Why I had to STOP KETO after 2 years :(

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(Michael Heffez) #1

Sad to say, I thought I’d be on Keto forever BUT, the world and my body turned against me. I was humming right along, in deep Keto then things started slowly changing. I started gaining weight; I was decreasing calories, exercising several hours a day and for the life of me could not shed a ounce. Why? Excess cortisol/ stress. Keto is stressful on the mind; regardless of who you are or what your willpower is; eventually foods, food groups will creep up on your mind and you will crave something but b/c you’re doing Keto, you cannot. That’s depravation. Compounded with exercise is more stress. What’s more is that all that leanness Keto created- say goodbye. Eventually, you will lose that nice tone and definition.

Aside from the stress the body is enduring, blood sugar may drop to abnormal levels (hypoglycemia) which is what I had faced on a number of occasions. Keto long term can become dangerous in that respect. Moreover Keto & exercise is NOT a good mix…if you like to bike ride, walk, jog or run, forget the SKD approach; long term it will do more harm than good. You’re body won’t be able to keep up and you will begin feeling lightheaded amongst other scary symptoms; i.e. seizures. I’ve learned the hard way; as they say: old habits die hard. Keto is almost like a drug; it can feel so good that it becomes addictive.

You constantly have to worry oh will this throw me out or that might…stress will build up from depriving yourself so much and cheat days will throw you completely off track. You’re lying to yourself if you say you don’t crave something or you don’t need a cheat day. Willpower only takes you so far then your body & brain take control not you; you’re no longer in the driver seat.

Keto is good to cycle in and out, to heal a few things like metabolic disorders, etc, but long term it might not work best. It’s not all that practical and you can still reap Keto benefits by eating smaller, frequent meals (including complex carbs) into your diet. This approach will keep you focussed (like keto does), and it’ll help maintain your energy levels, and stabilize your BG levels throughout the entire day.

Bottomline is that if you like exercise and/ or you wish to build lean muscle, Keto is NOT optimal for that…you’re better off incorporating some complex carbs (lentils, steel cut oats, fruits, sweet potato) into your diet. Complex carbs + protein is how lean muscle is formed. That’s biochemistry and science…you cannot rewrite the book on how the body works and how muscle is built. Perhaps if you’re sedentary, then SKD might work but for most- doesn’t seem to be the case.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

Since muscle is built out of amino acids, I can understand increasing protein intake to build muscle, but for the life of me, I can’t see where increasing carbohydrate comes into it, except to promote the storage of fat in the adipose tissue.


(TJ Borden) #3

I’m curious foods were you craving that you felt you couldn’t eat?


(Michael Heffez) #4

Well I would pass an Italian restaurant that had the best Sicilian slices and I would enjoy eating there on a weekly or biweekly basis but not be able to have them at all cause a great deal of stress on the mind. My cauliflower crust recipe didn’t hold a candle to hit plus it was a giant mess and expensive to put together…also, an avocado w/ sea salt was good but not as good nor delicious as that sicilian pizza. Other items would be (and on rare occasions but still) a whole wheat bagel sandwich or perhaps an apple, oatmeal…so not junk food but healthy food.


(Michael Heffez) #5

Then I must be the exception. All I was doing was getting flabbier, fatter (around the waist area), less lean and gaining weight on Keto! And I was doing the diet to the letter! I tried do away with nuts and nut butter and decreasing calories and all I was doing was putting on more pounds; the diet, overtime, just became too stressful for the body. I loved it, felt like I was on cloud 9 24/7 but it all came crashing down when I had the severe and frightening and near coma state hypoglycemic attack. Blood sugar reading was in the 30’s! That would’ve never happened on a normal low carb diet. I can always go back but for now, it’s dangerous for me…hopefully my story/ incident can raise some awareness to other Keto enthusiasts.


(Carol M) #6

depravation - The act of depraving, or making anything bad; the act of corrupting.

sounds like that is what you are here to do… don’t try to corrupt us with your so called science.

So, what I’m hearing you say is that you quit doing keto because you couldn’t have some things (SUGAR) and that was bad for you? I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around your issue.

