Maintenance Strategies?

(Joe) #41

Question for you all maintenance peeps… I have a little concern of not being able to stop losing weight Im approaching the 150s and flew through the 160s in about a month. I don’t want to get below 155. I’m not exercising I’m.just eatin to satiety and fasting. I cut out my 48 hour fast to 24 and started more 16/8 versus 20/4. I’m often simply not hungry anymore.

#42

I like your strategies for maintenance. I generally do IF, 18 hour fasts, occasionally 24 hours, and I’ve done a few 48 hours. I can see fasting becoming a valuable tool in maintenance. Hoping I can eat up to 50 carbs per day in maintenance, have recently found that cutting down on even “good” carbs is necessary for me to lose these last 10-15 pounds. It’s wonderful that you’ve maintained for over a year!

#43

I aim to eat 2 meals a day as my standard and OMAD 2-3 days a week. On sat or sun, i usually toss in a breakfast because…bacon. I’m finding it lovely to just trust my hunger and intuition. I toss in a 36-48h fast every once in a while (every few months). I’m not losing weight but continue to shrink a little like this. I eat lazy keto.

(Alec) #44

Joe, I would say trust your body to do the right thing. What that means is that when it decides it needs more food it will tell you by getting hungry. Keto normalises your hormones, one of which is ghrelin (sp?), the hunger hormone. If you do charge down lower than you want to go, then stop fasting.

(KCKO, KCFO) #45

Joe, cutting back on fasting should slow the loss. You can also up your fatty proteins a bit more. Just eat more of the good stuff to keep weight on, if you are 20 grams carb, you might try slowly, adding back in some good ones, not the potatoes, pasta/grains, & breads, but some slightly higher carb veggies or fruit like apples or pears.
I personally slowly worked up to 50/60 carbs daily, but some days, I can go as low as 15 carbs. Your body will probably tell you when you need to eat more or less.

Congrats on the loses so far.

(Joe) #46

I’m thinking of trying move to putting on some muscle. If I could swap 10 lbs of fat for 10 lbs of muscle I would be thrilled. I think that will be my first goal for maintenance. I went back to the gym tonight I was previously doing super slow resistance exercise. I realize I’m going to have to increase my cals and protein alot. So ill try to keep the carbs around 20 and eat up the protein. I have been SUPER low carbs most days during the loss sometimes 5-8. I did another progress photo tonight because I did the invodubat the gym and was at 18% body fat. Pretty stoked about that one my goal is 15 and started at near 30. And that was only going down .2 lbs of muscle. I love keto!

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(Karen) #47

I am so excited for you seeing your tummy trimming up. Gives me hope to see that my skin will get less saggy.

K

(Lisa F) #48

You’ve done so well! Congratulations! I haven’t started lifting yet but I do not it makes me absolutely crave protein! Good luck and keep us updated on your progress!!

(Karen Parrott) #49

Check out Ketogains or Keto Evangelist groups. Also the information at Ted Neimans website. Also Rob Wolf over at the Paleo solution has ideas on how to do explosive sports like jujitsu and maintain muscle mass. Also Brad Kearns at primal endurance podcast. The different groups each had helpful information and I am not super cuts or even muscular but working on that part. All of the groups that I listed have a sub focus on lean mass gain , while remaining keto.

Best wishes and congratulations. There are many individual adaptations to get any results or body composition in maintenance. See what works and let us know. There is no one way but one or two ways that will work better for you

(Jimmie) #50

Congrats on the weight loss, Joe. Thanks for the hints (stricter on carbs) on how I should proceed on my keto journey. Currently, 203 lbs, down from 217 in a month…my goal is in the range of the 170’s.

#51

@KetoLikeaLady posted this in the August IF/EF thread, thought it was really helpful & talks about maintenance towards the end:

(KCKO, KCFO) #52

On the FB page Obesity Code Network, I took a challenge to change my eating window on a daily basis. It was pretty easy to do and I found my weight did not do any kind of significant bounce, which is a good thing in maintenance. It only went up or down .2 oz. So I’m adding this protocol to my strategies.

How are the rest of the Mainenance Crew doing this week?

(Brian) #53

Dang, that’s a very narrow window.

I’m not to maintenance yet, still have a little more to lose, but I’m going very slowly and kinda sneaking up on maintenance.

I still have a window that’s well over 5 pounds that’s completely normal. It varies from day to day depending on levels of hydration, how hard I’ve worked physically, elimination, and to a minor extent, even the weather.

(Shawn Douglas) #54

Hi there. This is my first post here. I started keto at the beginning of the year have lost over 45 pounds. I would liked to have lost another 10 pounds, but have stalled out. I wanted to stay in a 10 pound weight range , but have decided because I have hit a wall, to narrow it a 5 pound weight range. Anyways for the last couple of weeks I have stopped trying to lose and started my own little strategy to maintain. As much as the Keto diet has helped me to achieve weight lose success like never before, by getting my cravings under control, I have found that I miss some of my carbs. Fresh fruit like peaches, strawberries, even the odd chocolate, and the evil donut. Now I do Keto during the week and let loose a little on the weekends. My wife, who saw my success and joined me doing keto, was horrified when she saw me “cheating”. I find I am in complete control of my cravings still, and am able to keep myself from bingeing. So far have been able to keep from gaining weight. Depending on how physically demanding my day is, I am usually back in ketosis by the end of the day Monday. I know this strategy might not work for everyone, not even sure it is even a good one. We will see I guess. Anyone else try this? Were you successful? Please note that I am not diabetic, 1 or 2, but started Keto to avoid type 2 and lose the excess weight.

#55

I weigh daily to make sure any deviations I have do not affect me too negatively. I’m not on maintenance yet, but it’s kept me from stalling or going too far off course. Everyone is different, if your not diabetic, I don’t think a little treat now and then will hurt, as long as you can control it.
I can’t trust myself with a donut yet.

I guess my not too helpful advise is you are an N=1, so only you know how strict you need to be and which foods will affect you for better or worse.

(KCKO, KCFO) #56

Welcome Shawn. It sounds like you are leaning towards Paleo eating when you “cheat”. That works for a lot of folks

I moved from ediets CICO, Zone, Paleo, Atkinsish, then full keto. In maintenance I am able to slightly up my carbs, @50 g per day. Sounds like you might just need a few more carbs to stay on track? The main thing is keep super sugary, super starchy items out of a healthy diet. If the weight is staying off, then you are probably doing it right, for you. Just do keep an eye on your weight, if it starts creeping up, take the carbs back down til you lose it again.

Good luck sorting it all out.

#57

Originally…I set my goal weight @ 185. (My all time high was 333.) I hit that 1st goal at Thanksgiving of 2017.

But now, I’m weighing 165, 6’2" tall and 64 years of age.

I guess… I’m in maintenance. But typing that gives me the heebie-jeebies. I always think I’m just at the edge of the Abyss, prancing all about, losing my balance.

Just 1 (ONE!) Indiscretion, and I feel like…ummm… “the fecal matter will hit the rotary cooling device” any time now. Primed and ready to fail.

This very real and present danger has kept me in the safety zone for several weeks now. I just can’t relax.

It isn’t a healthy way to live, and I don’t know what I’m going to do about it. But I’m here to find out. That’s why I’m on this sub forum.

I have more questions than answers, but I recognize that the answers are here somewhere, buried in the text, and vast experiences of you, my friends…and similarly afflicted travellers. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel but I don’t really think I’ll need to.

I’ve lost weight before this, but gained it all back. But I’ve never lost 165 before. So my success this time encourages me, and sharpens my focus.

Stan

#58

Wow! That is amazing weight loss!!
Congratulations!

Looks like maintenance is easy for some and harder for others. I like to think time is on our side- the longer we go down the right path, the stronger we get!

Good luck and of course- KCKO!!

(KCKO, KCFO) #59

@goldwingnut I know that fear.

I don’t think maintenance is easy for anyone. In fact, it is harder than losing. You have the tools to stay within a range that is right for you now. You know all that grained base eating is BS for people like us. Dr. Sears says in one of his books, only 25% of the worlds population can eat grains without some issues.
I certainly have a sensitivity to them.

I have yoyoed up and down for over 35 yrs. I think lchf will keep me from doing that. I decide it is time to eat, not a bunch of hormones that are whacked out. I make myself stay at my target weight. All it takes is some IFing and occasional 36 hrs. fasting. I had cut back from time to time on the grains and sugars too except for honey which I “thought” was a great natural sweetener instead of cane or beet sugars. Since I am tolerant of stevia, it is my sweetener now. Luckily I am more a salt and crunchy gal, instead of soft and sugary.

Now that you are fat adapted, you can probably eat the occasional carbage and not fall off the cliff. So Keep Calm and Keto/LCHF on my friend.

#60

@goldwingnut You are not alone! The fear is real for me, too. However, I do have more faith this time that IFF I weigh myself regularly I keep adding data to know what I can (and cannot do) to stay in maintenance. For example, this month I did a few experiments to see what I tolerated – and learned more about what I cannot tolerate.

Even the unsuccessful forays are not all a bust as each time I am negatively impacted by an experiment I just revert to strict keto for a few days and get back to base camp! That has always been the miracle of keto for me - as opposed to my multiple, multiple other attempts with other ways of eating: Keto welcomes me back each time. Good luck! You’ve got this AND this thread has been SO helpful to me - and I hope to you as well!