If You Could Redo Your Low-Carb Journey, What Would You Have Done Differently?
If you could go back in time and redo your low-carb journey, what would you have done differently? We asked our members and received over 1,400 replies:
Here are some of the most common answers:
- Nothing
- Started sooner
- Started fasting
- Eaten less dairy
- Been more strict and consistent
- Known specific recipes
I’m glad to hear that most of you answer ‘nothing’. Just like Kristie Sullivan so beautifully puts it in this post, it’s about the journey, allowing yourself to make mistakes and learning things as you go – not the destination.
I don’t regret any phase of my keto journey. But having been through it and finally landing where I want to be, this is my take on the question:
1. Back to basics
Low carb and keto is all about eating real nutritious foods to satiety, listening to your body and having a ‘relaxed’ relation to eating.
But my early mistake was feeling completely stressed out about eating ‘enough fat’, not eating a single gram of carbs over my allowed ‘limit’, and having high ketone numbers and doing everything perfectly. Neither simple nor inspiring!
If I were to do it over again, I’d focus on the basics: just eat real low-carb foods to satiety!
Here are our top videos about low-carb basics:
2. Having a support group
It’s can be hard to change your eating habits, so the last thing you need is people being unsupportive of the changes you’re making.
Working at Diet Doctor is fantastic, because everyone is on some form of low-carb or ketogenic diet. In my early keto days I felt as if I were the only one doing this ‘weird’ diet!
But most people are not as fortunate. Maybe you struggle because family members, friends or colleagues don’t support what you’re doing. If so, I’d look for social support elsewhere.
We’ll soon create a social support function here at Diet Doctor. Do you have any suggestions on how to do that?
3. Lazy recipes
I like to keep things simple. When I come home from work, I don’t want to spend lots of time cooking an advanced three-course dinner with exotic ingredients. Since starting, I’ve built up a bank of easy-to-cook low-carb and keto recipes.
Here are some super-simple keto recipes I recommend:
What would you have done differently?
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On my first attempt to a low carb diet around 2011, I followed a plan that involved a weekly planned cheat day or at least cheat meal (with the stated reason to keep thyroid hormones regulated up to help with metabolism, and to reduce cravings during the rest of the week by postponing indulgences to that day). In principle it still worked, I did lose several kilos by cooking and eating fairly close to how it is also recommended by Dietdoctor.com now (I also increased hiking). I didn't try to actively add in fat to satiety, but I also didn't avoid it. Though back then I even tried to avoid most dairy to speed up progress. But somehow that cheat day never let me get into a true low carb lifestyle, it always felt like a diet that I had to stick to for the next six days before I could look forward to eating some "normal meals" again (pizza, pasta, bread, ...). And of course the cheats prevented me from getting into or at least staying in ketosis, though I didn't really know what that was back then. After about six months, I stopped that way of eating when priorities changed except for still mostly eating no or low carb breakfast (eggs typically), and my weight rebounded somewhat.
Then on my next attempt last year, I wanted to be strictly low carb not planning in a regular cheat day. Only at certain times of the year like for the holidays and a few birthday parties I did indulge in some more high carb meals and anticipated those would lead to small "refeed" plateaus, but my regular/default eating lifestyle now is always low carb. And after losing just about all my excess weight (currently 79 kg/175 lbs at a height of 185 cm/6'1" also with a good height-waist ratio) this way of eating feels so much easier to sustain indefinitely, without ever really craving certain foods or feeling ravenously hungry even after intermittent fasts.
I wish to stay focus on myself and on what I do, instead of worrying if I loose more or less weight... because in the end of the day, it's about me getting healthier in long run .. it takes time to adjust for our body, and I would prefer to join a different social group.
"Love seeing the lazy recipes presented. Is it possible to have this as a category in recipes?"