Willpower isn’t even a thing, now that I am well fed and my hormones are signaling correctly. I find the exact opposite of what you are saying is true. If I add carbs, complex or otherwise, I am stressed out and trying to use willpower to win a fight that I cannot win. Good luck to you, and good try with your link. I won’t be visiting that site… :wink:


(Mike W.) #7

I see you’ve been here only two days. Have you tried to figure out WHY you gained weight on “Keto”? It’s more than just stress. Stress doesn’t have calories…


(Bunny) #8

…that does not mean carbing out on junk food and go back to the way you were eating before, my body tolerates, sugar, carbohydrates and processes glucose (glucose tolerance) much better from ketogenic cycling and Whole Foods (natural/organic). I eat rice, beans, bread, fruit and potatoes and still maintain ketosis, staying away from the refined/processed foods especially the 0 nutrient bleached sugars and bio-processed sugars etc. is the key to this but of course there are those who will blame-game the ketogenic diet or this or that diet for their WOE because they don’t understand the intricate sciences behind what they are doing unfortunately!

You have to make adjustments and triangulate from the information gathered through a vast plethora of resources, that’s how you do things correctly, but until we have an absolute consensus about where the problems are with this or that we have to rummage through the information to find our answers?


(TJ Borden) #9

Is there a reason you felt you couldn’t enjoy the pizza you were craving every once in a while?

I “indulge” from time to time. Other than often being disappointed by not having a taste for things I used to love, I enjoying making my indulgences count by going for the top shelf shit. Pizza is a great example. If I’m going to have the real thing, I’m not going to Pizza Hut, im going to a local wood fired gourmet pizza place. I enjoy it, then I’m back at it the next day.

Keto is a lifestyle. It’s not about 100% daily “compliance”. If I thought I couldn’t ever eat real pizza again, I probably wouldn’t do it either.


(Ron) #10

All you are doing here is starving yourself and slowing your metabolism. This is not doing Keto the right way.


(Michael Heffez) #11

Compounding effect of long term keto and exercise…it worked on the onset- when I first started Keto I dropped 7-8 lbs. but I was always lean. That water weight eventually creeps back up. It’s normal. Plus excessive cortisol will store fat and make it virtually impossible to lose weight. I read and studied incessantly about the premise of Ketogenic diet. It’s just not conducive if you are exercising on a daily basis, at least for me. I did love and will miss the fact that I never ever bonked. I can just go hours upon hours without ever feeling like I need a break, or I just don’t have the energy. Keto gave me superhuman powers but it took a toll at the very end. I’m sad and depressed that I can’t do it at the moment. I can always revisit it in the future. I have a few bottles of XCT oil with a far out expiration date! :smile: :wink: :sunny:


(Michael Heffez) #12

You are correct ! It probably was more on the starvation end than the Keto BUT that was my issue w/ Keto- I just was NEVER EVER hungry. Like Never! I would force myself to eat, or many time I would forget. It shuts down your appetite completely. AT least for me…and this is NOT a good thing long term. We cannot defy the laws of life. If we don’t eat, we will die- that is a fact.


(Michael Heffez) #13

Sry for typo/ autocorrect error. I meant deprivation! Whoops :no_mouth:

And thank you for your input but I was basically trying to give an example (of myself) where things went awry on the Keto diet. Apologies if it was coming across as a condemnation of the diet; it wasn’t. I loved it, and still do. I may revisit the diet down the line, especially when my blood sugar stabilizes but it would have to be a modified approach. The notion behind the diet is to actually lower blood sugar, and in my case b/c of the exercise, it was lowered abnormally. So it’s more of a caveat than a “corrupting” as you labeled it.


(Michael Heffez) #14

Agreed…thanks for your input!


(TJ Borden) #15

Then you haven’t tried my smoked pork belly :wink:


(TJ Borden) #16

Any idea what was causing the extreme drops? I’m weak on the bio chemistry (which is sti an understatement), but wouldn’t that mean the liver wasn’t keeping up for some reason?


(Brian) #17

So, Michael, are you thinking more in terms of shifting to a paleo type diet? Or are you thinking more of heading towards the low fat world? Or just heading back to the standard American fare? Just wondering what you intend to do next.


(Michael Heffez) #18

Haha…nice one!


(Carol M) #19

Blood sugar dips are no joke, and you need to be very careful if you are hypoglycemic. That is something you will have to get control of.

I am thankful that my blood sugar is under better control because of keto. I am no longer driving it up with starches, and having it plummet later requiring me to eat to get it back up again.

Your extreme cravings for those carby foods may have been your body telling you that your blood sugar was too low.


(Michael Heffez) #20

I thought about Paleo for a hot second but figure the best diet- at this moment, would be vlc. And those carbs would only emanate from fruits, and complex carbs like oatmeal, (gluten free of course), and perhaps quinoa…I’m aiming for healthy choices :slight_smile: