While on the Ketogenic Diet you’ll experience significantly reduced hunger. While this is a good thing you should resist the urge to starve yourself and remember to eat!

Starvation Mode on the Ketogenic Diet

There have been some days while on the Ketogenic Diet that I found myself eating just one meal a day. The influence of leptins, the “satiating hormone”, played such a strong part in my Ketogenic experience that I started to have Ketogenic rashes which is, I think, a symptom of your body in starvation mode. This was not good and I had read and was told that this was merely a symptom of “toxins releasing into my bloodstream.” At first that seemed to ring true because so many people believe this, however, I still don’t know whether this is fact. From my  experience I would encounter this symptom only on days where my caloric intake was way below my basal metabolic needs (caloric energy intake necessary to support organ function). I should note that my Ketonix Breathalyzer was also measuring high levels of Acetone Ketones which makes sense because my body is desperately trying to fuel itself. I would find that the rashes would only cease after I took in some food. I also noted that even though I would lose weight I lost some strength and my muscles felt weak and appeared diminished.

The Research & Advice From a Nutritionist on Ketosis

I was turned onto the idea of the body being in a state of starvation mode on a chance conversation with a nutritionist and fitness coach at the Bay Club named Steve. Steve had been doing the Ketogenic Adaptation Diet for a few weeks but ended up stopping his Ketosis because he had been experiencing a severe case of diarrhea. Prior to starting his Ketogenic Lifestyle he had done a ton of research on the high fat diet. Part of his research had lead him to discover the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Long story short you shouldn’t starve yourself. Although it’s unlikely you’ll reach the extremes of where this experiment took its volunteers (severe depression and self mutilation) this is a heads up to you that you should not try to take shortcuts by cutting back in your calorie intake that you start to harm yourself. At the very least you should be consuming 75% of your basal metabolic needs. Malnutrition is a serious matter and recovery physiologically and mentally takes a really, really long time.

How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight

If you’re a real stickler for calories below is the formula to help you calculate your needs based on physical activity:

basal metabolic rate * Physical activity factor  =  totally daily energy expenditure 

Share Your Experiences

I’m really interested to hear about your experiences and what side effects you may have had. There isn’t much exploration into the side effects of low carb high fat eating.