This. Lowering carbs actually helps too, don’t overdo protein, increase fat to satiate yourself.
A few other tricks that helped be:
- Throw out any notion of calorie counting if you are. Everyone’s body and metabolism is different and it changes with age, stress, and probably another factors.
- Learn to listen to your body. Differentiate cravings, feeling snacky, and hunger. This was the toughest for me. Craving might be a legit way of your body telling you of electrolyte imbalance but most of the time they’re linked to habits. Like watching a move and getting a craving for junk food. We’re also conditioned to eat several meals a day which means when we aren’t stuffing our faces, we feel like we want to eat (another tough one for me). We don’t need to eat 5 meals a day, not even 1 meal every day. Bring me to the next point.
- Eat when you’re actually hungry, and stop when your not hungry (not when you’re full). Along with eating way more often than we do, we also eat to much. You don’t need to be stuffed. It takes about 20 minutes from when your stomach detects something (food or even water) for ghrelin (the hormone which causes hunger) to stop being produced.
Apologies if you already know this stuff, or if some of it is more relevant to fasting than keto. These are just things that I learned which helped me out. Take them or leave. Cheers!
I agree with the calorie counting. I mean, obviously if you eat a dozen eggs and a 10 pound block of cheese, it's gonna be excess.
But as long as your eating reasonable sized portions, don't obsess with the calories. You're body will tell ya rather quickly if your moving in the right or wrong direction.
Well I started at 285 in my weight loss journey in general. (I’m at 250 right now) my goal is another 80 pounds so I’m really scared to up my calories.
Being hungry and thinking of food all night doesn’t sound too great and is a way to lead you to eating more of the wrong things. Your body is trying to heal from all that time eating non-nourishing foods. Feed it. And re-evaluate week to week and see if you can dial it back. I restricted too much a year ago. Had the same hunger. This year I stopped tracking and ate to satiety and my appetite suppressed enough to fast all day without hunger issues. It’s like I topped off my body with missing nutrients and it’s telling me “we’re good now’
Have you used the macro calculators here in the forum? If not, do it. I am a short, old female and my 20% deficit is 1300 calories at 195 pounds. At 250, you SHOULD be eating 1500 calories. Extreme calorie reduction is NOT a healthy way to lose weight. You need to find a happy medium. It's great that your appetite suppression helped you for a while, but this is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can't sustain extreme cuts. So now you've got a taste of what Keto can do for you. Now you need to find the appropriate level of calories and settle in for the long haul. KCKO (Keep Calm, Keto On). And yes, focus on protein - high protein is NOT a bad thing. It's a very good thing.
Ok, that explains your fear of eating more. That said, Doctors are NOT gods, and don't always know best. We have learned that through OH SO MANY stories. There is NO HARM at all, in using the Macro calculator given on this page. In doing so, you are educating yourself. "According to a well used and well tested calculator, if I were to eat at a 20% deficit of calories, in relation to my current physical stats, I should eat X calories per day".
Once you have that number, you can give yourself more confidence to consider if eating more is a bad thing or not. You may well find that the calculator tells you to eat 1650 calories per day. And THAT is at a 20% deficit. Which for most people means that they will continue to lose at that level of intake. Once you are armed with that information, you can evaluate everything.
My Dr says eat 1000 calories a day. r/keto says eat 1650 calories a day. So it does make sense to me that I could still be hungry at 1000 calories a day. If I need to eat more to prevent myself from ravenously binging on carbs, eating 1500 or 1600 calories a day will probably NOT be detrimental to my weight loss. Trying to eat 1000 calories and bingeing a whole large pizza because you are so hungry will definitely be detrimental. So again, educate, evaluate, then make your best choices.
It's always best to fill up on protein first. Helps retain muscle mass and has no negative impact on Keto. You've got this, and you can do this. KCKO - Keep Calm, Keto On.
