So I’m very new to the keto life. In my second week right now. When I started I was thinking “ok, just suck this up for a couple of months so you can lose the weight”.
However, just after a few days of ketosis I’m seeing the weight loss as just an added benefit. My energy is the best it’s been in years, my focus is better than it’s ever been, my mood is great, I’ve been playing with my kids instead of making excuses as to why I need to rest, waking up so much easier, and just overall feel like a new person.
I still get some carb cravings, but not nearly bad enough that I would want to give up any of this for a slice of pizza or a handful of gummy bears.
I’ve read that you shouldn’t stay on keto forever, but so far I would like to! What happens when you start introducing carbs back into your diet? Does all of this go away? I’ve been doing fine at 10g - 20g of net carbs and <35g total carbs per day.
I just want to know how I can keep the same benefits long term.
What has your experience been like?
Life after keto?
I got into this way of eating in order to stave off diabetes. It worked! I intend to eat this way for the rest of my life. Even if I die sooner, at least I’ll still have my toes and intact retinas.
From what people have posted who have returned to this diet after leaving for a while, yes, the energy and focus go away, and metabolic markers worsen again. I suppose some people could eventually eat unrestricted carbohydrate again without ill effect, but I don’t believe that’s true for most of us. Your actual carbohydrate threshold may be higher than 20 g/day, but how important is it to you to be able to eat more carbohydrate?
In my case, I have reason to believe that my tolerance is actually fairly high, but I tend to binge on sugar and other carbohydrate, so I am fine staying with a low limit. If I were to go off on a binge, I might never get back, and the benefits of eating this way are too great for me to feel safe jeopardizing them.
I don’t ever think I can go back to thinking it is completely normal to sit and eat a half a bag of potato chips with a sandwich for lunch.
My plan is to get to my goals, then introduce a slightly more paleo approach, but I’ll never go back to the SAD.
But for the most part I’m looking at keto for life, not life after keto lol
Thanks everyone. I don’t want to go back to eating anything like I used to. I can’t think of a single food that is worth giving up feeling this good. I have just read conflicting information about long term ketosis. Its reassuring to hear that I don’t have to have a “life after keto”. I’ve got a while before having to worry about that anyway. I’ll just stick with it and if I run into any problems down the road I’ll deal with them then.
I have read some article recently about cycling out of keto for a month or so during summer months. I think that this maybe an idea taken from the paleo diet that it was normal for us to go out of ketosis for a period of time on a seasonal cycle. This might address the idea that keto forever might not be totally healthy in the long run as a permanent state. But I am not advocating this, just a mention worth investigating. It does not mean an introduction of processed food and grains but more tuber and fruits oriented I believe. If you’re not metabolically damaged like many of us it might be a sensible approach, jury’s out.
However, I have seen it argued that when that kind of cycling was normal for our ancestors, the fruit and such that they would have been eating were quite a bit lower in sugar than their descendants have been bred to have.
Welcome Kevin,
My experience has been very similar to yours. But I joined for health benefits and energy gain, weight loss was the bonus for me. I have my life back now.
But yes I know what it’s like to make excuses for lack of energy. I was scheduling my life around “next time I have energy, I’ll do such and such with the family or mow the lawn or …”
The more you stay keto the more your taste and appetite changes. Don’t look back at glorious carbs, look forward to what new dishes with new ingredience you can explore. (Well they aren’t really “new” they were just outlawed under the SAD, butter makes everything better. So veggies with butter are great, without butter they’re somewhat boring. Salad with olive oil has oomph, without it it was rabbit food to me. Cheese, not a problem, pass me over some more.
Not sure where you read you shouldn’t stay on keto indefinitely? The problem is we don’t really have an option. The current carb based foods use fructose more and more (HCFS) which is all but toxic and wheat (which has been cross bread with wild grass and mutagenically modified). I’m sure corn and soy have fallen victim to similar industrial processing.
If you drop out of keto you do gain weight. Insulin still works as it did before. It is still the fat storage hormone. Your body will convert carbs to glucose and the de novo lipogenes pathway applies (fat around the belly).
Dr Peter Atia says he can flip back and forth between keto and non-keto efficiently (he exercises massively, that burns of the surplus glocogen quickly, otherwise you’d have to wait about 48 hours just for that part), his mitochondria are adapted and ready for service burning ketones or glucose … - but he prefers ketones because he likes the better mental accuity.
If you have been bashed up by metabolic syndrome, like most of us have been, then you don’t really have that option. If some one is lactose intolerant, should they drink milk? If you have severe wheat intolerance should you eat wheat? If you are carbohydrate intolerant, should you eat carbs?
Every pizza joint within 10 miles of my place knows me on a first name basis, I am a pizza-holic, I life member of PA (pizza-holics anonymous) - but if I can quit so can everyone.
I don’t waste time with pizza and other carb facsimiles, some people like them, I can’t be bothered.
When you find some satisfying protein+fat based food your body sends a satiety message saying “hey that is what I have been looking for, get me more of that”. Pizza became a distant dream I once had. I’ve moved on. Instead of candy and crackers, I have nuts.
Keto on. Cheers.
Like Paul, my difficulties lay with carb and sugar intakes prior to starting this lifestyle about a year ago(very unhealthy levels at the rate I was going). There is no life after keto for me. Life is all keto, in a nutshell, and there is no going back. This is a road going only in one direction. I am most concerned about fine tuning what I’m doing right now and correcting anything I may be doing wrong from reading others’ experiences(from people who have already adjusted for some time).
From my experience, I kept it extremely minimalist and I stuck with a routine because I do better with routines and clear expectations of myself. This doesn’t work for everyone or some might feel too restricted or nervous about not having a lot of variety. In this way I just stuck to one method that worked for me and am one year in on the other side. I do have cravings every now and then too(ie an image of a particular food might recall memories) but the odd part is that as soon as I imagine going close to it, I have totally no desire anymore to physically put the food in my body and my brain sort of snaps out of it and tells me it’s not something I want or would derive any enjoyment from so it ends right there.
I don’t imagine this is for everyone so don’t beat yourself up if this isn’t the road for you. What really matters is you find something that helps you up your quality of life and your longevity (if you care about such things) and you are happy. I’m rooting for you anyway!
That’s because it isn’t normal! Normal is eating the whole bag, of course! 
One of the great blessings of this way of eating for me is that I can now spend four hours mowing the lawn and be functional the next day.
Keto to make me feel good. Fasting to help me lose weight. A pretty good combo so far.
But I can see a day when the Extended Fasting will become unnecessary and I will still have Keto/very low carb to fall back on for maintenance and health.
Still, I will reserve those rare times for an ice cream cone, a chocolate malt or some watermelon. Note: I say rare and mean it.
That’s a tragic waste of grass! Buy some cows to mow it for you so you have four extra hours on the forum. 
I like my keto food far more than what I was eating before. I’m cheerful when I focus on what I can eat rather than what I can’t. I suspect that 75% of the benefit of keto, and all the other fringe diets, is staying strictly on real food. That seems to be the one thing all the waring diet gurus agree on. I eat real food keto-style because there is no sacrifice and may be I’ll stay independant longer, preferably to the very end. To get the most bang for my keto buck I limit eating times and do a bunch of walking, cardio, and lifting.
It’s 10:15 pm, time for bed. I’m off this week and normally have to be in bed by 8-9 pm to be up by 4-5 am and no time for breakfast. But I’ll be up early tomorrow for 5 scrambled eggs with fresh garlic, a bit of onion pushed through the garlic press, mushrooms, a bit of cheese and seasonings then wash it down with a 24 oz mug of cold-brew ice coffee with 1/4 cup of heavy cream and a tsp of stevia. (It used to be oat meal and hot black coffee. Which would you rather eat.)
You can do keto long-term. Many people have been keto for a decade or more.
I practice seasonal ketosis primarily for lifestyle reasons.
I started this because I believe my ancestors would have had a few months when fruit was plentiful. They would have gorged on these and put on body fat to help them through the winter (stay warm and energy). During the winter, there wouldn’t be many carbs available so they would naturally go into ketosis.
During football season, I go off keto primarily because I drink beer at tailgates. This also lets me enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas without anxiety. I still eat mostly keto foods because I like them. Now that the “feasting” season is over, I am working myself back into ketosis. I’ll spend the spring and summer in ketosis (“famine season”).
I do notice a reduction in energy and focus during my “feasting” season but I’m okay with that as I want the balance of enjoying time with friends and family.
I’m able to do seasonal ketosis because I’m not insulin resistant or otherwise metabolically deranged. Even deep into my “feasting” season, my A1C is below 4.9.
I think this was asked earlier in this thread or another but I keep thinking about it. Is there any shred of evidence that could point to any negative effects of long term ketosis? If it is so beneficial in the short or mid term I just can’t see how long term could have a negative side effect.
I also have no intentions of ever going back to SAD. I’m full Keto and have been for 6 months with zero cravings for carbs and sugar. I used to love gummi bears and chewy candies and now they don’t tempt me at all. I’ve also seen the benefits of this diet in regards to weight loss (65#’s down) and completely T2D reversal and off all meds. Love Keto!
I’m fully on board with Allan’s method. The body has evolved with 2 separate nutrition paradigms - Fat and Carb fueled. I am sure they both coexist for a reason - I don’t have to completely understand the reason for the carb pathway to believe it has value. Evolution is a reliable enough taskmaster.
I am now exclusively on Fat burn (Keto) to heal myself of 54 yrs of deranged nutrition.
Once I reach a healthier state, I will indulge seasonally.
Makes sense to me.
Considering there are no essential carbohydrates, why couldn’t someone stay on the ketogenic diet the rest of their lives?
Because there is just as much scientific data to show that keto is healthy over the long term as there is showing that the standard American diet is. In other words, none. 
Seriously, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of people who have been keto for over two years with no ill effects, but a randomized, controlled study would be unethical a priori, because everyone knows that a high-fat diet is unhealthy. The result is that such a study can never be approved by an ethical review board. So a study to provide the evidence that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet is safe can never be done until there is evidence that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet is safe. Joseph Heller, wherever he is, must be very proud.
The only reason I can think that you may want to go off of keto would be if you were missing some key nutrients. For example, if you don’t eat organ meat, you may want to eat more citrus fruits for the vitamin C.