Fat adapted but much hungrier than before - Suggestions?

#1

I began Keto in June. Ended up losing over 20 lbs. I will say that I was never overweight. I went from about 13% body fat to around 9%. Keto worked great for this because I had some leaky gut issues, so sticking to mainly meats, veggies, and grass fed/cage free seemed to fix this.

What was ALSO great about Keto is my hunger subsided quite a bit. In the beginning, I was very hungry, and was overeating from a calorie standpoint, and not losing much. After awhile, I wasn’t getting as hungry, and it became pretty easy to keep calories within 1800-2000 daily.

Now, I really struggle to maintain the calories in that range, which is where I always see good progress, given my other activity. I am much hungrier, despite eating many of the same foods, and similar macronutrient ratios. I’m thinking there is something I can improve to make this easier. I’ll share some things, and hopefully get some thoughts on this.

  • Theory #1 - My body is fighting back my weight loss by increasing leptin?
  • Theory #2 - I’ve priortized protein over fat, as protein has always provided more satiety to me, and I like high volume of food over smaller, calorie dense foods. Sometimes getting up to 200g protein while fat is in the low 100s. Considering shifting more fat over protein.
  • Theory #3 - Keto desserts have triggered my sweet tooth too much. Once I hit a weight I was happy with, I began treating myself with keto friendly desserts. I began thinking about food much more, thinking what keto dessert I would try next. I compare this to when I started and was more strict in the sense of black coffee, meat, eggs, veggies. Perhaps the limitation had my hunger more controlled?

With these theories, I’m considering a few things:

  • Eliminate all sweeteners and keto friendly desserts
  • Increase fat and decrease protein.
  • I’ve even considered a fat fast type of approach, as I’ve read people who have has 75%+ of calories from fat didn’t feel hungry? Thinking something like this to jump start things and get back to more satiety.

Any others with a similar experience? Hunger very controlled before, but now increased significantally 5 months in? I’m curious to others experience of higher protein vs. higher fat and their satiety as well as weight results from both approaches. Has anyone experimented with both?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

Without knowing your overall size, overall weight, height, conformation, activity level etc. other than you’re currently at 9% BF and eating 1800-2000 cals per day: hunger is your body is telling you to eat more! Eat until your body stops telling you to eat more!

For comparison: I’m 75 yo male, 145 pounds, 6’0", 14% BF, moderate level of activity (I have a full-time job that requires standing and walking for several hours, 5 days per week). I eat 2600-2700 cals per day with fat/protein ratios of 2:1 grams and 4.5:1 calories. This is to maintain with no loss/gain in overall weight.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #3

Since you are eating ketogenically, you can afford to eat to satisfy your hunger. Now that your body fat is less, you have no excess from which to feed yourself, so at this point all your energy needs to come from diet. You have shed your reserve of excess fat, so it is no longer there to feed you. The remaining body fat you have is needed as a cushion against illness and starvation, so your body is not going to want to part with it readily. So it is not “fighting back,” it is operating as it is supposed to.

Start by adding fat to your diet, to see if it satiates you. If it does not, you may need a bit more protein. This is a matter of individual variability. But of the three macronutrients, carbohydrate, fat, and protein, only the first two provide energy under normal circumstances. The body can metabolise protein, but proteolysis comes with a greater energy cost and yields less ATP than glycolysis or fatty-acid metabolism, and the body prefers to use its amino acids for structural purposes (except when starving).