How many times…

(653359ce53659f8bd21d) #1

…can one start Keto before finally giving up?

I’ve posted before about my struggle, and hesitate to do so again but now that my A1C levels have progressed to “pre-diabetic” territory it’s time to get serious…do not want to end up like so many family members who were type 2 and suffered many terrible consequences to their health/bodies as a result of not controlling their sugar.

If no one responds, that’s fine — I realize that if nothing changes then nothing changes, and also I am the only one responsible for my own choices. Have also learned that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet when it comes to weight loss (although it has helped bring my A1C a bit, so definitely will keep up my exercise classes).

(653359ce53659f8bd21d) #2

now I’m curious about the weird username…have always been KetoSue :woman_shrugging:t3:

(Edith) #3

What do you mean by this? Have you been having a hard time sticking to keto?
Or, you haven’t actually tried it yet? Could you elaborate a little more?

(Edith) #4

Somehow you are considered “anonymous.” @PaulL can tell you how to fix it.

(653359ce53659f8bd21d) #5

Oh, thanks!

(653359ce53659f8bd21d) #6

I started Keto in June 2017 (my neighbor had started in 2015 with great success, even today…has gained some weight back but her blood work numbers are all still great!). She was a wonderful inspiration and I was doing quite well myself, losing 20 pounds within the first two months and feeling great as my arthritis symptoms were lessened and I had more energy. Unfortunately around October of that year (all dates are approximate, funny as we get older events are harder to recall correctly, lol) I began to give in to my husband’s and others’ calls of “Just try one bite” or “a little taste won’t hurt” of whatever carby/sugary item he/they were eating and then within the past two years I stopped tracking macros (which had been key to my early success) and started eating whatever I felt like, especially when stressed. There’s a post about that somewhere here, maybe I put it under Accountability. Since then have tried a few times to cut the carbs, but without lasting results.

Most recently in December 2021 was getting fed up with myself and decided to try Noom; unfortunately it hasn’t helped much (think it’s a good approach overall, but I have a long history of rebelling against most programs).

And this summer I’m back to my apparent set point of 249 pounds, which wouldn’t be so bad if I were 6’ tall but unfortunately I’m only 5’ — would like to lose 120 pounds, think that’s a reasonable goal.

(Edith) #7

That seems like a pretty powerful motivator. This is probably easier said than done, but I think your “whys” are very important to being able to stay the course. I think you really need to come up with your “whys” besides weight loss and use that list to keep yourself motivated.

I have some vain motivators on my list, but I also have some quite serious ones including being a healthy and active role model for my kids, being an active and fun grandma for my granddaughter, avoiding the health problems of my parents (if possible), and remaining medication free for as much of my life as possible. If you have kids, let them be your motivation. I have always wanted to be the best person and healthiest person I can be for them. (Well, and for myself and husband.)

One practical idea I have is to give carnivore a go as a taste bud reset. I did a carnivore trial for seven months to see if would help some joint issues I was having. I am no longer carnivore but I definitely reaped some long lasting benefits:

  1. Boy, did my taste buds change! Even lettuce tastes sweet to me now. I really appreciate the taste of food in its natural state. Sweet things are just way to sweet.

  2. My meal planning has changed. I am very happy not making fancy meals. A meat and a simple side of fruit or veg and that is all I need. It makes cooking soooo easy. Even after a busy day at work, I have time to prepare a meal, even if it’s just a mound of ground beef, a fried egg on top, with some cucumber slices… Yum, yum.

One more thing I will add is don’t think you need to fast. That is probably an added stress you don’t need as you are getting restarted. Feeling deprived by fasting is more likely to make you want to cheat.

You’ve got this!

#8

No need to worry or struggle, the answer is right in front of your face, hopefully soon ours and we’ll figure it out! We’re good like that!

EXTREMELY correct!

On you though, if your A1C is rising, right there it’s not even opinion your diet isn’t right for you, not saying keto, just what you’re doing specifically. It can’t rise out of nowhere, you’re giving it a reason to, most likely unintentionally and probably not that bite or two of something you know you shouldn’t eat, those don’t add up those fast. I know you said you’re exercising, are you just doing cardio stuff or are you doing weight training as well? Also, are you tracking your food intake with something like Cronometer?

Are you comfortable giving your stats? Do you know your current BF%? if so, how’d you get it?

#9

NOTHING wrong with that! I hate when people try to claim there is. Most of my motivation is vane reasons :smiley: Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about being healthy and functional, but I like that for a dude that’s about to turn 42, I constantly get smiles and flirty crap from girls in their 20’s, wish it didn’t happen in front of my wife so often (girls are messed up!) but crap like that motivates the hell out of me, I’m in the gym 6 days a week, many times twice, and that’s my confirmation it’s all working. That’s a hell of a lot more motivating than a number on a lab test. Maybe I’m a douche, if so, oh well.

(Marianne) #10

I won’t do this - for anything or anyone. I don’t have any issue saying no to people when they suggest it. Truthfully, I kind of enjoy it. It’s taken me an entire lifetime to finally accept that I have a bona fide food addiction. I don’t care if some people don’t believe that that exists. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it does for me - and one bite is all it would take to get me there. This can apply to a few keto foods as well. I don’t eat nuts because I want to binge on them. I love them too much.

I tracked macros for about a month in the beginning until I learned loosely how many carbs and fat grams were in the foods I most commonly ate. What I would suggest is discovering the clean keto food you love to eat and eat those things. I have never felt deprived on keto because my meals are so satisfying and delicious. Yes, my diet is limited, however, it suits me perfectly well. I think you stand a better chance of making this work if you love what you eat and eat enough.

