Two year on keto and getting too comfortable

(Sonia) #1

Hi. I’ve lost about 90 pounds. 212 to 120-125. I have been maintaining for about a year. I have noticed since the holidays last year I’ve been having more cheat meals than I should. I always told myself if I stay between 120-125 I’m okay.

But I feel like crap. I would like to stay on clean keto with maybe one cheat meal a month. But I keep slipping. My mind is not in the right place. I do extended fasts to get rid of the cravings but end up binging. I do 3-5 egg fasts and then the weekend hits I’m eating keto junk. Even when I’m
Not cheating I eat way too much keto junk like cookies and ice cream. I literally look 4 months pregnant when I eat like that.

So my question is how do I stay motivated or get my mind straight after being on keto for so long? I’m so scared I’m going to gain all my weight back slowly :frowning:

(Ethan) #2

Switch to Carnivore. I had similar issues with keto.

(UsedToBeT2D) #3

Do what you like…you said you like clean keto. KCKO.

#4

I don’t buy the junk food in the first place. Such a waste of money. I talk to myself in my head when shopping. Do I really need this? Laugh at myself and say no.

You shouldn’t have cravings at all if you’re truly in ketosis.

If you’re bored on the weekend. Find a hobby you enjoy.

I don’t do short or extended fasting because these are extremes. Fasting should be daily between 20-24 hours. Closer to 23 hours is best.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

Not keeping the stuff in the house is a big help. If you have to go out to get it, you aren’t as likely to make the effort. Another thing that might help is to identify the situations that trigger carb eating, and try to modify them so that they either don’t trigger you or trigger healthier behaviour in place of the carb eating. For example, if you only keep cooked bacon, or cheese, or pepperoni, or pork rinds around as a snack, eating that stuff could replace eating carbs.

#6

I probably would eat even worse after an egg fast :smiley: I am not good with unnecessarily severe restrictions.

I don’t consider keto ice cream and keto cake junk, they are very valid proper food items for me (my homemade ones, I mean, I never tried another type. being homemade is cool as they evolve with me. if I don’t want to eat sweeteners, my ice cream and cake have no sweeteners)… But of course, you can live without them, I usually do that too… Since I tried carnivore. Being stricter may be the solution, keto is still quite hard for me while even my relaxed carnivore-ish is way easier… Keto is too relaxed for me and I couldn’t do hardcore carni, that’s too restrictive but when I find my sweet spot, that’s nice. Just a few days a few times changed my desires towards food. So even if I go off, I eat almost the same as I lost my desire towards the items I gleefully consumed before in that situation.

Maybe your solution will be different. But it’s good to know that being more strict may help, the carbs (or sweeteners or something else) on keto still may cause problems for us…

#7

You will gain back. Stats show it all. Most gain back.

I researched this over and over and this was me. I lost easily 60-70 and then gained back 60/70 and I did this OVER AND OVER for years.

Then I again researched, what was the click that kept the long term maintainers from doing what I was doing, gaining back, and failing over and over…and the one thing they said was:

You eat on plan like you lost those lbs the rest of your life and you ‘allow’ very little back and only those things that will not trigger you.

We all know ourselves, what it took to get here, and that is what it takes to stay there.

You got a very personal choice coming at ya full speed. You are in it. That I am using every excuse in the book to eat the crap I want…oh yea, been there LOL

but in the bitter end, how you ate to lose the lbs is what you need to keep them off.

So you go darn right back to basics. You go right back to how you started your eating and you clean it up and ‘stop allowing and justifying’ what you gave up can come back. It can’t. It won’t. It has to be this choice now. Lifestyle long term or where you just on ‘a diet’ for a while to lose the lbs, eat more crap each day and all your goals are lost cause they will be. I know, I been there.

Every single long term maintainer who lost and kept it off say one thing…eat every day how you lost the lbs…watch severely your ‘extras’ and if ya don’t…vicious cycle contines.

Hope some of this helps. I know it is a very fine line on that fence. Your choices now will direct what you will allow your new path to be.

Go back…go back to absolute basics, and from the junk you are eating more now, you will probably have to adapt a bit again, which is good for ya :slight_smile: means new control and new focus.

best of luck and hold strong. The next step, maintaining long term is no joke. It is a new path all together and treat it as such. Back to clean basics, get a grip and decide how you are going to do long term and make it work for you all the time and never against you.

Just what it took for me to learn and change and grow thru this and know what it takes to hold the line and keep my goals, keep my health and all learned thru the long term maintaining people who luckily shared their advice. I read it, sucked it up, and learned from it. Hold your plan as you lost the lbs and new ones will not come on or all goals lost. Only way for a long term, not obsessive insanity cycle you could be on gaining it all back. Decision time and I had to do it, and it sucks, but if we desire something, we act, change, adapt and grow. You got this!!!

(Laurie) #8

I agree. “Adding things back in” leads you back to where you were before. Not only because of the physical effects (if any), but also because it’s extremely confusing mentally.

A few berries … A teeny slice of berry pie … The pie didn’t kill me, I’ll have some cake tonight … Man, that cake made me hungry. Got any potato chips? Etc.

(Susan) #9

Laurie’s post is spot on, I totally agree. I have been doing Keto since February 2019 and I have to stay strictly on Keto or I would be in trouble. The only days I allow a bit of a cheat (and even then I don’t go wild) is for Christmas, my birthday, Mother’s Day and on our pre-Covid concert nights when I had a few drinks --diet pop and vodka so still not over the top).

If I had Keto treats in the house --I would falter so I just prefer not having them in the house. Good luck getting back on track and feeling great again.

#10

I am only 10 months into keto but, like others have mentioned, I have very specific cheat days lined up. It helps to know ahead of time and think about not digging into that mediocre treat in favor of something I actually miss (on my birthday, it was a slab of watermelon after a sushi lunch). We are planning on having real pizza on Halloween. I have kids though and we have lots of non keto foods. I even still have to cook non keto meals so the temptation is everywhere, all the time for me.

(Bob M) #11

Keto 7 years for me. No issues.

(Bob M) #12

I think it’s primarily mental. Not physical. Only you can deal with the mental aspect.

(Oscar) #13

I have lost 98 lbs over two (2) years and continuing (using PCP “weight scales”). I hit a plateau at one point and went to 18/6 Intermittent fast scheme which allowed additional weight loss. I now skip breakfast and have implemented a walk/jog regimen for at least 3 miles a day for 5/7 days a week (morning exercises on empty stomach, but I imagine this will change due to colder days). Since my last doctor visit I have added “cheat days” which have not hurt me too much; what is hurting me is my fondness for nuts and hard liquor. I am VERY tired of this diet but realize I am still overweight per current health guidelines. I can likely keep this up but I miss my pizza/pasta/burritos/bread/flour/buns/rice/cinnamon rolls/desserts/etc… but I will likely “cheat” more frequently

(UsedToBeT2D) #14

Don’t give up. Don’t cheat.

#15

Can’t you solve this tiredness some other way? You can eat so many different things on keto… I don’t say I don’t understand wanting things you can’t really have on keto, I just know that there are many options and often they are enough and potentially better than the old favs. 2 years is a short time, I was not nearly as disciplined as now (and I am NOT, I just lost interest in most carby food), maybe a decade after I went low-carb. But I knew low-carb is for life, it’s better, healthier for me, after all. And for me, keto versions usually work well - even when they aren’t even remotely similar to the original :slight_smile: They still may be good for the role.
Maybe you could find some other items to make your keto days more enjoyable. It sounds a good idea to me, off days or not. If I have just 2 keto days a week, I surely want to enjoy the hell out of them. It’s actually easier than enjoying a carby day but it’s me. My keto food is very good and I can’t even afford fancy stuff… Our taste is different but still, can’t you find something exciting you can’t get bored with? Or change your food choices now and then? I understand missing different things but maybe you don’t enjoy your food enough either?

(Oscar) #16

I have been cheating maybe once a month for the past two years. Cheating consists of a splurge on a high carb treat (e.g. Pizza, broasted chicken/dessert) for maybe 2-3 days. Then it’s back to the “Keto grind”. Now I am considering maybe twice a month of “cheating” given I have already far exceeded my PCP’s weight goals and my blood pressure and cholesterol are well under control.