Keto as a lifestyle?

(George) #1

I started keto as a weight reduction program because I know that it works and I want to lose 37lbs. Then I asked myself "so what happens George, when you get to your desired weight ? "
Continue to watch the carbs, or back to prior eating habits which was eat anything anytime?
I don’t know as I still have a ways to go. But there are 2 food groups that I am now avoiding that used to be part of my go to foods. Fresh fruit and breakfast cereals, especially the granola-multi-grain types. The Keto friendly cereals are awful IMHO.

So, what do y’all do ?
Thanks

(Alex ) #2

so far, haven’t managed to get there!

(Lazy, Dirty Keto 😝) #3

I have maintained keto as a lifestyle for over 2 years now, despite being under my goal weight. For me, the benefits of keto are beyond the weight loss. More energy, better handle on mental health issues, little to no issues with IBS which were a huge issue for me prior to keto. I don’t stress over macros anymore regarding protein versus fat, but I still keep my net carbs under 20 and I eat about 1,600 calories a day to maintain this weight. Although right now I’m in the process of trying to build muscle and someone on this forum gave me a helpful link to figure out how much I need to eat to do so. So I’m working on that these days.

#4

it has to be a lifestyle. you eat the old stuff again and you will ‘carb creep’ every lb you took off back on. How many billions fail on ‘diets’ to lose for a set time, then ‘go back’ to ‘eating more healthy’ and put it all back on.

Don’t fool yourself :slight_smile: I tried it over and over and ya can’t go back LOL

The number one top thing I learned from all people who are the ;long term success stories and changed to a healthy eating lifestyle and kept off the lbs. and got healthier thru the years and hold plan easily…they say one thing…you must eat extremely close to how you lost the weight to maintain that weight loss and those health benefits.

and darn that was hard for me to accept :slight_smile: but in the end it is full truth. Those who walk and hold the lbs lost off them and hold their health improvements allow very little back. Ever. Those who ‘try’ to go back usually are the failures.

So…just stuff to think about. It is a tough game we play but never fool yourself cause in the end you end up on the lose/gain it all back plus more and it becomes such a darn rotten place to be over and over again.

(UsedToBeT2D) #5

I do eat the commercially prepared Keto stuff, just real food.

(George) #6

Yeah Fangs, been there and done that, as you say, over and over again.

#7

yea so many of us. it sure stinks! :skull_and_crossbones:
all we can do is learn and avoid the next round of insanity I guess :partying_face:

(George) #8

That’s impressive Beccs. Under 20 is tough for me though I might be able to do the 1600. My target is 205 from 242. 205 was my weight in high school.

#9

oh remember too you are now negotiating with yourself…lol…it never plays out well in the end, we all know this.

there is no negotiations for our bodies. they react to food intake. your mind is saying I wanna change just that to ‘eat what I love and WANT back’ and your body says, sure try it, ain’t gonna work :slight_smile:

You must find ways to eat great keto food you love and make ALL you do eat suit you and makes ya happy with the ‘foods that fit your keto category’ now. You will make new favorites :slight_smile: yes it will be done, but in the end we all want the old favs back and we can’t. Most can never make that work.

So think forward. Think ‘my best keto foods are’ and build on that ya know. Make meals that you would enjoy and experiment based on what ya love already and treats your body well and is helping you now.

you can’t go back, it is truth and we gotta face it and it irks me too LOL

now think forward. Don’t think I used to love granola stuff and want that back…what can I do to leave that stuff I LOVE in the past and find what great foods can easily replace that and you leave it in the past and give it up and think, wow, I never really needed that?

time and a bit of work on yourself and sit and think about it all and you will find that wonderful movement forward…it is all about your keto forward movement now :wink: Think how to move forward and be thrilled with doing just that…you will for sure if you put thought into next meal foods that I will eat vs. what I used to eat. You will be ok for sure!

#10

what carb limit are ya doing? anything over 50 easily is gonna kill ya and you gotta stay more toward that 20g carb per day to make you get into ketosis well and hold ya. Are you eating alot more on carb intake per day? Kcals don’t matter, it is all about that carb limit count for keto.

#11

here ya go: watch this and short but I love Dr C

#12

I never change my woe just temporarily and I probably don’t want to lose fat so much… I change for health, more joy in eating, feeling a better balance…? The latest has something to do with health too but it feels better not only physically if we aren’t a slave of our bad habits.

I am very slow too and I basically stall forever so I can’t even do quick fat-loss diets and going back. But I don’t see why I should go back. If I don’t want a woe for good, I hardly will be able to do it for several months! I don’t do hard and “strong” things, I like to do/eat whatever I want. It took a long time for me to try keto after I went low-carb.

I actually went back but not completely. I tend to have on/off keto times. If it’s a not a super rare visit, it’s a sign my keto isn’t right yet or I am not okay yet, I need tweaking my woe, changing my ways. My woe is evolving, both my keto and my off times change as my main meals tend to be similar all the time, my off days usually just have something extra (or if they are full-blown carby days, well, I made a mistake or try to get away with some super special rare something but it never feels really good).
The lower-carb my day is, the better it feels, typically. So no, it would be a colossal mistake to go “back”, I actually can’t to go back even if I raise my carbs, my low-carb days aren’t my old low-carb days, I have more meat and less plants now… The bridges just burned somehow.

As far as I know, it’s super rare that someone can get away with going back if keto works well for them. They should stay. Some people aren’t good enough with keto and they may need some more carbs but still nothing like their original woe…? Well, surely there are such cases. Some people stay keto but can get away with some exceptions. And many people better stay, period. I’m still experimenting but my once very very well working low-carb woe is too carby for me now and the carbs I ate back then makes little sense to me now so it’s time to say goodbye. It was nice, I lost all the fat on low-carb this far but it’s my past now.
Our woe tends to evolve sometimes, it’s very true for me. I just do it slowly and very not disciplined. It was tough with my old keto, forever on/off without finding my sweet spot, going lower with my carbs drastically speeds up things. It’s totally the carbs for me, other people may need some other change if their original keto doesn’t work well enough. Mere ketosis isn’t an automatically wonderful thing for everyone, some of us needs more to get real benefits.

(Robin) #13

I know you. I was you. Maybe I still am you. At 66, I have seen the same numbers on the scale when I was headed up at warp speed, and when I was headed back down at a snail’s pace. Keto is the only “diet” so far that is stronger than my head games. So… every pound you lose, tell yourself that you don’t want to see it again. Every time you fit into those smaller pants again, stand in front of that mirror and declare victory. And if those smaller pants start getting tight again… DON’T switch back to the bigger ones. That’s defeat, and you know it. You do not want to keep yanking success out of your own hands. You signed up for this because you know you MUST be better. So you must DO better. You are only fighting yourself. But you are also fighting FOR yourself. No looking back. One day, you’ll be in that place where you love yourself again. And honestly… it gets easier and easier until you don’t even think about it. So… don’t have a number as your end date. Forget end dates, period. You’ll see. And oh yeah… YOU GOT THIS!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #14

Obesity, even only slight obesity, is a symptom of metabolic disfunction. If you go back to eating what made you fat in the first place, it will just make you fat again. In addition, the damage to your metabolism will ramp up again. Only this time around probably moreso. Keto is a lifestyle change for the better. Think of it that way, not as some great sacrifice you made to lose a few pounds. But a change you made to stop ruining yourself so you can live to the fullest. I adopted keto at the age of 71 and four years later consider it the best thing I ever did for myself. I don’t miss what I left behind.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

The big problem with keto is that it doesn’t make us invulnerable to the eating habits that made us sick and fat in the first place. As Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt likes to point out, daily showering is great, but if you stop showering, eventually you’re going to get sweaty and dirty again. Life is unfair like that.

#16

I am also but we found our ways to help us long term…others need this knowledge to walk this way too.

we all are in changes and pure acceptance of what that will take and that was a very inspiring and very strong post! I so love posts like this, our experiences show others they are not alone ever and at some point, we have to ‘choice a side’ and hold on for dear life :slight_smile:

No kidding Robin, that is strong words and great experiences you shared!

(Robin) #17

Thanks, I guess I try to be the voice I wish I’d heard long ago.

(George) #18

What I find curious is this. I did a low-carb diet along with 2 friends in the office. This was probably 45 years ago before it was named Keto. I think it was called the drinking man’s diet in that we could have bourbon, scotch, etc., but not mixed drinks.
Along with all the steak and green vegetables we wanted.
I also refused to stop eating fruits as they are my weakness. Surprisingly I still lost a ton of weight. By a ton I mean 20 lbs in 2 weeks. 235 to 215. I am 6’3" so it is distributed well. Admittedly i was exercising more but somehow I think that fruit carbs are not as damaging as pasta carbs.
We’ll see what happens when I get to 205.
I really appreciate all the thoughtful responses.

#19

yes me too. right there with you but also think for some of us ‘who don’t click fast like others’, we are meant to walk this thru experiences and learn and darn great info to put out for others to read! Takes longer but we get there and with posts like yours, it moves others into harder thinking of what is at stake!

#20

it is about who you are in the end.

while a tad of fruit might never make you crave or want to go off plan for another it is a death nibble they take and they cave and binge out.

for those who eat a small amt of pasta they do well, for many a 1/2 cup of pasta is useless and never would satisfy.

then ya got ‘the body’ of that person and real medical issues, what meds effect what foods paired with it or what body damage is internal you never see or know about ever thru our eating and how our food effects us.

so it is never ever an easy ‘simple diagnosis’ for each of us, but if you drop sugar mixes in drinks, you ‘watch your food’ you will and can lose lbs. but can you maintain that lifestyle longer term at all…no, and that is why the steak and booze diet is gone from the books LOL

Key to it all is full truth for what it WILL take for you. We are all gonna vary on that and what one can eat you never will and you read about ‘what they do’ but you have to learn if ya try it and it doesn’t suit you, ya gotta move on and DO what does work for you.

So it is a massive mind game at some point, about acceptance and learning about our bodies and what we must do but at that same time it is truly wanting change and what the heck are you willing to put forth from your character to make it happen.

who in the heck said eating healthy in this day and age thru work stress, love of junky chem foods that taste so darn good LOL and more that it would be a cake walk changing ourselves up. Nope, can be a nightmare for millions but in the end, we group together and share experiences to learn and make changes stick and change that darn mindset into one that helps us move forward and isn’t a hinderance.

just my thoughts on it :slight_smile: