Hello,
I’m several days into keto, and just was wondering if there is an “adjustment period” where your body learns to burn fat. I’m currently at home (due to disability), but set to go back to work in a little less than two weeks. I am exercising daily, but have been definitely not moving around as much due to not being at work. Have been following the 16:8 window of IF, and 20g net carbs, but am wondering if I will have to weigh myself more often when I return to work, due to possibly eating more.
I realize that there are several topics/questions here, and have spent time reading threads for those, but was wondering about the “adjustment period” and how that relates to weighing in, and possibly not being able to stick strictly to the 16:8 window.
There is an adjustment period and it will vary person to person. So many factors.
But you’ll get into Ketosis quick, no more than 3 days I guess, and that should start the process…. Weight should come off, probably water to start.
I weighed everyday but that’s daft, once a week is better.
If you’re under 30g carbs weight will fly off quick even if you eat more.
You’ll notice a difference soon.
My noticeable adjustment was leg muscles, they ached for months…. But that was me.
Weighing is totally individual. I don’t even need a scale but I have one and I use it sometimes. But I weigh the same all the time, my body is super good at stalling/maintaining. While I was losing (way before keto), I weighed every day as I am a curious one and I didn’t want to miss some change (even though my bodyweight fluctuation is basically non-existent it still may happen, I am a human).
So my weight doesn’t tell me how much I ate lately, if I want to know it, I should track, it gives me useful information anyway. Not like accurate tracking is possible but I am fine with it vaguely.
I did IF 16/8 way before keto, I didn’t need adjustment for that. It took some time it automatically becoming 19/5 though. But I lost it since. 8 hour is a very long time for an eating window anyway, for me, I surely eat (more than) enough during it to be satiated for long enough. If I use a small one for me and my best, most satiating woe, that’s a problem as I may not eat enough in my window and get hungry (therefore eat) later. So my eating window is flexible. If my first meal is tiny and I just can’t eat more, it won’t be an OMAD day for sure… I know the rules of my body regarding satiation and don’t try to go against as it won’t work. I could force it if I had a different personality/attitude but I hate going against my own body and suffer the consequences (it’s my body. it has almost all the power… but I like to have a good relationship with it anyway, it sounds sane…).
If you need more food, eat more food and hope for the best If you figure out it’s too much for you, probably some tweaking is in order. I usually need good timing and always good food choices. Keto is far from enough, the same for carnivore. I should keep myself from eating dairy galore, for example…
It depends on how you mean the words “adjustment period.” We enter ketosis as soon as our glucose stores get depleted, but there is a period we call keto-adaptation or fat-adaptation, during which the skeletal muscles are reactivating their ability to metabolise fatty acids. This takes generally six to eight weeks. Most people do not notice this adaptation phase; it’s endurance athletes who are most likely to notice the short-term drop in performance.
The scientific principle behind a well-formulated ketogeinc diet is that what we eat is more important to the body’s reactions than how much we eat. The best advice is, once carb intake is below 20 g/day, then we should eat protein and fat to satiety. In other words, we can safely listen to our body and give it what it wants. The energy deficit will take care of itself.
Numerous studies of the ketogenic diet have shown that it is possible to shed excess fat on an ad libitum ketogenic diet. In one study, a participant ate 3000 calories a day and still shed excess fat at a rate comparable to that of the other study participants. In a more recent experiment, the British nutrition activist and health coach, Sam Feltham, ate a 5000-calorie ketogenic diet for 28 days and a DEXA scan afterward showed that he had gained muscle and shed even more fat (and to look at him, you’d wonder where he could possibly have stored any extra fat).
For further reading, you might look up the article, “Treatment of obesity with calorically unrestricted diets,” by Alfred W. Pennington, The Journal of Clinical Nutritiion, vol. 1, no. 5 (1953).
First, don’t put too much weight (so to speak) on the number on your scale. As long as the overall trend is downward, you can ignore the daily fluctuations.
