Discipline "after" keto


#1

Hi everyone,
great forum here, thanks for all your posting, really great stuff!!

My question might seem a little off-topic, but maybe someone can help?
I started doing keto around a year ago. I needed to lose some weight, and that worked well, I lost around 15 kilos.
During this last year, I stopped keto a few times to eat “normally” again. Together with my family, friends, colleagues. I wanted to enjoy sweets and candies, pizza and chocolate. Sometimes. I wanted my weight to stay about the same.

And I completely failed. I wanted to keep on fasting intermittently. I idi not, I had granola and other sweet stuff already for breakfast. I ate sweets all day long. I got up from bed at 11p.m. and raided the fridge. Ice cream, sweet yoghurt, chocolate…
i literally lost control completely. and I was sad a… f…

The only way I saw was going back on Keto. and immediately lost wait, was disciplined as intended. literally one piece of chocolate for my afternoon espresso and a teaspoon of peanut butter.

Now I would like to quit keto again but not only am I afraid to lose control again, I know I would from day two or three…

So i kindly ask you for advice, what can I do.
One idea is: Stay on the ketogenic diet, I know.
any other ideas? beyond eat an apple or have a glas of water. then I will have a glas of water and a pound of cookies afterwards…

You can probably see how desperate I am, so please help :slight_smile:
Thanks, Niels


(Kristen Ann) #2

If you want to eat SAD again, what if you only ate one meal a day?


#3

There is a section on the Diet Doctor website about carbohydrate addiction that may give you some insight. Going back to your old way of eating will give you back your old, fatter body (and keep you on a path to health problems, like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, etc). You might also look up Megan Ramos blogs on fat fasting. She says this helps you recover after a carb splurge. Best wishes. You are not alone.


(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

So by “normally” you mean junk food.

You answered your own question here. KETO is not a diet you should cycle in and out of to eat junk food. Yo yo dieting is harmful to your body. Each time you lose and regain weight like that it gets harder to shed it. Your body will become reluctant to let go of the fat. KETO works as a lifestyle change. Eating what everybody else eats and what made you fat is not eating “normal”. It’s dysfunctional health wise.

Start thinking about your health instead of using KETO to combat poor eating. KETO isn’t a weight loss scheme, it’s the proper human diet. The other stuff you mentioned isn’t even really food, it’s a recipe for poor health, obesity and diseases. :cowboy_hat_face:


(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

I vote for staying keto with slightly higher daily carb count if that’s what you feel like you need but if you continue to lose control and binge on high carb foods and this leaves you feeling bad you’ll eventually have to make a decision about what you want to live with. No amount of advice can give you self control, that comes from inside of you.


(Lazy, Dirty Keto 😝) #6

Echoing what @David_Stilley said. Also, in reference to this:

Eat more calories :grin: that’s where I am now. I’m comfortable with my weight so I eat more calories but still keep net carbs under 20g per day. I’ve been successful in maintaining my weight. I may go up and down a pound or 2 (which is normal), but my body is comfortably staying around 140lbs now.


(Susan) #7

@ Niels

Very well put!! If you stick with Keto as a Lifestyle then you will win in the end!

If you give your body time to actually get Fat Adapted, you will not find Keto so hard. Then, you can do occasional “Cheats” if you feel you need them. I don’t see them as a necessity at all, personally, as there are so many options on Keto to have foods that are like what you think of as normal eating; such as pizza, chips, lasagna, pasta, deserts galore, etc. Since there are Keto alternatives to almost everything; I never see the need to cheat myself.

This is excellent advice from Beccs =).

There is no need to feel hungry on Keto, and there are so many delicious Keto foods (that are real foods, and are healthy and good for you!).

We have an excellent section of recipes on the forum, and the daily meal posts that people do on the What did you Keto today thread. There are also a lot of recipes on the internet for Keto meals, deserts and treats. It is so easy to do Keto and it is so much healthier and better for us.

THIS!! David is spot on; his advice has helped many of us on the forum. He is now on Maintenance and knows what he is talking about!!

I would suggest you get back to Keto, and continue until you are Fat Adapted and I think that if you do this, and experiment with recipes and see how diverse and fun Keto really is, then you will feel like we do, and actually see how easy and fun and healthy eating Keto for life is =).

I yo-yo dieted for years and it has really played havoc with my metabolism and I am still paying for that now! Keto has been the best way of eating I have ever found, and I love it. I am never leaving Keto, and I have only lost 51 pounds and have over 100 more to go, but I will do this. You have to just stick to it! I stuck a fat picture of me on the fridge, and I have that pic on my desktop as well, this helps keep me focused. I look forward to replacing this picture with a picture of the new improved me afterwards!!


(KCKO, KCFO) #8

Instead of jumping in with both feet to eat all the carbs, slowly add them back in the Atkins web site has a carb ladder that explains how to do that. This thread has a link to it. I used it to slowly up my carbs when I reached my goal weight. Everyone has a different carb tolerance level, I do best at >50 g per day, others can go up to 100 or so. You have to test it out for yourself. While I can go to 50 g, most days I hang around 20 grams still. I like eating that way I stay trimmer and healthier. I’ve been in maintenance for over 2 yrs.

Good luck sorting yourself out.


#9

David, i have to thank you for your time answering my post.
Nevertheless, you may know a couple of things about keto, which is great. But still no reason to become that arrogant, if i may say so…

Eating what everybody else eats and what made you fat is not eating “normal”.

Well, i never was fat like what you would submit under „fat“. I was a little overweight but not too big a deal being 6´6 exercising regularly and running 20 k in under two hours…

Start thinking about your health instead of using KETO to combat poor eating. KETO isn’t a weight loss scheme, it’s the proper human diet. The other stuff you mentioned isn’t even really food, it’s a recipe for poor health, obesity and diseases. :cowboy_hat_face:

Don’t turn it into something religious.
As i said, keto helped me a lot, but what i was asking for was some advice to limit my „candy intake“ rather than starting a new life…
thanks a lot though


#10

That sounds interesting, i will definitely check that out, thanks a lot :smiley:
That’s pretty much what i was looking for i think.


#11

Momo,
Thanks a lot.
I wish you all the best for your journey. Your story earns a lot of respect.

Way to go,
Best, Niels


(Susan) #12

Thank you, best wishes figuring out your Keto too =).


(bulkbiker) #13

There are some people who can do “moderation” and are able to control their candy intake and there are those that can’t. You, like me, would seem to be one of those for which moderation is very difficult. For myself I simply no longer look at the stuff you wish to eat as food.
My motivation is putting a pretty nasty condition (in my case T2 diabetes) into remission. For that reason I would not consider eating “candy” ever again. I suggest you really do try to do the same. If you can’t then I fear your future health will suffer.


(Full Metal KETO AF) #14

Okay, sorry if you thought my answer was arrogant but I disagree, I was absolutely offering advice from the heart.

First, you said you lost and regained 15kg so far. That seems like a pretty significant amount of body fat. Sorry if you took offense to my use of the word “fat”. I was “fat” and borderline obese at 205 lbs.

Second pizza and candy are junk food, that’s fairly widely accepted.

Third you complained that last time you left you failed miserably and we’re getting up in the night to snack.

Honestly I am considerably smaller than you but your story of carb relapse was me pre keto. And there’s nothing religious implied by adopting healthy eating habits as a permanent solution to the dysfunctional modern processed food SAD.

Simply put if you want the benefits of KETO stay with it. If you want to go back to carbs and don’t trust yourself good luck not repeating what happened last time. Good luck limiting candy intake, which you really didn’t talk about. You know yourself better than I do. I was only offering a reality check. :cowboy_hat_face:


(Joey) #15

Niels,

It’s pretty clear from your post how much you’ve been struggling - caught between wanting to feel healthy on the one hand, and giving in to the pull of your strong carb & sugar cravings on the other. Frankly, you sound like a man who has already had considerable experience along both ends of this continuum.

