Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

[kjspea]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

Thanks Elizellen & 2Big for the follow up.

I have been really trying to monitor myself. I have a problem with egg whites for some reason. I would never eat just an egg white, but when I eat an entire hard boiled egg, I have found I get cravings. It's such a disappointment b/c it's a good take along food. I can at least peel it off and eat the yolk. In addition, I have found that I have a problem with certain teas & one brand of olive oil. I have been drinking all decaf teas of course but certain ones just set off cravings.

In addition, the supplements that Dr. A suggested just don't work for me, unless my stomach is full -- not the way that he rec'd, but I guess I am different. IT's like night & day with a full vs. empty stomach for me.

Although I have taken my cals down from 3,000 I am still in the 2,600 range and not getting stuffed, just "pleasantly satfisfied." I have lost weight all of a sudden despite a few weeks of going way over 2,500 cals. I still can't believe I eat so much when I write it down on pen & paper but I have always been a big eater so I am thinking my body is used to burning fuel at the rate I have been consuming -- now I am just taking out the bad carbs.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

just keep asking yourself every bite am I hungry still? as you get councious of your hunger and lack of it you will stop eatting sooner. I started out eatting close to 4000 cals on Atkins and as my hunger deminished because of the ketosis I didn't eat as much and dropped down to around 2000.

rememeber as you get lighter your body needs less fuel to do the exact same things so we eihter have to cut back our portions or drastically increase our exercise program. For women it is about 9 cals a pound lost

[LC_Dave]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

kjspea,

If I can offer a different approach/perspective.

Why do you know how many calories you eat ? what is the point ?

If you feed your hunger properly, it will dissapear and the calories will take care of themselves.

I don't have a clue about my ratios, but I know that 30% is no where near enough! Especially if you have cravings.

The lower the carbs amount, and higher the fat amount - you will burn more body fat through lipolysis.

I know I get critisesed fro my stance on counting calories, but you don't get to 473 without counting heaps of calories.

We need to feed our body what it needs.

If you have been eating a low fat diet or SAD for many years, then most likely yopur body is craving fat. Saturated fat in particular!

From my experience it takes a lot for a calorie counter to abandon the couting in favour of eating good food.

I guarantee you that if you went to extreme of induction (honestly by the book) for a week, your calories would drop ontheir own.

Good luck with it!

[loliloli]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

People's metabolism are different ... so if you can eat 3000 calories and remain at current weight that's good for you ... I have a friend who is constantly eating (hamburgers, french fries, pizza) kind of things too and she's only a 100 pounds at about 5.5... lucky her

I find that while I was on 2 weeks ketosis I did lose my hunger ... like completly so I would have to force myself to eat ... now I am constantly hungry except when I eat big salad with lots of lettuce ... anything super tasty, especially with cheese just makes me wanna eat more

[Heidi3]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

sometimes when people have gastric reflux it can cause a hunger like feeling ...I am NOT diagnosing you ..but it seems to me if you are eating as much as you say and still not feeling eontent it might be worth investigating ...

acid stomach can cause a feeling of hunger ....see your doctor if your tummy wants food when you are eating plenty....GERD feels like hunger for some people ...

[not2late]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

Thanks Elizellen & 2Big for the follow up.

I have been really trying to monitor myself. I have a problem with egg whites for some reason. I would never eat just an egg white, but when I eat an entire hard boiled egg, I have found I get cravings. It's such a disappointment b/c it's a good take along food. I can at least peel it off and eat the yolk. In addition, I have found that I have a problem with certain teas & one brand of olive oil. I have been drinking all decaf teas of course but certain ones just set off cravings.

I have a question. How many of your daily calories is from protein?

[kjspea]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

Thanks everyone for your input, I appreciate it, especially those who understand what my ‘issue’ is – it’s hunger in this case.

Dr. A says that in “most” cases hunger will be assuaged in induction as a result of ketosis. I may be a special case. The supplements that he recommends to suppress the appetite/reduce cravings do the exact opposite for me so I know I am different in at least some respects.

The key to induction is to stabilize blood chemistry, moderate cravings and get into fat burning ketosis mode. I just don’t feel I am fully there yet and thus I want to understand my body and it’s relationship to the foods I am putting in it before blindly moving to the next phase. It would be easy to say, “Gee I did a great job during induction, time to move on!”, despite the fact that I am still hungry & have cravings! Just trying to understand my body, as it is the essence of this eating plan.

just keep asking yourself every bite am I hungry still? as you get councious of your hunger and lack of it you will stop eatting sooner…rememeber as you get lighter your body needs less fuel to do the exact same …

Thanks 2Big, great advice as always. I will keep asking myself the question. It’s truly an inspiration to see how far you’ve come. And it’s nice to see another female who had such a high caloric intake, then really got it under control. I know it will take time & determination.

People's metabolism are different ... so if you can eat 3000 calories and remain at current weight that's good for you ... I have a friend who is constantly eating (hamburgers, french fries, pizza) kind of things too and she's only a 100 …

Thanks loliloli, what a lucky friend, she sounds like my roommate in college! I know that I used to be able to eat anything while remaining skinny & without gaining a pound, so my metabolism is somewhat high, but I still want to be careful! (but I was never 100#’s!) I am glad the suppression worked for you during induction. I am wondering if you are eating illegal foods for you that are causing cravings now?

sometimes when people have gastric reflux it can cause a hunger like feeling ....

Hi Heidi, you’re looking good! Thanks for the input, this is something I have never considered, it’s interesting to note. I did some searching on the net to see if I have symptoms, but I don’t really. I appreciate the input and suggestion to look into, though. It’s actually something that Dr. A should’ve included in the book!!

Why do you know how many calories you eat ? what is the point ? If you feed your hunger properly, it will dissapear and the calories will take care of themselves.

My issue is not a case of worrying about calories, it’s about hunger. I just added that to my background info to help people to understand. (And to let people know I am not hungry b/c I am trying to keep a 1,000 cal/day diet!) I have never counted calories until I started Atkins and it’s just a software byproduct of my carb counter software. I was more surprised more than anything that I was consistently up to 3,000 cals and still hungry at the end of the day! (despite being on strict induction)

[kjspea]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

I have a question. How many of your daily calories is from protein?

Yesterday was a pretty good day:

2419 Calories

P = 669
F = 1685
C = 65


I am wondering if -- despite the ratios -- the protein is still converting to glucose?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

up to 50% of our protein intake can be converted to sugar.

Dr Atkins talks about healing your metabolism by eating longer inductions.
if you are hyperinsulin then even doing Atkins you would continue to make too much insulin which would drop your blood sugasr way down causing you to get hungry and to make sugar in your liver and muscles. when you start doing Atkins and slowly your body will make less insulin as your blood sugar will stay relatively normal even after meals and your cells will react quicker to the lower amounts thuse reducing the amount even more.

Some folk need a higher fat intake too. we had one memeber who had to eat 75% fats inorder to loss and get appetite suppression.

you might try upping your fats a little and lowering your protein a little.we eat more then enough to meet our cellular repair and growth demands.

[not2late]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

I agree with 2Big, you might be overeating the protein. Yeah, yeah, the percentages look okay, but remember the percentages are based on the percent of total calories you eat. So you can be eating a 6000 calories, have perfect percentages and still be overeating.

There is a "formula" for estimating the amount of protein your body generally needs. It is 0.6 grams per kilogram body weight. You convert pounds to kilograms by dividing the pounds by 2.2.

From what you've posted you're eating about 167 grams of protein. Using the protein formula, that amount would be appropriate for someone weighing 278 kg or 611 pounds!

[kjspea]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

Thanks 2Big & Not2Late,
I am a bit alarmed that I have been consistently eating about 160-200 grams of protein a day.

I am going to up my fat even more. I wish Dr. A would have included some rough caloric guidelines even though he didn't want to focus on calories!!!

Anyone have some good *fatty* food snack recommendations?

[not2late]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

In your case, you might want to try lowering your protein intake before upping your fat. For example, if you eat 4 eggs for breakfast, decrease it to 2 eggs and add a fat like an ounce of cheese. For lunch if you eat 3 burger patties, eat only 1 1/2 and again, add alittle fat from a tablespoon or so of mayo or use olive oil.

When your body breaks down protein and makes some of it into sugar, that sugar circulates in your blood. So that excess sugar can cause cravings, etc.

Try decreasing your protein and see what happens. If your appetite decreases, then you've probably overeating your proteins and making more sugar than your body can handle.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

LOL Not2late you just told her to lower her protein before she upped her fats yet you got her adding fat and cutting protein every meal which is what she would be doing anyway when she increased her fat a little and lowers her protein a bit.


kjspea you do understand it isn't add more fat to your 3000 cals it is have more fat as part of those cals and since you are having more fat you will satisfy your hunger with less of your protein foods.

flax is a great high fat food as are the fattier cuts of meat. are you to nuts and seeds of OWL yet? those are great high fat foods like macadamia nuts.
cream cheese a little more butter or olive oil in your dressing for your salad and a bit or 2 less of protein food. what you are going to be doing is deepening your ketosis and lowering your insulin production which should stabilize your blood sugar levles and keep hunger at bay.

go slow and do just a few % points the first week to see where you need to be.

happy low carbing.

[not2late]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

Ooops sorry if that was confusing. I threw in that bit about the fat because I don't want her to avoid eating fat completely while lowering her protein a bit. Next time, I'll write those things as "example" meals.....

[2big4mysize]

Re: Hunger *Not* Dropping Off...

so how did your first day on the new lower protein slightly higher fats go?

you could add say 1tablespoon of olive oil to a 3 egg omlett and leave out one egg amking it a 2 egg omelette but with about the same cals just more fat less protein.