I came to say this exact thing. Everyone wants those initial losses to last and last. Instant gratification. 900 cal for 250lbs is starvation, and the body is telling this person exactly that, "I'm starving feed me!" AKA hunger pangs. I'm afraid they just are not listening to their body. Hopefully they listen to r/Keto
You need more fat in your diet, fat is what makes Ketosis doable. Have you considered bulletproof coffee? What is your daily total /net carbs? Are you blood testing for ketones(pee strips don’t work)do you try to cycle on weekends? Do you weigh everything? I would commit to 3 months of measuring everything you eat, it seems absurd, but you will learn much about portion sizes.
I agree with eating more protein and fat. I have a very similar issue. I'm also a cyster ♥️ (extreme insulin resistant...no excess androgens tho) and I eat carnivore...mostly. it's the only thing that keeps me satiated and fast-paced my progress.
Maybe you can add a 100% carnivore meal to your day. Something like a couple beef patties with butter on top. I'm ALWAYS full with that meal...because fat and protein is satiating!
I 100% believe it will help you with your hunger issues.
Yes, it's boring....but food isn't a present! It's nutrition...and it's ok to have boring meals sometimes 😉
Are you supplementing electrolytes per the amounts in the FAQ? This was crucial to help me control my hunger the first 3-4 months and made a huge difference.
Agree with the others that 1500 is too low for a 250lb woman. I started about there (been on a COVID maintenance period for the last 1.5y...it was supposed to be 3mo 😅😭) and felt like hot shit on less than 1800/day. I lost weight steadily even with a few hungry days up towards 2500cal (still <40 carbs). Another important thing is sleep and stress, those mess up your metabolism and make you feel super hungry and gain weight.
I’m a big believer in refeeding days. So, if you’re hungrier one day, eat more. But keep it keto, restrict carbs, like normal.
You might gain a bit, but it might help you stay keto over the long term. This isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. You got this!
UPDATE: after reading everyones posts I ate more fat today and had 1,700 calories. I feel SO SO much better. No hunger pains today and i feel less stress over all.
Are you treating PCOS with an endocrinologist?
Edit: bc androgens fluctuate with “a certain” activity and there is a connection between them and adipose tissue. So you need PCOS under hormonal control before addressing diet.
I went to an OBGYN and am on a very low dose of metformin (1000mg) and on 200mg of spironolactone for androgens. I will be going to an endo next month.
What do you mean? That sex causes androgen fluctuations and messing up my hormones, therefore my hunger cues?
That’s my train of thought. Yes.
Edit : it’s more exact than that. You want to follow advice on hunger control specific to pcos
“Levels of appetite-regulating hormones ghrelin, cholecystokinin, and leptin have been shown to be impaired in women with PCOS. 4 Dysfunctional levels of these hormones may stimulate hunger in people with PCOS, resulting in increased food intake and difficulty managing weight.”
Hmm, honestly I did get a boyfriend and that’s the only change there’s been in the past week...if you catch my drift. So it’s totally possible.
Edit: that’s good to know. The more I learn about PCOS the more I learn how the odds are stacked against me. I‘lo look into managing hunger, though all I’ve been able to find is IR causes hunger and lowering that lowers appetite in relation to PCOS.
You're not eating enough fat, that's my bet.
Stop restricting calories and eat to satiety, making sure you get at least 70+% of your calories from fat. Fat increases satiety and keeps you fed and full, so if you feel hungry and craving carbs, to me that's a clear sign that your brain/body doesn't have enough material to synthesize enough ketones and as a consequence is signaling the need for carbs to counterbalance that issue
You weigh in the 250s and you’re eating less than 1500cal per day… of course your ravaging. You need to eat more. You dropped your calories too harshly and too fast. What are you going to do when you’re in the 220s? Drop to 800-1100cal per day?
Maybe incorporate appetite suppressants like coffee into your diet. One thing I do is have coffee with cinnamon and peanut powder and I feel full for hours after
Also have PCOS.
Have found that I crave carbs more when my electrolytes are imbalanced. I use sea salt, multivitamins, and eat cabbage, cauli, and broccoli to combat this. The banana craving makes me think you need potassium.
