I'm 3 weeks in and I'm hungry ALL the time. I've been told "eat more fat, you'll stop being hungry" but I'm already eating avocados, adding butter, putting olive oil on everything, and I'm STILL hungry. What am I doing wrong?
Persistent hunger at 3 weeks when fat is already high suggests one of these:
1. Not in ketosis yet: If you're not actually producing ketones, the appetite-suppressing effect of ketosis hasn't kicked in. You might be eating what looks like keto but hidden carbs are keeping you out. Check with strips or blood meter.
2. Under-eating protein: Many people over-focus on fat and under-eat protein on keto. Protein is actually MORE satiating per calorie than fat. If your meals are mostly fat with little protein, hunger will be unmanaged. Aim for 0.7-1g protein per pound of lean body mass.
3. Too few calories overall: Keto suppresses appetite eventually but you still need to eat enough food. If total calories are very low, hunger is appropriate and biological.
4. Sleep deprivation: Poor sleep dramatically increases hunger hormones (ghrelin) regardless of what you eat. If you're sleeping under 7 hours, hunger will be elevated.
The protein point is really common. What does a typical day look like for you? Specifically how much protein are you eating? A lot of people gravitate toward fat sources (butter, oil, cream) that have no satiety per calorie and neglect protein sources like eggs and meat which create the actual fullness signal.
Typical day: bulletproof coffee for breakfast (butter + MCT, no protein), salad with olive oil for lunch (some cheese, not much), a small piece of chicken for dinner. Reading this I think I've been dramatically under-eating protein and relying on fat to fill me up which is just not working.
That's the problem. Your breakfast has zero protein. Your lunch has minimal protein. Dinner is the only real protein meal. Your body is getting plenty of fat but the satiety hormone signal from protein (PYY, GLP-1) is almost entirely absent. Add eggs to breakfast, more meat to lunch, and I expect your hunger to decrease dramatically within 3-4 days.