Trying to get 1 day

newbies
(JMarie 2769cedbf6aca43a0b51) #1

Hi Keto buds,
I pushed so hard for one month and then back into carbs/ sweets and I can’t seem to get through one day now. There’s a part of me that’s disappointed, yes, but everyone struggles. I just don’t feel like I have it in me to discipline myself again. I KNOW the meat and low carb vegetables were helping inflammation in big ways for my joints…etc - I just need some cheering on or something or shared experiences. Thank you :pray:t2: :blush:

(Chuck) #2

You have to have a reason and or goal if you want any kind of commitment or discipline to survive this until it becomes your becomes your lifestyle.
My reason was to get off my prescription medication, and also to be able to wear my nice clothes again. Then once I got off the medication my goal turned to getting my weight down to a normal weight for the first time since joining the Navy back when I was 21.

(JMarie 2769cedbf6aca43a0b51) #3

I am happy for you!! That is so amazing.
Cvkemp, I have the desire, reason for sure- just been at the mercy of food addiction for long time now and it knocks you around some.

(KM) #4

When I started, I specifically bought some favorite treat foods that are coincidentally low or no carb. Smoked salmon, for example. Special cheese I love. Turkey Tails. My favorite pickles. Keto ice cream. Jerky. So even when I “cheated”, it was actually still keto. Is there a low carb food you love that you can reserve and reward yourself with, so when your body shouts “Mashed Potatoes!”, you can shout back, “No, How About Some Halo Top!”?

(Chuck) #5

I have food addiction too, it is sugar and I also I believe wheat and oats. So I stay as far away as possible from them. Maybe it is because I was raised by extremely disciplined family members from my parents, grandparents and great grandparents. I was always told without discipline nothing can be accomplished.

(JMarie 2769cedbf6aca43a0b51) #6

Kib1, that’s a good idea. I’ll have to consider some good keto- type foods and not be too extreme when I’m doing this.

(Chuck) #7

Very true, I done really eat keto, I eat low carb, a set my total carbs at no more than 75 per day but I am averaging about 50 or less per day. There is no way that I could eat the same thing day after day. I love a wide variety of foods.

(KM) #8

I think it can be helpful to give yourself some rewards and kindnesses - make it something you look forward to doing! If it doesn’t lead to weight loss right away, you can always trim things back a bit, but just getting fat adapted can be challenging enough to start. Good luck, and enjoy that prosciutto!

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

This is similar to how addiction works, and perhaps some of the techniques addicts use to stay clean and sober will work for you, too. Are you ready to admit that carbohydrate has whipped your butt, and are you willing to do what it takes? Here are some thoughts:

The first thing is, never tell yourself that you can never have a carb again in your life; you can have all you want—tomorrow. :smile: Even the worst addicts in the world can go 24 hours without their substance of choice.

And even if you have to postpone the next carb for five minutes, you’ll find things looking very different in five minutes’ time. Also, if you screw up, you don’t have to wait till tomorrow to try again; you can start a new day right now, if you need to.

Another thing is, if you have the ability to do so (in other words, if there are no others around who insist on keeping carbohydrate in the house), get rid of anything that might be a temptation. When I started, I gave up sweets first, so I threw out all the sugar in the apartment, including the jams and jellies, and all the desserts. Any open container went straight to the dumpster; the unopened stuff I gave to the local food pantry. I had given up soft drinks years ago, except for coffee, tea, and Seltzer water, so that was already taken care of.

A couple of weeks later, when I went full-on keto, I dumped the spaghetti, the bread, the rice, the instant mashed potatoes, and all that stuff. The only things left were meat, keto-friendly vegetables, and heavy cream. I made sure that any snacks were also keto-friendly: pepperoni, salami, pork rinds, and cheeses that were low in carbohydrate.

I started avoiding Dunkin’ Donuts (their glazed doughnuts and cinnamon rolls were my carbs of choice), not trusting myself to go in and just buy a cup of coffee (later, that stopped being an issue). When I went to the supermarket, I shopped around the edge of the store; the only things I went into the aisles for were pork rinds, coffee, and tea.

It can be done. For me, the most important part was to eliminate temptation in my home (easy, because I lived alone at the time) and not to swear off carbs for ever. Had I done that, I’d have gotten so frustrated I’ve have quickly found myself buying a few dozen glazed doughnuts. Allowing myself to rejoice in the thought of pigging out tomorrow let me get safely through today.

For addicts, staying away from the addictive substance is not a matter of discipline. If we had the discipline to stay away, we would not be addicts. The solution is to admit one’s powerlessness over the addiction and go find help. You are making a good start with this thread.

(JMarie 2769cedbf6aca43a0b51) #10

Thanks Paul,
You describe it perfectly.
It didn’t take much to get down about something in a class I was in last night so of course, I stopped in the convenient store to numb myself on way home. My old ritual. Past tense!
I can definitely commit to a good keto meal tonight and that’s all I have to get thru for today.
Thank you- one and all. Great and giving peeps!

