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.