When does the Magic start? Feeling down

#1

Been on keto for a little over a month now and all those magical feelings people told me about arent really happening for me.

I dont feel like Im any more energized, I dont feel like I have more mental clarity, I dont suddenly want to stop eating and fast for a week straight, Im not losing weight outside of the initial water weight, I still enjoy sweet things. So im not sure.

Of course I realize everyone experience is their own but Im trying to find something, ANYTHING to realize this is the right choice for me.

Reassure a newbie?
#2

Iā€™m 5 weeks on keto now- I am gradually getting more energy, only over the last week or two, still not got the mental clarity, still quite hungry, slow weight lossā€¦ my sweet tooth is going though- I went cold turkey so resisted the yummy sounding sweet fat bombs, I think that helped. I love the food though, & am enjoying knowing that I canā€™t eat cakes, chocolate etc., so thatā€™s it, no thinking about it, debating if I should stop & buy a donut etcā€¦ Iā€™ve read on here that it can take even a couple of months or more to get fat adapted, so I want to stick with it for that. We need patience!!
Have you measured yourself at all? I know my waist has definitely shrunk, even if the scale hasnā€™t moved much, & some of my fatty lumpy bits are smoother!
The first couple of weeks are the worst, & youā€™ve been strong enough to do that, so it would be a shame to give up now after putting that effort in!

(Liz ) #3

It took me at least six weeks to become fat adapted. I recommend anyone trying a Keto way of eating for the first time give it at least three months. If you enjoy the food then keep at it.

(Chris) #4

I wish people wouldnā€™t mislead about things like this. It really is different for everyone. Could be 2 more months, for all we know, before you feel better. Keep at it. It comes. A month is a drop in the ocean.

(Allie) #5

Sometimes it takes months, it did with me (although I was under an insane amount of stress during the process which I donā€™t doubt delayed it). Stick with it and be gentle with yourself, allowing yourself to stress over it wonā€™t help the process. Are you noticing any changes at all?

(Ashley) #6

Your not really going to feel like you want to not eat, not yet anyways. Your body is healing. Your not going to be fat adapted for 6-8 weeks. Even then some people take longer. But what you will notice is other things. Looser fitting clothes. Weight is just a number. Also if your feeling low energy your probably not getting enough fat! Maybe check your macros, a lot of people donā€™t hit their macros or donā€™t calculate them and them feel lethargic!

(Dan Dan) #7

Itā€™s different for everyone and will happen if you Keep Calm And Keto On :wink:

The only people who it hasnā€™t worked for are those that gave up :thinking:

(Ashley) #8

For instance Iā€™m still learning to up my fats. I didnā€™t hit my fats yesterday and was under 10g net carbs so I had two tablespoons of peanut butter (just the stuff with peanuts and salt) to up my fats to over 100g so that I felt I was at least hitting my fats as well as giving me 14g of protein taking my protein to just over 70g which is a good protein for my height and weight for health and weight loss!

(Ashley) #9

Exactly, I lost water weight but nothing since then! But Iā€™m only a month in! I am at a point though where people eating food I canā€™t doesnt bother me, I donā€™t even crave it. Although I was doing keto three weeks before that but lazy and i did cave during them three weeks on two occasions so it is different for everyone!

(Vijay Bhakta) #10

Please stick with it. I am 7 weeks in now and have had the energy for the last 3 weeks bit not yet got the mental clarity bit yet. I have also noticed I do not get physically hungry much though I am still battling the mental demon which says itā€™s lunchtime, tea time etc.

(Jeff Smith) #11

Hi Miss Simon
It isnā€™t magic until you see and feel the results, and unfortunately this is a different amount of time for everyone, because there are so many variables. What are you hoping to achieve? Is your enjoyment of sweet going to be enough to keep you out of ketosis and therefore not feel any of the benefits? This is what did it for me, if I continue to eat the way that I have been eating, I will continue to move deeper into obesity and closer to diabetes with every biteā€¦ but if I pay attention to these people that are doing things differently, I really think I can change myself. And, I donā€™t know if Iā€™m doing this right yet, and it seems that every time you cheat this way of eating it seems it throws you back 4 days to just get to the point you were at again. So it is a try and do better every day, practice the discipline to avoid the dangers and fill up on the things that will reward you with the benefits. I guess what Iā€™m seeing is, youā€™ve got to go at this full force until it is your way of doing things, change the way you shop, change the way you eat, be aware of everything you put into your body and what effect it will have on your metabolism. This much I know. Sugar is like bait, it gets us to eat fruit when it is ripe, but in nature we still need to wait for it to get ripe before we can enjoy the sweetness, Our society has been adding sweetness to everything, and as a result, we never have to wait for it and it has been overloading our bodyā€™s natural method of dealing with sweetā€¦ and itā€™s making all of us sick, because nobody is telling us to stop. You are on the doorstep of an amazing reversal within yourself if you can just listen and follow some of the amazing people here. Ultimately you can do whatever you like, but it will require a little bit of just allowing the thing to work. Donā€™t lose your patience, it took ages for you to reach this point, reversing it is going to take a little time too. Want the things that people told you about, find out how to get them, and that may mean shutting off your enjoyment of sweet things for a little while, because you canā€™t get into ketosis if you are eating sugar. and it takes days to get all of that sweet out of your system before you can even get back to square one again. Donā€™t go at it halfheartedly, go full on. Crave those things you havenā€™t experienced yet. they are the carrot to lead you forward. They will come to you if you keep going. But there is no benefit to doing things the old way.