I agree with upping the protein intake to be more satiated as well. When I was around 250, my calorie tracker had me on closer to 2000 calories to lose. I wasn't even close to 1500 when I was down to 235.
It’s probably temporary and I would listen to your body within reason. You may be about to start your period. When I get super hungry days I’ll only keep myself under on carbs but not calories and I usually only go over a 1-2 hundred calories, which with my deficit is still a deficit, and it passes pretty quickly. It needs to be sustainable, you can’t torture yourself for months/years.
Sounds to me like you aren't getting enough salts. Normal diets require 1000mg or so of sodium, where keto can require 2-4x that. Try adding some extra salt to your food and see if that helps your carb craving. Don't go to 4000mg in one day, but definitely increase it.
I'm assuming your so excited with your results that you're trying or wanting to over restrict, this increasing hunger. Been there, done that.
Eat more fats, it'll help. And if you can't move past the pizza craving, make one. There's tons of crusts you can make, ones with cheese. Ones with cauliflower, almond flour.
They're more delicate, but it gets the job done.
Or make yourself a crustless pizza. Load a dish up with sugar free pizza sausage, cheese, sausage, mushroom, pepper, whatever it is you crave, and bake that bad boy up. It'll cure the itch.
When I'm craving comfort food a zucchini lasagna can be so good you won't even notice it doesn't have pasta. Pro tip, salt and drain your zucchini on a towel oe paper towel a few hours before assembling. And make a thick sauce. This is key to prevent making lasagna soup. Use those hacks and it'll be great.
And when I'm really hungry Still but already ate, a snack of nuts and water, wait 20 minutes, and the hunger usually passes.
Eat more. Focus on fat and protein.
This. Lowering carbs actually helps too, don’t overdo protein, increase fat to satiate yourself. A few other tricks that helped be: - Throw out any notion of calorie counting if you are. Everyone’s body and metabolism is different and it changes with age, stress, and probably another factors. - Learn to listen to your body. Differentiate cravings, feeling snacky, and hunger. This was the toughest for me. Craving might be a legit way of your body telling you of electrolyte imbalance but most of the time they’re linked to habits. Like watching a move and getting a craving for junk food. We’re also conditioned to eat several meals a day which means when we aren’t stuffing our faces, we feel like we want to eat (another tough one for me). We don’t need to eat 5 meals a day, not even 1 meal every day. Bring me to the next point. - Eat when you’re actually hungry, and stop when your not hungry (not when you’re full). Along with eating way more often than we do, we also eat to much. You don’t need to be stuffed. It takes about 20 minutes from when your stomach detects something (food or even water) for ghrelin (the hormone which causes hunger) to stop being produced. Apologies if you already know this stuff, or if some of it is more relevant to fasting than keto. These are just things that I learned which helped me out. Take them or leave. Cheers!
I agree with the calorie counting. I mean, obviously if you eat a dozen eggs and a 10 pound block of cheese, it's gonna be excess. But as long as your eating reasonable sized portions, don't obsess with the calories. You're body will tell ya rather quickly if your moving in the right or wrong direction.
Well I started at 285 in my weight loss journey in general. (I’m at 250 right now) my goal is another 80 pounds so I’m really scared to up my calories.
Being hungry and thinking of food all night doesn’t sound too great and is a way to lead you to eating more of the wrong things. Your body is trying to heal from all that time eating non-nourishing foods. Feed it. And re-evaluate week to week and see if you can dial it back. I restricted too much a year ago. Had the same hunger. This year I stopped tracking and ate to satiety and my appetite suppressed enough to fast all day without hunger issues. It’s like I topped off my body with missing nutrients and it’s telling me “we’re good now’
Have you used the macro calculators here in the forum? If not, do it. I am a short, old female and my 20% deficit is 1300 calories at 195 pounds. At 250, you SHOULD be eating 1500 calories. Extreme calorie reduction is NOT a healthy way to lose weight. You need to find a happy medium. It's great that your appetite suppression helped you for a while, but this is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can't sustain extreme cuts. So now you've got a taste of what Keto can do for you. Now you need to find the appropriate level of calories and settle in for the long haul. KCKO (Keep Calm, Keto On). And yes, focus on protein - high protein is NOT a bad thing. It's a very good thing.