Second, be aware that fat comes off faster when there’s a lot to shed; as we approach our goal weight, the rate of loss slows down. The first 50 kg come off a lot more easily than the last 5.
Third, there’s no need to mess with fancy eating patterns at the beginning. Eat when you’re hungry, stop eating when your hunger is satisfied, and don’t eat again until you are hungry again. Ignore the clock, in other words. And if you’re eating enough at meals, you will find yourself able to go hours without food, quite happily. Should you need a snack, make it something low-carb and high-fat (such as buttered cheese, pre-cooked bacon, pork rinds, etc.) and eat more at mealtimes.
Takes a couple weeks to start really adapting, how often you weight is up to you. Daily weighing (or at least a couple a week) allows you to see your normal fluctuations and account for them because you’ll have a trend line. Your trend is far more important than any day to day number on the scale, but without that number you have no trend, just disconnected snapshots. Over time those also form a trend, but not a very useful one if troubleshooting is needed.
Thank you, will definitely check out that article. I wasn’t sure about the IF numbers, because I’ve been watching numerous youtube videos regarding keto and IF.
Hydrated or dehydrated means your weight can vary by as much as 1-2kg! The scales can lie. A better judge is your belt hole or jeans size. I don’t wear the smock much anymore lol
There’s a lot of them. We ran a thread on the best Low Carb YT posters. You can find some nonsense of course, it’s the internet.
I am never dehydrated but yep, there can be a big fluctuations, way more than 1-2 kg. Ask marathoners who even prone to sweat a lot! There are crazy numbers!
But the body may change its water retention anyway. It’s quite known our bodyweight fluctuates but it’s really huge for some people. And negligible for some of us. But even I would dismiss +1kg (it happens but super rarely), it’s so little, not hard to get it from some more water and waste in a normal sized human body!
Edit: I also forgot to add that some days, I’m woken up from a sound sleep because I’m hungry. I’m trying to train myself to only eat between a certain window, and also dealing with having less physical activity due to not being back at work yet. I know that they say to focus on fat, not calories, but my calories are about 800-900 most days. I eat fish, eggs, nuts, broccoli, mini bell peppers, mostly.(Don’t eat red meat) I’m not sure how to add to the fat without also adding to the carb intake other than taking a tbsp of oil. (would rather avoid that, if possible). I guess my other question is, when I wake up hungry, do I need to eat something (keto friendly, I know) in order to fall asleep again? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of trying to stay within a window? I’m trying to stay within a window to speed up weight loss, and to have the same schedule when I return to work.
It’s very easy to add fat without carbs. I ate 260g fat on a carnivore day before… But I regularly went over 200g on vegetarian keto too… What’s the problem? Grab some fatty, very low-carb item, animal ones tend to contain little carbs when they are really fatty…
I ate 800-900 kcal for eggs alone until recently…
Maybe you should find non-satiating items? If satiation keeps you from eating more? Really, what does? Why don’t you eat more than the few bites that means 900 kcal, it’s SUPER little food! Even 2000 kcal is a not big meal if you ask me but yeah, I always could eat and enjoyed really fatty food…
Actually, eating some added fat (not a teaspoon, that’s nothing, add way more, you need the fat) may be a good idea. Not alone, of course unless it’s some lovely fat. I would love to snack on some butter right now but alas, I already ate a bit too much fat today But I ate my butter and it was lovely.
Add the extra fat to your eggs or fish. Or nuts, I used to make peanut/coconut oil fat bombs on my wild days, I overate fat without that but they were lovely, I made 16 and prompty ate them all…
There must be something you can eat. Don’t your body screams for food after your tiny intake? Weird, mine surely would do that.
Can you write down what a day of food looks like?
Hunger typically means your body needs food so eat then, yes. Unless you tries and it is bad for you, just eat properly from now on then. I get hungry at night if I neglect my eating during the day (I am not that type but sometimes my protein is lacking. Only 110g for lunch today? my body can’t stand that. thankfully I could handle it at dinner, not after midnight like sometimes…).
