Still hungry

(Val Bundy) #1

So I hear everyone saying they don’t get hungry on Keto… Is that something that comes with time or am I doing it wrong?

My stomach grumbles sooooo loud sometimes other people can hear it lol…

I am on my 8th day… Is the not hungry thing coming later?

(Jason Fletcher) #2

What you eat how much you eat
What you do
Your stress
Your type of exercise
Adapted or not
Sleep
hormonal factors to consider
metabolic disorders
electrolyte balance
There are a lot of factors that effect hunger.

(Allie) #3

It’ll come when you’re adapted, still very early days. Do not restrict calories or it will delay or even prevent adaptation.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

This is important. Eat fat to satiety to prevent hunger. Worked for me, anyway. YMMV.

(Val Bundy) #5

Cool thanks…I’m not calorie restricting…I don’t know if I’m eating fat to satiety…I wonder about that I guess I’m scared I will over eat? It’s hard to get out of that mindset maybe…when my stomach grumbles I go get something fatty…and eat until I don’t feel hungry but then in oh about 3 to 4 hours I’m starving again…which is what worries me bc I hear people say they can go most of the day without eating…

But if that comes with adapting then I won’t worry about it…

Do you test for ketones to know if you are adapted?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

Myself, I don’t test. I happened to go keto in the middle of a lot of life stress and am waiting for things to settle down so I can start paying better attention. But I am assuming from the way my clothes have gotten looser and the way I can usually go quite a while without eating that I am ketotic much of the time.

My experience is that it’s hard to overeat on this way of eating. My first experience of real satiety was when I bought two salmon steaks to have for lunch (I am that kind of eater when on carbs), and I got through the first steak and suddenly realized I had no interest at all in continuing to eat, even though there was food on my plate! As far as I can remember, that had literally never happened to me before.

But I figure my body knows best, so if I am hungry, I eat, and if I’m not, I don’t. Part of the trick, however, is learning to distinguish real hunger from carb cravings (I am a sugar addict). Sometimes a bit of salt under the tongue and a glass of water is all it takes to assuage the “hunger pangs,” other times I do need to eat something. I try to make it something keto-friendly, such as high-fat nuts, whole-fat cheese, butter, or meat fat.

Stoneyfield Farms even makes double-cream yoghurt, if you’re not lactose-intolerant! (Though, to be honest, I’ve only seen it in the store once. It can be hard enough finding the whole-milk version.)

#7

Do you find your hungry at about the same times each day? If so, it may just be your hunger hormone, ghrelin, kicking in according to your regular eating schedule. A good way to test if you’re actually hungry or if it’s just ghrelin is to have some water and busy yourself with an engaging task. If your hunger is gone half an hour later, it’s just your ghrelin obeying your usual eating schedule. I learned this lesson the hard way.

(Crippie) #8

This exactly! It will come when you get fat adapted. I thought I was fat adapted after like the first week, my hunger was “reduced” and I was not eating as much, but like you mentioned I still got the grumbly tummy and wanted to eat more. One day it sort of just clicked. I very suddenly had WAY more energy ( like do the entire weekends worth of honey-do list in one evening type energy) and I had 0 hunger, none, nada, zip, zilch, not reduced hunger, but NO hunger. it was GREAT! I got hungry later the next day and ate, Now its a common occurrence to only eat a small snack during the day or not at all, some days my body seems to need more and ill eat 3 times. I just listen to it.

Paul had a great point here! I seem to not be able to overeat anymore, even though sometimes I try. Most of the time I notice this is when I decided to get a nice pricey grass fed rib eye for dinner. Back before keto I could kill a 20oz steak, a baked potato, a salad, and a few rolls, and then have dessert after. Now I get halfway through a 16oz rib-eye and my stomach feels like it is going to burst! I may try to take a few more delicious bites, but get to the point where I would literally throw up if i ate more, I always hate doing this, but man they are sooooo good, and re-heated steak is just never as good, it gets overcooked.(I just bought a sous vide machine to avoid this problem :slight_smile: )

Paul is on the noes again here, The trick is distinguishing that real hunger with the fake hunger, the cravings, or the psychological hunger(the little part of you that thinks I usually eat around noon, I should go eat)

I still have trouble with this to this day. And I am almost 4 months in, but it gets easier with practice. It sort of relates to what Mel says below:

I still get that ghrelin response and the psychological hunger around lunchtime, especially when i hear my coworkers munching on chips or something loud like that. Getting in an engaging task helps a lot. My trick is I usually will get on here, the ketogenic forums, and read a bunch of posts and write up some replies. If after 30 mins of this and I stop and still feel hungry, I will grab a snack, almonds, or a cheese stick or something fatty, and see if that holds me over.

