I disgree with such a black-and-white statement and if someone IS hungry in the first phase then they will blame themselves and think they are doing something wrong when they may be doing everything right. This could lead to getting discouraged and giving up.
People’s hunger signals vary all over the map. While MOST people lose their hunger signals early on… not everyone does. And for some it takes much longer than the detox phase you are talking about.
HI hon!!! (I can say that cuz I’m an old lady.) Welcome.
I don’t do keto “meals” or much cooking at all. All easy stuff, which I enjoy immensely. Eggs, sausage, bacon, tuna-, chicken-, egg salad, pepperoni, cheese, loaded salads with full fat dressing, meat seared in a pan with added bacon fat if necessary, broccoli w. butter, vinegar/mayo cole slaw, etc. That is pretty much my repertoire of food since I started almost six months ago. Endless combinations and all so satisfying.
If you’re hungry, you need to eat! Don’t count calories. Eat three meals until you don’t want to anymore. No snacking (you shouldn’t feel a need to). Keto is a miracle (at least to me - and thousands of other people).
Good luck; please keep us posted.
It is much more likely that if someone is hungry all the time…then they will give up.
Fill your calories with good fats…first…it will cause you to fill sated…unlike carbs that fail to turn off the hungry signal to the brain. Second, and more important … calories reduction is to be avoided. It will cause the metabolism to slow down.
Eat all you want except CARBS.
As the days pass by you will find yourself less and less hungry naturally. But…do not put yourself deprivation… if you are hungry…eat.
I suggest a bunch of zero carb snacks to keep you on track.
Yes! I knew what you meant by “you’re doing it wrong,” but obviously not everyone did, so thanks for rephrasing. @steve76s As Katie says, eat when you’re hungry, just not carbs. You’ll be fine.
BTW, my experience was that at first it still took a lot of keto food to satisfy me, but suddenly one day, in the middle of lunch, for the first time in (a very long time, I don’t remember just how long), I wasn’t hungry. No, more than that—I was done. I had to put half a plate of food in the fridge for later. Much later, as it turned out. For a guy accustomed to stretching his stomach virtually to the bursting point and still being hungry, this was a weird experience, let me tell you!
Excellent list Kage. Just adding some items to it that have helped me.
Costco also has cooked shrimp, if she doesn’t want to cook any of that.
Cauliflower already separated into flowerettes, and the frozen foods section has cauliflower rice, just add your favorite stir fry veggies to it for fried rice. Also the coconut amino acid they sell is much better for you than soy sauce. Goes great with the cauli-rice. Frozen foods section also has brussells sprouts in EVOO, just toss in the microwave and enjoy.
Cauliflowere crepes are excellent for making wraps of costco roast beef with romain lettuce.
Don’t forget the salami, either plain or already rolled up with cheese, best snack foods ever.
Opps almost forgot Whisps, gotta get some of those too.
There is very little I have to go get to complete my food shopping, Costco almost has it all.
I get where you are coming from… but not everyone gets full on fats. Some people need extra protein to be satiated. Some people stall out on extra protein and need to up the fats.
That was my point. Your experience does not necessarily work for everyone. It is helpful for a lot of folks and posting what works for you may help 10 people so is encouraged. But it does not apply to everyone so caveats are good 
especially when telling newbies they are doing something wrong if they don’t experience what you experience
Read EVERY LABEL and look up every food. Carbs are sneaky and hide everywhere. Shoot for zero carbs and you will end up with 20 even if you’re careful. I’ve lost 10 more lbs in the last week.
Set goals and reset goals when you meet them. Adjust diet and activity levels as you lose weight and feel better. Be honest about your efforts. Don’t look for cheats - there are none.
There was no keto pizza or keto bread or keto chocolate 400,000 years ago. So forget that crap and just stay the course. Focus on the big picture.
Which is - no more carbs which will result in very low carbs (~ < 20gm daily)
Being a previous 307lb person… With a totally messed up metabolism…
I found going Carnivore (all meat) was critical. Avoid the artificial sweeteners.