One of the lies tries to tell me- you’ll never do this alone.

But that is a lie!
Im never alone!

  1. I have God who is always with me and wants me to include Him!
  2. I have this wonderful group who’s been there and back that understands.
  3. I might go back to OA for a few online meetings for extra support- quit that years ago.
(Robin) #11

We never know what might cause us to finally flip the switch and get serious about something like addiction… whether it’s carbs, alcohol, etc.
My keto switch was a number on the scale. But it can also be something like a good long look at yourself naked in front of the mirror, or a photo of you when you were at a healthier weight, or your worst weight.
But hang in there… you have the desire.
You’ll make the leap. You’ll do it.

My only suggestion to get past the first day is to eat the right food and LOTS OF IT! Stuff yourself.
Keep eating as much as you like every time a craving hits.
You got this!

(Marianne) #12

The secret for me was that I found foods that I absolutely loved (still love) to eat - eggs, deviled eggs, bacon, butter/ghee, 73/27% hamburger, beef!, pork, cream cheese, soup, some cheese, blue cheese dressing, romaine, brussels sprouts, green beans, etc. Eating these things and other clean keto foods really diminished my compulsion for sweets and former favorites like any kind of pasta, potatoes, rice, pizza, etc. It’s amazing what clean keto foods you can combine to make many different choices that still satisfy after a long time of being on this.

Don’t beat yourself up. It’s a journey for sure. When you have the desire strong enough, you will start again.

Best!

(Marianne) #13

Myself and others here can really relate to having a bona fide “food addiction.” Those who don’t suffer from the same thing find the concept of a food addiction hard to actually believe/comprehend. For us others, we understand what it’s like to be powerless over food. That is why I never cheat, and I have to say, that if you eat clean keto long enough, it will take most of that compulsion and craving to eat (I was a “binger” and loved to binge eat) those former foods away - it did for me, anyway. I have all the power to happily and comfortably resist now, as long as I don’t take that first bite. If I were to indulge in any of my former love, I’d be off and running on a binge. Who knows how long that would last. Could be a day, a week, a month, or longer, and I’d spiral right back into that old depression and likely weight gain. It honestly took me until I was 60 to finally learn that there are certain things (lots of them, actually), that I don’t allow myself to eat.

You will get back on track. It starts with desire, which you already have.

(Megan) #14

Good for you for making this posting! Reaching out for support is a great move. Write here as much as you want to, sharing struggles and successes. I am a food addict too and I really relate to what Robin said about something causing us to flip the switch and get serious about dealing with the addiction. Food addiction is a hard one because we can’t abstain from food, so some triggers can remain for longer.

There’s some good advice here, like removing all non keto foods from your environment if possible, stocking up on keto friendly foods you enjoy eating, eating as much of them as you want to when you are really, really struggling and are about to cave, and trying the technique of making yourself wait 5 or 10 minutes. The latter can be surprisingly helpful b/c sometimes you get a real boost in self confidence in seeing it is possible to resist sometimes, which can lead to another 5 or 10 minutes…and somewhere in that time the intense craving may pass and you are able to move on with your day. I needed a heavy duty distraction when I first started too.

Tell us more about the month you managed to stay on plan. What tricks and techniques helped you to do that? What, in your life, supported you to do it? You mentioned a noticeable reduction in joint inflammation, and I’m guessing pain. What else did you notice?

Cheering you on! You’ve mentioned you have a faith. Maybe saying a Grace/short prayer before you eat anything can add in a source of accountability, as well as actively bringing God into the activity of eating.

#15

I am with the others: eat great keto food.
I am a hedonist who can’t and don’t really want resist temptation, self discipline isn’t my thing. Well I go off a lot but it’s still remarkable what I can do while eating whatever I fancy. I actively train myself to want to right food since ages but I always liked good food and there are great options on keto. It’s not a big deal not eating everything tasty as long as we enjoy our food and get all the textures we want (it’s important for me. I can’t last long without crunchy, creamy, fluffy…etc. things in my diet).

I always was big on sweets too, good thing that keto sweets are so good and so similar to normal ones in many cases (or better)… Certain carby items are impossible to emulate but it’s fine, there are still good replacements and if not, just some good food instead.

It may need a longer time to get the changes and enough new recipes. I lasted for 7 weeks on keto for the first time because I already had great low-carb recipes, I was on a mission (fat adaptation!) and I was pretty creative if it was about my food joy. I never could stick to a woe that wasn’t tastier than my precious one (some extreme health reasons could change this, my priorities are right, health is first). And I ate the food I liked on keto, not the food I disliked (like green leaves). So it wasn’t so hard. Later I went off, all the time, it’s how I roll but it’s not a big problem as long as it’s not too often or my off days aren’t too wild. That’s not realistic for me but it’s not that bad and it just get better. One can change surprisingly lot. If you know keto is for you, do it and if you go off, come back, if it doesn’t happen, try again. I consider every day a new chance. It helps that when I start to eat, carbs didn’t mess me up yet (the previous day may have some effect but not so big, IDK how it is for you), I just need to make good decisions, I am not somewhat doomed yet, I need to eat carbs for that.

