Quitting Keto and going low-carb?

spvlat

It's day 16 on keto and it is so overwhelming for me! Carb counting is stressing me out and I'm not used to eating such small amounts of vegetables and no fruit. I've lost 57 lbs over the past 2 year while I followed a more "everything in moderation" diet and I thought keto would help me lose the last few stubborn lbs. Today I got discouraged and I binged on carbs. It probably kicked me out of keto so now I'm even more stressed and discouraged and I'm thiking of setting a more flexible carb limit. Maybe eating up to 60-70grams of carbs per day? I'm not sure. So far I was eating up to 30 grams of total carbs and less than 20 grams of net carbs. Any thoughts and advice? Has anyone gone through something similar?

tcunbeliever

The best plan will be whatever plan you can stick with forever, so if keto is not working, then by all means try upping the carbs...long term sustainability is the end goal, right?

kimberwolf71

I no longer officially classify myself as "keto" and technically my goal is not to reach ketosis or lose a large quantity of weight. I too found myself obsessing and stressing over numbers when my macros were set for keto at 5% carbs usually because I love eating a wide variety of foods. I would also play ridiculous mind games when it came to calculating net carbs.

I reset my macros so carbs are set at 10% . I generally eat "low carb", because I physically feel better if I do, but my focus is not on that carb limit. I concentrate more on my calorie intake and eating whole foods rather than processed foods.

For me, it eliminated that weird obsessive behaviour I started experiencing, but I am still feeling the physical benefit of reduced carbs, increased energy and slow weight loss. I also find, that if I actually pay attention and hit my macros for a minimum of 3 days in a row... I still hit ketosis. Imagine.

spvlat

I'm someone that binge-eats when stressed and over the years that was a big struggle to overcome when trying to lose weight. Even now after losing so much weight, I still overeat during stressful periods of time. I started keto in late December and I found it quite difficult to adjust and now that finals are about to begin at uni, it seems so much more challenging to stay low-carb. After more than two weeks of staying low-carb today I completely binged on sweets. Starting tomorrow I'm going to try 20%carbs.

kpk54

@spvlat I lost my excess 63 pounds on ~100 carb grams per day so it can be done. No drama, no stalls, steady loss that averaged about 1.25 pounds per week. My mode was to track calories and not go over. I really didn't pay much attention to macros. The mere fact I was on 1200-1360 calories and not eating foods I tend to over eat (cake, ice cream, cookies, chips, pretzels, cheetos, etc), resulted my carbs auto dipping into low carb range. I've never been a fruit lover so my carbs were mostly vegetables. Lots of vegetables.

In 2016 I tried keto of <20 grams of carbs/day my 3rd year of maintenance for reason other than weight management. After 52 weeks, I upped my carbs to about 50 and have remained that way. I keep my home environment very low carb friendly with the most readily available food being leftover meat and eggs. I'm less inclined to overeat those than say...cheese, nuts, fruit.

When I'm away from home, I eat whatever in a reasonable portion. It has never caused me any problems. Back home. Back on track in an environment where hyperpalatable food does not exist. Perhaps something like that would work for you @spvlat. If you are truely bingeing, it is probably on specific foods so try not having them around. Moderation, when in the binge mode, doesn't usually work. Ask me how I know. Also keep in mind you have the freedom to choose whatever you want to eat and the choice to NOT eat something, IS a choice. Not eating the hyperpalatable foods I tend to over eat is a choice. Therefore restriction/prohibition of select foods does not exist for me.

Shron123

I found carb watching stressful and time consuming. Now I do IF so my first meal is between 11-2 and dinner is between 7-8. I eat all my carbs at my dinner meal such as cabbage, salad, broccoli, etc. I find it easier to manage as I don’t have to think about it. Lost 35 lbs since Aug although still have 3 lbs to lose from Christmas treats.