How long have you been low carb, keto, or LCHF?

123_lac

I see a lot of people on the main forums question the sustainability of low carb. I have been eating at a keto level since February 2014 and was actually pretty low carb before that. I feel better than anytime in my life. How long have you been eating low carb? And do you plan on continuing it once you reach your goal weight. I am at maintenance BTW.

baconslave

1 year and 7 months.
I'm in maintenance, and I'm still doing keto, which is how I lost all my weight. My carbs are anywhere from 20-50g.

DianaElena76

11 months, and I absolutely intend to eat this way forever, although I'll probably ease my carb goals up a teeny bit when I hit maintenance. I'm currently staying around 40g net. I don't concern myself with keto vs. not-keto, but I do classify my way of eating as LCHF. As long as I feel good and the trend on the scale is in a general downward direction, I'm pleased as punch (but without the punch, obviously).

Smoked33

I'm in the minority for this group. I use it about once a year usually to 'cleanse' myself after the summer of camping. Last summer I camped 7 weekends out of the summer including a 17 day stretch solid and for me camping equates to quite a bit more than normal drinking and lots of campfire snacking

While I do like how I feel while on keto I can only do it with supplimentary foods like quest bars, adkins bars and lots of peanuts and this is not financially viable over the long term. I get bored of non-breaded meats and never have liked veggies so I normally eat moderate carbs (100-200grams).

I'm fortunate not to have any health related issues that require low carbs and with my level of activity and love of weight training I can manage my weight fairly well with this strategy. So to sum up, I'm a big supporter and champion of keto but for me it's a tool in my toolbelt to health and weight management, but one of many.

wabmester

About a year. Maintenance for about 6 months.

Sustainability was my top priority from the start, so the keys for me were to never feel deprived and to try to understand how it works so I could avoid the pitfalls and optimally tune it for myself.

Going forward, I don't plan to reintroduce Girl Scout cookies or even bread. But I don't limit veggies or berries, for example.

Lillith32

Started January 2014, at 181, went down to 151, fell off the wagon last year because stress, and re-started at 174 after a few months in October. I let go a bit around the holidays (no re-gain, but I stalled my losses), and am trying to get back to that 151 right now. My SO is also keto-ing, so my accountability and support system are better.

Sunny_Bunny_

I'm almost 9 months in Keto and going strong! No intention to ever eat differently. I'm convinced it's the simplest and best way to achieve long term health. I don't feel deprived at all.
I find that the people that don't believe it's sustainable are the same people that don't believe it's possible to not feel deprived and the same people that don't recognize that there is a chemical response in the brain to sugar and carbs in general that make us think we "need" them.
Kinda ironic if you ask me...

AlabasterVerve

Over three years now and I can't imagine ever going back. I wouldn't mind a little more fruit in my diet but so far about 50g total carbs is about all I can tolerate. Too much more than that too often and I start to lose the benefits of eating low carb.

It's absolutely sustainable for me.

FIT_Goat

Depends on what you consider low carb. For the purposes of this group, years. I started with paleo/primal about 3 years ago. Then a little over two years ago I went keto. About 6-7 months into keto, I went carnivore. So, it is as much as 3 years to as little as 18-19 months (depending on the level of extremism you want).

daylitemag

I'm about 3.5 months in and hope to continue forever. I'm eating 20g or less per day but when I get to maintenance I will slowly increase that to somewhere around 50. The extra carbs will come from fruit.

totaloblivia

A year and 2 weeks!

LowCarbInScotland

I've was eating low carb (under 100 grams) 80% of the time for 3 years to minimise my insulin use, with minimal benefits in terms of weight (no doubt due to excessive cheat days) though I had notable improvements with my diabetes, which was well under control.

I'm 45 days in now at VLC and am happy at less than 20 net carbs. This is my third attempt at achieving ketosis in the last 12 months and is by far the best success I've had in terms of sustainability.

I no longer have the cravings or hunger I had at 100 grams of carbs, so I don't plan on going much higher than 50 grams after losing the weight. I would like to enjoy more veggies again in the future, but won't be going back to grains.

ladipoet

The end of this month will make 17 months (or 1 year, 5 months) for me. I find following this WOE very easy for me now (as compared to switching over from the way I used to eat when I first started out) and I plan on following this lifestyle for the rest of my life. I have not reached my goal weight yet...I have 30 more pounds to go having already successfully eliminated slightly more than 140 pounds to date. Whenever other MFP users on the main boards bring up sustainability, I personally think they are just lazy and don't want to put in the effort of doing most of the cooking themselves. I've been overweight my entire life (I'll be turning 41 a couple weeks from now) and tried so many different diets along the way, that I've lost track and count. The thing that always contributed hugely to me falling off the wagon of all those other diets, aside from the fact that I was always starving even 1-2 hours after having eaten, was the fact that after about 3 months, the diet food got so routine, repetitive, monotonous and BORING that I just didn't want to eat any of thing I knew I could have. 17 months of following any "Diet" is a record for me. Not once have I been bored with this WOE mainly I think because there are so many good websites out there that have free LCHF recipes...many of which are excellent. I am always cooking up and trying new recipes and there are so many out there that to me they seem endless. Just this week I have had or will have had the following: homemade ice cream, Kabocha squash chips, grilled vegetable lasagna, homemade LC pancakes, Maple Pecan Tahini Candy (Fat Bomb), Seafood Newburg casserole over miracle rice, my personal version of LC cereal, LC dark-cherry flavored meringue cookies, and LC stuffing. That's an excellent range of very tasty dishes...none of which taste like cardboard (score)!! lol How do I love this WOE? Let me count the ways!! So whenever some non-keto person questions the sustainability of this WOE, I truly pity them for being so limited by their own culinary imagination and laziness.

nvmomketo

I feel like I am just starting to move out of newbie keto status after 7 months. I try to keep carbs under 20g to help with IR and health issues but it has crept up over 30g and I've had short periods where I was not in ketosis.

I plan to stay very low carb over the long haul. I feel better this way and am healthier. I find it easier to not overeat too ... There really is no reason for me to stop. I might add in more carbs if my body can handle it but if I don't, I am fine that way too.

macchiatto

I've done other forms of low carb and have been mostly under 120-150gm/day for several years now. I've been doing keto since 11/2.

toadg53

I started August 2013. Started maintenance September 2014. I stay around 50 to 60 grams of carbs daily. My doctor told me I should go up to 90 to 100, but I feel the best at around 50 or so. I fully intend to continue on this path forever. I feel the best that I've felt in years. No more bp or cholesterol meds and cpap is gone. What could be better than that?

KarlaYP

Have been LCHF for ten months. I feel better than I ever remember feeling! I won't eat any other way again!

nualacharlie

HI all, I am new to this group. I have been eating LCHF for a little under a month, felt a bit crappy for the first couple of months but now I am great. I had a lot of success with a low carb diet about 20 years ago ( Dine out and Lose weight by Michel Montignac) and I am not sure why I didn't stick to it.