New, starving, and confused

(Pam) #1

Hi all –

I’m new here…and new to Keto (this is day 2) and I and a bit confused and looking for some guidance. First off - I am starving LOL - Had normal coffee and 2 boiled eggs this morning. Will have salad with olive oil for lunch…and dinner ( just like yesterday) but I am SO hungry. Yesterday I was at my limit for carbs (1 over actually), over on my protein by 9 grams, and 8 grams under on my fat. Today I will take the meat out of salad at lunch, and I didn’t have cream in my coffee this morning to try to cut some carbs, but I have no idea what to do about starving all the time. I guess I should say that I have eaten very high carb for a very long time.

My daughter is doing this with me and she was less than half on all of her macros yesterday. But she hates most of the goo fats like olive, coconut and avocado. I found a few recipes for “fat bombs” that I was going to try to make for her to see if that will help her meet her limits. Both of the recipes I found list “3 ounce Lily’s Dark Chocolate Bar” as an ingredient. I can not seem to find these to purchase locally, and they are very expensive online. Is there something else I can use? And it seems to there are a lot of types of lily’s chocolate - how do I know which one to use?

I guess I am looking for a little guidance, and maybe a cheerleader lol - at home my husband thinks I am making a mistake trying this and refuses to do it with me so I am cooking 2 meals a night and seeing the yummy mashed potato’s and not eating them is not easy.

(Susan) #2

Welcome to the forum, Pam =).

First of all, if you are hungry, then you are not eating enough calories. The basics of Keto are keeping your carbs at 20 grams or less, NO Sugar, enough proteins and healthy fats, try to eat 3 meals a day and eat enough at all three, to tide you over to the next meal, so that you don’t snack between, and spike your insulin levels.

Download cronometer.com it is a free download and helps you keep track of your macros. It will really help you see what you are eating.

Here is a sample day that I made to show someone another time, you don’t have to eat exactly what it says, but this will give you an idea:

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You can increase the calories of this, with eating more proteins and fats even, but just keep the carbs low =).

It is important that you eat enough! Please don’t give up, Keto is awesome. If you have more questions, ask away, we are all here to help and want you to succeed =).

I still have our three daughters at home, and my 3 year old grand daughter and my hubby that I am cooking for, none of which are doing Keto. Once your body gets over the carb and sugar cravings, you will be fine. I am able now to bake muffins, cookies, etc that are totally NOT Keto and it doesn’t bother me at all. I often cook the meat and vegetables that I can have and a starch for them that I cannot have.

By example last night I cooked chicken and vegetables for everyone, and made rice for them to have with their meal, so it worked out fine for us all =). It is great that your daughter is doing this with you as well, that will be great to encourage each other!

(David Jackson) #3

Don’t count calories for the first few weeks. Eat all the eggs bacon and cheese. Don’t starve yourself!

(Wendy) #4

When I first started keto/low carb, I ate as much as I needed to to not be hungry. As you continue you will not be as hungry. There are two different ways of doing keto, tracking and not tracking. I did not track and I think that helped because I didn’t feel like oh, I have to eat this much protein or I haven’t eaten my fat macros. I did count my carbs for a long time, and that’s important to keep that level low. 20 grams is a great starting point as most everyone will start making ketones at that level.
But no matter which way works for you: tracking it/not tracking, in the begining just eat to satiety, keeping those carbs low, and give yourself time to acclimate.
I got more strict on somethings as I continued but it’s okay to make changes as you go.
The more you can avoid sweets the more likely the cravings will disappear and some of that hunger as well.
I wish you all the best! This has been a really amazing journey for me. I hope you are totally successful and find it brings you energy and great health as well!

(Joey) #5

@PammyB Pam - Congratulations on taking this important step in the right direction for your health and well-being!

You’ve gotten excellent advice above so I will only add one additional suggestion. Well, okay, it’s probably more like a rant :wink: …

[BEGIN /RANT] Tell your hubby to cook for himself for a while, unless he wants to eat whatever you’re eating, in which case you’ll be happy to make him a plateful too.

I don’t understand this sense some folks (okay, primarily women) have that it’s their responsibility to make food for other adults in the house EVEN if doing so runs counter to what’s appropriate food for them to be handling and interacting with at that particular time. (If you were dealing with an alcohol problem, would he expect you to mix his martinis?)

