The Disappearing Newbie

(Nathan Toben) #1

Hey veteran Ketonians,

I have been on the forums for a couple months now and I am curious. Obviously it is only natural for people new to the diet to join the forums and seek out a handful of questions that I’m sure you all have answered countless times. I am no different! But how many of those people would you say disappear after a few weeks or a couple months? If you had to guess, what is the attrition rate after that first honeymoon phase with keto? And lastly, what factors do you point to now that you think kept you ketoing on past the half-year mark?

(Carpe salata!) #2

Wouldn’t like to guess. For me, I just feel so much better on keto, it’s just the right way to eat.

(Cindy) #3

Welcome, Nathan! I’m pretty new here - only 8 months on keto. I come and go - get busy with work and have no time to come on, then get some time off and come on a lot. But I’ll never leave. When I have a question, I find the answers here. Plus this is a really nice community! People are super friendly, have a sense of humor, try their hardest to help each other, and are willing to talk about any and all real-world aspects of going keto. So hopefully you’ll find this a great community too!

As for keto, it’s for life for me. I find it super easy to stay on the diet - easier than all the other many diets I have used in the past. Keto is the first diet that I can stay on easily - it just gets rid of the cravings. I did have to get past about a month of keto flu, but even then staying keto was easy. I’m a sugar addict and my sugar cravings are gone now, which feels miraculous to me.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #4

Other people’s attrition rate is not important to my results. It’s interesting in an academic way, but it doesn’t change my approach or adherence. Every forum has folks who dip a toe in and disappear.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #5

Don’t be so sure that if someone stops commenting here that he or she is no longer Keto.
When I went on vacation I made an effort not to do any social media. I did have some Keto stumbles while on vacation and after I got back, but I’m still very much Keto. Anyway, I personally was away from the forum for a couple reasons. 1) it was refreshing to unplug for a while, and 2) it was really overwhelming everytime I would check in seeing how much I had missed so I’d check right back out.

I’m sure there are a lot who decide it not for them and leave Keto behind. There’s a lot who come back and give it a second chance too.

(Doug) #6

The vast majority. Looking through all the Users, there is a huge number that only visited the website one time, in fact. It would be interesting to see the average number of visits and the average duration of activity.

(less is more, more or less) #7

I wouldn’t conflate site visits with whether one remains on Keto. 2KD has a unique vibe and may not be for everyone. I know my interest peaks and wanes over here but my LCHF WoE remains undiminished, since June, 2017.

(Doug) #8

Good comment. :slightly_smiling_face: I think I didn’t really get what Nathan was asking.

#9

I’ve been here for several months and despite my efforts to get off, I keep coming back…it’s a good distraction from food (so long as I’m not reading food posts) even though I would like keto to become a lifestyle, which means something I do naturally and don’t need to constantly read/obsess about.

(Nathan Toben) #10

i realize my prompt was vague.

i think i was asking about both:

  1. statistics on the site

and

  1. the general trend of what percent of people follow through past the honeymoon phase with keto.

i wasn’t really meaning to imply that activity on forums meant adherence but i see now how t seems i was. oopsies!

(Doug) #11

Nathan, if this is the worst thing that happens then I think we’re all gonna make it. :slightly_smiling_face:

Despite my compulsions which make me get off keto once in a while, I keep coming back to it… :sunglasses:

(CharleyD) #12

For sure. Donating all my fat clothes away has left me motivated to remain keto.

(Que Captain Ramius’s speech about Cortez burning his ships in the New World, from Hunt for Red October :beach_umbrella::camping::pirate_flag::ship: )

#13

Maybe they don’t need that much support anymore, once they figure things out? Maybe they get the info and probably never planned on sticking with the forum longterm?

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #14

I’d even go so far as to say forum tolerance. I don’t particularly care for the 2KD podcast, and yet, I like the community (mostly). And my interest in posting waxes and wanes. And yet, I march onwards towards goal and maintenance.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #15

Unknowable. First, because you cannot track the activities of people who do not post, and second, because people fail a lot of times before they find what works for them for good (and maybe they never find that). This is, my third or fourth serious attempt at LCHF, and probably my eighth or ninth attempt in general. Do we count each of my previous failures or drifts as not following through, or do we look at those as part of the practice to get there? I think you could argue for both.

I’m unfamiliar with the “honeymoon” phase. You start, you get carb flu, your exercise and physical ability tanks for six weeks, and then things get better. When is the honeymoon?

(Empress of the Unexpected) #16

I’ve been on about four months and I have noticed several people disappear. Some started out extremely committed, and then left (who knows they could reappear in six months) and some complained of failure on, say, day four of keto, and also left. I learn something new on here every few days, so don’t see my forum interest wavering.

(Thurston ) #17

I just filled 2 45 gallon bags with clothes for the Salvtion Army. There’s no turning back now. They were so biiiiiiig. I didn’t think losing 50lbs was that dramatic. I was wrong, guess I did realize it having been living in polo shirts and shorts all summer.

(Doug) #18

:smile: Charley, this made me laugh like uh, heck. (Great book and movie.)

Right on, David. :slightly_smiling_face:

In my first or second year of working, I splurged on having two custom suits made by an ancient Czechoslovakian tailor. I had a wedding to go to, and had nothing at all to wear. He gave me a deal on buying two versus one (and I think because he thought I was such a nice young man :smile:). 1978 or 1979 and they were $550 each - God knows what they would cost now. (Really, a stupid amount of money for me to spend then, but my rent was $210 a month, utilities included, and I had almost no expenses at all…)

They’re either a 38 or 40 size, and I could never bring myself to sell or donate them. Just occurred to me this morning that someday I may wear them again.

(Diana ) #19

I think the honeymoon phase is the first month of keto, when you lose your first 10 lbs. (of water) You are thinking “Man, I can really go for this!” That’s the honeymoon. Then for the next 6 weeks, you only lose a half a pound. The honeymoon is over.

(Thurston ) #20

I had a suit from the early 90s that I’d spent a pile on. Fit like a glove this morning.

That one I kept.