As such, I’m guessing you already know exactly what the choices are that you’re facing… and the consequences associated with those choices.

The good news (of sorts) is that the “roller coaster” experiences you’ve had in the past during this eating tug of war have now armed you with everything you need to know about the situation you’ve been dealt. Not many people have earned that first hand knowledge like you have. That’s valuable.

The only advice I can offer is that you strive to make a conscious, thoughtful decision. And whatever that decision is, you intend to honor it and live with the outcome. Either way, you’ll be in control of your future - and, for better or worse, at least you can fully own it.

I’ll be eager to learn what happens next. But no doubt the end of this story won’t be finished for some time to come. So please do keep us posted.

With very best wishes.


(Wendy) #16

I’m assuming you know a bit about the addictive nature of sweets and other highly processed foods. You know perhaps about the bliss point that food manufactured spend thousands of dollars to discover and market to us. You have experienced your own lapse into over indulgence of carbs.
All I can say is I fear that I may lapse into previous eating habits and undo the weight loss I’ve accomplished and bring my body into an unhealthy state of insulin resistance, increase my risks of dementia, and chd and strokes, not to mention my inflammation markers and pain returning.
I won’t say I never eat off plan but I do not ever plan to eat like the rest of those people who are making big companies richer and sacrificing their health for some pizza and candy.
You choose how you want to live. I’ve made my choice.


#17

David, thanks a lot, I really doin appreciate your time & efforts. Please accept my excuses if my answer was a little too harsh, I simply felt misunderstood.

I find the word junk food a little misleading. It’s pretty easy to consume Junkfood on Keto too, where I would not consider a home-baked apple pie with fruit from your own garden as junk food.
And that’s pretty much my point. I don’t want to relinquish food like that whilst trying to avoid candies and other heavily processed food.

I was simply lookin for a switch in my head to be more disciplined :wink:


#18

Joey,
thanks a lot, that’s exactly my point.
I know it all very well as I simply know exactly how our body works, 6 years of medical school were enough, although keto still is no subject there.

I know how great Keto for your body and your health is. I see all the advantages and see how few disadvantages there are. However, I am looking for a way to have the best from both worlds, if that makes sense. Having a slice of ordinary pizza (w/ healthy ingredients) or a piece of cake (or even two?). And still avoid insulin resistance and gaining body fat.

Take care, all the best,
Niels


(Joey) #19

@Niels You expressed your question very well up front. But now that I know, along with your own personal experience with keto, that you’ve also attended medical school, my earlier reply applies all the more so :wink:

Picture someone whom you dearly love … a spouse, parent, sibling, child, a dear friend? Now if they asked you the same question that you’re posing, with their very best interests at heart what reply might you share with them? How would you encourage them to make the best choice?

Quite honestly, you’re extraordinarily well-equipped to give workshops on the very topic covering the question you’re asking. Between your professional training and n=1 experience, who is better qualified to address the topic of the trade-offs between what’s good for our bodies vs what’s pleasing to our taste buds?

What I humbly suggest is that you put yourself in the shoes of that person you love. That one who seeks your knowledge, experience, and well-seasoned counsel. In other words - at the risk of sounding a bit melodramatic - I’m suggesting that you should love yourself. At least enough to give yourself the sage guidance you need.

And then, find the personal strength and inner conviction to live with the consequences of whatever you choose to do.

I’ll be interested in hearing what you do going forward and how it all works out for you!

Best wishes and good luck :+1:


#20

Maybe stay on keto but have one day a week (maybe Saturday or Sunday) where you can eat all the carbs/junk food you want. So in other words, add a regularly scheduled ‘cheat day’. And if you want to benefit from it, maybe exercise on that day as well to utilise the carb/glucose load.