I still have times when I can’t go back to carnivore (let alone not drinking coffee) right away. It’s a bit hard sometimes, you still have stuff to eat, mentally you are still in your carby world… But if you KNOW what your body needs, it should help with determination and that is powerful. I have it easier now as I just can’t want carbs for days on long. It’s not fun, not nearly as enjoyable as my normal chosen woe, bad deal. Time and effort helps to change and want to eat in the right way but if you aren’t there yet… IDK what to say. But the others are right, focus on your good, keto food. Being satiated and satisfied with it helps a ton!

Oh and IDK about you but I have a part that likes to go wild from time to time. I call it my rebellious, freedom-lover self. For the sake of it, not because my woe isn’t totally nice… It’s troublesome. I need to “feed” it sometimes and then it’s okay for a while… It’s a big reason why I don’t even try hard AT ALL. It doesn’t work, I just get upset and this part explodes. Whatever I consider right, I need to be a bit relaxed due to this side of me. So if you have this too… Don’t be too hard on you but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do things right. I don’t PLAN off days (usually. sometimes there is a reason for it), I consider that the wrong attitude (for me, others do whatever they want and can) but if they happen, oh well, it’s inevitable in my life. And if you go off, it doesn’t mean you can go off epically, it doesn’t matter. It totally matters. (If you say it’s obvious and you are smarter, well, I have stupid parts and just because I KNOW things, some parts can run away with their desires… I train myself to desire the right things, it’s not so bad but doing it great takes time.)
And come back and chill and eat good keto food! :slight_smile: And maybe don’t try to do multiple difficult things. I mean, when I find sticking to my woe harder, sometimes I just give up on my coffee quitting idea. Or I sacrifice my small eating window if I must. If keto is what is most important from the whole bunch, try to stick to it and make your life easier elsewhere if it’s possible. Maybe you don’t have these extra plans (kind of important but you can do without them for a while) but maybe you do?

And I don’t know if it’s normal for people but going even stricter for a very short while when you are ready for it may help. It does to me. Even if I need to relax my ways very soon again, the good old less strict way seems more indulgent (as it is). I did that when I felt my carb allowance was too low… I went super low and I looked at my normal one with different eyes :slight_smile: Of course it isn’t magic, if I need more, I need more, knowing that it could be “worse” normally wouldn’t help but in this case it helped me.

Good luck!

(Doug) #16

The mental/psychological part is huge for lots of us. Just reading the forum has helped me at times, thinking about it, not eating anything bad at that moment. Time goes by…

(Megan) #17

Another thing that helped and helps me is I don’t think of how I am eating as “being on a diet” and I don’t eat in a way that makes me feel deprived. Feeling deprived triggers all sorts of really bad thoughts and emotions, for me. It’s almost like it causes panic and I “need” to stuff myself.

(KM) #18

When I do crave, and this goes for alcohol too, in addition to waiting 5-10 minutes I tell myself I’m possibly just thirsty, and have a glass of water or tea. Might be true, certainly doesn’t hurt.

#19

CHEERING YOU ON! :100::partying_face:

I faced it tough like you too. Took me a while to get thru it but my final battle when I went off plan and then could not get back on…I mirror what others said. Buy THE best Keto on plan real food you love! Eat the heck out of it…allow yourself to eat all you need of your on plan Keto foods, do not go one bit hungry at all, allow your Keto food and hold that thought only! All good Keto food you love and adore, all the time thru the day as you need it and hold on for the ride! Wishing you the best!

#20

Thirst isn’t even remotely similar to anything else in my world but I tend to drink instead of eating when I just have a desire to consume something nice in general. I am not choosy, tea or carbonated water would do, coffee may work better but it’s more dangerous as I don’t like it black.
And if I specifically desire something bad, my smart part may persuade my silly one and my hedonist core definitely helps. So sometimes I talk it over, it needs the discipline of not jumping the food immediately and I am not even in the mood to do it but it’s still a piece in my toolbox. Shops are the easiest, I just read the ingredient list and lose interest…

And it’s fun to have experiments and tiny trials… And the right amount of strictness, even for the duration of my plan. Carnivore forever? It would scare me so much I wouldn’t even try… But for a month? Sounds doable. Even if I fail, I get in several days and some of my off days are still very close… Aiming for stricter than needed is often good for me as I can relax and I feel free while I still do what my body likes.

There is a lot of mental game, training and whatnot. I need every help.

And I don’t know about others but I am not super good at learning, sometimes I need several epic fails for the lesson to think in. My mind is okay but there are so many other things and optimism can be a problem… So yep, it’s not smooth sailing almost right away for people like me but I am trying and not exactly failing, that would have been staying on high-carb :wink: But patience is needed.

Fortunately, there are better, easier times. And harder ones (I don’t do hard so I fail there but bounce back and STILL practice the right things). And if it’s the woe for you and you keep trying, it should go better and better!