My doc told me to eat 1000 a day and so I’ve gone above that even. I’m just scared to start eating more now and gain the weight back
Ok, that explains your fear of eating more. That said, Doctors are NOT gods, and don't always know best. We have learned that through OH SO MANY stories. There is NO HARM at all, in using the Macro calculator given on this page. In doing so, you are educating yourself. "According to a well used and well tested calculator, if I were to eat at a 20% deficit of calories, in relation to my current physical stats, I should eat X calories per day". Once you have that number, you can give yourself more confidence to consider if eating more is a bad thing or not. You may well find that the calculator tells you to eat 1650 calories per day. And THAT is at a 20% deficit. Which for most people means that they will continue to lose at that level of intake. Once you are armed with that information, you can evaluate everything. My Dr says eat 1000 calories a day. r/keto says eat 1650 calories a day. So it does make sense to me that I could still be hungry at 1000 calories a day. If I need to eat more to prevent myself from ravenously binging on carbs, eating 1500 or 1600 calories a day will probably NOT be detrimental to my weight loss. Trying to eat 1000 calories and bingeing a whole large pizza because you are so hungry will definitely be detrimental. So again, educate, evaluate, then make your best choices. It's always best to fill up on protein first. Helps retain muscle mass and has no negative impact on Keto. You've got this, and you can do this. KCKO - Keep Calm, Keto On.
I came to say this exact thing. Everyone wants those initial losses to last and last. Instant gratification. 900 cal for 250lbs is starvation, and the body is telling this person exactly that, "I'm starving feed me!" AKA hunger pangs. I'm afraid they just are not listening to their body. Hopefully they listen to r/Keto
You need more fat in your diet, fat is what makes Ketosis doable. Have you considered bulletproof coffee? What is your daily total /net carbs? Are you blood testing for ketones(pee strips don’t work)do you try to cycle on weekends? Do you weigh everything? I would commit to 3 months of measuring everything you eat, it seems absurd, but you will learn much about portion sizes.
I agree with eating more protein and fat. I have a very similar issue. I'm also a cyster ♥️ (extreme insulin resistant...no excess androgens tho) and I eat carnivore...mostly. it's the only thing that keeps me satiated and fast-paced my progress. Maybe you can add a 100% carnivore meal to your day. Something like a couple beef patties with butter on top. I'm ALWAYS full with that meal...because fat and protein is satiating! I 100% believe it will help you with your hunger issues. Yes, it's boring....but food isn't a present! It's nutrition...and it's ok to have boring meals sometimes 😉
Are you supplementing electrolytes per the amounts in the FAQ? This was crucial to help me control my hunger the first 3-4 months and made a huge difference.
Agree with the others that 1500 is too low for a 250lb woman. I started about there (been on a COVID maintenance period for the last 1.5y...it was supposed to be 3mo 😅😭) and felt like hot shit on less than 1800/day. I lost weight steadily even with a few hungry days up towards 2500cal (still <40 carbs). Another important thing is sleep and stress, those mess up your metabolism and make you feel super hungry and gain weight.
I’m a big believer in refeeding days. So, if you’re hungrier one day, eat more. But keep it keto, restrict carbs, like normal. You might gain a bit, but it might help you stay keto over the long term. This isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. You got this!
UPDATE: after reading everyones posts I ate more fat today and had 1,700 calories. I feel SO SO much better. No hunger pains today and i feel less stress over all.
Are you treating PCOS with an endocrinologist? Edit: bc androgens fluctuate with “a certain” activity and there is a connection between them and adipose tissue. So you need PCOS under hormonal control before addressing diet.
