On & off keto for over 7 years

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(Emily Alves ) #1

Hey everyone,

I’m Emily. I’m originally from California but I currently reside th Paris, France. My husband is from here.

I had struggled a lot growing up with food and had always been extremely overweight until I found this diet called the Atkins diet. Back then there was no keto. I tried it out for about 3 months and it was the most weight I was ever able to get off in my life. After that, the diet had said to reintroduce back normal foods so I followed the program and slowly all that weight came back on, plus more. Fast forward a couple years later, I decided to give it another go but this time stick with it for as long as I could. First couple of months were tough. After 6 months in and not seeing results I was a bit frustrated but I decided to keep going at it, I felt really good.
Next thing I know, it felt like i dropped all the weight overnight. Everyone started saying stuff to me and all my clothes were too big on me. It was really amazing. So I kept up with eating this way for about 4 years until i started to go to therapy and i started introducing cheat days back in and i realized i had a deep issue with food and this opened the door of years of binge eating. Since then my weight has fluctuated and it’s been so difficult. Especially because the people around me don’t struggle and here in France they don’t believe in diets or different ways of eating so I don’t really have people to speak with about the struggle.

Anyways, i have decided to get back on the keto and intermittent fasting way of eating and i figured telling others who are on the same journey could keep me accountable.
Thank you for listening, i appreciate it!

Also, does anyone host virtual meetups in here? I would love to meet some of you :slight_smile:

(Cathy) #2

The French are truly fortunate when it comes to weight. I am not French! My biology demands that I eat low carb or be obese and miserable. Thems the facts.

You are wise to get back to what works for your biology and even though you will feel like a fish out of water, it is what you need to do.

Congrats on your decision to reclaim your health and hopefully you can find the support you need on this board.

(Robin) #3

Welcome to keto and the forum.
I don’t know of any virtual meetups for keto, but there surely are some.
You will hear lots of various opinions and experiences here…sometimes conflicting. Because we each learn what works for us. Just us. But we all agree that restricting carbs is the key element.

Most of us stay under 20g of carbs a day. Over time, some find they can have more and others head toward carnivore (zero carb).
Please do not attempt to restrict your calories, especially in the early months. Our body will try to protect itself from a perceived famine by holding on to every calorie and storing it away. The old concept of starving yourself thin will sabotage your efforts. Eat!

Be patient.

If the number on the scale can either elate or crush you, try not weighing very often. You will see changes in your body and the fit of your clothes even when the scale stalls. Take before pics. You’ll be glad to have them later. Measure yourself… waist, thighs, etc.

You may have spurts of great weight loss then periods of none. I believe that is your body’s way of finding its new balance and trusting you again.

If using a macro calculator motivates you, then track your food. At least until you learn your way around food/keto. Many begin by tracking and then eventually don’t need to. Others love the documentation and take stock daily.

Begin with one mantra… keep it under 20g carbs and relax. You got this!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

First, welcome to the forums!

How much carbohydrate people can safely eat depends on how insulin-resistant they are. Don’t look at what people around you are doing, do what works best in your individual case. As Robin said, we recommend starting with a limit of 20 g/day, and adjusting from there over time. The human body does not need carbohydrate at all, by the way, so our “need” for it is more a matter of habit and taste than a matter of nutrition. On the other hand, a vegan keto diet is also possible, though it does require careful planning and certain supplements. So you have a wide range of possibilities before you.

Try to think of a ketogenic diet as a permanent change in your “way of eating” more than a “diet” in the sense of something we do to lose weight and then stop. If you were allergic to nuts or to shellfish, you wouldn’t eat them, right? So metaphorically speaking, those of us on a ketogenic diet are “allergic” to carbohydrates, in the sense that our bodies react badly to them, especially in excess.

The other challenge is that the standard dietary advice is the exact opposite of the way most of the population needs to eat in order to be healthy. The reasons this is so are complicated, but nevertheless, if you take the U.S. food pyramid and eat exactly the opposite, you will be a lot healthier.

By the way, it was French doctors who were the first medical people to recognise, way back in the early 19th century, that sugar, grains, and starches are fattening, so you are in the right country to find a better way of eating, lol!

(KCKO, KCFO) #5

Welcome to the forums.

I started out on Atkins as well. Did you just add the carbs back in at the 5 gram level and take note of how you reacted or did you just add in whatever carbs you wanted to eat?

In France, I would have challenge with croistants and the breads that are everywhere there. Cutting out gluten proved to be a correct move for me. You might try experimenting with eliminating it for a week and see how you go.