#9

You could easily be having a bit of a war going on with head hunger vs real hunger as others have discussed. Good advice already.

What was your eating pattern like pre-keto?
Do you feel properly satisfied after your meal?
Do you take enough salt and drink enough?

I would be tempted to plan out a good solid 3 meals a day and be aware of how satiating they are and when you start getting hungry again. Maybe keep a journal with what you have eaten, how much and at what times? If you start getting hungry, have a drink instead and wait a bit and see if you weer actually hungry or just thirsty - it is very often easy to confuse the two. Often also taking some salt and having a drink will stave off ‘hunger’.

I often find the prime snack time is late afternoon coming in after work with a stretch of time ahead of you before dinner will be ready. Many times I go all out on snacking and then mess up dinner. If you have a prime snack time like that then maybe cater for it by having a light snack available or maybe eating dinner earlier? You could pre-prep so you have already meal good to go. You could also have part of your dinner early like a starter and main.

If you are getting hungry too soon after your meal then maybe you need to eat more at mealtimes?

But also remember that this is early days and you are in the process of making big changes so just roll with it. Look at upping your salt, drinking enough and eating more. be mindful when you re eating and when you are hungry and try and work out what is real hunger and what is head hunger.

(Val Bundy) #10

Oh wow, all this info is so helpful…thank you all soooo much! I do try to drink lots of water that is my first go to when I get grumbly I drink and wait. Sometimes it helps sometimes it does not.

sometimes I do not feel satisfied after I eat…like tonight for example I ate two cheeseburgers for dinner and I kinda feel like I could have eaten more…but two cheeseburgers seems like a lot to me. I mean before I would eat one but I would usually have something like chips or pasta salad, that sort of thing along with it.

IDK do you think like fat bombs? Lol…idk…just thank you for all your suggestions already!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

This is where “eat fat to satiety” comes in. You could put cheese (fat) or butter (fat) on those burgers, and perhaps have a small salad as an excuse to eat bleu cheese (fat) dressing. You could scoop up or even drink the pan juice (fat) or have a big bowl of whole-milk yoghurt (fat) or double-cream yoghurt (even more fat) for dessert. And be sure the burgers are the high-fat kind, such as 80% or 85% “lean.” (I’m old enough to remember when they just said 15% or 20% fat, lol!) You could even have a cup of coffee (decaf if you insist) with heavy whipping cream (lots of glorious fat) in it to top the meal off. The whole point of eating keto is that fat is your friend! Don’t try to cut calories—it gets in the way of fat-adaptation. Eat till all that succulent fat leaves you feeling happy and satisfied!

This is a new way of eating; the old rules don’t apply any longer. The new rules are: (1) keep protein moderate; (2) eat less than 20 grams a day of carbohydrate; and (3) eat as much fat as it takes to stop the hunger pangs. So keep calm and keto on!

#12

Two cheeseburgers doesn’t sound like all that much depending on how big they are. I can easily eat four mcdonald’s quarter pound patties, no cheese, at one sitting and probably have room for another. If I add a few tbsp of mayo to that, I’m well satiated at three or four patties and won’t need to eat for the rest of the day. Just like what @PaulL said.

(Val Bundy) #13

Oh good to know…thank you!!

(Folsom Gal) #14

I was getting hungery and what helped me was fat bombs. I found a recipe for pumpkin pie fat bombs, they are easy to make, no baking. I only eat one a day between lunch and dinner and it kills my hunger for about 3-4 hours. Plus it helps me to get some extra fat. There are several recipes online if you google Keto fat bombs. We