Just A Few Weeks in and Can't Eat


#21

From what I’ve studied about Keto, I’m supposed to have 109 g of meat daily. And there aren’t that many Keto friendly veggies to pair with it. I’m going to have to incorporate a lot of these suggestions and mix it up a bit. I just don’t want to quit and lose the benefits I’ve gained.


#22

That’s not even 1 chicken breast! There’s no keto rule telling you how many grams of meat to eat. I think you need to start from scratch on your meal plans. I literally just put more chicken than that in my scrambled eggs. That’s barely finishing meal 1 of the day. (out of probably 5 or so).


(Ruth E Holleran) #23

Careful. Grams of protein is what you need to measure, not grams of weight. 140 g of chicken meat is 38g of protein, for example.


#24

Agreed, but that wasn’t my point. Saying you can only eat 109g of meat is nuts. Also, where do you get your chicken? 38g of protein from 140g? I want to buy where you do! I gotta get in ~250-300g daily if I had chicken like that it’d be easy!


#25

I’m going by grams for sure. It’s just really hard for me to only eat meat and salads with a few of the vegetables that aren’t packed with carbs. But I’ll gag my way through it I guess.


(Rebecca ) #26

I would agree with the suggestion that your body may be expressing a “need/desire” to do some fasting. I remember when my own body suddenly arrived at that point…probably about 4-6 weeks after I started. I have always tried not to.make this “scientific with rules” but just learning to follow my body’s cues for what it needs. Good luck!


(Ruth E Holleran) #27

109 g of protein is perfectly appropriate. 109 g of meat is no where near enough. I think the terms are being used as equivalent and they are not.


#28

Don’t eat meat then, it’s not mandatory… Use some other good protein sources. But it should be way easier with meat…

How did you eat before? What are you willing to eat? There are zillion options.
If I focus on animal protein, I could add almost any vegetables, it doesn’t matter if it’s carby as the carbier ones are way more flavorful so way less is needed especially just to compliment my meat. For example, some meat just screams garlic to me. I never ate liver without onions. Stew needs onions too. A good soup needs onion, carrot and green peas in my world. Yeah, I can’t have a vegetable dish but some little vegetable with my meat is fine (just useless for me in most cases. I eat my pork with eggs and it’s a perfect meal. But I did vegetarian keto before, still couldn’t keep my protein from going high. Eggs, nuts, dairy… Protein added up like crazy. Well the carbs in plants made me hungry so I ate a lot back then. But if I am not hungry, I eat less fatty protein and still get what I need.)

There must be a way to eat food you enjoy…


(Stuart Young) #29

I have lost around 30lbs in 5 weeks, and still need to lose more than you. And I get exactly the same issue. I don’t sweat it though. My good lady will always cook me an evening Keto meal, and sometimes I just don’t want it. So I don’t eat it and she fully understands.

Most days I practice OMAD (One meal a day), though on occasion I don’t eat in the evening as well, meaning I fast for the full day. And on some days, I get very hungry in the day, so I will eat both a lunch, and a dinner.

I essentially listen to my body and eat or not eat accordingly. At my size, if my body wants to eat it’s own fat stores, more power to it :wink:

There are some great people on this forum, and some great advice is available. However one thing is for sure, the keto woe is certainly an individual journey. What works great for some, won’t work at all for others.

I just really wanted to say please don’t consider a loss of appetite as a reason to quit. On the contrary, it would suggest your body is having it’s own meal from your fat stores. I would embrace that as a good thing :wink:

Best of luck to you!


#30

I agree, it’s individual but the fat stores can’t give us amino acids. That comes from our muscles if we don’t eat (roughly. there are some other options but not long term). Calcium? Bones. And so on. We need our nutrients. Even fasting is fine and dandy for a while but then we need nutrients. Supplements help to some extent but I would really hate to ignore protein for many weeks… I like to keep my muscles. The muscle loss isn’t as horrible as some people think but it is there if we eat low protein.

If someone has plenty of muscles and think it’s fine to lose some, it will come back easily later or they don’t need it and barely eating is their best idea, fine, I actually know such people but I am very much against significant muscle loss so I would try to find a better way.

The huge calorie deficit is fine if there is lots of body fat and the one in question feel fine, we agree about that. But my precious protein (I am a tad obsessed with it but well, it’s needed!).


