difficult Q...can anyone help?
 

Hi, I am on Day 3 of induction and STARVING ...so hungry. and heavier and very bloated. my Q is about getting into ketosis. Is it about carbs and calories or just carbs? i eat about 1600 cals and about 120 g fat and about 14-18 carbs. i also feel like my period is about to start. does that affect ketosis. well, i am nowhere near ketosis and so scary hungry. BTW, the 1600 cals is way above my BMR. by about 400 cals. this morning i had 3 xl eggs fried in coconut oil and butter (about 1.5 T total) and a large chicken bratwurst and i am STARVING!!?? anyone? much appreciated!! thanks and have a great day! KAy

It's not all that uncommon to be very hungry the first few days. And yes, TOM can affect it--mainly, IMO, by making you hungry rather than keeping you out of ketosis. If you can hold on, this too shall pass. :)

Emily

Thanks Emily! I am wonder if my period will even start. Last month was the first one i had in a YEAR!! and it only lasted 1.5 days. Cross my fingers that my body is going bcak to normal. I wonder if i should up my carbs just to get it to start and then go back to induction but i dont want to go thru this again! i wonder if i were eating less if i would feel better. i normally dont need to eat this much to feel good and satiated so it's very confusing to me...

The rule is: eat when you are hungry. Ketosis causes either loss of appetite or makes us hungry as wolves.
After a while you will reach a balance and feel better, but whatever you do - don't go hungry and don't go under 20g carbs/day.
Don't forget supplements and water!

Good luck!

Alina

Thanks Alina,
Well I am nowhere near ketosis so I know the hunger is not from that. I only eat lettuce for carbs right now ( with every meal except breakfast). I wonder if I cut my calories, if i would go into ketosis but I am too hungry...and this is way more than what i normally would eat which is hard to understand? Maybe my body is freaking out because I have not had a regular period for so long and it's trying to go back to normal? I dont know to be honest...just guessing. Thanks again!

Cutting on calories will NOT get you into ketosis. Also, you should get your carbs from vegetables mainly. Are you on any medications?
And how do you know you are not in ketosis? Those sticks are not always showing correct results from what I've heard on the forum....

Kay, I'd put the hunger thing down to PMS -- it's a pretty common symptom. I always get fantastically hungry right before my period, and it's usually protein that I find most satisfying. Sometimes it's chocolate, of course, but often enough I find that nothing is going to banish the hunger but a 16-oz ribeye. I've always had a tendency towards anemia, and I think the PMS food monster is my body's way of begging for a little extra nutrition.

It is also not uncommon to be starving for a day or two prior to a "whoosh" (when you lose a couple of pounds literally overnight). If you find yourself being hungry out of the blue, and you're not expecting TOM, an impending woosh is sometimes the cause. Some people will say to feed the hunger, others to resist and eat as normal -- it's one of those issues on which there's a lot of lore and little fact. Me, I eat if I'm hungry, but I also don't eat anything unless I decide to eat it 30 minutes prior. If I'm truly hungry, I'll still be hungry, and if I'm not, 30 minutes is usually enough to distract me.

Like Alina says, there are lots of problems with the sticks, and they're prone to giving either false positives and false negatives. Try not to worry about what they say, and look for the physical symptoms of ketosis (bad "tinny" taste in the mouth, unusual body odor, loss of appetite, feeling hot, etc) instead. In over a year of Atkins, I've never once used the sticks -- when I started, I figured I just wouldn't worry about them unless I didn't lose any weight on Induction, or stalled for a long time, or something, and to this day haven't felt the need to check whether i'm technically in ketosis. It took me a few weeks to recognize the physical signs, but they're a much better guide. Also, It takes 3-4 days to get into ketosis, so just because you're not quite there yet doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. Try not to worry about the sticks, and stay off the scales for two weeks -- take measurements if you feel like you've got to have some numbers.

Two thoughts come to mind.
One is that I follow the Atkins suggestion that if I am truly hungry after I've eaten (say 20 - 30 minutes) then I have somemore to eat. Interestingly enough I often find that more is VERY LITTLE more until I suddenly feel full.
Second is BRATWURST! I'm not sure what's mixed with the meat but very, very often it's sugar & wheat hidden in there and of course that can trigger cravings.
...IMHO.
Hope this may be some help.

What helps me when I have a "starving" day -
1. Make a big plate of eggs and cheese with a side of bacon for breakfast.
2. Huge salad with meats, cheeses and REAL salad dressing (ranch, blue cheese my favs!)
3.Big steak, fish or chicken with a side of veges or another good sized salad for dinner.
If you get hungry, nibble on meats dipped in salad dressing, or mayo.
Go to a fast food restaurant and get a double hamburger with bacon and cheese, hold the bun
You can eat like this and lose weight!!!
With all of this food, AND drinking ALL your water, you will not be hungry. I am not a doctor, but this will fill you up! EAT!

Atlee, Archie and Dstar,

Thanks so much for your help! I think I need some more! something is not quite right over here :cry: I just got on to add my food to fitday and i am having a small freakfit! I ate for lunch: 1 xl egg fried in with 4 Oz beef in 1 t coconutoil. and about 3 cups lettuce with 1 T hempseed oil. 30 min later, not hungry but STARVING. went to wild oats, picked up a rotisserie chicken cause someone told me i need animal fat. so ate both legs with skin (yuk) and both wings with skin and then picked at the other areas of some more skin hoping to satiate myself. you would think i would feel sick. NO!!! i'm still starving. what is going on. i'm already at close to 2000 cals, 140 g fat and 170 g protein and only 9 g carbs which is probably only 4 g EC. it's day 3 and i feel like HELL. i am day dreaming of going back to my workouts and walks ( can barely move my legs!) and my organic salads and salmon and moderate amounts of flax and hempseed oil. I have to leave because i feel like i will eat the rest of the chicken. and i did gain this morning eating like this so what gives?? i promised myself 1-2 weeks before i make a decision. should i throw in the towel now? sorry but i am really wondering if i can make it thru tonight!! and with all the fat i ate today, i dont have a choice because one insulin surge will send all that fat packing......right into my fat cells! :lol: normally i do some form of exercise which helos stabilize ny BS but this morning could barely move. the days i exercise, i am less hungry and the days i don't like today i am so hungry. i'm lost..........

I haven't read Neanderthin so I don't understand the theory of it although I gather it is a low carb program. I do Atkins. Maybe you could read the DANDR and see if that gives you some insight.
The meal you described doesn't sound very appetizing to me. I need to have something satiating. I might suggest a nice big omelette.
Drop some butter into a frying pan, add a good amount of red peppers diced up, a good lot of regular canned mushrooms (tasty, low in carbs, filling, healthy) maybe a little zucchini or yellow squash in thin slices. Fry it up for a couple of minutes and add a couple of scrambled eggs beat in with a small amount of cream. A half tblespoon of Sour Cream nakes a nice condiment and then salt & pepper.
This sort of meal usually leaves me with feeling satisfied.
Again, I can't speak for Neanderthin. Only my success and satisfaction with Atkins.

pssst
I tend to agree that it sounds like it might be TOM about to visit.

I also workout (quite a bit) and notice that I am hungrier the day inbetween weight training than I am the actual day I train. During induction I had to slow waaaaaay down on my workouts and then gradually increase them as I felt better. About 4 weeks into Atkins I was about to normal for my workouts pre-Atkins. Rmember your supplements. Make sure you get potassium, calcium, magnesium. And add some L-Glutamine. AND water ... water ... water!

You can get through this tough period. Eat now and once your hunger is under control you can back off on the food intake. Atkins says if you're hungry to eat. Protein and fat worked for me. I ate a lot of meat and cheese and put olive oil on all meats and salads. Avocado is a great source of good fat. Use high fat dressings. Marie's Blue Cheese is great tasting and LC.

Good luck and hang in there. Once your TOM happens both your hunger and outlook will change dramatically. If you have to eat the whole chicken eat it! This will pass.
Lori

Thanks Lori! i just hope my TOM happens. so many here get all the symtoms and nothing ever happens? i know that i am not in ketosis. plus my body feels like it is hanging on to all body volume for dear life!! i get a light energetic feeling when i am burning fat. and my face is HUGE!! i do have a problem with very high cortisol. doc thinks i have cushings. i start and stop this induction almost everyday since june. i think no carbs at first is a major stressor to my body and so i overproduce cortisol and then insulin kicks in to counter act the cortisol and i cant get into ketosis. i will stay at it for 7-10 days and see what happens??? i am starving!! :) still!!

When I first started, I was hungry all of the time as well. I think it was withdrawls because my body was craving carbs and was not getting them. Now that I have looked back - I was eating probably over 300 carbs a day (fast food junkie). It took my body (and my mind) a while to get over it. My advice is that you eat when you are hungry - moderately, and when full, eat no more. I did, as many others do, pass a stage during my second week that it was hard to eat - no hunger whatsoever! When you hit this stage - keep eating - if you don't, you won't lose (info from my lessons learned!).
Mischa

If you are hypothyroid you'll resist weight loss too. After your TOM and have hunger under control, try a 1200 cal fat fast. Just from personal experience, 1000 cals made me feel weak and the extra 200 still let me lose 6 pounds in four days.