Question. Having a hard time finishing my meals.

Oh yes this happened to me and when I posted about, several people had a similar experience. It seems somewhere in the 3 to 6 week point a lot of people experience a significant loss of appetite, even as extreme as food aversion. Nothing sounds appealing and making yourself eat feels like a chore.

I have no idea of the science, if it’s becoming fat adapted, or conquering carb addiction, but I know it passes in about a week and you are left with what must be a normal appetite. Something between how our appetites were before Keto, and this phase.

The advice I got was just to eat what you can, protein shakes, broth, scrambled eggs. A significant calorie deficit isn’t good long term, but for a few days you won’t mess up your metabolism. Stay hydrated and watch out for that little carb demon on your shoulder that will try to convince you that toast or crackers will fix the problem. It’s voice is strong in this phase.

Once your appetite returns, try experimenting with different foods, or different preparation methods. For some people it’s the sameness of the meals that is the issue, although some could eat the same supper every day and be happy forever.

Keep your electrolytes up, Sodium Potassium and Magnesium. Search for Ketoade recipes to make your own electrolyte drink cheaper than Gatorade and with much more of what you need.

From my personal experience, eat until you're full, but try to hit those targets every day, or it can go bad. I would also try eating a little more net carbs than 2 g per day, that's really low, unless specified by your doctor.

Some days I'm just not hungry, other days I eat more protein/fat than my target amounts, but it all averages out.

Would also recommend looking into IF if you simply can't eat enough every day.

But as with everything, this is my experience, always consult with a licensed professional.

I would say try to hit protein goals and use fat to satisfy. Honestly, I still have ~100# of fat storage. I'm not gonna starve anytime soon. I have noticed appetite reduction. Went from 2 big meals to 1 shake and 1 meal a day pretty much. Still losing weight. Not starving.

Where are you getting your daily macro goals? I don't know anything about your body or lifestyle, but it seems low in carbs and high in protein. I was always told to get a balance of 75% calories from fat, 20% protein, 5% carbs. It seems like you're going 1, maybe 2% on the carbs.

Many know better than I, but if your body is saying it’s had enough and your satiated, than I’d say your on good ground to stop. Dr’s do prescribe very low calorie diets I.E the 800 calorie diet to morbidly obese patients In hopes of cutting lots of weight fast, mind you this is supervised and checking all levels and by no means am I saying that this is ok for people to try without a Dr, but if your just finding yourself not polishing off meals, I’d say your ok for not going into starvation mode. If your talking about lowering metabolism, that I don’t have as much experience in so I won’t comment. But it seems to me your ok if your not experiencing any negative side effects. Keto does cause loss of appetite which helps people make their calorie deficit to loose weight, it’s the perk of switching into fat adaptation.