FP says I'm not eating enough!

[Perpetua]

I’m stuffed! I don’t want to eat more! I IF from 9pm to 1pm the next day. If people can fast for days on end why can’t I eat less than 1000 calories?

[Anniegirl9]

Are you fat adapted yet? People who do EF are and are using their body’s fat stores as fuel.

You are definately underrating if you aren’t fat adapted. You’re placing your body in starvation mode and will slow down or even stahl weight loss. And your fat is way too low.

It can be difficult to get in enough calories if you aren’t doing enough fat. Fat is more calorie dense, so you can add it to cooking or dressings or even by picking fatty cuts of meat to up both fat and calories without adding volume to your food.

[J_A-M]

Fasting isn’t about calorie restricting and starvation. Fasting is ideally done after fat adaptation which is keto phase 2. It takes 6-8 weeks on average to achieve but sometimes takes longer depending on the individual. I can’t see how many calories you actually got and am not going to do math. I can tell that it’s low. There are a few things about this.

If you came from dieting where you restricted calories, your BMR has slowed which makes you feel full on less while not allowing fat loss because your body is trying to hold onto everything it can. If you are in week 2-3 of ketosis, this can be a temporary response to readjusting hunger signals if week one involved eating more. For example, my first week my daily calories were around 3k a day average, second week I could barely do 900 without being too full to even look at food. It evened out in the third week, my calories are a range between 1700-2200 though, I don’t count anymore. Calories should not be restricted on purpose or for the long term. Especially if you never have times where you also feast. If you are doing forced IF, look into dropping it until you can get your calories and fat intake up by giving yourself more freedom to eat. Then, let it occur naturally. If you have had days where you feasted (well over 1500 calories usually) then, this may be temporary. However, if it lasts longer than a week or two, bump up the calories on purpose. We want working BMRs, not artificially low ones that retain our energy stores because we’re actually hungry without the signals.

[Perpetua]

I’ve never done a calorie restricted diet in my life It’s only been since I started doing the IF that my calories are so low. I ate 3 strawberries after I posted this last night and got up to 858 calories for the day. I honestly was stuffed! I made a top round roast in the pressure cooker with baby portabella mushrooms and a medium onion. I cooked tiny potatoes in a separate pan for my husband. I ate 4 oz of roast with 2 whole mushrooms and a Tbs of onion. I used mayo for my fat (1T). I also drank a mug of the broth which was made by adding beef bouillon cubes to the pressure cooker while cooking.

So the IF has only been about a week now. It’s not forced at all. Prior to this I was eating bacon and sometimes eggs and always a whole avocado for breakfast. The avocado was typically mashed with a Tbs of mayo and hot sauce.

I believe my reasoning for doing the IF was simply because I was trying to get a better grip on my protein intake. My macros allow 98 grams of protein a day and it seemed like a better fit if I did that during two meals rather than three. I made these wonderful keto meatballs the other day and made a keto General Tso’s sauce to go over them. They were really small. I’d say about the size of a melon ball. I ate 4 because the protein was so high! I’m tempted to just forgo meat and drink nothing but protein shakes. I use Isopure which is zero carb and 15 grams protein. I could add HWC and MCT oil to that.

I am totally aware that I sound like someone going from one eating disorder to another! That scares the hell out of me.

Thank you for listening.

[Perpetua]

I will start adding the MCT oil back to my black coffee. I will add a whole avocado to my afternoon meal . What types of meat are considered fatty? I have a huge freezer full of everything but the corned beefs are the only ones I can think of that have fat on them.

[J_A-M]

If it doesn’t have fat, add fat. People live on chicken breast in keto but add lots of good fat to them. Ways to get fat without protein, vegetables, BPC with coconut oil not MCT oil (MCT quickly converts to ketones but doesn’t necessarily provide satiety), broth with HWC or butter, high fat sauces. Don’t get crazy about the protein macro. If going over happens once in a while then it happens. But, focus on adding more fat really.

