I'm doing two meals a day atm, first one around noon - three eggs cooked in ghee and olive oil, some kind of animal protein (usually bacon or shellfish), a big salad, and a small smoothie with berries and collagen. I stay way full all afternoon, unsurprisingly. Sometimes, around 5, I feel a bit of hunger, but it goes away after about 15 minutes, and I feel stuffed again. I still need that second meal to get through the night, otherwise I'll wake up at 4am hungry. Any idea what's going on? Thank you.
Big meal, taken late: sounds like classic keto OMAD habits. If you're in maintenance, make sure you're getting that second meal, otherwise welcome to very easy weight loss.
I'm still in weight loss mode, started a couple of weeks ago. I'm not in ketosis yet, not sure I'll get there as I'd find it difficult nutritionally to give up fruit (which yes, I know is sugar). I imagine having a bit of fat for evening "meal" might do the trick?
I mean, there are low-carb fruit:
Berries are fruit in both senses of the word and quite low in carbs.
Melons are surprisingly low by volume -- obviously you can't eat giant wedges of them but you can still eat more than you'd think.
Botanical fruit like cucumber, tomato, etc are technically fruit. These will even taste sweet when your taste buds change (cucumber tastes like I remember honeydew melon tasting, and honeydew has now earned its name).
Oh cool. Good to know, because I was loath to give up my berries. It also seems like, if I eat fruit only with my first meal and not the second, that it doesn't affect my weight loss negatively.
if you're open to a low carb sweetener try dipping some cucumber in it. it tastes remarkably like watermelon.
I was this way in keto all the way to about 15% body fat, then my hunger came back and I needed to eat regular meals or I'd get low energy and easily frustrated.
Try making chia pudding for an evening snack/meal. Easy to eat and will full you up. You'll also poop regularly!
Sounds like you're quite new to keto. Once you've been at it for a bit longer, look for some good recipes. If your weight loss stops, count your calories.
It’s not totally clear what your second meal looks like or how close to bedtime you’re eating it, but waking up hungry on keto usually comes down to a few common things. The first is fat timing. Even if calories and protein are adequate, keto satiety is very fat dependent, especially in the last meal of the day. If dinner is a bit lean relative to protein, it’s common to feel fine during the day but wake up early once overnight fuel runs out.
The second is hormonal timing rather than a true insulin spike. Things like berries, smoothies, or even stress can cause a modest insulin response earlier in the day. That doesn’t mean you’re doing keto wrong, but combined with the normal early morning cortisol rise it can show up as hunger at 3 or 4am.
The fact that your 5pm hunger goes away after about 15 minutes is a good sign that it’s more ghrelin or habit related than true energy need. Real hunger usually doesn’t disappear on its own that quickly.
Another big factor that often gets overlooked is electrolytes, especially sodium. Low sodium can drive cortisol and adrenaline overnight and feel exactly like hunger. This is especially common if you’re eating a lot of salads or lean proteins. Adding more salt or some broth with dinner alone fixes early morning wakeups for a lot of people.
A slightly fattier second meal, eating it a bit closer to bedtime, and making sure electrolytes are covered usually resolves this pretty quickly without needing to add more total calories.
another variable that might smooth this out is meal timing. I don't know what your activity level is or whether you do any exercise, but you might want to see about timing that berry smoothie immediately after your most active part of the day, that way your body is primed to use its energy immediately
Thank you so much. I'll try as you advise.
Something is spiking your insulin before bed. Any type of protein even if it’s zero carb will up your insulin via Gluconeogenesis
Nope! GNG is demand driven; it's NOT initiated by food intake. 'Spiking' by protein - if you call it that - is sloooow...
And insulin - even the must 'spiking' made by e. g. whey protein - helps push protein into muscles etc.
Protein doesn’t spikeglucose via GNG. Agreed. Insulin does not require aglucose rise to suppress fat burning. Leucine heavy protein raises insulin directly through amino acid and incretin signaling, reduces hepatic ketone output, and shifts fuel partitioning even when blood sugar stays flat.
If this happens late in the day, The temporary suppression of fat derived fuel can force a compensatory cortisol rise overnight to maintain brain energy, which is why some keto adapted or insulin sensitive people experience early morning hunger or awakenings without ever seeing a glucose spike.
Thanks for clarifying that. Hmmm, maybe that's why whey proteins are sometimes no adviced late at night...