How to stick to keto and stop slipping off the wagon?

(Konata) #1

I’m been trying to do keto since June but I keep cheating. I’ve always been a healthy weight, so every time I cheat, I think “It’s fine, I’m not going to gain weight, nothing will happen to me.” which is true. I didn’t gain or lose any weight. I don’t go through keto flu afterwards either. I only feel bloated afterwards. I notice I don’t cheat when there are no carbs in the house. The only problem is I live with someone who doesn’t eat keto. They buy a lot of the “healthy” high carbohydrate foods like, oatmeal, popcorn, bananas, rice, etc. They buy it for both of us. I’m a healthy weight, but I want to do keto for the health benefits.

#2

It all starts and ends with you. Why are you doing this? Are you in it for the long haul? Is this something YOU decided to do for YOU?
What helped me was standing in front of a mirror and telling myself that I am an adult, I’m responsible for my own actions and I am not a dog, so I shouldn’t reward myself with food, put some big girl pants on!! Soon my head caught up, I was proud to stand behind my choice and never looked back. Quitting is not an option, sometimes you just have to be hard on yourself, just say no! :slight_smile:

#3

I love sandy’s reply!

I had to do that same. Big girl talk with myself.

You have to want this change. Not just for losing lbs…realizing it is a healthy eating change for life and you are doing it for that reason. You despise the junk foods out there, realize carbs are the worst things to ingest on the planet just short of poison and what effort are you willing to give to this change you so desire?

For me I just kept repeating NO MATTER WHAT. No matter what I was sticking to my lc plan like glue. No matter what excuses come my way they are useless, I stick to plan like glue. And I did. Cause I wanted it for my personal reasons but I sure had to walk past those loud excuses bombarding me to not care about my eating.

So like sandy said it does begin and end with you and your personal reasons. You don’t care or don’t want this you will never make it.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #4

I also live in a house with someone on the SAD diet so every time I visit the kitchen I am faced with his food and my food. Eating something off plan lasts mere minutes but the results of can last for days. Remind yourself it’s not worth it.

You’re in a tough position because you’re not at the end of your rope health wise or don’t have a large amount of weight lose like many members. Essentially it’s a choice between a temporary feeling while eating the thing or the strong, well earned feeling of success you get when you have accumulated time eating better. The longer you abstain the less the cravings and the easier it is to pass high carb foods up. Many report that they didn’t know how bad they felt (low grade malaise) until they felt so much better on keto. Give yourself a chance to find out.

(Konata) #5

Thanks everyone for your replies. They are very helpful. I am going to apply the advice you gave.

#6

and eat the best food you love…eat a ton of it and enjoy it. The more you love your food the better you are.

eat eat and eat more LOL
all the stuff you love. never compromise on good food for yourself.

(Jill F.) #7

My son is severely autistic and eats tons of carbs. They are all over my house taunting me. Everyday. 24/7. I view it like poison for me. I used to feel tired, bloated, miserable. Now I have energy, feel great, like a new person.
I view it like this, I have a BMW and I love it. I bought it used and try really hard to take care of it. It says to use only premium fuel in it and it of course is more expensive. I put it in there because I know it will run better, last longer, and have great performance with it. I try to view my body the same way with keto. May be a silly analogy but it helps me view my food as fuel and not eat based on cravings or emotions.

(Konata) #8

That’s actually a great analogy!

(KCKO, KCFO) #9

I agree with the other posts here. Just wanted to add since someone else brings in those foods you should have a heart to heart about how you don’t need them to spend money on foods you should not be eating.

You sound like you are basically pretty healthy, stay that way by eating the right foods. I can’t do grains, I love them dearly and always have, but I can no longer eat them, they freeze up my joints, I can barely type a sentence when I eat more than a tiny portion of one of them. But since you don’t face that kind of health punishment for eating carbs, select some of the better carbs, eat under 100 grams of them. High fats, high carbs is the really nasty diet. Low carb, high healthy fats is a great way to eat.
Dietdoctor.com has great infograms on carbs and the other things as well. Talk with the other person about using those as a guideline for shopping if they want to buy you stuff to eat. Good luck!
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits#similar

(Konata) #10

Thanks! That’s a great website.

(Marianne) #11

Agreed; I don’t miss carbs because I thoroughly enjoy what we eat. Now, if I am hungry, I’ll reach for an egg, bacon, or chunk of pepperoni. HF/LC suits me very well.

(Marianne) #12

We only had one trick-or-treater, and I had bought three bags of M&M mini packets. I used to love M&Ms, and other candy. They were sitting on the counter until today when I could give them away. They didn’t tempt me because I do view them as so unhealthy and also because if I ate one of those little packs to “try” it, I really believe that I would have eaten the entire bag or gotten into something else within a few days. Food addiction is real, and a slip is very dangerous.

#13

Oatmeal sure, nothing healthy about popcorn or bananas. Start tracking your food intake with something like cronometer INCLUDING your cheats. You’ll be amazed to start linking together things you eat and when you go off the wagon! Most people are triggered by something and THAT’S when it’s very easy to convince yourself to eat crap. It’s not always you choosing (or so you think) to have a cheat! I can eat pizza, rolls, fries etc with no fallout whatsoever. If I eat a “real” desert or something with 1-3 days after I’ll start craving crap unbelievable. The fake sweet deserts don’t to it to me, but the real thing does every single time.

(Konata) #14

Carb-loaded junk food doesn’t tempt me either. It’s the seemingly healthy carbs like whole grains, fruits, and tubers that give me a problem.

(Jack Bennett) #15

Have you explained to your housemate that it’s important to you to follow your keto plan?

As an analogy, if I were living with someone and they were vegetarian, I wouldn’t buy meat “for both of us”.

(Konata) #16

No, I haven’t explained to them. They know I eat keto though. They just forget sometimes

#17

Yep, for many of us it’s so easy not to buy carby food but if it’s there, that’s tougher (I even cook and bake carby food, it’s unavoidable).

It sounds you don’t really crave carby food, it’s just there and you don’t even try to resist much because you know you will feel okay enough. You should change your attitude. You decided on keto for some reason. Try to do it then. Don’t say “it’s fine” if you regret it afterwards. Try harder, think about it WHY do you want to eat the food you don’t need and that even will make you feel bloated. Don’t you have a similarly tasty (though different. oh I love variety a bit too much) but better food to eat?

It shouldn’t dictate your decisions if someone buys some carby food for you. They should know better anyway if you explained them how you eat. It’s your decision and you should stick to it (or at least trying and coming back soon if you go off keto) even if the circumstances are far from ideal. Determination helps, you have some motivation… Most people has circumstances, excuses are everywhere. But if you know keto is better for you, try a bit harder. There are individual tricks, I don’t believe we should be super strong-willed just to have the right lifestyle (maybe some people do, I don’t know. I refuse to do anything hard and find another way even if it takes more time).

So I think you should think about why you wish to eat keto. It’s not just about our weight, many of us feel better on keto, people get healthier… And being bloated sounds bad to me if I already found a way to avoid it.

(Konata) #18

I had steak with butter today, and I realized how it tastes much better than carbs.

(KCKO, KCFO) #19

Curious, why did you decide to go keto you said you aren’t doing it for weight loss and only feel bloated after eating them.

For bloating, keep track of what you eat, a pic on the smartphone will work to remind you of what might cause the bloating. No need to track with an app or anything else, this has really been working well for my DH. He has IBS and has dropped from diabetic to the prediabetic level in the last year. So tracking what he eats is important so he knows what triggers an attack of IBS.

(Konata) #20

I decide to go keto for the health benefits of it. I like being fat adapted because I don’t get ravenously hungry at inconvenient times I’m a busy person and can’t eat all day long. Also going keto cleared my skin. When I eat carbs, I get pimples.