In no particular order ...

1. Read labels - the per 100g bit not the per serve bit. A lot of products will scream 0 carb - but it's only 0 carb per serve.

2. A serve of nuts is not many.

3. Keto is great for health (diabetes, inflammation, epilepsy, long term food control issues, migraines to name a few) but it is NOT magic. You still need to eat at a calorie deficit to lose weight. Yes you do, don't argue. Some of you can naturally eat at a calorie deficit due to reduced hunger, but you are the lucky ones. Every single day here and on FB someone posts "omg I'm working so hard I've been under 20g carbs every day for 3 weeks and I've lost no weight, I've even gained weight, Keto doesn't work I quit". I guarantee, 99.9% of these people are eating too much. If it's you, go and track properly for a couple of weeks and see where you're at.

4. Cheese is my favourite food in the world, but if I ate as much as I wanted I would not have any calories left over for food.

5. Adding extra fat to your diet is not that great of an idea. Some, yes, but it's not necessary to eat fat bombs and butter to "make up your fat". The more you eat the less you'll lose off your body.

6. As above, the answer to a weight loss stall is not "eat more fat".

7. Some artificial sweeteners are okay, sometimes. Sugar alcohols are not free though - a lot of people metabolise up to 50% as sugar. I am one of those people. They're great if you want to go to the bathroom though.

8. Salt is a necessity. All the salt on all the food. Otherwise you will end up feeling bleh.

9. Go easy on the saturated fat. After 4 years of bacon and butter my cholesterol has gone from normal to through the roof. I can't help but regret my decision to have a BPC every morning. I'm doing much better without it and getting fats from fish, avocado and olive oil.

10. Weight loss is not linear - you can stay the same for a few weeks, lose and gain the same 2lb forever but a 90lb loss over 4 years is fine with me.

11. Whatever style of eating you choose, make sure it's one you can live with. I always thought of the decision to become Keto was similar to when someone decides to be vegetarian etc. This is my eating style, not a diet.

12. You do NOT need to eat at Keto levels if you do not have a health reason to do so. You can do just as well with the hunger and the cravings and the weight loss eating 50 - 70g carbs a day, while enjoying a lot more vegetables and soluble fibre (also good for healthy heart and cholesterol levels). In fact increasing my carbs to this level has seen a loss of 4kg a month this last month compared to barely 1kg a month before.

13. An evening snack is not evil. I skip breakfast and save 300 calories for after dinner. Works for me. I can lay on the couch and eat something and still lose weight.

14. You don't need to drink 57000 glasses of water a day to lose weight. Drink when you're thirsty.

15. The cheat mentality is your enemy. Do not think cheat, do not do cheat. Accept that as part of your life there will be days when you will eat a little more. Special occasions, dinners out. Make good choices, and continue with your plan the next day. Don't allow these occasions to be weekly, and don't complain if you overindulged and did not lose any weight. You get out what you put in.

16. Don't lie to yourself and don't guess. Track your intake. All of it. Every bite and lick. Weigh it, don't use "1 cup" or "1 serve". If you can't be bothered tracking it, don't eat it (except in the case of #15 - where you may not be able to weigh and track).

17. You can have a nice time in a social situation without stuffing your face.

18. Losing weight is great in so many ways. Healthier, fitter, nicer clothes. But do not expect to have the smooth, perfect body of a supermodel, or for all of your life troubles to go away. You'll still be wonderful, complicated, imperfect you. And sometimes things will still suck.

19. "Fake foods" - those cakes and pastas and deserts and breads and such that are meant to imitate carb foods, but without the carbs, are a minefield. They are okay SOMETIMES (like the keto cheesecake I always make at Xmas time) but they are not part of your daily diet. They encourage the habit, are easy to overindulge on.

20. Other people's food is not my problem. I couldn't care less what other people eat, and I choose not to be tempted by it. You can only be tempted if you WANT something, and how can you want it when you know you're just going to undo everything you've worked for and fall back into old habits.

21. Similarly, my food is not other people's problem. No one wants to hear about my diet or how great low carb is (unless they specifically ask). I do not ask my vegan friend how her broccoli's going.

22. Will power is not a thing. Lack of will power is not why I failed at low fat calorie controlled diets for 20 years. And will power is not why I have not failed at Keto/Low carb. Control over my hunger (from low carb) is the only reason I have been successful.

23. I am not cured of my binge eating. I will never be cured. In the same way that heroine addict clean for 4 years can not have "just one fix". It's that serious. If I go out and buy a whole pizza and take it home and eat it I will eat every pizza ever made every day until I die. I proved this a couple of years ago, when I had surgery, and thought "I'll just eat whatever for the week I'm home recovering". I managed to stop eating 12 weeks later and 14kg heavier. I have control over my eating, as long as I continue to do what I am doing now.

24. Weigh every day. Don't cry if you put on 2lbs. Track it on something like HappyScale so you can look at the trend for the month. The moment I stop getting on those scales is the moment I stop being vigilant. Next my food tracking will slip, and pretty soon a couple of weeks will have passed and I'm too scared to get on the scales because I'll have gained weight so what the hell I won't weight myself then it's not real and I'll gain back 10kg before I get up the courage. Why not. Yoyo dieting is fun, right?

25. Internet studies are interesting. Science is cool. Attitudes have come a long way from the days when the earth was flat. But for every point of view you can find an supporting study on the internet. Many of them sound very credible and persuasive. Take them all with a grain of salt. Everyone has an agenda. Learn through common sense, trial and error and be willing to be flexible with what you think you know if there's evidence to the contrary.

26. Everyone's different. Just because some 350lb guy on a forum says he loses 20lb a week on Keto does not mean you will. 1 to 2 lb a week is great. Guess what, some weeks you might lose 0.

27. 3 days is not a stall. No change for 4 to 6 weeks may warrant a closer look at your tracking, or perhaps you need to do your profile again and drop your target down a bit. I was 1800 cals a day at 270lb I'm 1350 a day now at 185lb.

28. Op shops are a great place to get rid of your fat clothes and get some nice ones that fit you. It doesn't have to cost a fortune. And one of lifes great joys is finding clothes you've had in the closet for years that never fit, but you liked them so you kept them, and guess what. They fit now.

29. The answer to "can I eat this" is always "set your macros in your MFP diary, put X food into your diary, and then decide". If you eat a food and it doesn't agree with you for whatever reason, don't eat it.

30. And finally - you only get one life, make the most of it. Do you want to be fat and sick and complaining until you die, or do you want to enjoy what time you've been gifted.

***disclaimer*** everything above is based on my observations, personal experience, trial and error. They are not "advice" - and if they are written that way they are only advice to myself. I am not a scientist. I am not trying to prove or disprove anything, and I am not looking for an argument. YMMV.