(Nicolas) #31

This is exactly what is happening to me, Im 1 month keto and my hunger/appetite decreased by 90%, it is difficult to eat both meals (Doing TMAD), but the difference is that I eat the amount of protein I need to eat (110g of protein which is aprox 600gr of meat between red and chicken meat).

I eat less than 20 gr of carbs plus I use ACV with half lemon with water and organic stevia after each meal to help metabolize and decrease the insulin surge of meals.

I think (Im not sure, we need to check) that either is the less insulin we have, we have less hunger as glucagon rises up and ghrelin goes down and leptin is all over the place even when you have half the plate yet to eat.

Or you are becoming adapted to the diet/way of living. You see foods as a way of sustenance instead of pure low kind of pleasure, which gives you spikes in insulin, possible diabetes and you gain weight.


(KCKO, KCFO) #32

That should be grams of protein, not the weight of your meat, if that is the protein you are using. If you are not a big fan of meat, then go over to dietdoctor.com and look at the alternatives for vegetarians and vegans.Those plans have lots of fiber for the :poop: issue. They have meal plans for anyone who wants a low carb WOE. Maybe you should even start with low carb and not keto (>20 grams/perday).

Good luck sorting yourself out.


#33

Thank you so much. Very helpful.


#34

Yes, I understand it’s not the weight of my meat. And I do love meat and would never in a million years consider vegan. I’m actually wondering if there are really any guidelines at all to Keto. Best I can tell is 1) No sugar, 2) No grains is about it. Everyone else has different ideas it seems.


(Polly) #35

We all need to work out what suits us. Everyone will have a slightly different experience. My recipe: Minimise carbs, eat enough to keep you satisfied between meals and don’t eat more than three times each day. Enjoy delicious food and never feel deprived.


#36

To me, keto is eating little enough carbs to go and stay in ketosis. It is the main thing, isn’t it? Maybe not for everyone, it is to me. Most ketoers eat sugar, just little and we usually don’t add “normal” sugar to our food… But some people do.

For others, it’s staying below 20g net or total carbs.

That’s it. Keto doesn’t ban any food items. Some aren’t a good idea in general but there is no ban. Keto is quite different for different people.

So no, I doubt there are general guidelines. You eat in a way to be in ketosis, that sounds a good definition of doing keto… And a little sugar or grains can’t keep you from it, I presume, it surely couldn’t do that for most ketoers. A bunch of low-carb vegetables can do the trick, as far as I know…
But some people care only about fat-loss and not ketosis itself, it seems. They have the prerogative but they shouldn’t say it’s fine to do some super relaxed, vegetables doesn’t matter keto as they lost fat that way too. I lost fat off keto myself but I still needed keto. I basically only care about fat-loss, health/well-being/energy and having lots of joy from my food, not in this order. I can’t have that without being in ketosis - not all the time but for a long time or most of the time, it’s still not clear to me but I am fine with not straying too much - so it’s kind of my secondary goal as well but it’s just a side effect and ketosis isn’t enough, I need extreme low-carb sometimes. We may need extra restrictions just like some people need to go near keto for a while… No sense to do similar keto styles as we are so very different and we change ourselves. Some people stay on keto, some don’t and the latter choice may be the better one, it depends.


(Allie) #37

It’s just finding what works for you, what anyone else does is irrelevant.


(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #38

That’s my diet most of the time. An egg-a-geddon.


#39

Your body guides you. I agree with @Shortstuff Allie.

The full name is 'ketogenic diet/ or way of eating". It means the low dietary carbohydrate intake sets up the body to generate blood ketones from the metabolism of body fat via the liver.

Maybe consider this?:

To understand if you are in nutritional ketosis it is good practice to correlate how you feel (qualitative) against measuring blood ketones using a blood ketone monitor (quantitative). When you have both those things happening, then you are able to customise the foods and intake to suit your own needs.

Eventually many practitioners stop measuring blood ketones as they know by how they feel, whether they are in nutritional ketosis, or not. If unsure, test.

You may find, as @ellenor2000 pointed out, that you could be eating some lower carb whole foods but still be generating blood ketones, so still keeping insulin low, still metabolising body fat but not suppressing appetite so severely that it worries you.

best wishes.


(Ellenor Bjornsdottir) #40

In another of my many unwelcome grammatical digressions, metre always refers to the SI unit of length. Meter can refer to the SI unit, or a measuring device.