I have been eating keto for 2 1/2 years, other than occasional “cheats”. At my lowest weight I had lost 98lbs after about a year & a half. My goal was to lose 100. I went on vacation & ate what I wanted & gained 11lbs. Then I lost it over the next few months & got close to my goal again, but then the holidays came up & I ate what I wanted for Christmas & gained about 10lbs. Ok, no biggie, I know how to get it off. I lost most of it in the first 2 weeks of January. But then started stalling. No more progress. And when March came around we had several events including an out of town trip where I cheated & gained 5lbs. This time though I wasn’t at a low weight & I still had some of the Christmas weight still on because my weightloss had stalled & then just began to flucuate. I lost several pounds & had finally gotten about 5lbs away from what I weighed before my Christmas cheat, and ended up giving in & cheating at Easter 
. I gained 5lbs. I have not cheated since EASTER. I only lost 6oz for the whole month of May. And now it’s mid-July & I have only lost 4.4lbs in 3 1/2 months! I am 5’7”, currently 178 & my goal was 159 to lose 100lbs. I eat nearly the same few things I have eaten since I first started keto. A typical day for me is coffee w/2tbsp of HWC & 1/2 cup cashew milk for breakfast, a salad with cheese, onion, tomato & ranch dressing for lunch with 2 Oscar Meyer smokies (the hot dog length kind not the little smokies) w/ a tbsp of G Hughes Sugar free bbq sauce for lunch, & a 6oz burger (73% lean) with cheese, mayo, mustard & a tsp of sugar free ketchup for dinner & a piece of green & blacks dark chocolate. I don’t eat dinner later than 8pm as I start my IF then. This comes to a total of 1,535 cals/ 137g fat/ 55g prot/ 15 total carbs or 13 net carbs. 81%/15%/4% macros. I haven’t measured my ketones in a couple of weeks because i ran out of strips, but like I said, I eat a rotation of nearly the same things. My last ketone reading about 3 hours after dinner was 2.0 & the following morning was also 2.0. So my body is in ketosis but I’m barely losing weight or often, I will gain for seemingly no reason (I gained 1.4lbs over the weekend eating pretty normally). I’m trying not to freak out because Keto has been the only thing that has ever worked for me to lose weight & I’m scared it’s not working for me anymore. Any advice or thoughts? It feels almost like my body had become more carb sensitive than ever now?
Did long term Keto stop working for you? Help!
Thanks for your response, I will check out your link. To clarify though, the cheating I mentioned has been over a year’s time- I very rarely cheat & honestly don’t think I can live my entire life & never have carbs- it’s not realistic for me. I don’t think cheating on a vacation, the holidays & my anniversary is extreme. If Keto works the way it’s supposed to work & my body is fat adapted from where I eat STRICT Keto 95% of of the year, then I don’t understand what the problem is for the occasional cheat during a year’s time? The point is the same way of eating that has worked for so long now doesn’t seem to be working anymore with perfect macros. I haven’t cheated in 3 1/2 months and I’m trying to figure out why so I can change up what needs to be changed up.
I agree, but if your trying to lose weight in a certain time frame then the cheat is hindering the process. If you are at a maintain weight and understand the consequences of a cheat meal then by all means go ahead and indulge if you choose. I also would suspect that your body has adapted to your routine and has found ways to sabotage your journey because of it. Megan explains in her podcast better than I so take a listen. I’m sure you will figure it out as an experienced Keto’er and I wish you much success in reaching your goal.
IMO the hardest part of moving to a fat enabled engine is the realization that carbs are poison.
Psychologically, we have been taught all of our lives eat carbs, fat bad, go to the bar, do shots and you will look like a super model…
It’s all a big lie. Not only that but because of the saturation of plants that grow in the ground with insecticides, and herbicides by the corporate farmers I believe we are literally poisoning the population.
It took me about two months total to burn thru all of my glucose in my body. Every aspect of my health has improved. Why would going back to that be cheating? Go buy yourself a waygu steak for $200 and skip the cake and margaritas.
Thanks guys. I understand totally where you’re both coming from. I listened to the podcast & I do agree i need to change up my routine for sure. Eating the same amount of calories & fasting the exact same way every day, I prob need to up my fat calories on some days & feast & then do an occasional 24hour fast. As far as cheating, I do get that sugary carbs are not good for me, but I also have to be realistic with my life & im afraid if I don’t allow myself to eat occasionally certain things (though rare- like I said the majority of the time I’m obsessively strict with Keto- so much so that I feel like I tend to go from one disordered way of eating like I did before I lost all the weight where I just ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted & as much as I wanted, to now tracking & obsessing over every little thing i put in my mouth), I feel that if I never ever cheat especially for an event or holiday, then I am worried I will just lose it & go on a binger. I’ve been doing this for so long (2 1/2 years, 98lbs lost my lowest was 161, gained a few now at 178) & am trying to get back & I get so weary of tracking & trying to constantly be losing, which is also part of my frustration. I’m ready to be in maintenance mode after so long & im getting so discouraged. Which is the point of my post- it’s been 3 1/2 months since cheating & eating strict Keto, macros perfect, ketone & glucose levels perfect, yet only a 4.4lb loss. It’s like I’m stuck in the 170s when I should be at about 163-165.
Another thing I’m confused about & maybe someone can help me, is how can I be in actual ketosis within the 1.5-3.0mm & have so much up & down fluctuation & it seems what I do lose is so minimal. This time last year I was losing 10lbs in a month weighing about what I weigh now maybe 2-5lbs lighter. There’s no question if I’m in ketosis so I’m just confused. That’s why I asked if after being low carb for so long if someone’s body could become more sensitive to carbs?
Ron’s suggestion to change your routine is a good one.
