Newbie Questions about leg tingling, gaining inches, and fasting

#1

Sorry for the super long post!

tl;dr

  1. Can you gain inches while eating keto, if your fat intake is in excess?
  2. What can you do when you struggle to eating only until satiated on keto?
  3. Can cheating on keto immediately cause a difficulty in fasting for more than 24 hrs? (even after 9 days post cheat)
  4. How can you alleviate intense tingling in your feet and legs that occur while sitting after fasting for greater than 24 hrs?

Hello all,

I am a 27 year old female. I currently weigh about 139lbs, and I am 5 ft 3.
I was at my heaviest at age 14-15 weighing above 200lbs. I lost the weight by only eating small servings of vegetables and fruits 6 times for 1200-1400cals a day (per guidelines), and I woke up early every morning to run for 2 hours. At my lowest weight in college, I managed to get to 132lbs. Ever since this lowest weight, my weight has fluctuated from 140s to 160s, with periods of yoyo dieting/running and binge cycles.

Starting June 2017, I gave up all added sugars, flours, and processed food (still ate fruits, beans, oatmeal etc) and snacking; and I tried to only eat until satiety. During this start time, my weight was 146.2 lbs and my waist circumference was 32-33 inches. After a few months, I plateaued around 135lbs, and I learned about keto through the 2keto dudes podcast. I listened to all the podcasts and read the obesity code and the complete fasting guide. By adapting the ketogenic diet and fasting, I got to 130lbs at my lowest with my waist circumference at 27.75 inches. I did mostly 16:8 and 24 hr fasting with my longest fast being 70 hours.

I have been traveling quite a bit in the past 2 months, and my schedule has been changed, and I have allowed myself to have dessert, and even had a carb dessert binge 9 days ago. Since this time, I have been eating completely keto (under 20gs a day), but I have been eating quite a bit of fat in the form of heaving whipping cream, macadamia nuts, pecans, cream cheese, coconut oil, and butter. I dont track my calories, but I estimate that even if I condense my eating window for the day to an hour, I easily eat 5000 calories in that time. For the past 2 weeks or so, my weight has been increasing steadily from 134 to 139 lbs and my waist circumference has also increased from 29 to 30.75in. Even though I am eating keto, am I gaining due to the excess calories from fat I am eating? (I have been eating so much fat, as my body doesn’t feel satiated with one meal, so I tend to eat about 3-4 meals in one sitting). There are definitely times when eating to what I feel is satiated after feasting like this, I feel quite nauseous about 15 minutes later. How can I only eat until I am truly satiated and not overeat? I have also been feeling hungrier more, and having difficulty extending beyond a 24hour fast.

I have also noticed that after 24 hours of fasting, that my legs strongly 'tingle
(the feeling of when your foot is sleeping) while I am sitting down. Mg citrate has not helped this, and pink salt helps it only slightly. (I do not have any medical problems such as diabetes etc)

Thank you guys for any help or advice!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Yes, if you eat past satiety, it is certainly possible to gain even on a keto diet. But if your body is at it’s natural weight, 1500 calories a day isn’t likely to be nearly enough energy to keep it happy, so you should definitely eat to satiety, even if it’s more that you’re used to at the moment. Most people need around 2500 calories a day, and if you are in maintenance mode, then it has to come from your diet, because there is no more stored fat to metabolize. If you skimp on calories, the body cuts the metabolic rate and slows down non-essential processes to compensate, so you want to be sure you are giving it enough energy.

But if you are eating more carbohydrate than usual, it is entirely possible that the weight gain you mention is bloat. (Remember that carbohydrate causes water retention.) If you cut back on carbohydrate again, that should go away.

As for eating fat past satiety, that can be a real challenge to deal with. A lot of my hunger is psychological, and I am learning to find ways of dealing with cravings once my hunger is satisfied. One suggestion that works for me is to try a bit of salt on or under the tongue, and another is to be sure to stay hydrated. Another trick, which I learned in early sobriety, is to postpone the craved substance—I tell myself I can have that cupcake or whatever tomorrow, or in an hour, or even five minutes from now, and I try to have keto snacks available for when I absolutely have to put something in my mouth.

You will see comments from me on these forums from a while ago about how hard it is to eat past satiety, and I am afraid I am finding that it is indeed possible. Fortunately at the moment, while I am not losing weight, I am not gaining either. As far as I can tell, despite the inaccuracy of my scale, my weight is hovering around 200 lbs. It does seem to fluctuate in ways that I can’t seem to connect directly to what I’ve been eating.

Don’t know if any of this has been helpful, but try to stay calm and keto on. Other people will probably have useful ideas for you, especially about the tingling in your legs, about which I have nothing, sorry. Good luck!

#3

Thank you so much for your input. It is really helpful :slight_smile:

#4

For many (maybe most) people, eating a HFLC diet is not a license to eat unlimited calories. Calories still matter. As nut lover, I know it’s very easy to over consume them. They are a very calorie dense food, as are most of the other foods you listed.

Perhaps the reason you’re feeling hungry is that you’re consuming a lot of calories but not much volume. Concentrate less on the fat macro and eat more real foods and low carb veggies that are nutrient dense, so you can eat more of them while staying within a reasonable caloric load. For example: 6 oz salmon fillet, 2 cups broccoli topped with a cheese and butter sauce. It’s about 500 calories, 10g carb, 40g protein, 40g fat. Just the sheer quantity of food is likely to be filling.

Some people cannot trust their satiety signal. When this is the case, eating more fat can be counter productive because it’s easy to over do it. It’s much harder to do this with vegetables. See if you’re hungry after eating a pound of celery (75 cal, 14g carb). Or a pound of spinach (100 cal, 17g carb, 14g pro). Or cabbage. Or asparagus. Or zucchini…

One of my favorite meals when I’m on the go, is a salad bar. I load up 5 or 6 cups of spinach, add eggs, bacon, broccoli florets, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, olives, avocado, a sprinkle of nuts, then top it with an oil & vinegar dressing. It usually weighs ~1.5 lbs, and I rarely can finish it all at once.

There is no reason to be hungry on a HFLC diet. But you may have to be strategic about your calories.

#5

A common misconception about keto is that you have to eat huge portions of fat. It is a High Fat Low Carb Diet but the High Fat part is really only necessary if you are eating this way for medically therapeutic diet and/or to help with the satiety issues.

If your object is to lose excess fat you are better off with eating less of the dietary fat and using the fat in your body. Focus on keeping your carbs low and eating a sufficient amount of protein and only eat enough fat necessary to help keep you feeling fuller.

You might also try eliminating certain things from your diet one by one to see if that helps. Some people absolutely cannot lose and eat nuts, or dairy, or whatever the case may be.

I also agree with the possible bloat comment. Cheating on carbs can cause me to bloat overnight and takes up to 3 days to lose that bloat.

Be kind to yourself…then try fiddling around with a few things and see what works.