What to do after hitting your goal weight?


(James Moskalik) #1

Hello. Well, I’m fortunate to be able to say I’ve hit my goal weight. From a high of about 247 I’m now down to 190ish. I think that is enough.

So the question is, what do I now? Keto did help me lose the weight but honestly, I feel so much better eating like this. So do I continue to eat Keto but maybe more meals? Introduce additional carbs into my diet? More cheat meals maybe?

What is the best way to go here?


(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Just keep eating ketogenically and don’t worry about it. If you add more carbohydrate to your diet, you run the risk of regaining the fat you’ve lost. Your body will maintain itself at a healthy weight. If you would like to add a bit of muscle to offset the fat you’ve lost, you can increase your protein a bit, especially with foods containing branched-chain amino acids, since they help with muscle-building, and do strength training. Be careful with the BCAA’s, however, if you’re not building muscle, since they cause inflammation when consumed in quantity.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

Short answer: what you did to get there.

Longer answer: You may want to adjust your fat/protein ratios depending on your lifestyle and activities. As men age, we need to increase protein to avoid losing it. If you’re physically very active that’s another reason to increase protein. Otherwise, keep the carbs low enough to maintain ketosis. Lots of good things happen in ketosis that otherwise don’t.


(601840f2954c28236d3a) #4

Thanks for the responses. They are appreciated.


(Canadian Beauty) #5

So since reaching my goal weight I can say that I have regained. In my experience stick to what you are doing, if you want a keto dessert have one, stay away from carbs, I know that some of my weight is muscle but some is due to somewhat lax eating over the last while; and the pandemic is not helping.


(601840f2954c28236d3a) #6

Thanks for the sage advice.


#7

What to do is highly individual. First, congrats on hitting your goal! Now what I’d do is re-evaluate. Is this weight ideal for health, your joints, your body composition? I carry more muscle than most people that are 5’9" so at my current 210 I’m still not fat or even chubby… pretty much “normal” but for most at my height they’d be fat most likely. Scale weight doesn’t matter as much as body composition. My path was higher protein and more carbs. I eat ~200g per day of protein and average around 60g net carbs daily. I’ve been able to put on more muscle much easier and still loosing body fat, actually faster than I was prior do a more strict keto approach. But me of a couple years ago would have went off on a binge doing this so you gotta consider that as well. For my my cheat meal would be a cheeseburger on my low carb bread or hamburger roll(real one’s not copycat things with weird consistency) and sweet potato fries. It wouldn’t be chips, salsa, burgers and fries at a Chili’s. Even your cheats can’t be crazy! Having a little extra and asking for a problem are two different things.

You’ll also start to learn how you react to different foods. For me, I can go to an Italian Restaurant, eat bread, pasta until I’m stuffed. NO problem! Right back to business. If I eat a slice of Tiramisu for desert or chocolate cake??? Gotta chain myself up in the basement for a couple days to detox and stop me from ripping up my carpets and eating them! Me and the starchy carbs can play nice, the sugary ones not so much! You just gotta learn you!

Also, if you’re gonna test things, weigh yourself daily. The normal fluctuation in weight won’t matter as much but you need to see trends in progress 2,3,4 even 5lbs if your carbs are up is fine. But when it’s 8,9,10 you have a problem and need to course correct before you have an issue on your hands!


(Allie) #8

Me, carry on exactly the same… honestly, why change it?


#9

If you feel better this way, stay keto, what else? :slight_smile:
I don’t even know why people want to add carbs when they reach fat adaptation or goal weight… I understand it if they feel miserable without it but if not… As time passes, I eat less carbs, not more. But this is individual, do whatever works for you.
You need more calories for maintenance (and bulking :wink: I will switch to that if I manage to slim down one day). It’s very easy for some of us, definitely works without adding carbs - and trickier for others. More meals? Bigger meals? More added fat? Simply more food because more protein works for us just fine and it’s the most comfortable way and we don’t need so much extra food anyway? It’s individual what we can and prefer to do to raise calories.

But main thing that if it works, why to break it? Stay keto if you can do that, just eat a bit more, maybe in a bit more relaxed way if you feel the need or want to experiment…


(Bunny) #10

Personally I eat what ever I want but I’m very aware of what got me fat to begin with.

You could eat more dietary fat as described by the folks over at Virta Health?

I learned something really neat and new about the ketogenic diet by studying the Okinawan diet and that is to eat more resistant starch or starchy veggies (that includes complex carbohydrates resistant to digestion) and make your own short chained fatty acids or ketones (which is the default fat the human body actually requires endogenously for fuel) once you reach maintenance level and eat more starchy carbs but you cannot eat simple carbohydrates (refined processed foods) or mix them with complex carbohydrates while doing this. It works for me. I’m never hungry and have more energy then I know what to do with while people who eat just fat and meat cannot figure out why they are weak, tired and lethargic?


(Francois Picanza) #11

I understand that setting goals for ourselves helps but your ideal weight is decided by your body itself not by you.

What I mean is that when I was 226 was goal weight was 180 as that is when I subjectively look more buff and strong (at least according to my wife :smile: ). But once I went keto, my body was apparently not satisfied with me being 180 and the weight kept coming off. Went down to 174 for a while and then eventually went all the way down to 164 and it seems to want to stay there. My weight actually shifts between 164 and 166 every other day or so. And now my wife says that I look too skinny to protect her. What does she need protection from? Not a clue. :slight_smile:

The important thing is not getting to a particular weight. Your goal should simply be to become and remain healthy. Listen to your body, keep calm and keto on. :slight_smile:


(James Moskalik) #12

My journey has been similar. My goal weight was actually 200lbs. I’ve historically been pretty strong and fairly lean at that weight.

I blew right past that 200lbs thing though and am now at 190lb. Yes, I believe I could hit 180lbs but only at the expense of losing more muscle than I’ve already lost.

I’ll get a better feel for where I am strength wise when the gyms open back up.

There is a point where losing weight is absolutely the healthy thing to do and there is a point where losing weight does not make you any healthier, only weaker.


(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #13

If you are getting enough protein (to maintain lean tissue) and enough fat (for energy), your body is not going to start wasting, unless you have some unrelated health problem going on. As long as your pancreas is producing insulin and glucagon, you should have no problem maintaining lean tissue. You might consider getting a Dexa scan to get a better picture of your body composition. BMI is not the best indicator of health, being only a very rough guide. Also, once you’ve been eating keto for a while, you might ask your doctor to have some blood work done, including a lipid panel. If those numbers are all good, you probably don’t need to worry about what your weight is doing.


(601840f2954c28236d3a) #14

Thanks Paul. I plan on a Dexa scan once that is again possible. Covid-19 and all. Should not be too much longer.

I will say I’m shocked at how easy this has been. I never counted a calorie but did start intermittent fasting at one point. As gyms were closed during a good part of my journey, the weight loss came despite my exercising less now than before I started keto.

This keto stuff definitely works. More effective than I would have imagined.


(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

Amazing, isn’t it?

BTW, I notice you have slipped into anonymous mode. To return to your proper profile, click on the “6” at the top of the screen and then on the “do not enter” icon. If you have trouble getting that to work (I often do), either log out and log back in, or shoot me a PM, and I’ll fix it.


(Ken) #16

Malph, I recommend you continue on until your body reaches Lipostasis naturally. IMO that’s better than setting an arbitrary Goal Weight.

Once there, Maintenance is easy, you never readapt back unless you go back to overcompensating your glycogen.


(James Moskalik) #17

Thanks Ken. I’ve decided that is what I am going to do.


#18

THIS is the key! NEVER forget what did it to you the first time… and you’ll be ok.