Source
r/xxketo•
CalicoFox

Finally worked up the nerve to post this: Victories, Defeats, & Lessons Learned

I don't post very often in either here or r/keto, but I've been doing keto since February 2012 - with some ups and downs. Firstly, let me just say that I love eating low-carb - don't get me wrong! I love the lifestyle, I love both the scale and non-scale victories, and I love the health gains. My heaviest weight in my entire lifetime (as far as I know) was 234 lbs. (106 kg).

Anyways, long story short, I ultimately reached my goal weight of 134 lbs. (61 kg) in October of 2015. Yay! 100 pounds lost! I was over the moon - especially since I had struggled in the 140s for over a year prior... I felt that it was time for switching over to maintenance. Also, because I felt incredibly stressed out by the scale, and I wanted to distance myself from the mental obsession of the damn thing, I had decided to do a No-Weigh 2016.

Big mistake. I started at 147 (gained some weight over the holidays) on New Year's, and by New Year's 2017, I had ballooned up to 183 lbs. (83 kg) - but here's the rub: I still fit into most of my clothes...

I know that I'm heavier, and I can see the difference, but I still fit into most of my pants and some of my shirts. I have one pair of jeans and a few shirts that don't fit, so I was rather taken aback by gaining back half of what had taken me years to lose. Also, I'm not sure where it went...

Needless to say, I was stuck in a dark place of denial, anger, self-loathing, and regret from New Year's until now. I know better. I've been doing this long enough and know all the clichés. Been following all the good advice before. Just need to start over, keep calm, and keto on. I often have said to others: It's not a question of if; it's a question of when.

Posted Feb 20, 2017, 9:21 PM UTC

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ClutzyMe34/f/5'7 SW:235 CW:224 GW:155•

As a lady new to keto and having been doing it the lazy way, it is dawning on me that lazy is not going to cut it....which makes me sad lol.

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[deleted]•

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Hebrew_Jeebies•

Welcome to my world! Keto is super effective for me when combined with counting calories. MFP is my friend! I also do IF so that my meals are split between lunch and dinner because 1200 calories can go FAST.

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phawny27F 5'4 HW: 196 CW: 172 GW: 135•

Wait - so you gained all that weight back while still doing keto, but not weighing or counting calories? If this isn't a good example of why "lazy keto" doesn't work for most women, I don't know what is...

In any case, you know what you have to do and you've done it before. You can reverse this, KCKO!

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CalicoFoxOP33/F/5'5"|HW:234|CW:178|LW:134|GW:125•

Well, I did keto most of the time... I wasn't holding myself accountable with the scale, and like an addict on crack, I sort of lost control here and there... Yogurtland was my gateway drug. I had been doing so well, too!

I wasn't weighing. I wasn't counting any calories or macros. I wasn't really holding myself accountable. Lazy keto doesn't really work for most women, which was true even when I was holding myself accountable with the scale. Add "a little by little" cheating, and little by little, a little becomes a lot.

Thank you for your encouragement! Yup, I know I can do this because I've done it before! :)

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1Cor13_4•

Will you make any changes to your weight loss approach this time around, given the things you've learned ?

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CalicoFoxOP33/F/5'5"|HW:234|CW:178|LW:134|GW:125•

That's a good question. Hmm, probably not, since I have done all kinds of things in combination with keto: paleo, Whole30, zero carb, different types of intermittent fasting, water fasting, and various other things I can't think of at the top of my head at the moment. It would be hard for me to come up with something different as I've tried multiple approaches. I had even done this thing where I would randomize my meats and vegetables, or what type of diet plan I would do for the day (such as zero carb, for instance).

While I think my varied approach worked to stave of getting into a rut, what really works is just sticking to a low-carb plan (plus patience). Most of the time, I eat primal-keto - following the rules of paleo in addition to keto but with butter, cheese, and heavy cream added in because yum.

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