Shouldn't I not feel hungry by now?

newbies
(Brent Evans) #1

I’ve been doing keto religiously for about six weeks and haven’t had any trouble until recently. The last few days I’ve been hungry even after a high fat meal, and yesterday I craved carbs so much that I ate an entire box of cereal.

I’m back on the horse, but I wonder why I was hungry and had carb cravings after six weeks. I know that it can take a couple months to get fully keto-adapted, but what was I doing wrong to get hunger cravings. My carb and protein amounts haven’t changed to my knowledge, and I’m disappointed that my appetite isn’t suppressed like so many people report.

I’m not giving up, but I wonder if there’s something I’m doing wrong that I’m overlooking.

#2

It really depends on whether or not carbs have really been kept low enough and there aren’t any hidden sources or triggers.

For example, HWC is often listed as 0 carbs, but that’s because it falls below the threshold required to be reported in a single serving and if someone is consuming a lot it, there are more carbs in their diet than they expect. The same can be true of other foods.

There’s also the issue of whether or not you’re actually in ketosis and generating ketones and without testing the blood (best) or breath, we don’t know for sure.

Even if the other things are correct, there’s also the issue of non-sugar sweeteners and it doesn’t really matter whether they are artificial like aspartame, etc. or natural like stevia. In some people they will trigger carb cravings, so even being fat-adapted, consuming them can result in symptoms that would otherwise indicate not being adapted.

Without knowing more, my guess would be that there are hidden carbs and some reaction to alternative sweeteners.

(Brent Evans) #3

All good points, thanks.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #4

What @BillJay said.

Also, don’t overlook emotional carb triggers, they’re powerful little mothers. If jamming a fist into a cereal box perked you up during a low patch before, your brain doesn’t just throw that out when you go keto. Not a bad idea to do a quick mental inventory of the events you associate with carb-love, especially social events like Superbowl parties and happy hours, personal entertainments like Netflix and video games, and the super sucky moments in life when beer and a large pizza staved off emotional self-flagellation for one evening. You’re gonna need a battle plan; tasty fat bombs are great ammo.

#5

Keep in mind that ‘cravings’ are most often mental and have little to do with hunger. If you try to ‘fight’ the cravings, they just become stronger. The key is to ‘re-direct’ your brain so that you are no longer focusing on the craving.

If it’s true physical hunger, then eat. But with true hunger, you can eat very low carb without problems because when we are truly physically hungry, and food will be sufficient.

(Todd Allen) #6

Minimize the need for will power.

We segregated some of our pantry space. My wife has a cabinet and portions of the fridge and freezer where she keeps high carb foods. I think of those places as hers and not part of my search space when looking for food.

I’ve reduced ready to eat type snack foods available to me but stock a few such as nuts, cheeses, salami, sardines, and veggies like celery and broccoli that I can eat raw with little prep.

I switched to an intermittent fasting approach which focused me more towards eating meals and less snacking. My worst time for snacking was evening and late nights which is outside my IF eating time and if I get the urge to eat I’ll exercise/take a walk or drink a cup of tea. If that doesn’t work I’ll cut the lights, take melatonin and a very hot bath and go to sleep early.

I haven’t eaten any high carb foods for nearly a year and the temptation is largely faded, my habitual behaviors are better and food segregation is less important. I used to open the fridge or cabinets multiple times a day outside of meals in an unthinking way not driven by true hunger or a real need to eat. Now I catch myself doing that maybe once per week and before I’ve reached for anything I give myself an internal WTF?!? shout and stop.