite ravenous and I’ve eaten loads, being mindful not to over consume carbs or protein. I estimate that my calorie intake has increased by a third so I was really expecting to gain weight, especially since I have reduced the amount of exercise I do, i.e. reduced my energy expenditure significantly on top of it increasing my calories intake substantially. Am I farting/breathing/pissing or crapping these calories out? I’m taking plenty of sodium, potassium and magnesium to prevent dehydration/water loss and I will have long exhausted my glycogen stores by now, yet still, over the past 4 or 5 days I have lost another 2 kg and this really shocked me. I wonder if I’m malabsorbing fat because I have been farting quite a lot after high fat foods, also the urine strips are telling me I’m in ketosis so I must be absorbing at least adequate amounts of fat. The thing is we are not supposed to have such a ravenous appetite on a keto diet which suggests to me that perhaps I am not absorbing all the fat calories. Whatever the case, I just don’t understand where all these extra calories are going to!

I have looked at my body to try and see what differences there are. My muscles are looking a little less pumped nowadays and I’ve lost a lot of my abdominal mass. I’m saying a few more veins here and there telling me that I’ve lost somebody fat, but I am a little concerned that I may be losing muscle mass, although there is no clear evidence of this yet. So if I am losing body fat and/or muscle mass yet eating a lot more whilst exercising less, where the extra calories are going is a bit of a mystery.

Has anyone experienced this and got to the bottom of it? Anyone experienced the increase in appetite and able to tell me how this panned out?

Any ideas or experiences would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

#2

You’ve only been keto for a week. You’re trying to analyse way too much for this time frame.
Just go with the flow for a couple of weeks more at least, then you can have a better look once your body settles down a bit.

Your weight loss is mostly water, not fat. Just take the scale victory and smile.

(Aaron) #3

Thanks for this, but if it is fat malabsorption and or muscle catabolism then I would want to know in order to do something about it. I worked hard in the gym to improve my body composition for over a year now and it wasn’t easy to gain musvle, so I wouldn’t want to piss it away in two weeks. Both fat malabsorption and protein catabolism would lead to muscle wasting you see.

#4

You’re not going to lose muscle mass in a couple of weeks. Take this time to learn how to keto properly FOR YOUR PARTICULAR BODY, then you will see the results you’re looking for.

#5

Aaron, I skimmed your post so might have missed something, but it seems like water weight that you lost (which is very typical in the first week or so). Generally folks do notice decreased hunger, but that often doesn’t kick in for a few weeks, and in any case that’s pretty individual. If you were used to higher carbs before, the hunger now is just indicative of your system looking for energy in its usual ways (“where’s the sugar?”) and as it starts running on fat (and as you get more used to the fat) that should calm down.

This is not quite in line with the recommendations of this forum, but if you’re very active and have a lot of muscle mass, you might not want to restrict protein too much. Check out Ted Naiman for an interesting take on protein requirements. [note: this is an area of a lot of debate! and I’m not an expert by any means :slight_smile: but it’s probably worth looking into for you.]

(Aaron) #6

Aha - protein! That explain why I’m so hungry; the drop in protein! I will cgeck Ted out. Many thanks!×

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #7

I will add that coconut oil takes some time to adjust to and if you start scarfing it down from “GO” you may have tummy issues. I can only eat it once a day in coffee unless I want sad pants.

(Aaron) #8

Hmm, yes; MCT oil - and for the first time ever I think, blocking a toilet! My question has been answered today by the scales; they went up by nearly 2kg, so the dramatic weightloss (which I wasn’t looking for) includes a lot of fluctuation e.g. water weight, constipation issues etc. Also my appetite is dwindling so it takes timem The excess calories no doubt weren still going somewhere but it looks like fat pads melt cuz there is a noticeable redistribution of fat from small storage pads which melt to fuller skin & shoulders - tissue regeneration which doesn’t look like ‘weight’. I’m learning carbs give you baggy & gassy weight - fat goes on more even. Eventually appetite & weight will settle but I’ve only been doing it 9 days now. Thank u