Perhaps some day down the road it won’t be hard for you… but if it’s hard right now to make potatoes for another adult while you’re going through the challenges of carb-withdrawal, then how about saying: “No, dear, make your own potatoes.” He loves you, right? So he’ll understand. If not, it’s time for the little boy to grow up.

More broadly, if other adults in the house (including grown children) don’t approve of your diet choices and/or can’t cook for themselves, then it’s time to tell them that this problem is theirs, not yours. And they can solve it by keeping their opinions about your food choices to themselves and buying themselves a (couch) potato cookbook.

Okay, I’m stepping off the soapbox. [END /RANT]

(Pam) #6

Thank you all SO much for your replies.

Maybe I don’t what’s going on…ok I absolutely don’t know what’s going on-- but the tracker I am using (CarbManager) has me eating about 1200 calories a day and just eating eggs, salad, and ranch dressing today I have almost reached that. Think I am a little over 800. So - the general thought is to not count calories right now? The app has me at 16g net carbs (sitting at 13 right now though I am not sure how). 98g fat, and 79g protein.

As to making the double meals - Sadly there is not much of a way around me cooking for everyone. I tried cooking Keto for everyone and the main dishes everyone loves (of course they are full of cheese and butter and cream) but when they don’t have a starch they throw a fit. I made cali-rice one night and you would have thought it was the end of the world. And Keto would really help hubby as he is a type 2 diabetic who refuses to alter his eating habits or do anything pretty much.

I am looking forward to this. This is probably the third time I have said I was starting Keto, and it always falls through because of the “household” diet. I am really committed to seeing it through this time.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #7

To all of the above :+1::+1:

Two things will happen if you continue to ‘starve’ yourself. If you are trying to lose weight, you will do so for a while. But very soon, probably within 2-3 months or less (it varies a lot) your metabolism will ‘slow’ to compensate for the lower caloric input from plate. That means the consumption of body fat will slow as well. Thus, it will get progressively more difficult to lose more weight. This is exactly what people on CICO diets do and why they fail.

If you are trying keto for the benefit of overall health, ‘starving’ yourself is the exact opposite of what you need to do. A lot of stuff happens all at once when you start to eat keto and you have to give yourself sufficient fuel to get it done. Otherwise, it won’t. Instead, you’ll feel like you’re dying - and you very well may be.

But most likely, long before any of that happens, you will decide that feeling like you’re ‘starving’ all the time is not worth the effort and you will give up. You will prove your husband right after all.

PS: set your carb manager tracker to ‘maintenance’. That will increase your macro numbers a lot. A better thing, though, is just dump carb manager for a couple of months until you figure out what you need to do and can use the application appropriately. Bottom line: stop ‘starving’ yourself.

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #8

Maybe you can post a screenshot of what you have in CarbManager, so we can help. I agree with not thinking about calories. Just keep under 20g of carbs (cut out pasta, bread, potatoes, rice, etc).

Just looking at what you said you are doesn’t seem like it’s 800 calories! Something is off somewhere. Just eat when hungry, and eat till full, make sure you are getting enough fats and protein (I know it’s been said already).

Tracking has it’s place, bit if it’s stressing you out don’t do it.

As for cooking for others, you are not a short-order chef. If they don’t like what you make, then they can fix their own food. You are under no obligation to cook individual meals for them (exceptions exist for medical needs).

We are here for you.

(Pam) #9

Here is a shot of what app says.

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I hope that worked

(Susan) #10

I like cronometer.com I went into settings and I put mine at 20 grams (you can change your numbers manually in settings) and as long as you keep the carbs at 20 grams or less and No sugar, then don’t be afraid of calories, 1200 is way too low, no wonder you are hungry. Eat! Just don’t eat many carbs =).

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

Are these the totals for one day? If so, then I double-down on my recommendation to dump this app until you figure out what you have to do and can set up the app appropriately. 756 calories on the day is a recipe for failure tout de suite.

(Pam) #12

Yes those are my totals for a day. The 756 was what I have eaten for the day - my total calories for the day is 1258.

(Scott) #13

Three things

  1. Carbs <20g
  2. Fat is your friend, embrace it!
  3. There is always time to play with calories, now is not the time.

My typical start to the day is one sausage patty & one bacon strip and remove from pan. Leave grease and add one tablespoon of butter to it than add two eggs mixed with heavy whipping cream, add cheese. I also add a tablespoon of MCT oil to my first cup of coffee. I can lose weight eating like this. I also eat lunch and dinner. Don’t overthink this and give it time (months) to let your body adjust.