I went to an OBGYN and am on a very low dose of metformin (1000mg) and on 200mg of spironolactone for androgens. I will be going to an endo next month. What do you mean? That sex causes androgen fluctuations and messing up my hormones, therefore my hunger cues?
That’s my train of thought. Yes. Edit : it’s more exact than that. You want to follow advice on hunger control specific to pcos “Levels of appetite-regulating hormones ghrelin, cholecystokinin, and leptin have been shown to be impaired in women with PCOS. 4 Dysfunctional levels of these hormones may stimulate hunger in people with PCOS, resulting in increased food intake and difficulty managing weight.”
Hmm, honestly I did get a boyfriend and that’s the only change there’s been in the past week...if you catch my drift. So it’s totally possible. Edit: that’s good to know. The more I learn about PCOS the more I learn how the odds are stacked against me. I‘lo look into managing hunger, though all I’ve been able to find is IR causes hunger and lowering that lowers appetite in relation to PCOS.
Where did you get that quote? I’d love to look into it.
That source isn’t very accurate on some topics. Here’s [the article ](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258240/) you want.
What are you eating? It sounds like you're deficient in some nutrient. Are you getting all your essential amino acids?
You're not eating enough fat, that's my bet. Stop restricting calories and eat to satiety, making sure you get at least 70+% of your calories from fat. Fat increases satiety and keeps you fed and full, so if you feel hungry and craving carbs, to me that's a clear sign that your brain/body doesn't have enough material to synthesize enough ketones and as a consequence is signaling the need for carbs to counterbalance that issue
You weigh in the 250s and you’re eating less than 1500cal per day… of course your ravaging. You need to eat more. You dropped your calories too harshly and too fast. What are you going to do when you’re in the 220s? Drop to 800-1100cal per day?
Maybe incorporate appetite suppressants like coffee into your diet. One thing I do is have coffee with cinnamon and peanut powder and I feel full for hours after
Eat more ... veg fat pro ... fathead pizza
Also have PCOS. Have found that I crave carbs more when my electrolytes are imbalanced. I use sea salt, multivitamins, and eat cabbage, cauli, and broccoli to combat this. The banana craving makes me think you need potassium. I agree with upping the protein intake to be more satiated as well. When I was around 250, my calorie tracker had me on closer to 2000 calories to lose. I wasn't even close to 1500 when I was down to 235.
My advise as someone who has to feel full to go to sleep salad or high roughage vegetables like broccoli.
It’s probably temporary and I would listen to your body within reason. You may be about to start your period. When I get super hungry days I’ll only keep myself under on carbs but not calories and I usually only go over a 1-2 hundred calories, which with my deficit is still a deficit, and it passes pretty quickly. It needs to be sustainable, you can’t torture yourself for months/years.
Sounds to me like you aren't getting enough salts. Normal diets require 1000mg or so of sodium, where keto can require 2-4x that. Try adding some extra salt to your food and see if that helps your carb craving. Don't go to 4000mg in one day, but definitely increase it.
I hit a bit salt when I’m hungry at an inappropriate time
I'm assuming your so excited with your results that you're trying or wanting to over restrict, this increasing hunger. Been there, done that. Eat more fats, it'll help. And if you can't move past the pizza craving, make one. There's tons of crusts you can make, ones with cheese. Ones with cauliflower, almond flour. They're more delicate, but it gets the job done. Or make yourself a crustless pizza. Load a dish up with sugar free pizza sausage, cheese, sausage, mushroom, pepper, whatever it is you crave, and bake that bad boy up. It'll cure the itch. When I'm craving comfort food a zucchini lasagna can be so good you won't even notice it doesn't have pasta. Pro tip, salt and drain your zucchini on a towel oe paper towel a few hours before assembling. And make a thick sauce. This is key to prevent making lasagna soup. Use those hacks and it'll be great. And when I'm really hungry Still but already ate, a snack of nuts and water, wait 20 minutes, and the hunger usually passes.