I’ve been doing keto for about a month now. It’s great. Before keto I always did IF like 16 and 8. It’s just natural for my body I don’t like eating when I wake up and I push my lunches a little late in my work day. Anyway about the last week I’ve noticed my normal eating time has gone flying by. I’m not hungry like I always was when lunch came around. Once I realize I didn’t eat I then start getting really hungry because I’m thinking about lunch. Maybe I’m starting to get fat adapted? Just wondering what you all did or what I should do. Fight the mental hunger and do longer IF to flex my fasting muscle. Or should I eat as soon as I feel hungry. Even though I’m not I’m just focused on it and that makes me hungry.
Mental hunger
Pete_A
(Pete A)
#2
You ought not eat when you think you could and may not really need to. Personally I put it off deliberately and know my mind plays tricks on me that I want to wolf down a Domino’s pizza!
Good luck.
NinMD
#3
When I was going through a similar time, I read that you can try waiting about 15 minutes to see if it’s just a craving. If you still feel like you want something really badly, then eat a good keto snack. My desire for snacking went down over time with keto and was obliterated when I started regularly fasting (I regularly switch it up with IF, alternate-day, and EF).
Dipper_Actual
(CharleyD)
#4
Another good thing to try is to eat a bit of salt.
You got a couple things possibly going on. The habit and thoughts of eating can pulse a bit of insulin around a particular time to prepare for food to come in. (cephalic phase response of insulin) If there’s no food, then the blood glucose goes a bit low and as insulin goes down and glucagon goes up, you feel a tad peckish. Glucose will go back to normal as glucagon tells your liver to break off some glucose from stored glycogen. This is what is going on during that ‘if you can wait a few minutes you find you’re not really hungry’ thing.
The other thing is that you’re possibly a little salt deprived. The signal for needing salt is pretty much hunger since our body knows there’s sodium in most of our processed foods to some degree, or if you’ve been keto long enough and made it a habit to just salt your food.
(Don’t mix it in water like I did, I accidentally discovered salt flushes)
Disclaimer: Almost done with The Salt Fix and I really recommend it!
Freak
#5
Thanks I’m good on the salt. But I’ve had undiagnosed hypo glycemia since I was a kid. I have that feeling around just after lunch so that must be what it is. To clarify it’s not like a full attack like if I had some candy and washed it down with red bull. It’s more like I can feel it about to happen but it never does and goes away after a bit of time.
Dipper_Actual
(CharleyD)
#6
Excellent! That’s the beauty of insulin/glucagon working their magic to keep blood sugar within a good range. It’s also looking like you’re able to keep insulin low enough to allow adipose tissue to hear glucagon and pull from fat stores to liberate the ancient Krispy Kreme to get to work!
Scottaltelfer
(Scott Telfer)
#7
I’d recommend the salt, even though I understand it’s mental. Also brushing my teeth or mouth wash or some quick excercise stops my brain thinking it’s time to eat 
Hardrock_keto_chick
(I came for the weight loss and stayed for my sanity... )
#8
I too try to wait 15 minutes and drink a ton of water, then I go for a little salt and wait again. Next step is a teaspoon of coconut oil. Should that not help I ask myself if I know what I want to eat, or if I just want to stuff my face, real hunger became very specific for me (like I need a rotisserie chicken right now, there is a beautiful ribeye in the fridge waiting, but I still crave the chicken) in that case I give in and try to give my body what it needs.
EyesWideOpen
(Jeanne Wagner)
#9
I am fasting, going for 7 days or more. This will be my 4 th EF, and I have done a3-day, 5-day, and 4.5-day fast prior to this. I have been IFing for the last 5 weeks since my last EF. Every time I have stopped my EF, I feel like I could have gone on forever. So that is why I am going for a longer time this time.
But I often wonder what ‘real’ hunger feels like. Sometimes I get very strong hunger pains in my stomache, and i have come to realize that is the magic ghrellin at work. I can get through that. Then there is the hollow feeling which is hard to describe and not much seems to make that stop except actual calories. I can have a La Croix (or 3) and it will still plague me. I cave and have a bulletproof coffee, and that will hold me a couple of hours but that hollow feeling comes back. If I take a walk, same thing but I can’t always walk. I sometimes ‘feel’ that my blood glucose is dropping and check it…it’s usually in a perfectly normal range (70s-80s). So is my body even trying to trick me into thinking my blood sugar is too low and that I have to eat? I don’t feel dizzy, I don’t feel nauseous, I don’t feel weak. But I do have a super distracted mentality. I can’t concentrate on anything. I mean do you have to wait until you feel dizzy and weak before you eat? When do you actually eat I If we’re eating for real hunger? What does it really feel like? If I never feel it maybe I can just live off my fat for the rest of my life…? LOL
I guess you could say I used to be addicted to food, because I was such a carbage eater. I was always hungry before I started keto. Now I feel satiated most of the time, but when I fast, this is what happens. I mean I did get through it because I was able to do three, four, and five days… But that distracted feeling and the stress that comes with it is terrible and that’s what made me stop for five weeks before I tried again. But I just have to do it because I need to work on this insulin resistance/get all my hormones normalized. And, my blood glucose is stable at the 80s-90s now. It is disturbing to me to think that our minds are that incredibly powerful to trick us like this.
ava_ad0re
(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja )
#11
If anything I find it makes me hungrier to replicate the chewing motion while I’m starving for something to eat.
Thanks for the link. Will take a look
