I started keto on Jan 1 and they first two weeks were absolute hell. I had no idea how dependent I was on sugar and the keto flu hit me very hard. I started at 260 pounds and I lost 5 pounds each week for the first two weeks. Week 3 I lost about 3 pounds, and this week I lost less than a pound. I am using Carb Manager to track my macros, and I do three meals a day and I don’t snack, but I am continuously starving. My macros typically range from 70-75% fat, 20-25% protein and I keep my carbs under 20g per day and about 1600 calories per day. I’m still having sugar cravings, but I haven’t given into them. With this week’s negligible weight loss, and feeling like I’m starving myself, it’s hard to convince myself that I should keep doing this. Any advice on overcoming this hurdle would be greatly appreciated.
Week 4 Troubles
That’s at least most of the problem right there. Keto is about carb restriction, not calorie restriction. During the intial phase, counting calories and macros for fat and protein can get in the way. Perhaps the most important thing is to not starve yourself. If 1600 kcal is not enough food, you are way better off eating more to put that hunger to rest. Even if it means eating a bit more protein and fat than your macros say you should.
Train your hormones by giving it no choice but to take advantage of plentiful fat. More protein will help get and keep you satiated and things should start falling into place as long as your carbs stay low. Just please eat when you are hungry. You are doing really well so far.
I agree with Carl, eat more fat!
But also, eat more sodium, because on keto your body is flushing it out faster. I have found that often my hunger cravings and even cravings for sweets are really just my body’s attempt to get more salt. It goes well in tea.
I would check, recheck and then triple check to make sure you don’t have any hidden carbs in what you’re eating. It is a very common issue, everyone always says “oh no not me …” - I was one of those but the coffee with milk had more milk than I realised. So I fell into keto limbo! I felt hungry…
Anyway if carbs are really OK then don’t be afraid to eat up. Forget “1600 Calories” - eat until you are full (obviously not so jam packed that you double your stomach size…). Do limit the carbs and protein so some extra butter or other fat would be the way to go …
If you have a rather decent sized steak or chicken with a sizeable amount of veggies with butter on top or olive oil or something … I reckon you’d feel pretty full, right?
If you get most of your carbs from veggies which have decent amounts of fibre then that should also help with feeling full.
Thank you for the advice! I have actually given up coffee since this journey started. Because I was so dependent on sugar (venti vanilla latte a day habit) I haven’t found a Keto sweetener that I can tolerate, so I decided to give myself more of a break and see if my palate changes over time. I try to scan everything I eat into the Carb Manager app, but I will definitely check into that.
Thirteen pretend weight units in a month is hardly complaint territory, is it?
And what Carl said.
If you’re hungry eat more food. Keep carbs as low as possible and eat enough protein and fat to keep the hunger away. No one should ever be hungry on keto and depriving youself from food will delay adaptation and likely harm your progress.
Eat eat eat when your hungry. Just keep the carbs low. Don’t worry about the calorie counts and certainly don’t go into a forced calorie deficit which is what you’re doing now. You’re probably 500-800 cal short of what would be a maint level for your size. Maybe even more. Your hunger will decrease on its own once you start moving into fat adaptation. Think long term and listen to your body.
One of the biggest errors people make on this diet is trying to keep to macros by percentages. Forget this, it only ever makes real sense for people who are eating keto but trying to maintain their current weight. For everyone else they should do the following:
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Eat no more than 20 net grams of carbs per day.
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Work out their protein requirements in grams for their body size and try to hit that closely, but don’t worry about modest deviations day to day, up or down. Eat some of that protein with every meal.
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Eat fat to satiety. Not one bit more. Don’t count calories. Some days you will be hungrier than others. Eat to your hunger. It will change after a few more weeks.
Nobody starting a keto diet should be worrying about their weight for the first 6 weeks at least. Your body is adapting to some huge changes. Let it adapt and don’t stress it out. The initial weight loss is mostly water weight. This is excellent, it means you are in ketosis. But most people slow way down after that because actual fat cannot be lost so quickly.
How much protein have you been eating daily?
Yes! Macro calculations with percentage or gram targets will drive you to want to eat beyond satiety or stop short of satiety.
Best used very much as an approximation - if I am having this much protein at a meal - I should shoot for this much fat (but I can go over or under to my satiety).
For me, an example of this comes down to the time when I am adding crumbled blue cheese to my sautéed arugula. It usually should be about an ounce - just some flavor. But, I can easily skip it if the rest of my dinner is filling enough or, drop 3 or 4 ounces (and let it melt into heavenly goodness) if I feel at all hungry.
You’re actually doing fine. Your initial loss was mainly glycogen, including one or so pounds of fat per week. Now, glycogen is depleted and you’re settled into the normal fat loss rate of a pound or so per week. You have no need to change anything yet. If you stall for several weeks you can consider changes.
You’re fine.