Yes but who cares if you are hungry…? I have some idea about my eating window too, even my number of meals but if I can’t eat accordingly, I eat in a way I can. And if I mess it up, I try to learn from it and do it better in the future if I see the reason for it.
Getting the nutrients is the most important thing if you ask me, rules comes afterwards.
Why are you forcing yourself into this? Eat 20 carbs a day and other than that, as much and as often as you want. The IF will appear automatically once you are fully adapted.
Sure, here’s a sample of today’s items:
1 cup cold brew coffee with 1 tbsp heavy cream
1 cup raw broccoli
Ora plant based superfood protein (2 scoops)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 large hard boiled egg
Roasted veggies (roasted with olive oil)
Trader Joe’s eggwich sandwich (like a Egg Mcmuffin w/o bread)
1 cup spinach
1 oz Macadamia Nuts
Yes, I guess being woken up by hunger is my body’s way of saying that more food is needed. However, before starting keto, always tried to stay below 1400 calories. As someone who doesn’t anything other than turkey, chicken, and fish (meats), it’s hard to come up with something that doesn’t add carbs.
According to the ketodiet app, the protein side is lacking. I read pork rinds are a good way to get protein .I might have to start eating those. . Am hesitant to add more eggs because worried about cholesterol. (Don’t have high cholesterol, but my Dad’s side does)
Did notice felt zapped at gym workout (40 mins weights, 20 cardio), but maybe that was because I was woken up by hunger.
Well, I guess I’m trying to stay within a certain window because I read that weight loss can be quicker along with keto. Also, I’m trying to stay to the same eating schedule I will have when I return to work.
Am aware that it can take several weeks to over a month before someone is fat adapted. I know this will take time, but trying to do whatever I can to help the weight loss/fat loss. (Patience is still something I lack, working on it.)
You will find that most people who’ve been here a while have the same mind-set: this is a new way of life, a new start and new way of thinking about what you eat. It’s not a “diet” that you take up and then drop when you’ve hit your target weight. And part of that new way of eating is discovering through trial and error what works for you, because we’re all different. If you let go of the pressure to get it done as soon as possible in favor of finding a new path, it becomes a lot easier to be calmly interested in your body rather than pushing it to some arbitrary “result”.
I see… It’s little food indeed. How much protein do you eat a day I wonder…
No, it’s not hard to add fat without much carbs. Zero is tricky but low enough for keto? Nuts and oily seeds are often low enough, you don’t need much anyway… I used net so it was even easier for me.
If you eat more meat, more eggs and more nuts, it adds fat just fine. And protein too.
I am healthy so I never worried about my several eggs a day (my body just makes less cholesterol but it needs pretty much actually) but if you think you may need to worry about it, add something else, no problem. There are options, that’s the good thing in keto and even carnivore. So many things to eat!
Not eating enough surely doesn’t help with your workout performance. And you should lose fat just fine with some more food, even with a bigger eating window. I doubt timing is that important but of course maybe it is for some. And IF has lots of other potential benefits but you probably can do it if you eat more in your eating window.
It’s more like if one undereats. I can be totally hungry while overeating (it requires some wrong items though) and some people are satiated by almost no food. So it’s not always reliable. In this case it’s easy to see that the food is too little. It’s starvation level calories (not even a subtle one) with very noticeable problems. If one is hungry while undereating and is able to eat, better to eat.
Will have to eat more nuts, then (ordered a bag of pecans, which is arriving tomorrow). And maybe have to eat chicken as well on those days. Was hoping to not have to do too much cooking, but looks like will have to start again.
it still may happen, I am a human).
If you figure out it’s too much for you, probably some tweaking is in order. I usually need good timing and always good food choices. Keto is far from enough, the same for carnivore. I should keep myself from eating dairy galore, for example…