(Charlotte) #14

I agree with everyone else… including ditching the app. Try Cronometer instead. Juice turned me on to it and I love it. You want to get in more calories. Aim for 1800 to see if that helps. Ignore the macros for now and just focus on keeping your carbs under 20g while adjusting to this new woe. You’ll have to take experiment to find what mix of macros work best for you and that takes time and patience. Eat until you’re not hungry and forget calories. 1200 is too low anyway.

For breakfast I have coffee with coconut oil and hwc, 3 scrambled eggs with avocado, cheese, tobasco, and sausage. For lunch I eat some kind of meat and steamed broccoli with butter and salt. that usually makes me full for the remainder of the day, but everyone is different.

(Bob M) #15

Try 85% chocolate. This may not be sweet enough, so increase whatever sweetener it is you use. Or you can go full chocolate, but then you really have no fat and have to adjust more.

Personally, I’ve been doing this almost 6 years now, and have never counted a macro ever or ever used a program. I don’t think it’s necessary. I just eat low amounts of carbs. That’s literally it. If you like counting things, however, feel free to use a program.

(Pam) #16

By nature I am not a counter or a list maker or a tracker or anything like that. Of course, eating whatever I wanted without keeping track may be what got me where I am today. I have always been thin and as I aged I continued to eat like I was 20 and not 39. As a result, I have pounds to lose that simply wont come off and joint and body aches that don’t let me exercise like I use to.

If I can do this simply by saying so sodas, no sweets, no potatoes/rice/breads that would be great. But I really thought I had to keep track of the fats and such to make it work properly. To burn fats I have to eat fats…and I don’t normally.

Thank you all so much. I will put the app down for now. I downloaded Cronometer and it confused me more than the other app did. So for now—no apps. No calorie counting - just eat eggs and bacon and cheese. And a few of the Keto dishes that I have found that I like.

I feel a little less overwhelmed now…and less hungry because I went and found some food. :smile:

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #17

You could literally eat 30 steaks and 5 sticks of butter a day and this would be keto. The idea is minimizing the amount of carbs you eat so your body uses fat for fuel instead of glucose.

In the beginning I ate three meals and snacks. I was craving carbs so I just kept eating but eventually my body got the idea that it wasn’t starving, that it just needed to adjust to the other way which took a couple of days and then my appetite took a nose dive and I wasn’t hungry for a couple of weeks. Eventually it smoothed out and I currently eat three meals a day but don’t snack generally. I eat when I’m hungry and eat enough at each meal to tide me over for many hours.

I like this site for beginners because it’s user friendly. If you’re familiar with Atkins or have ever done it, it’s very similar but emphasizes more fat and less protein. I personally eat a lot of protein but that’s just what works for me. You will find that there are many variations but as long as the carbs are low and you’re in ketosis, then you’re doing it.

(Jenn) #18

I remember being so overwhelmed when I started Keto. It was daunting trying to keep track of the macros on every meal and drink. I eventually ditched the tracking and just stuck to the golden rule of keeping “carbs under 20g” and try to add fats when at all possible. This would include avocado, olive oil, butter, bacon, avocado oil, etc. I would highly recommend browsing the “What did you Keto today” threads on this forum. So many good meal options have been posted and most folks wouldn’t hesitate to share their recipes with you. Best of luck to you!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #19

For the lunch salad…

  1. are you putting in a “random” salad that “matches” what you are eating
    or
  2. is that the actual salad you are eating?
    and
  3. that salad in the app probably accounts for dressing already.
  4. I’m guessing most of the carbs come from any dressing already added to the salad AND the tomatoes

If you are making your own salad then you can create your own “recipe” in CarbManager (I used to do it all the time) and put in the exact measures of what you are eating.

#20

I would also suggest:

  1. switching out half n half for heavy whipping cream to up the fat content.
  2. halving a normal salad and adding more meat like a burger patty, a chicken leg with skin, steak, etc. You’d be eating more food and feeling fuller and cutting the carbs in half.
  3. be sure you are entering ingredients one by one or creating recipes in Carb Manager like @KetoCancerMom mentioned.

By the way, a lot of folks here like Cronometer. I use Lifesum. The design and interface work better for me personally. If you like CarbManager, I’ve used it in the past and it can certainly do the job. It was one of the first tracking apps developed that believed in the value of focusing on low carbohydrate intake. I appreciate that they focus on that.