[Anniegirl9]

I absolutely love pork belly. It’s the perfect Keto meat.
If doing chicken, steer away from breasts and go for thighs with skins on.
Anything else I just look for lots of marbleing. The more marbleing, the more fat.

And then cook it with even more fat like avacado oil or coconut oil or butter.

[Anniegirl9]

But go ahead and use up stuff in your freezer and just add lots of fat like Jay said. Just look for higher fat cuts going forward. It’s one of the simplest ways to up fat and calories without adding bulk.

[Perpetua]

I am certain I could not drink coffee, tea, nor broth with HWC. I could never keep it down. This is what I ate for lunch and I also added the MCT to a coffee earlier.

[Perpetua]

I buy thighs and legs. Sometimes wings but more in the summer months. I do happen to have several packages of pork belly in the freezer! I was going to smoke them and make burnt ends. I plan to do it Monday if we don’t get rain again! I use a really LC bbq sauce on them too. I had almost forgot those have lots of fat on them!

Thank you. I promise to work on the fat intake!

[Anniegirl9]

Here’s one thought. Try to eliminate foods that don’t give you a good fat bang for your buck, even if they may be “low carb.” This May give you more room to fill up on higher fat things.

For instance the low carb tortilla. While it has only 3 carbs, it’s taking up room on your plate and tummy wearas you could replace with cheese or some other fat dense food.

[Perpetua]

That makes sense! I had the wraps in the fridge and just want to use them up. I know they keep forever! I could melt cheese onto one and make it a pizza thing. Maybe add sausage and bacon topping.

I still have to figure out what I will eat for dinner! I made a double of lunch so tomorrow is planned out so far. I could cook up some wild caught shrimp and make an alfredo sauce for it. HWC, butter and fresh parmesan. I have a huge variety of miracle noodles too. My husband is having pizza later. I’ll figure something out. Thank you for your help!!!

[Anniegirl9]

You can make a super easy pizza crust by using 2 eggs and 3 oz cheese like Prozolone or mozzarella. Mix together and spoon out on parchment paper. Bake at 400 until lightly golden. Take out and let cool. Then top with your favorite low carb pizza toppings like pepperoni, bacon, sausage, olives… use just a tablespoon or two of tomato paste (no sugar added) for your sauce with dried oregano sprinkled on it.

Top it all off with another 4 oz of cheese.

MFP logs this bad boy at over 1000 calories and 89 grams of fat with 8 grams carbs. So don’t feel so bad if you can’t finish it all.

[Anniegirl9]

I forgot to say pop it back in the oven once covered in topping at 450 for 5-10 minutes.

[Perpetua]

Wow! Just went shopping and found an organic house brand red sauce that is 3 carbs per 1/2 cup. I really can do without any red sauces but my daughter said to get it and try it on pizza. So is that recipe like that fathead dough I’ve read about only without almond flour?

[Perpetua]

I forgot to mention I did better today. 1682 calories, 72 protein, 4 carbs, 139 gr fat! I ate at my mums. She doesn’t understand the concept of dieting. My fat gene is paternal! Ask her and she will tell you that,

[Perpetua]

I’m not 100% sure. I just read this:

_larryLarry LustigAdminJan '171 _
If you are substantially overweight a good sign of fat addition is not needing to eat when you take up. This is because your body has been “feeding” on body fat overnight.

Once you’re fat adapted the goal is not to “cut back on fat” but rather to eat to satiety. In practice that will probably mean eating less (depending on what you were eating during the adaption phase) but a focus on “now, at last, I can eat less fat” leads some people to eat too little, landing themselves in a nutritional zone in which the basal metabolism is lowered.

In short, you’re fat adapted when you feel like eating less.

Maybe I am then???

[Anniegirl9]

No, it’s not a flour based dough at all. It’s from Diet Doctor. I haven’t tried the fat head one yet, though I plan to. This one with just egg and cheese is supper easy and very fat/calorie dense.

[Perpetua]

I’ll try it today then. Thank you!

[Anniegirl9]

I’m thinking of using it to make a quick, easy non-bread cheesy bread. Just top with more cheese instead of all the other toppings.