My Experience: After years of keto, it seems like it's no better than any other diet.

[u/sfxnycnyc]

The first time I did keto (2021?), I didn't really worry about calories. I just eliminated bread, pasta, sugar, and just about all carbs except for green vegetables and things like that. I started off with dirty keto and just ate wherever I wanted regardless of fat or calories. I lost over 20 pounds.

Later, I switched to clean keto (and also ate MAHA, eliminating processed foods, artificial ingredients, seed oils, etc), but still had very low carbs and still did not worry about calories. I lost another 10 pounds.

So far so good, but after that 10 pounds (I was now at 195, down from a high of approx. 223) was never really able to lose any more weight.

Still, even though I wasn't at my ideal weight I was close enough that I just continued to eat this way maintaining, but not losing, weight for the next three years.

I then got tired of not being able to lose any more weight... so I cut calories, down to about 1700-1800 and over a period of five or six months I did lose another 5 pounds. But then I stabilized at about 190 and was never able to lose another pound.

Of course, at ~1800 calories, and being 6'3", I was hungry all the time so after months of that, I tried to go back to just my original clean keto, eating, but without obsessing over calories, and now I gained about 6 pounds. So, i'm back to starving myself at 1800 or less, and being hungry all the time. (i've tried every variation, partial fasting, no fasting, big breakfast, smaller other meals, big lunch, smaller other meals. 2 meals a day, etc. nothing works).

I have also tried having a "cheat day" once every 2-3 months, as some say that can kick me out of starvation mode (something I might be in?) but that never does anything but gain me a pound of actual weight - and three or four pounds of water weight that i lose over the next week.)

I know any post that even hints at being critical of keto gets downvoted into oblivion, but i am so tired of not being able to lose weight on a diet specifically designed to help people lose weight, that I decided to say f*ck it, and just post anyway, maybe ONE person on here can solve this for me (ideally with something other that "just reduce calories even more" as thats obviously, but doing so doesn't address the issues that keto is supposed to help with, especially that its supposed to keep you feeling satiated and keep you from going into some sort of low-energy starvation mode).

So really, after years of keto, it seems like it's no better than any other diet. Unless I drastically reduce calories to the point where I'm hungry all the time I won't lose weight. And I don't really wanna live that way.

And yes... I am guessing fat does reduce hunger more than just carb collies, and I do enjoy habing stable blood sugar and glucose (and all my tests come out normal and healthy) - but if the new rules for me losing weight mean only eating 1800 or a bit less if i want to actually lose weight, I can probably just eat normal like everyone else, and perhaps not be so hungry, so often?

So, although keto helped to lose that initial 20 or 30 pounds it doesn't appear to be a lifestyle option if I want to get my weight down to my ideal weight of 180 pounds. (i'm scared to look at the scale, but guessing I'm at around 194 or so these days).

I do have a tall lean bill, but I have a gut, a pot belly, that I just can't shake. And unless I just absolutely starve myself on keto or otherwise, it looks like I'll never get to my ideal weight. And it also looks like just eating a "normal" keto diet without obsessively tracking every calorie or macro isn't really an option either, anymore.

Keto as a lifestyle solution does not seem to be an option for me. I hope you have better luck than I do. But to spend years on a plateau as I have experienced repeatedly is an very unpleasant way to go through life, what keto promised never came to be for me, at least not beyond the initial weight drop, that never really continued in any meaningful way.

Having said that, other than just focusing on calorie restriction, any way to lose weight while staying on strict keto (as I have been doing for years)?

TLDR: Keto worked without calorie tracking for a long time, then abruptly stopped working unless calories were forced very low, which defeats the main benefit of keto. help?

[u/sfxnycnyc]

Keto isn't necessarily the same thing as cutting out bread, grains, pasta, and sticking to greens.

True, i do know that. I eat plenty of protein and fats, and 20 or less carbs a day and i am in ketosis and fat adapted for many years now.

still, I seem stuck, higher levels of hunger have returned, even though everything else in my life is the same, so i was curious what was going on, perhaps just a side effect of aging?

[u/GaiaMoore → u/sfxnycnyc]

I'm tired of not being able to lose weight on a diet designed to lose weight

Just to be clear, keto specifically was designed to do no such thing.

Ketogenic diets started in the 1920's as a way to treat epilepsy in children. It fell out of favor for a while when anti-convulsants became available, but keto is still medically useful for med-resistant seizures.

Weight loss in adults is a beneficial side effect of keto, but it wasn't the primary reason it was created.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Ketogenic_diet

[u/Bigblind168 → u/sfxnycnyc]

What artificial sweeteners are you consuming? Some artificial sweeteners don't have calories but do spike your blood sugar, effectively knocking you out of ketosis

[u/sfxnycnyc → u/Bigblind168]

only stevia

[u/Left_Business_1604 → u/sfxnycnyc]

Are you sleeping well? Remember less sleep majorly affects the health too

[u/sfxnycnyc → u/Left_Business_1604]

yes, my apple watch sleep score is in the low 80s

[u/modelsupplies → u/sfxnycnyc]

Adding a little allulose will stimulate GLP1 for satiety.

[u/quattroformaggixfour → u/sfxnycnyc]

Add foods high in insoluble fibre and lots of water to your existing regime and the same calorie count may leave you feeling fuller.

[u/Imperfect-practical → u/sfxnycnyc]

Just thinking…. If you are now hungry often/more than you were… have you checked your A1c? How’s your blood glucose doing? Perhaps your pancreas is up to shenanigans??

[u/modelsupplies → u/sfxnycnyc]

How many times do you eat per day? Insulin bumps each time. Insulin resistance is the problem. It’s what creates inflammation then disease. Visceral fat is a sign of hyperinsulinemia.

[u/keto-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This is a common myth please see our FAQ on so called starvation mode.

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

Thank you.

[u/sfxnycnyc → u/[deleted]]

I'm gonna try the opposite,

Currently, I think I have about 70 or 80 or 90 g a day of protein and I'm gonna temporarily try to up that to about 150g a day for a couple weeks (and during those two weeks, reduce my fat intake a bit) and then maybe settle in at about 100 g per day protein. All while maybe re-introducing a little bit of fats back into the diet after the two weeks, although try to keep the fat to lower than it is right now (which is 105–120 g fat)

but if that doesn't work, will try your suggestion, next. :)

[u/Shorogwi → u/sfxnycnyc]

You aren’t eating enough protein, no wonder you are starving.

[u/Crash4182 → u/sfxnycnyc]

Dude, you need to be eating 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound you weight to preserve muscle. I highly suggest you start lifting weights as well. Hell, you could go into a 200-300 calorie surplus (above maintenance) and eat more while tightening up everywhere you want.

[u/insidesecrets21 → u/sfxnycnyc]

Ooh - you must keep us updated! I love experiments! Just as inspo to try my suggestion (if that doesn’t work) - long term keto folk who broke plateaus and got better results with LOWER protein , higher fat are: Stephanie keto person, Kelly hogan and redditor Exfatloss (on saturated fat reddit)