I’ve been keto for about 6 weeks. My energy fluctuates. My water retention fluctuates. My resting heart rate is very much elevated. My appetite and hunger signals are confused right now: For a while I could eat 3 meals a day, but now I’m voracious and eat bigger meals more frequently.
I am not overweight, and in fact many would call me very thin (5’7", about 123 lbs now).
But I’d like to continue losing just a few pounds of this small annoying pot belly so my clothes fit better. I’m in no great hurry.
I have problems with fasting. I also have problems with marathon snacking. Before keto, I did both, very poorly. I feel Keto is gradually healing my messed-up hunger cues. Is that a thing?
The trouble with fasting for me is that it invariably makes me miserably obsessed with food, the whole time. And when I do start eating, I literally cannot control myself-- it’s as if I’m sleepwalking, watching myself act. I wolf down food and then-- the worst-- I cannot stop grazing. It’s debilitating. I also develop weird energy problems when I fast, and cannot function. I’m very much okay with going 14-16 hours without food naturally, overnight, but more than that and I always seem to develop long-term annoying food obsession. I also think it causes me to lose muscle-- the opposite of what I want. I’d like to stay my size (my narrow frame looks bad with even a little extra). But in a forced choice between slimming down and building muscle, I’d rather build muscle. I want to feel strong and energetic, and stave off the age-related frailty that runs in my family.
I had about a year of weird, accidental fasting, a few years ago. I had a tragedy-stress-shock, and went three weeks barely eating. I felt like I was constantly in the middle of a car crash. I couldn’t touch food for five days. After that, most days I ate nothing and the other days I ate far less than even one meal’s worth. I continued to probably under-eat for a few months until I became less angry and depressed. Of course I got quite skinny.
I lost muscle. I could feel my body eating my muscle (I thought).
Then the same thing happened a couple more times throughout the year, but for shorter periods (like a week or two). This was all followed by two foot surgeries last year, where I became sedentary. Before Keto, I overwhelmingly ate carbs-- Good breads, fruit, rice and beans, oatmeal, too much candy, et c.
My main fitness goal is to build up the muscle composition of my body-- for health and energy and longevity.
I don’t think I have crazy insulin problems or anything. I think keto is still working on righting whatever I messed up with years of high-carb.
Am I a poor candidate for fasting-- at least right now? Can I get away with not-fasting, and still get great benefits with keto? By great benefits I mean, will my hunger cues start regulating-- even if I don’t fast? I frankly have no idea how much food I should be eating. If we’re just talking lifestyle, I’d like to eat about three meals a day, without feeling like snacking. I’d like it to be easy to skip or delay a meal when something comes up.
Will I eventually “feel” like eating less frequently, once I am more fat adapted, and therefore not have to force a fasting session?