Unsure if this is the plan for me

#21

Thanks for all of the feedback. It is encouraging to discuss it and read. It occupies the mind and keeps me from stressing about how food addicted I am.

I honestly am having less food cravings than at any time in my past. Especially than when I did keto before. With my snacks I am often forcing myself to eat them because so much of what I have read says that too few calories even on keto is bad for the metabolism. There are days that if I only ate when I felt “hungry” then I would only eat 1000-1200 as a 6 foot athletic male- albeit overweight and getting older (46). Some of that is a form of depression where I find myself in a funk completely uninterested in my formerly favorite activity of life- thinking about food, cooking food, eating food- because the food I can now have is just plain depressing.

I do consider my previous 2 month stint on keto very successful as I lost my 37 pounds needed at that time in 2 months and kept it off for 4 years till a trauma changed things.

I continue to be confused about some of the advice. Why cut the salad? The dressing is a huge source of fat for me. The romaine lettuce and spinach are not that high in carbs but are some of the only vegetables I will eat. I thought I needed some veggies for nutrients and fiber in my diet.

Additionally, the salads are what is available. I won’t prepare food and take it with me. Yes I know that is a self placed restraint although with 6 kids still at home a wife and a 90 year old grandfather who lives with us and requires significant care- the time saved by eating lunch out is very helpful. Maybe someday I will be ready for the change of precooking food but trying to force too much change seems to be a recipe for failure. The salads are at a chain grocery store that has a salad buffet and has locations in most of the cities I have to travel to for work. Which is very helpful.

And yes- I am very thankful for my wife’s encouragement. Almost 26 years of marriage and she is still putting up with my peculiarities.

To answer the one question- I think the number crunching gamer in me would rather see the number on the scale but I’m sure my wife would rather see the loss of inches.

You all have given me a lot to process and I will try to work through it and read other info here before asking any more questions.

Thank you.

#22

I think people are just suggesting you not fill up on lettuce to the detriment of fat and protein. But otherwise, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with lettuce and spinach, and it sounds like the salad bar is a good resource for you. It’s huge that you’ve identified somewhere that you can go when you’re traveling to different offices. That’s a big challenge for a lot of people.

Also, maybe that same grocery you go to has some other options–like rotisserie chickens. Or you could also try going to your local burger spot (fast food or other) and ordering a couple cheeseburgers and ditching the buns. Lots of places will offer lettuce wraps instead. Sometimes I go to Chipotle and order a burrito bowl, add the peppers and onions and skip both the rice and beans. Finding a couple more places where you can grab lunch might help you feel less depressed about what you’re seeing as forced meal.

Actually, you need zero veggies. Check out some of the carnivore threads on the forums.

Check out all the food threads on the forums. The recipes are not all “weird” keto substitutes. Sounds like you’d especially be interested in the #food:boringKeto subforum, which gets its name as a joke, because someone once told @Richard that keto wasn’t sustainable because it’s too boring. That forum will show you that it is anything but.

#23

Eat all your food in a 4-6 hour window.