Two Weeks Into Keto and Still Hungry? Don't Try to Lose Weight Yet (1-Minute Reply, 2017)

2017-07-18

In this recording

A 72-second video reply from July 2017 to a group member. They were two weeks into keto, hungry, and had posted their weight and a weight-loss goal. It ends where my follow-up questions start, so it's the opening of a longer exchange. It was never posted to YouTube.

[0:00] "Don't worry, we'll figure this out for you." Three things first. Where did your calorie goal come from? If you're hungry on keto, I think you're doing it wrong. And you're two weeks in, which is the hard part.
[0:00] The first two weeks are terrible. I don't suggest trying to lose weight in them.
[0:32] Nor do I suggest weighing yourself, or cutting calories, in the first two weeks.
[0:32] In those weeks: learn to eat keto foods, let yourself slowly become fat adapted, and control your carbs.
[0:32] Around week three, or more likely week four, the hunger starts melting away. Your body behaves differently, and then losing weight gets easy.
[0:32] Back to my first question: you posted your weight and your goal is weight loss, so what are your calories set at?

Watching this in 2026

This is the short version of a message I gave over and over that first summer. Hunger in month one usually means the calorie target is too low for where your body is, not that you need more willpower. The first thing I asked was where the calorie number came from. Many beginners copy a target from a macro calculator without knowing what it assumes. In my MyFitnessPal video I tell people to set it to maintain and let appetite bring intake down (video DoSUgIr2rNo).

The week-three-to-four timeline is my experience and what I saw in the group. It isn't a measured figure, and some people take longer. The nearest thing on my evidence pages is a content analysis of online posts (Bostock et al., 2020). It found reported "keto flu" symptoms clustered in the first weeks and were mostly described as passing. That's a study of what people wrote online, not a trial, but it matches the pattern I was describing.

Then vs now

I said the same thing at more length later that summer: what to do if you're hungry in month one, and what to check after week six (video 7Aixw4uRksI). The line "if you're doing keto hungry, you're doing keto wrong" also comes back in my calories video (video 8Jk5ShSUpFY). The order didn't change: get through the adaptation weeks fed, then let the deficit come from lower appetite.

Who should talk to a doctor

If you take diabetes or blood pressure medication, the first weeks are exactly when your doctor needs to know you've cut carbs. If you have a history of an eating disorder, "don't restrict calories yet" is good advice for you too, but involve your doctor or therapist before you start a diet at all.

Key points

Hungry on keto usually means something needs adjusting, not more willpower.
Weeks one and two are for learning keto foods and adapting, not for losing weight.
Skip the scale and calorie restriction in the first two weeks.
Hunger often eases around weeks three to four. That's when a deficit gets easier.
Find out where your calorie target came from before you trust it.