Dairy causes stalls in a lot of people.
About food prepping. I got a Vacuum Sealer and a Sous Vide. Now I have an electric smoker. It’s so easy it’s scary. I buy in bulk, I vacuum pack into big meals, with seasonings (mostly salt and pepper). Label, and freeze/fridge.
I throw them in the sous vide. Finish them with a BLOW Torch. Not some Creme Brulee Baby torch. The $50 Yellow MAP Torch for Lowes/Home Depot.
I found “Sous Vide Everything” on YouTube. Learned a ton. But I sous vide HOURS Longer than he does.
On a budget? Chuck Roast sous vide for 72-96hrs at 133 degrees comes out like a Ribeye for cutting, and a deeper meaty taste like a roast. OMG good.
Enjoy the CRAP out of your food. Eat until full. Learn to listen to your body. You have years to get this perfect… Start slow, be forgiving.
Don’t exercise hard (especially in the beginning. It can spike your glucose and your hunger, and it adds stress).
Get a DEXA Scan now. Get an Ora Ring or Watch to track your sleep BEFORE you go too far. A few days… I have added about 1hr/night of deep sleep since doing this.
I am at my goal, working on maintenance. Thats over 100 lbs in under 1 year!
But it doesn’t matter, because there is NO GOING BACK. My idea of a cheat, is a KETO dessert!
Congrats on being at goal weight CaptainKirk. Some good advice here.
Be sure to join us over on the maintenance thread, under Progess.
I love this quote, and that will be my resolve at Maintenance as well!
Excellent post indeed, definitely an encouragement for us all.
Hello, I’m right with you. I’m 53 years old and my first grandchild turned one last week. I started Keto a month ago today. My starting weight was 340. Today, I weighed in and 325. I had a set back about two weeks in when I chose to eat a chocolate chip cookie my son had made. OK. truthfully, I ate about ten of them in a 12 hour period. This set me back about a week. Been going strong again, and am ready for this long term. What I find works for me is to keep it simple. Real foods. Bacon & eggs, or steak, pork chops, ground beef patty, chicken thighs, etc. with a side of Green veggies with garlic and lots of butter.
And … Costco has several already cooked foods you can buy such as their rotisserie chicken, seasoned chicken wings, pork ribs. They also have foods that are prepared that you can just stick in the oven.
Buy some of those and a tub of mixed baby greens and full fat dressing , and you have some easy keto meals that don’t cost too much.
Awesome comments. I completely agree about living keto.
Congratulations on your weight loss.
Actually, I think you did pretty good, considering - ten cookies in 12 hours? I’d have eaten 12 all at once and then started looking for what else I could get into. The one time I went off (at a wedding), I ate all of the wedding cake and sweets that I could. The only thing that stopped me was that I was so afraid of being too conspicuous because I have a lot of shame about food and was always a closet eater. For me, there is no “moderation.” If I eat/taste any former trigger foods, I am on my way to a full fledged binge, plus I have a definite fear about when/if I will be able to stop.
Just get back on that horse, eat, relax, live and let the days pass. Resolve to stay the course and try to think of this as a way of living. You will continue to lose weight and feel better than you have in a long while. Good luck.
128 degrees is the top end of the danger zone.
Pasturizing stuff is about Temp + Time.
For example, chicken to 165 degrees for 15 seconds. That’s it.
Or down at 145 degrees for a couple of hours.
So, I stay above 130 (133) to be really safe.
As a side note, one of the drawbacks of modern sous vide is most machines don’t have a delayed start! If I have a frozen piece of meat that I want thawed and cooked by the time I get home (30-60 minutes if it is already fully cooked), there is no way to do this without risking the meat being below 128 degrees for too long.
Some people are putting their meat in ice water, and remotely turning on the Sous Vide.
I envision a delayed start feature coming within a year or two to address this.
I was curious about the same thing!
Thanks for this reply. I was wondering about this, as well. The lack of air in the bags is also helpful, too.
Good to know. I’ve actually done some 48 hr cooks at 128 but I’ll take it to 130 in the future.
