Trying to get fat-adapted

newbies
ketoadaptation
(Rebecca) #1

I’m new here, and this is my first post. So… hello! :hugs:

So I’ve been on keto for about 8 weeks. And I’m longing for the day I’m fat-adapted, when I won’t have to worry about missing a meal, or being hungry, or having cravings, and I’m looking forward to the other pluses I hear about, like lots of energy, mental clarity, etc.

It seems I have reached ketosis of course, but haven’t yet reached the stage of fat-adapted. I’m sure what’s causing the delay is the number of mis-haps I’ve had during these 8 weeks. There have been many times I’ve fallen off the horse–sometimes taking a conscious cheat day (or days), sometimes by mistake-- and I have had to go through keto flu maybe once or twice again after the first time.

TL;DR: My question is this: I have heard it takes 4-8 weeks to become fat adapted. Does that have to be 4-8 weeks solid of keto, absolutely no mess-ups? Or do people find that a cheat day maybe doesn’t set them back too much, if it’s not too often? Was hoping to hear about people’s experiences with this.

Thanks so much!

Keto and Mood
#2

Possibly everyone’s different but for me I have to be all-in, even a cup of tea with milk is enough to keep me out of keto, as well as most zero-cal sodas. If I’m keto I personally need to stick to the basics, meat / fish / eggs / cheese / greens etc.

I got out of the concept of having a cheat day, it doesn’t help me in the long run and just makes me look forward to the next cheat day (which may be closer each time) - I ended up seeing them as counterproductive to my progress in the end. Also the longer you do keto, you honestly do stop craving your old cheat foods.

#3

Welcome Rebecca! I agree with @Vampire, cheat days can’t be a thing for me, would mess with my mind and body, and be such a tease to my metabolism. I’m 6 weeks in and I think I’ve just crossed the threshold to being fat-adapted. I made my share of common newbie ‘mistakes’ in the first couple weeks––too many nut and dark chocolate, snacking throughout the day, too much protein, and I even had ice cream one evening with my daughter––, but that’s cool; it helped me find my way. I started experimenting a bit with intermittent fasting, which seems to be a natural progression among ketoers. In fact, the little bit of IF I’ve done likely catalyzed new found fat adaptation. Today, for example, I had a fat loaded breakfast, spent the day at the beach with a friend and didn’t think of eating at all, even while my friend was munching on Triscuits and turkey slices and fruit. I got hungry 10 hours after my breakfast and had dinner. I’m not hungry, I have no cravings, my mood is even. None of this is in any way virtuous on my part… it’s all in the body, and really quite amazing to me, a true blue carb addict and binger. I’m not saying I’ll never, ever have non-keto foods, but it’ll have to wait till I’ve reached some of my health goals, it’ll be a conscious decision, and it’ll have to really be worth it. You my very well need to use willpower to get over the transitional hump, but if you give yourself a real chance at becoming fat adapted, you won’t need willpower anymore (most of the time :wink:).

(Allie) #4

You cannot afford cheats while you’re trying to get adapted, each one will set you back I’m afraid. Also, there is no set time limit for the process - some people need a couple of weeks, some need several months. Just keep as focused as you can and carry on.

(Rebecca) #5

Thank you for the responses, everyone! It was great to hear about the journey you all had to go through to get fat-adapted. You’re all right, the cheating is probably what’s preventing me from becoming fat-adapted. I probably knew, but I think I just had to hear it from someone else!

Thank you, everyone!

(Championsidewinder) #6

Yes, my ding a ling friend bob does keto for 3 weeks and now he is the expert telling me to let my net carbs get to 50 and just exercise more I said no, we should not go above 20 until fat adapted then it’s ok to go to 35 tops, but it’s impossible to get 4700 mg of potassium from any food only and stay under 20 net grams of carbs, I’ve tried everything and have to supplement, but don’t like potassium chloride as a supplement too dangerous to mess with.