That’s why I like keto. Starving myself just doesn’t work for me, and I couldn’t keep the weight off long-term if I had to restrict my calories permanently. I like the concept of a well-formulated ketogenic diet as described by Dr. Phinney: moderate protein, carbohydrate below the level that triggers high insulin, and fat to satiety. I can well believe that as my body fat is metabolized, my dietary fat will increase, so that my energy intake remains constant. That seems so easy that even I might be able to manage it! I am terrible at calorie-counting, and eating fat to satiety renders it unnecessary.
The one challenge in this way of eating is the carbohydrate cravings. I get them even when I am clearly not hungry. Fortunately, these forums have taught me ways of dealing with the cravings.
There is also a factor not being mentioned in this discussion, and that is our reasons for eating a ketogenic diet in the first place. We usually approach keto primarily from the point of view of weight loss, but it is important to remember that obesity is not the cause of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, it is as much a result of metabolic disfunction as they are. Those of us who are in need of metabolic health have to approach our food intake from a quite different perspective from those who are primarily or only interested in fat loss.
I admit I have been seduced by loosening pants and ribs that almost show again, but my reason for starting to eat low-carb, high-fat was to avoid metabolic syndrome, or worse, type II diabetes, which runs in my family. I seem to have staved it off, but only in the nick of time. As much as I am interested in tweaking my diet to lose a further fifty pounds or so, I have already achieved my primary goal, so I have to remember that anything I do with my diet must not compromise my metabolic health. If all I were interested in were the weight loss, that might be different.
