Can I Gain Fat Weight in Ketosis?

[six footer]

Hi to everybody!

I've been doing great on Induction. Steaks, sausage, bacon, eggs, swiss cheese mostly. My little ketostix are in the moderate range most of the tme. Question, though ... can I eat too much and gain adipose weight while I'm in ketosis? Or is losing weight in ketosis an absolute? Mind you, I don't gorge, but I do eat until I'm satisfied. I'd rather not calorie count or log. That to me is kind of the beauty of Atkins.

On the positive side ... the puffiness in my feet and hands is GONE! And I have a mental clarity that I haven't seen in a while. And I'm not sure if this is just placebo or not, but the inflammation in my knees and shoulders seems to have subsided. I'm in a lot less pain from severe arthritis. And my emotional state seems more stable.

Finally, thanks for the recipe for chicken tenders with butter and Frank's Hot Sauce. I was dubious, but I cut up a boneless skinless chicken breast on the Foreman grill last night, melted a couple of Tbs of butter and added a good dollop of Frank's ... man oh man, it satisfied my very soul!

Love this board! Thanks for the support!
Kate

[not2late]

Yes, you can gain weight on Atkins if you gorge yourself. However, if you follow Dr. Atkin's advice and eat only until you are satisfied (and not stuffed like a holiday turkey), you will begin to eat only that amount. See, one of the side effects of ketosis is the loss of appetite. So after ketosis kicks in, your appetite will decrease. And you adjust your eating according to that appetite decrease.

The problem arises when people get stuck in a mindset of "Well, I have to eat a 3 egg omelette and 5 strips of bacon, because I'm afraid I'll get hungry if I don't." That's the wrong way to think about your meal portions on Atkins. If 1 egg and 1 strip of bacon satisfies your hunger at breakfast, that's all you should eat. If you get hungry between breakfast and lunch, go ahead and have a small snack. So during Induction and the rest of your Atkins, go ahead and have some snack-type food available to you in case you need it.

Snacks are that. Snacks. They aren't full meals. So a snack can be a hard-boiled egg, a slice or two of bacon or a half portion of a meat, an ounce or two of cheese. Some people use part of their daily veggie allowance as a "snack" along with some kind of legal dip.

[six footer]

Thanks for the info, Megs. I see you have done really well on Atkins! I'm beginning to believe that doing well and moderating your portion sizes has a lot to do with beginning to listen to hunger signals. I tend to misread my body and eat for reasons other than hunger. But today has gone well. I wasn't at all hungry this morning so I waited till I got to work to have my eggs. And now I'm not hungry again. Is it OK just to eat when you feel hungry rather than space out small meals during the day? Since we don't have to worry about blood sugar levels in ketosis, I'm thinking that regular meals really aren't that significant now.

[*Emma*]

you should always eat first thing in a morning, then after that when you feel hunger pangs, drink a glass of water - as most of us mistake hunger for thirst.

yes you should still be eating something every 4-6 woken hours.

[six footer]

can someone explain why regular meals are important still? we're not working with ups and downs with blood sugar levels any more, right? If you're burning fat, I have plenty of fat to burn! Atkins just stokes the body to prevent muscle cannibalization, right? Not to be funny or whatever, but I really am curious about the biochemistry of it. Here's the thing ... I'd like to get back to long-distance endurance exercise again. I did one marathon on ketosis about eight years back and it was OK (sticks were black at the end of it, though). And I want to avoid carbs b/c of the negative health effects and weird blood sugar ups and downs.

[moniegail]

your didn't mention eating any veggies in your original post. you should be eating atleast 3 cups of induction friendly veggies daily. so was just wandering.

also , in my experience with this diet, if i wait until i am hungry to eat, i tend to overeat. so i try to eat like six times a day: breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and a bedtime snack. sometimes i eat a little more at meal times so the snack may only be a piece of cheese and a couple slices of pepperoni or a few raw veggies. then other times i eat smaller meals, and a little more at snack time. it all depends on how i feel that day and if i have much of an appitite.

remember our body needs fueled with the right foods in order for us to lose weight or it will go into starvation mode. you don't neccessarily need to eat a "meal" every time, but atleast eat alittle something.

those are just my opinions but i know this worked for me the first two times.
if only i had stuck with the plan. i know it will work for me again, and i know if i can do it you can too.


good luck

moniegail

[six footer]

read the book. No biochemists on the board?

[six footer]

yeah that came off harsh. thanks for the support, lady.

[not2late]

Oh, you still have to worry about blood sugar levels during ketosis. If your blood sugar drops too low, you'll have the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia. Since you are in ketosis and your appetite is low, you won't notice that until you begin eating a meal--and you might over-eat.

It takes energy to metabolize the food you eat and it takes energy to metabolize your body fat. That's why it's important to eat meals, even small ones.

And there are only 2 ways to "speed up your metabolism". One way is eating and the other is exercise.

Also don't be afraid of carbs. We need carbs---especially 'healthy' carbs from veggies, fruits, and nuts. But we shouldn't exceed the number of carbs our bodies require and we shouldn't eat the 'bad' carbs like refined sugars, refined grains, etc. If you look at the OWL Forum, you'll see that some of our OWLers are eating over 50 net carbs daily and still losing weight. The thing is, those carbs are from veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, not from cookies, cakes, candies, etc. The vast majority of us can eat over 20 net carbs daily and still lose weight. Dr. A limited the carbs during Induction because 20 net carbs is where the majority of people will get into ketosis/lipolysis. It's only a very few people who have to eat very low carb in order to lose and during my time on this board, I don't think we've had more than 5 people who truly fell into that category.

[disgal]

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