Good luck to you! Even if the scale doesn’t move as quickly as you may like, if you do this, there will be tons of good things going on internally. I think your A1c will be one of the quickest to respond.

(Alec) #11

This. I struggled to maintain on keto because you can eat carbs on keto. It’s just easier to do carnivore. No carbs. It is just very simple. Eat meat and fish and lots of it. It works beautifully, and most importantly it is easy to stick to. Hungry? Go eat some meat.

(Megan) #12

Hi KetoSue, welcome back! I think what Gingersmommy said about finding clean keto foods you love is spot on. It can really help to have enjoyable foods to eat when saying no to eating unhealthy foods you also really enjoy. It’s also important at the start to not get caught up in counting calories and don’t let yourself go hungry. Most “diets” stop working because people get sick of being constantly hungry. When you did keto previously did you notice a decrease in appetite and cravings because you were eating satiating foods?

Give yourself time to get used to a new way of eating again and focus only on keeping your carbs very low. Before I went carnivore my carb allowance was no more than 20 grams a day, and 95% of that was from green leafy veg and cruciferous veg.

Keep us posted and all the best!

(Susan) #13

Stats today:

Weight: 247.5 pounds
Body Fat: 54% (per Aria scale)
A1c: 5.6 (down from 6.0 in March, up from 5.4 two years ago)

The body fat sounds about right, since I weigh about twice as much as I “should”…I remember feeling pretty comfortable in my body and with how I looked at 130 pounds. The smallest I’ve ever been as an adult was 115 in 1989 (my dad said “don’t get too skinny” after telling me entire life I was too fat :roll_eyes:). Maintained a weight of 120-125 for several years after that; met my husband in 1992 and have steadily gained weight over the past 30 years (not blaming him) far surpassing my previous all-time high of 149 pounds in 1986. Hard to believe that I’m 100 pounds over that now!

Just took my BP, it’s 110/66

(Susan) #14

Paul responded and told me how to fix it, thank you for the suggestion!

(Susan) #15

I’m doing water aerobics twice a week and a “senior-style” circuit training class (mix of cardio & light weights) twice a week. Both have helped me get stronger and tone up a lot…clothes are slightly looser since I started those classes in April even though the weight hasn’t changed. My arthritis is also better, hoping to start taking walks again as well because I miss doing that. And as I’ve cut way down on bread (working on eliminating that completely as I did in 2017, thank you Chaffles) the inflammation is greatly reduced.

(Shannon) #16

I have been a serial dieter over the years, starting with Atkins in the early 00s, then Dukan a few years later, then keto several times over the years. I would always have really good success with the weight loss, so typically at about 7-8 months when I was getting close to my desired weight, I would get into the false mental mindset that I was all done. Hooray, now I’ll be this weight forever! Except alas, no. Each time I would fall back to the old “eat anything I want”, and the effect of that is when I finally said enough is enough, my starting weight to loose was higher and higher each time.

I got to enough is enough in March of this year, and I was at the heaviest I had ever been, 5’7" and 206 lbs, and belly fat out the wazoo. I know I was pre-diabetic, though I hadn’t been tested for that, and I frequently suffered from acid reflux and any other uncomfortable stomach issue you can imagine.

I think what is helping this time is both the mental mind shift that this isn’t a diet or a phase, it really is a lifestyle choice. And honestly, finding out about IF has really helped me. My family and I were in NY for vacation recently, and when they wanted to go to a pizza place or bagel place, I could easily just skip that meal. It’s so nice to be in a place where that food doesn’t even tempt me, and I know I can find something later and not be “starving” the whole time. Plus acid reflux is totally gone, it’s so nice to be in a state where my stomach is just there and feels exactly the same day after day.

Anyway, long post just to say I totally get your struggle.

#17

I’d disagree on that one huge, BIA scales are horrible at BF%, I just checked mine to see what it would say, said I was at 19%, My last DEXA had me at a little over 11%,
and I’m noticeably leaner than that now… I’d say I’m most likely 9-10% now, so complete crap. If you’re 247lbs, and able to walk around normally, you have way more muscle on your lower body than you think you do, and that adds up fast, so don’t give too much credit to that number.

Not sure if you’re tracking, but start if you’re not, make sure you keep your protein higher and you’re going to have to find your tipping points for what you can eat and lose. If you’re like most, your protein is lower and your fat is higher than where it should really be, and you’ll start losing. You’re going to lose muscle either way with that big of a loss, but you need to minimize it as much as possible. It’s very easy (and common) to lose a ton of muscle, and while lowering scale weight, raising BF%, which is NOT something you want to do.

(Susan) #18

Thanks for your input, I do try to go by how my clothes are fitting more than what the scale says. When I had success the first time I tried keto, my macros stayed around 75-100 grams protein, up to 150 of fat, and kept the carbs to 40 and under. Tracking seemed the best way for me to stay under “control” (it’s amazing what one can eat and think it’s really not that much, especially when eating a lot of carbage). Thinking back, I think I hit a stall period and then the “temptations” from others started shortly after that, going into to the holiday season.

(Susan) #19

Yes, I think it’s the “all done” feeling that has ruined my success before, especially when I was younger…it’s like my brain totally forgot or ignored what I had done to reach a healthy weight. Forgiving myself and granting the grace I give to friends & family members who also struggle (I would never talk to them the way I’ve talked to myself before in the past — that would just be mean and unproductive, duh) to myself is going to be key this time.

(Jane) #20

Is that 40 total carbs or 40 net?