Maintenance transition to higher calories and/or carbs


#1

I realize many people here turned to a Ketogenic diet for weight loss goals. I know many have hit their ideal weight, and now are in more of a maintenance mode. I’m curious to what changes those have made to their diet since. Just increased calories? Increased carbs? Intuitive eating? I realize some choose to go low carb for life. I’m curious to those who have made changes once becoming well fat adapted.

Mark Sisson suggests under 50 carbs for his “Keto Reset diet” and aggressive weight loss, 50-10 for weight loss, and 100-150 for general healthy maintenance. Has anyone made these transitions, and if so, what did you begin to include in your diet that was previously off limits? What changes have you noticed in your exercise, energy, body composition, etc… from these changes? ARe you still maintaining in a ketogenic state through this?


#2

Increased both calories and carbs. Calories because I destroyed my metabolism and needed to reverse diet, carbs because I was sick of not progressing in the gym anymore. It’s now easier to loose fat for me than it was before I made those tweaks. I don’t check ketone levels anymore, haven’t in some time. I see no point to it. Even when I ate strict keto my ketones almost never went above 0.8 unless I fasted and I lost 100lbs like that. I see no purpose to caring about them. Last time I checked though I learned I can maintain blood ketones with ~50g/day carbs.


(Jane) #3

My husband and I are on maintenance but his carb limit is twice mine and we weigh approximately the same and are similarly active.

He can maintain on 100. I keep mine under 40 and many days under 20 just because I am used to eating that way. Two and half years on keto.

As for the extra carbs… minimal sugar, minimal processed foods. Potatoes in small quantities. Every two weeks I make sourdough waffles to keep my starter in the fridge active. I make 2, eat half of mine with Allulose maple syrup and butter and shove the other half to hubby’s plate :smiley:


#4

While I am not there yet (my fat-loss seemingly takes forever), I basically maintain since many years, on/off keto (it’s not the same as someone who is thin already but maybe similar to the ones who are pleased with simply not being overweight anymore. I am borderline normal now). I am low-carb for life, I knew that 9 years ago, it was so much better than high-carb! I need it for my well-being. 100g net carbs is definitely out of question, I went below 80g when I went low-carb and realized it is a natural limit for me, it’s way better below than above but it’s way too much for me now, it doesn’t feel right and accidental overeating has a too big chance.

I lose fat if I eat little enough but if I eat less carbs, I eat less fat (unless I go crazy with my not satiating fat sources, added fat and cream) and much fewer calories… Keto was always good for maintenance but for losing when I am not very fat anymore, I need to go really low. I have a high-carb (and therefore very high-fat) past and I am prone to massive overeating if I consume much carbs. I have a hinch it’s not nearly as bad now but I don’t want to try (I probably would feel horrible before I could gain much fat).

But I focus on my health and well-being, first of all. I choose the way that gives me the most joy and best health. I should slim down on that woe somehow. But I am lucky, lowering carbs solves everything. So I keep that.

I sometimes do the opposite of the usual advice. When I started keto and clinged to it to get my fat adaptaton reward, I ate way more carbs than now and I had a way more variety in ingredients. It’s way better now. I don’t add things, I learn to enjoy what I have better through elimination. But I did add meat lately, that was cool and needed :wink: But the elimination is the important part, that triggered positive changes. Some of us do this: we get used to keto and realize we can go lower, deeper, stricter :slight_smile: And it solves the problems that ketosis and fat adaptation alone couldn’t.

My body loves my ever lowering carb intake and if I add a significant amopunt of carbs, it complains. So no, I can’t add back carbs, only very temporarily and not without limits. I don’t have much energy to begin with but my energy plummets if I add “much” carbs and I often notice negative changes adding just a little. It varies a bit but there is a super strong correlation between sugars and my feelings, starches are better but they are bad too. It doesn’t matter that plant or animal sugars, lactose in abundance isn’t good either.

The size of the eating window may be changed after fat-loss too. I don’t want that, I prefer having a small one. I can add not satiating fat and eating enough that way without a higher level of satiation. But maybe my body will simply want more when there will be little fat to lose, that makes sense too. Eating enough is very easy for me, I don’t need serious changes, I do what feels right.

But who knows what future brings? :smiley: My woe keeps changing… It changed drastically on keto. I just hope I am close now.

I don’t do serious exercise, just walking, hiking, cycling on a hilly area (not fast at all :D), weightlifting with my baby weights… I never noticed carbs would help me at this level, in the contrary.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #5

3 years in maintenance. No changes. I eat healthy; I feel good. Not going to mess with success.


(Pete A) #6

3 years I haven’t really changed much up, other than more occassionally eating a treat, and going from up to up to 80% fat to like 60.

I run pretty well without carbs or more of anything.


(KCKO, KCFO) #7

Maintaining for over 3 yrs. I eat about 50 grams of carbs 3-4 days a week, the rest it is closer to 20, just because I eat the foods I like and this is what happens. I only track carbs occasionally, because I learned the items that worked for me and I pretty much stick to those. I track just to make sure I don’t get any serious carb creep. A splurge for me is usually a fruit in season that I don’t eat regularly or a veggie that I don’t normally eat like a portion of sweet potato.


#8

Been 2 years on keto, half of that on maintenance. Still been sticking to (dirty) keto, just more of it. For me, I find if I ever do ‘cheat’ on a family members birthday, going out etc, it takes me 3-4 days to get back to maintenance weight, so permanently upping my carb intake seems like a bad idea for me personally.


(Troy) #9

More calories now!
Definitely
No weight gain w maintenance
I just crave meat, mostly beef
So…I eat more🙂

No pricking, poking, drawing Labs or measuring w monitors, devices, BT, Apps, or a Connected GPS chip😄
None for me

Best tool for science testing
Pure hi-tech

My trusty belt! ( and cloths ) Works like a charm :+1:


#10

So how many carbs do you eat in a day on maintenance?


#11

Maintaining for almost a year. I have been experimenting a bit. Upped my calories quite a bit, keeping very active and keeping carbs low… around 30 nets on most days but have a few higher carb days as well


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #12

Sub-15 and frequently sub-10 grams.


#13

For those simply staying low carb and upping calories - just more food volume? Or adding oil/butter/dressings to meals more? I know many sticking to clean keto foods often are not hungry enough to consume that volume. I don’t foresee this ever being a problem for me, as I always opt away from oil/butters for more volume(more steak, eggs, beef, chicken) for my own satiation. It seems many talk about satiation from adding fat through oils and such, but I’ve never experienced this myself.


#14

I think that when I was losing weight on keto I used my body fat… now I do not have that much of it… I am around 110 lbs. So I need to add more food to maintain my activity level. It is volume for me… I think … the macros have not changed that much.


#15

I am sure it’s very individual. Back then on normal keto I automatically ate at maintenance level (more than what I would need with a slim body and the same musculature and activity) if I minimized added fat and chose my most satiating food items… I never had the automatically eating less thing - well I did but I ate WAY more than my energy need on high-carb. I could easily eat more than what I needed if I wanted, though.

I can add more meals. If I didn’t even reach my energy need yet, it’s easy to eat a substantial late evening meal but I actually easily eat at a surplus that way… Well not on carnivore, it seems as it’s super satiating for me but I am in the beginning, I will figure out what to do when I will need it. But if I eat a significant amount of vegetables and nuts, it’s super hard for me to eat less than my energy need, the carbs tend to make me hungry.
Adding a significant amount of fat isn’t always realistic but originally they easily raised my calories without making me any more satiated (only the right kind, some fat sources are super satiating and it’s individual). I could eat lots of fat along with a bunch of vegetables but if I have no plants, it easily may feel weird. Maybe one can get used to it. To some extent. If I had a huge energy need for a while, I probably would eat quite high protein as well as eating my protein in a sea of fat would feel bad, no matter that I always ate very fatty, I had a big volume of other food then.
And I like my food in a specific way, adding more fat would ruin them… I even have very little unusually fatty food, I prefer a certain percentage, I need to figure out something if I ever become very active!

Most people has more and less satiating items, I play with these (and the number of my meals) if I want to change my energy intake while keeping my satiation at its perfect level. If it doesn’t happen automatically. I try to keep my protein at more normal levels (adequate to high) but if it’s uncomfortable, I don’t worry about it too much as long as I feel right (just try to add more fat somehow, eventually).


(Edith) #16

Even though I am at maintenance, I do not add carbs. I have found that if I add carbs, I gain weight. If I eat too much, I gain weight.

I still tweak my diet quite a bit. Eating typical keto foods that contain lots of histamine and oxalates caused me some health problems. So, even though I have been maintaining for over two years, I’m still making changes to my diet for health purposes. It’s a journey that I have a feeling never truly ends.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #17

I haven’t made any changes, simply continued keeping carb intake low, and eating protein and fat to satiety.
The advantage of eating to satiety is that it eliminates having to try to calculate how many calories to eat.


(Jennibc) #18

I hit goal this past October and set a new goal that was five pounds less but have not been able to get there. I have managed to maintain by continuing to do exactly what I did to get here. I go up two - five pounds at the holidays or when on vacation but the excess is typically gone within the week of being back on plan. I will have to eat this way the rest of my life. OI consume between 1200 and 1900 calories a day depending on how hungry I am - typically around 1600. I also am permanently on the two meals a day where I have coffee in the AM but don’t eat until earliest 11 AM. No snacking either.