Not eating enough calories, my metabolism is slowing and I'm not hungry

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(Liz) #1

Hey guys,

It’s come to my attention that I probably need to eat more calories to get out of my stall. I’ve been hanging out fluctuating between 232 lb’s and 235 lbs and I’m thinking that since those two weeks I’ve been in that weight zone, I’ve been really low calorie but high fat (68-84% zones) and my carbs have been correct, always 20 or under.

I guess I feel frustrated and could use some guidance here. Is it the calories that are fucking with my metabolism?
How can i get the losses I was getting in the beginning, I lost 20lbs rather quick and the length of this stall has me pulling my hair out. I’ve tried fasting, and exercising, adding and cutting calories. :frowning:
S.O.S


(Rob) #2

You may have answered your own question. Your initial 20lbs were partly water weight from going low carb (depleting glycogen, releasing water) and then probably some combination of keto AND calorie restriction. We can all lose weight in the short term based on calorie restriction but at some point the body rebels.

I know it’s counter intuitive but keto works when you don’t calorie restrict UNTIL you’ve sufficiently fat adapted that you really don’t want to eat more. Even that doesn’t happen for everyone and it doesn’t last forever, even when you have plenty of excess body fat. You eat lots of fat and calories to around your TDEE while your body switches over to EFFICIENT fat burning (not just short term ketosis). If you starve it early on, you send it all the wrong messages and the keto magic breaks down.

You haven’t said how long you’ve been doing this. Anything less than a couple of months then any number of internal changes may be going on not resulting in scale changes. However long you’ve been doing it, 2 weeks doesn’t count as a stall. Most folks here won’t call it a stall until it’s 6 weeks or so.
If you are feeling sluggish, cold, hungry etc. those are definite signs of under-eating. For your weight and age, you should probably be eating around 2000kcal if you are lightly active, more if you work out a lot. How much are you eating? If you are eating 80% fat but low calories, that might also mean you are eating too little protein. We don’t know enough to really help. What calories per day, what macros, how long have you been keto, other conditions, what do you usually eat, etc.

TL:DR Don’t starve yourself and give us more info if you want good advice.


(Stacy Blanchard) #3

One thing I feel is necessary is to continue to learn so you can refine your eating style and each of us can individualize it to fit our life and metabolism. You might try listening/reading more information so you can get ideas. Even though your eating the right portions, even if you think calories are low, there maybe better food options. I also think it is important to listen to your own intuition and recognize what your body feels and needs.
I am reading Genuis Foods right now. It is helping me switch to more nutrient dense foods. I have found to my surprise that I crave kale cooked in coconut oil. I don’t think I would have even tried it had I not read about the benefit of kale. My body definitely let me know it needed more experiment with foods and see if there are nutrients currently missing from your life. You will be the best resource for what you need.


(Liz) #4

Hey CapnBob thanks for the speedy reply.
I started Keto on March 5th this year. So about a month and a half now. I took a blood test for Ketones yesterday and was at 4.6 which seems pretty good I think, so I believe I’m fat adapted at this point- I did a 20 hour fast today and wasn’t hungry at all. If it weren’t for my dad making a welcome home dinner for my mom, I would have gone probably until 36 hours or more. We do family dinners, it’s our thing, they’ve been very supportive.

I haven’t been sluggish- I’ve had almost unlimited energy and my mind is incredibly focused and clear and I feel great.

An Average day for me seems to be 650-1100 calories, an average of 6% carbs 74% fat and 20% protein according to MyFitnessPal, which I keep updated every day. I exercise, waking up at 6:40am to hit the elliptical at alternating intensities for 10 minutes, and then I do strength and core exercises for about 25 min. After work I take my dog for a hike from 6-7. Then at night I hit the elliptical again for 20 minutes, and do about a half hour or more of core and strength workouts. I do all of this almost every day. I’m trying to jumpstart my metabolism by being active in multiple instances throughout the day.
I wince at the idea of eating 2000 calories, I genuinely don’t feel like I need it, and for the first time in my life I am mostly disinterested in food, which feels good. I’ll do it if that’s what I have to, but a part of me feels like that’s counterproductive.


(Rob) #5

Lots of good information. Thanks

While that is a high blood ketone reading, the levels are hard to draw conclusions from. High levels (even in blood) often means ketones not being used efficiently. Also people on only 0.5 readings can be fully in ketosis with all the benefits while someone on 5 is not. The level or efficiency of ketosis is not really given from that reading. Fat adaptation is a long process up a sliding scale which at certain points, becomes perceptible to the brain. Initial ketosis, efficient fat adaptation, exercise endurance, etc. You appear to have a good dose of the the early benefits so that’s great. While it is plausible that you are having some keto and some placebo effects (the mind is a powerful thing), let’s assume it’s all keto.

We’ll say you are sufficiently fat adapted to be in the low appetite phase where you are using body fat stores instead of food. Why aren’t you losing weight? You could have hit a set point where insulin sensitivity prevents fat burning but it seems pretty soon on your journey for that. My idea would be that you are burning fat, but given what a magically complex metabolic engine we have, others things are operating that are ostensibly sabotaging your scale victories. These ‘other things’ are even more complex for women (if God’s a woman, she hasn’t made it easy for you :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). A classic compensation is that the fat cells, which are rarely destroyed except by apoptosis (programmed death after about 10 years), can be filled by water after being emptied of fat. These can hold the H2O for many weeks, when at some point in the future, triggered by something still unclear, you get a whoosh and the water empties out in a few days/couple of weeks and you lose illogical amounts of weight.

It is still possible that you have lowered your metabolism but I’m not sure how common it is to be getting keto benefits while starving. Keep doing what you are doing for a while longer and see if you get your whoosh. If it doesn’t come in another month, maybe shake things up then.

On the exercise front, it is its own reward, BUT it isn’t of much use to the weight loss goal. The evidence is that lighter/moderate exercise isn’t much use in burning far or building muscle and is more likely to signal the body that it needs more energy rather than burn its stores. If you were doing the kinds of intense exercises (HIIT/tabata/sprints, heavy/slow weights, etc.) that seem to get major benefits, you wouldn’t be able to do it every day. Do what you are doing if it makes you feel good but don’t sweat it if you don’t from a weight loss POV.

The 2000 calories will probably come into play eventually when you lose more weight and/or hit an insulin resistance plateau so keep it in mind that what you are doing now is not a ‘normal’ lifetime calorie regime. Hopefully, you’ll feel it when you need it, so don’t be afraid to eat more.


(Dameon Welch-Abernathy) #6

I think I’m struggling to eat enough fat because I do have days where I am sluggish and my weight loss has somewhat stalled. More Kerrygold Butter and Pork Rinds, I guess.


(Rob) #7

Definitely kerrygold but rinds are mostly protein, unless you are getting the ‘fat on’ scratchings or chiccarones… or slathering them in sour cream and hot sauce… or guac :yum:


(Julie) #8

If I were you…I’d keep going doing exactly what you’re doing. Listening to your body and not eating high calories. BUT…and a big but…I would expect that at some point sooner or later I’m going to feel really hungry. Like eat 3000 cal to feel satisfied hungry. When this happens I’d again listen to my body and do it guilt free (still strict keto) knowing it’s doing great things for my metabolism and switching it up. I go through periods of not much hunger and take advantage of IF or 24-48 fasts, then get really hungry and eat a lot for a couple days. It breaks stalls for me.

You are doing great!! Carry On :blush:


(Leslie) #9

Just a couple of thoughts that I hope are helpful.
It’s possible to be in ketosis and not be fat adapted.
I recently listened to the Ketowoman podcast where an interview with a nutritionist was recorded. It was very informative in regard to this topic.
Secondly, our bodies require nutrition in addition to fuel. Are you getting enough minerals? Even a ketogenic lifestyle high in leafy green vegetables may lack adequate nutrition.
I discovered this personally and fatigue was definitely a symptom. I added sea weed and spirulina to my diet and things improved tremendously.
I suggest doing a little more research about ketosis vs. fat adaptation and nutrition
I hope this is helpful
Keep calm and keto on


(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #10

What worked for me recently (and it worked for @carl as well) was to really double down on the fat, mostly fat, for a week or so. I did that pretty hard (and my guts initially baulked at it!) by eating all my food intake in a 23:1 fasting scheme. I’ve had zero hunger during my fasting times and I eased up on the fat after a week or so, only eating to satiety. Satiety was for me maintained for three days, so a bit of a spontaneous short extended fast there too. I was effectively stalled for several months, but dropped 8lbs in the first two weeks of changing things up and now seem to be back to 1-2 lbs a week…


#11

I started Keto only 5 days after you did (March 10) and I had an initial QUICK weight loss of 7 lbs in the first week then nothing. Im about a Month into keto and Im still about the same weight but I think thats fairly normal.

A friend of mine (another female) who started keto said she didnt see her weight to start coming off until two months in. Granted everyone is different, but I think for the ladies its much much more common to have a big long month or two stall between the initial water weight while our bodies adjust and build the machinery it needs to start burning fat.

In the GRAND scheme of things, 1 or 2 months is an extremely tiny window for your body to transition when youve spent your entire life previously addicted to carbs. It understands how to burn carbs, its used to burning carbs, and suddenly youre telling it to peddle on a unicycle backwards through the snow.


(Darlene Horsley) #12

This! Brilliant!


#13

:rofl:


(Brian) #14

… uphill… both ways… with no shoes…

LOL!


(Darlene Horsley) #15

Through the woods! :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:


(Liz) #16

Good news guys. I’ve figured out what’s been messing with my weight loss. It’s the MyFitnessPal App- now, arguably I should have been paying attention better. But the pie chart that tells me my percentiles for the day IS A DARN DIRTY LIAR. Ok maybe it’s not a liar but it’s not giving me my percentiles for my grams consumed that day- it’s giving me percentiles for each macro in how many calories that macro has consumed in a day.

I have no idea how my ketones in my blood are so high with such an oversight. I’ll be correcting this immediately. Jesus, at least my carbs have always been in the right place but my god has my protein to Fat ratios been typically 40%Protein and 60%Fat. But today and some other days it’s been 50/50.

I’m so stinking mad I’ve been wasting all this time making this mistake but hey at least I caught it and now I can fix it.


(Rob) #17

When macros are expressed as % it IS by the calories, NOT the grams. MFP is right. You don’t do macro % in grams. If so, 95% of your calories would be from fat. Sorry, but there is some other answer.

The fat gram is worth 2.25x a carb or protein g in calories so you if you had 100g of fat it would be 900 cals and 100g of protein or carbs would be 400 cals. It is a little confusing to have to manage % of calories and grams of macronutrient.


(Liz) #18

Thanks for catching me before I went and did some drastic math haha. Well, that’s a relief.


(Rob) #19

My pleasure. You’d have been back tomorrow saying “how do you guys eat all this fat?” :flushed:


#20

I personally didnt like MyFitnessPal because of the subscription fees and having an overly complicated interface. I use the Stupid Simple Keto app which was a 1 time purchase of $10.