My hungry days


(clane) #1

So I read lots about everyone having their IF days, and so on (I haven’t really officially tried IF) So far I am entirely way too content just eating as I want/when I want and leaving it at that.

But every so often i have these days where I am starving.
I wake up starving (which is the oddest part, as I’m one of those 'I normally can’t even face food until the afternoon types) Another reason why keto suits me so well -i’m a coffee until noon girl as a rule.

Today was a I woke up starving day … and it hasn’t stopped. I don’t ‘cheat’ per say on these kinds of days - I just honestly… eat all damn day long but nothing non-keto and I still keep my carbs low.

Does anyone else have this? It just seems the opposing of all my other normal days where I just cruise along, eat in the afternoons &evenings and I’m good until the next afternoon.

Edited to add - on my starving I’m going to die days - I do drink a lot more water before I commence on keto pigout time - just to see if I’m really hungry or not. Tummy says… water is great - GIMME FOOD.


(Diane) #2

I have days like this every so often. I eat so much more on these days. I keep the carbs low (under 20 net grams), make sure I get protein, lots of water, LOTS of salt, and I try to make the extra food, fatty foods (extra egg yolks, avocados, olives, macadamias, cream cheese, pork rinds, bacon, etc.)

Sometimes I will have a couple of days like this in a row, but if I make the extra calories I eat, fat calories, I get to the third day and end up eating OMAD that day or I just get back to normal.


(LeeAnn Brooks) #3

Yup. Had one yesterday. Ended up well over 2000 calories.

And then I had my best weigh in day yet this morning.

I go with the belief that if you’re hungry (so long as you haven’t been eating carbs which can create hunger) than your body is telling you it needs more fuel for whatever reason. You may not understand why, but just trust your body.


(Ashley) #4

Do you mean and then I had my best weigh in day? Confused as I read that lol.


(Chris W) #5

I guess this would be more a function of how far along your are in my eyes. If you are not IF intentionally, then I would say if you are that hungry eat. Its not really a good thing to be hungry, early on my hunger was all over the map, and think that is normal for a lot of people. I suppose BF% would also play into this, and metabolic health.

Autophagy and the like really start to kick up at night after being keto for a while, this is one of the reasons its recommended to do exercise before you eat after you wake up. That said you will also need more protien if you are repairing things, and also if you are tired, cold, or feel lethargic mid day its time for more fat.

If you are having this happen more than every once and a while its time to re do your macros. They are guides but not hard limits. You should not be hungry, really ever outside of starting a fast. I also don’t recommend anyone who is not fat adapted eat on a deficit, it tends to lead to long term issues.


(LeeAnn Brooks) #6

Yes. Edited to correct. Thank you.


#7

I frequently have hungry days- about once a week, and one thing I promised myself when starting Keto was to not be hungry- for me that would be the end. Never being hungry is the thing that keeps me going in this WOE.

So on hungry days I eat- macadamias, avocados, bacon that has gone cold spread with butter, celery and cream cheese, cheddar cubes, glasses of HWC, scrambled eggs… I just eat it.

I tracked a couple of these days and I eat well over 3000 calories on some. I have never gone over 23-24 carbs (net under this though), and I have continued to lose weight. I frequently find after a hungry day I will naturally IF the day or so after.

I am in this for the long haul, so I try to look at the week/month rather than the day. If I was eating this quantity this every day I would probably be worried, but it naturally seems to be about every 7-9 days, so I figure its fine, and for me it is sustainable. I think the main benefit is that psychologically I am retraining my relationship with food, and never being hungry is something I’m learning to do for myself (ditching the deprivation model of dieting)- I can fast for up to 24 hours, but only if I am not hungry. I can eat all day, as long as I am not hungry. In this way I feel like I am healing my thoughts around food, while losing weight and improving my hormonal responses. Win, win, win.


(clane) #8

Thanks for the replies - its good to know others have the same experience.

It doesn’t happen a lot, about every 2 weeks maybe? - where I wake up and I’m just ravenous.
I’m going to make a point of marking my hungry days down and see if there is a pattern.
And I admit, I haven’t been resisting and thinking that I ‘need to make myself be hungry and suffer’ , I’ve just been filling myself up those days - but it occurred to me I should ask all you wise people about it:)

All the other days, I’m hungry a touch now and then on occasion,but its not immediate ‘feed me or I’ll die’ or anything like that,its what I call a comfortable hungry - a small reminder that 'hey tummy is expecting some food sometime around now ’ - its that hunger I remember from being a kid, - I could eat, but I could take it or leave also depending on whether my mom cooked something I actually liked:)

Today was:
bullet proof coffee
2 eggs, 5 strips of bacon.
then it was more coffee
2 celery stalks with homemade chicken pate (keto recipe)
A couple of random straight off the spoons of coconut oil
salmon with homemade dill mayo, creamed spinach. 1/2 a roasted tomato.
And an avocado with olive oil and salt.
And enough water I could float.
Ive’ prolly gone over net carbs somewhere in there - but…
Good news is… I’m finally full! YAY


(LeeAnn Brooks) #9

@Alecmcq here talked about this the other day.
He was having a bout of the hungers like this and believed he was coming down with something. It was hardly noticible, but he felt off and the hunger coincided with it or led up to it.
He believed that the additional hunger was his body’s way to ward off whatever bug he may have gotten.

I think the point is that we may not understand why our body needs more food at times, but it does and we should listen to it.

Sounds like you did great with your choices to feed it.


#10

Hi Clane, I was just about to post the same question! Today started with bacon and eggs and Included macadamias and some other high fat larger portions of los of low to no carb stuff and finally I am full. I added up the calories and it’s about 3,000 which is waaaaaay more than usual. Good to see others have a similar situation sometimes, and that it doesn’t seem to be a cause for too much concern.


#11

Did you have increased activity recently? I realized I walked around all day and camped with my kids, hauling and setting up a big tent then tearing it all down. It was too hot to eat much too.


(Roy D Rushing Jr ) #12

I had that yesterday. I was hungry all day and I just grazed on keto foods the whole time. I woke up today not hungry and not feeling bloated or like I had gained a lot of weight, so I’ll just write it off as an odd day and keep going. I suspect it had something to do with my alcohol intake the day before. I stayed keto, but I’m sure it knocked me out of ketosis for a while. I tell you, being able to eat to satiation without worrying about whether I’m breaking my diet is a great advantage on those kinds of days.


(Doug) #13

Sounds like a good title for a short story or novel. :slightly_smiling_face:

Yes - and oddly, they seem to lead into periods of profound satisfaction. The last two days I had like that, I made scrambled eggs (15 of them) and bacon, and then sausages and sauerkraut. My wife helped, but I ate most of it all. I ate a lot, but felt so satisfied, for so long afterward…