Ok, so here’s the deal,
I’ve been doing keto for 3-4 months now and have to my knowledge never been out of ketosis. My lowest blood ketone level reading has been 0.9, which I usually track in the morning just after getting up. I still struggle with hunger A LOT! I do not want to lose weight, but maintain (male, 31 years old, 185cm, 72kg). While having been quite successful in terms of keeping my calories to 2500-3000 Calories for the first month and a half, I’ve recently entered a weird cycle of fasting and “feasting on steroids”. And when I say feasting I mean FEASTING! I consume up to 6000 Calories in one sitting and then usually enter a fasting phase. When I feel the urge to feast, my hunger signals really are all over the place. The first 2000 Calories I consume are more like an appetizer, where there is NO satiety at all! After that there is a very small and gradual rise of feeling full.
Let me be clear: the feasts are completely keto-friendly, usually amounting to 100g of protein, 30g of carbs and the rest of the calories coming from fat. Usual foods are cream, nuts, butter, cheese, eggs and sausage, all of which are high fat variants. Cheeses, eggs and sausages, I supplement with loads of butter or cook them in lard/ghee/olive oil as omelets to keep the keto ratio of roughly 3/1.
I have no problem with the feast and fasting cycle per se as I am not gaining or losing weight by doing that. My problem is feeling “out of control” when my hunger pangs get so extreme. I simply lose my mindfulness in these situations and don’t even show the due respect to the food I consume (e.g. just shoving everything in my gob). I rarely manage to just have a “regular” eating day the last couple of weeks. If I start to eat, I can’t stop until I reach my daily calorie needs times two or three.
My ideas:
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Micronutrient deficiency. Jason Fung and others have talked about how appetite may not cease because the body wants to offset deficiencies in micronutrients. Thus, my appetite could be high, even my energy needs are met. I recently had bloodwork done which revealed a Vitamin D and B12 deficiency. The Vitamin D deficiency was quite severe while B12 was just within the lower limits the of the margin. I have now started to take Vitamin D pills, but not B12 as I consume a lot of animal organs, such as liver as well as fish 2-3 times a week. Should I supplement for other potential micronutrients such as magnesium? I do not have problems with cramps or anything, so does it make sense to do this preventively? What other micronutrients could I be lacking?
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Carb/protein “deficiency”. Could it be that my body is telling me that it’s time to up my protein or carb intake and end the strict induction phase? I do not work out at the moment, so my protein needs should be around 60-100g per day, which is where I keep things. My carbs rarely creep over 20g, even when on a binge and if they do, they stay below 30g.
I would be grateful for any ideas how to break this cycle. I like the fact of being able to fast, don’t get me wrong. But it’s so dissatisfying to never feel satiated if I don’t eat like a rescued castaway. I just feel that I am losing control during my feast days and that the hunger pangs get too extreme. I know it’s encouraged to somewhat binge after a fast, as Megan Ramos states—but I think it’s over the board in my case. I want to feast mindfully!