Have you tried limiting your meals to 2 meals daily and making sure you always have at least 3 hrs. before bedtime as your last round of eating? Skipping breaklast helped me as well.

The forums are full of good information, explore and see what rings true for you. I hope you find the level of carbs that works for you.

(Marianne) #6

I’m sure you know that in the US, it’s completely opposite of what you describe - the majority are overweight and and suffer related maladies as a result of it and poor eating. Seems like America is the country of indulgence and excess.

Isn’t that a wonderful benefit, plus even better things were probably happening internally! I’ve been on keto over four year and my weight has gradually began to inch up, even though I’ve never cheated. I’ve made some adjustments (no more drinking except maybe once or twice a month when I go out, and fat and portion/protein control). I’ve dropped some weight, which I feel great about, but It’s coming off very slowly. I’m not going to sweat it. I feel confident that if I keep going ahead with these moderate changes, these things will happen over time and I will get back to where I was. I am happy, satisfied and comfortable with this WOE in the meantime. Keto/lc is my miracle.

Good luck to you!

#7

Welcome!

I looked at my old notes, it seems I have been doing on/off keto since 8 years… I weigh more than when I started but it’s due to my 5kg stress gain (strange but it’s a thing). I lost a decent amount of weight but not on keto, mostly before and some after fat adaptation but the latter came back. If there is a thing as a set point, mine was the weight I started keto with. (But I think I just ate the right amount to have that weight as eating in that range came naturally and easily to me. It’s very very hard for me to lose or gain, normally. On low-carb. I probably could gain very slowly on high-carb as I did in the past.)

Now I do on/off carnivore-ish as that works for me way better. Or will, it’s only since a few years so I lost no fat yet but it’s still way better this way :wink:
For me, slow continuous improvement is key, I train, get better habits, both my on and off times get better, I lose the desire for more and more carbier food (I pretty much lost interest in vegetables, that was a huge help as they brought very much carbs and fat and I didn’t need either. vegs work wonderfully for many ketoers, not for me)… If you are the type who can’t do strict or hard things or not for long, maybe slow improvement could help you too…? I have this stubbornness, I know what is good for me and I keep trying without losing hope. If I stray, I bounce back, usually immediately. And keep practicing, training, doing experiments… It can be fun!

I never ever planned to abandon keto (or before that, low-carb). Maybe that helps too? I think so. It’s so lucky when one finally find the woe where their body feels better (even if they felt pretty well and healthy even on high-carb. it can get better), the direction is clear! Doing the right thing may not be so easy for all of us but if we just stubbornly try to do the right thing, it should get us somewhere :wink:

People around us? I have an SO eating HCHF, tons of sweets (with sweeteners or natural sugar, he is very health-conscious and very much dislikes added sugar), he gains easily but he is vain and he simply keeps his figure since he got rid of his fattiness at 17… :smiley: He is very healthy too. I am the fat one, doing low-carb since about 13 years? Around that time. But it’s fair, he put in effort (me too but differently), he goes hungry if needed, he limits his breakfast size, he doesn’t have inactive periods… I can’t say I particularly envy him. But I had some frustrating days. I really put in so much effort, meaning tweaking my woe, trying to figure out how to do it right and easy as I can’t do hard things…

People in my country are different, many of them are fat, love food, often alcohol too, eating very much carbs and fat… Young woman care about their figure more but middle aged village women are different. So my country doesn’t make me feel I am oh so inferior, at least, not like I care, I mostly want to be okay for myself. It’s not easy. But I won’t give up and that’s pretty important.

I hope it’s no problem I wrote about me but you gave us too little information this far to talk much about you :wink: But if you like virtual meetups maybe it’s fine to hear about others.

Good luck!

(Alec) #8

Emily
It seems that your body best responds to very low carb… it seems the re-introduction of other foods might be an issue that makes things worse.

Your history seems similar to mine… I did Atkins successfully, and then slid. I did keto successfully, and then slid. I did fasting successfully, and then slid… it was always the slide during “maintenance” that resulted in going back to the beginning again.

What I have learnt in my current weight loss (80lbs down from 260 to 180) is that my body can’t cope with plants. I have removed the plants, I stuff my face with meat, fish, cream, eggs, cheese, and butter, and the weight has just dropped off. Because there are no “edges” to this way of eating, I have found that I have had no sliding. I just don’t eat plants. Simple and delicious!

I am not saying the same will happen to you, but from your history, I reckon it’s worth trying. There are lots of folks that have tried this, and found that their bodies just magically return to a youthful size and vigour. My recommendation is to give it a shot.
Cheers
Alec