I’ve lost nearly 40lbs over 10 weeks on 23/1 IF/OMAD and steady state cardio, mostly walking and biking. However, the past two weeks I’ve stalled out. So now I’m eating 2x daily, upping my daily calories and changing my workouts to focus more on weight training and HIIT biking.
The result is getting me back to losing weight. So far, so good. My strategery is to mix up what I’m doing now with IF. Hopefully, I can run this routine until September, then find something completely new fitness wise, and perhaps go back to 23/1 IF.
Good luck.
I might be talking total BS here so if I am please forgive me.
But…my research indicates some of the basis for low carb diets originate from trying to replicate a ‘cave man’ or ‘pre-agricultural’ diet. But what we may forget is that we don’t have a ‘cave man’ lifestyle.
Our bodies want to cling onto fat stores at all costs; it’s a survival mechanism to have a healthy amount of fat for when %^*T goes bad and we have a few days to get through (just look at documentaries on tribes that go hunting for days to find one deer; check out their laser focus, slim bodies, skills, hunger control etc…
Sounds to me that you’ve hit a very regular rhythm; your body, no matter what it runs on it will work out a way to ensure it’s survival mechanisms are in place.
Time for some Cave man tactics I would say? Just a thought.
I learned VERY recently that I can be in perfect ketosis, and (for me) if I eat too much of a certain “keto” food (cheese for me), I gain/stall. And, on the reverse, I can test LOW, and LOSE.
When I recently broke my year long stall, I tested everything I ate, removed those (surprising) foods, monitored my reactions to others foods (the cheese thing, for example), and I am down 10 lbs in the past 4 weeks, 8 lbs from goal, or wherever I stop. Now more focused on body recomp with Slow Burn lifting.
As you get close to goal, like others say, you have to change it up. Has your body developed an insulin reaction to something you’re eating? I spent several days eating very plain to find my triggers. Time consuming but, obviously well worth the effort.
You’ll find your sweet spot.
I think you’re right. I feasted yesterday with a couple hundred extra calories mostly from fat to try to change my strict regimen (as anxious as that made me) & am doing a fast through breakfast & lunch to change up my IF since I always only fast through the night & breakfast. I’m hoping that will help.
Yes, I tested blood glucose readings before ( T0), at 30 minutes(T30), 60 minutes (T60), and sometimes 2 hours (T120). And made a chart. There is a really good thread on here about it I can find tonight. If your bf spikes higher than 15-20ish points (range I used) OR (IMPORTANT) drops BELOW YOUR STARTING NUMBER (which means insulin has dropped it for you), that’s a trigger food. But some, like cheeses and such, you can test ok and if you eat too much, can make you stall (maybe not you, just an example.)
I see a lot of things with artificial sweeteners in them. For me personally (you may be different) they cause me to stall.
This!
For the week before I even bought my “first” package of bacon in May I started using the word “arsenic” to replace words like bread or sugar or pasta. For instance, I’d say, “I’m going to have a slice of toasted arsenic with butter. Anyone want some?” I made the toasted arsenic with butter and then sat there looking at the plate of toasted arsenic with butter and just couldn’t bring myself to eat it.
Changing your mind REALLY helps change your behavior!
I can see that working for some/most things, but insulin can rise independently from BG.
I’m sure it can but it’s the about the only/best indicator I know of (or at least what worked for me and the method most people here use) to test your reaction to food triggers. It also seems to be pretty widely accepted across the keto community in general.
Also , like I said, there are things that can test well and still cause issues, so I am also a believer of looking at actual results on the scale and tape measure at the same time.
I was thinking the same. The stronger my negative thoughts are about a food, even if that’s intellectual and not emotional, the less likely I am to crave it. When I think of the poisonous crap that movie popcorn is cooked in, eating it doesn’t seem like a guilty pleasure, it seems like carcinogenic suicide.
Here’s my philosophy on food:
I do not attach moral values to foods. I don’t vilify carbs or exalt fats. There are no “good” or “bad” foods. Some foods are just healthier than others. I try to eat minimally processed foods most of the time. But not all the time. I don’t judge myself based on what I eat. For me, there is no such thing as a cheat day. There is no falling off the wagon. There is no gnashing of teeth.
I enjoy food, but ultimately its just a fuel source. My world does not revolve around food. In social situations, I am flexible. I am not “that” person who won’t eat this, or has to have that specially prepared. If I have a choice, I’ll pick a meat and a veggie, if I don’t, that’s ok. Over the next 30-40 years I hope to be on this planet, I will consume hundreds of meals that won’t be LC.
Dr Fung, as a nephrologist, has a patient base that is morbidly ill from diabetes. He became frustrated by his patient’s inability to adhere to a LC diet. He adopted a fasting protocol and patient compliance increased. So there are two ways to maintain a state of ketosis, control WHAT you eat or control WHEN you eat. This forum tends to emphasize the former. I’ve found the latter fits better into my life. Block fasting took me from obese (50% body fat) to fit (24% body fat) in 9 months (with no stalls except those that were self induced). Controlling WHAT is simply too rigid for me. Controlling WHEN allows me the flexibility I need to be sustainable over the long run. Although I’m no longer aggressively trying to lose weight, I keep things in check by fasting. Sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week, depending on circumstances. I keep my weight within a 10 lbs range. When it gets over, I fast until it drops back down.
I “watch what I eat”, but I’m not super strict about it because its not necessary. But I’m serious about (and focused on) repairing my metabolic derangement. I track it and test it religiously. Over the past 9 months, I’ve watched my carb tolerance increase. Recently, I started doing an at home OGTT monthly. As time goes on, I expect to see my postprandial response improve also. This (combined with a low basal insulin level) is the true marker of metabolic health.
There are many paths to the Promise Land. Pick the one that’s best suited to you.