(Angelica Lopez) #12

I had the same experience. If itā€™s your first time then expect it to take a couple of months at least to become keto adapted and reap the benefits. Those are the worst few weeks because you do feel like youā€™re never going to reach that point, but I promise you will, just stick with it and you will be rewarded greatly. Good luck!

(Jennifer ) #13

Fat adaption didnā€™t happen for me until about 6-8 weeks inā€¦thatā€™s when I stopped having crazy dreams about sweets. And my sweet cravings didnā€™t go away completely until around 6 months in. But I stopped feeling like a crazy sugar addicted person around 4 months in.

Iā€™m almost 8 months in now and Iā€™m in a really good place. I drink my coffee black because I donā€™t like sweetener any longerā€¦itā€™s too sweet. I used to be a person who liked my coffee almost white and sweet as all get up. I was pretty convinced until recently that I could never eat another piece of sugary treat again for fear of slipping into my old habits. But it seems that Iā€™m clear of that nowā€¦because sugar just doesnā€™t taste as good to me anymore.

I had regular chocolate at a wedding last week, and I while it felt nice on my tongue, it didnā€™t taste like chocolate to me. I wanted it to taste more like lilyā€™s Dark chocolate instead of pure sugar.

Donā€™t put the pressure of a timeline on yourself. These things will happen in their own time, but they wonā€™t if youā€™re focusing on them. Let the magic happen girlfriend.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #14

Different time for everyone. Not magic. Sometimes very gradual, like you feel pretty meh, then a bit lighter, then two weeks later, you feel compelled to move some. Women are more complicated than men (general statement, but for this, as well). And depending on the state of your metabolism, it can take a few months. Other folks get it in a week or so. Itā€™s not fair. But itā€™s a keep on trucking thing.

I dislike it being termed magic. Itā€™s not that. Itā€™s great, but some folks describe it in ways that make it sound like taking stimulants. And, as a low grade, prescription stimulant user, it is not ever that.

(Vijay Bhakta) #15

Ohā€¦ If you have not done so already, listen to podcast #32 where carl and Richard are joined by @Brenda and @kim where they do discuss how it can take longer for women as they are more complex things that need to balance etc.

(Liz ) #16

Just want to mention, I have done both keto and ritalin and found that keto ā€œhighā€ very similar, so itā€™s possible some folks experience it differently than you have. And itā€™s possible I experience ritalin differently than others have.

With the keto ā€œmagicā€ I get a mental clarity and almost a feeling of euphoria, energy I havenā€™t felt in years, a lifting of anxiety/dread, plus a feeling of hopefulness, endurance and focus. n=1 as usual.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #17

I find the changes similar, but fat burning tends to produce a general sense, while amp salts tends to give a 4 hour boost that the fat burning doesnā€™t really touch. That said, thereā€™s no ramp up or down with the fat burningā€¦ I have both going on at the moment, and havenā€™t really done my a-salts without being LCHF. So, itā€™s hard for me to sort which is which, though one does wear off fairly on clock, while the other is more in line with my circadian rhythm.

(Paige) #18

Be patient it took me almost 2 months and I too was ready to give up. Hang in there!

(Bunny) #19

To tell you the truth, their is nothing else, and their is no other choice (if so, I would be doing it) other than choosing to induce diabetes et al!

I have chosen to fine tune this dietary lifestyle down to an art but it takes trial and error, discipline, endurance and deep insight other than a few mere expectations (immediate gratification), my goal originally was a novel idea to lose weight and deal with strange cancerous anomalies but it is now much more than that, starting with the mental clarity and sense of well-being that cannot be described as anything other than ā€˜magicalā€™ā€¦

The benefits to this lifestyle are so vast that I can barely keep pace with the science behind itā€¦

(Rob) #20

Hey Bunny, donā€™t forget the white rice & sugar diet. Metabolic healing on 90%+ carbsā€¦ :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::face_vomiting:

If you canā€™t keep pace with the science, there is ZERO hope for the rest of us. You are most peopleā€™s primary provider of science morsels :clap: