Hey guys,
Sorry for the super long post, but I’m in massive struggle mode with this diet and it’s getting me super stressed and down— and I could really use some advice and support from people who’ve been through it and gotten to the other side!
To give background— I’ve been trying to get on keto for the last two weeks and I keep slipping. The first five days, I was perfect— then I went out drinking and slipped into the 150gram area for a night… got back on the wagon, but then had a couple days spread out this week where my carbs went into the 60gram (net) range and then had a complete **** up this weekend where I went totally out of control into the like 300+ range…
My macros have been varying slightly but my aim is for 5% carbs, 35% protein and 60% fat. I’m aiming for 20-25 net carbs a day. For the last year I’ve been on a super high protein diet that was more like 50% protein, 35% carbs and 15% fat as my goal has been on building muscle. I go to the gym about three times a week and do a mixture of weights/cardio (was more focused on weights this pass year but am training for a half marathon now so focus is transitioning to cardio).
I’ve done a ton of different lifestyle diets— was vegan for five years, and then veggie for another five— and have never had as much of a struggle as with keto! The first week I felt like I was dying— probably not helped by the fact that I was pulling 13-14 hour days at the office and exhausted— but I had every symptom of the keto flu and it was not an uncomfortable “one to two days” like I read online, it was hell— headaches, brain fog, dizzy, irritable, exhausted, couldn’t sleep, nauseous, etc. But the sugar cravings weren’t that bad— I was trying to do an 800 cal fast to get into it, and I was pretty damn hungry. But this last week, the sugar cravings have just been out of control… keto pretty much goes against everything my taste buds want as I’m a massive sugar fiend and and come from a family of ectomorphs so we naturally just shed through the carbs. I would say at my worst I was probably eating like 70% carbs a day. But the more I read on keto and am learning how sensitive the process is, was I just going in and out of ketosis for the last week and that’s why the cravings came on so bad? Because from what I read they’re supposed to go away… and from being vegan and veggie, it was rough for a short bit but then any cravings for dairy and meat just dissipated (however my love of carbs is much stronger than for dairy or meat…)
My reasons for doing Keto are that I would like to shed 10 lbs (I’m at a healthy weight just want to slim down a bit) and just get into a healthier, lifestyle diet where I’m not counting complicated macros (don’t eat carbs— pretty simple to remember) and indulging in sugar. I have really bad ADHD and I’ve read a bunch of studies about how the increased mental concentration/clarity and energy from keto is supposed to help with this (though mental concentration and energy have not come so far— if anything it’s the opposite!).
So as I try to commit fully to this diet this week— does anyone who really struggled in the beginning, with the keto flu and kept slipping, have any advice? Should I try cutting down to 800 cals to get into it faster or just eat until full as long as I’m not passing the carb threshold? Should I try to be lower at like 10gram a day? Any advice for sugar cravings?
Just to add, intermittent fasting is extremely difficult for me so while I see that suggested on some websites, I don’t think I could go 16-24 hours without eating— it would be setting me up for a binge. I’m an eat 3x a day kind of person.
And I’m guessing I’m gonna go into full keto flu mode again after my weekend carb binge so any advice to how to mitigate that as well would be much appreciated