Hello,

I began my low carb journey (Atkins 1972) in April 2014. Keto flu was tough, but once that was out of the way, it was pretty easy and enjoyable and when I began maintaining (and exceeding my goal weight effortlessly) around July 2015, I really felt that this was the diet that was so easy to keep up with and I felt proud, and the compliments were plenty.

Lot's has happened since then. I moved in with my partner in December 2015, and I was still eating to the book, weekends going slightly over my net which was over my limit 25g net carbs mostly due to making "keto deserts" or treating myself to a dark chocolate now and then. My weight stayed off or stalled with the low carb homemade deserts, but with the dark chocolate I noticed more weight loss! So I had found my weekend perfect treat

Anyway, I gradually started eating more carbs, not of the rule book - high G.I. This wasn't because I craved it badly, it was more to do with complacency. I felt invincible, that I looked so good, was fit and healthy, so dabbled in the dark side now and then. Think I could just do an intermittent fast and it'll be ALL ok, and it was.

Until it became habit, and I began adding more deserts, knowing I could fast the following day and get back on track. Anyway, I felt that this was my downfall. It became a regular thing and the weight ever so slightly and subtly crept back up, and I had also decided against weighing myself since reaching my goal, so I felt fine until I noticed slight tightness in my skinny jeans adn so on.

Then, I began getting back on track, by this time I was probably about 6 lbs heavier, but didn't worry me too much. What really caused me to put back on 20 lbs is the move to my partners parents house. We were there whilst looking for a new house together. His mum, loved scones for lunch, oats for breakfast, pasta for dinner...I was very worried...We hoped to stay a month, however, we ended up staying longer from June 30th 2016 to Sept 2016, and in those 3 months. Let's just say those 3 months were defining moments lol..

It began, with "ah, lets just have one slice of toast with my eggs" for breakfast, then a cheeky bit of lemon sponge cake after dinner... Oh and it was very slight these additions - small wafer thin slices of cake, half a slice of toast...Than I began drinking a can of cider nearly every evening, thinking they were low carb??? Not sure where I heard that, but was given the green light somehow..

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I noticed huge weight gain, towards the last month there. I feel unequivocally that the amounts of cider I was consuming had a part to play, as the swollen carb face, body tended to show the following day after a cider binge. Not to mention the nitroduction of carbs over time.

Bare in mind, I never exceed 150 grams of carbs, at my worst...yet this was a nail in the coffin, it was sinful on my part! Eventually, me and my partner moved at the beginning of last month and tried to get back but have found it hard.


This forum has helped me in a big way, and I have returned after all this time for some serious words of motivation, to yank me out from this funk as I'm scared I will keep eating and get bigger, not to mention the depression of feeling like crap has resurfaced. Starting to turn down events that I've been invited to by my partner. OH, and I have a wedding to attend on December 10th 2016.

I need your help. I never thought I'd get here, I really enjoy low carb eating, so I am hitting myself with a virtual stick right now. Words of motivation, and how not cave in and continue the low carb way again.

In addition, I think I am definitely out of ketosis, I am probably not fat adapted anymore? I may have to go through carb-flu again? Lots of advice appreciated!

Kindest,

Yabbaranks

I remember you. You were quite the inspiration to me as I got started. Welcome back.

The good thing is that you already know what you need to do. Now you just have to do it. It is going to be hard. Carbs are very seductive and addictive. It certainly doesn't help when everyone around you is chowing down on the foods that you need to avoid. You've done this before. You can do it again. It won't take long before it gets easy again. You can do this!

What you described so well is my biggest fear. It is so easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole again with the carbs. They are so addictive and the cravings come back with a vengeance. I've felt invincible and complacent at times, too. I've tested that line of the slippery slope a couple of times and caught myself before I slid off. I've found that I have to mix it up. If I have some food that is on the borderline of what I consider on-plan, it had better be rare. If I do a little everyday (like dark chocolate & PB), those foods start calling my name again. Then it becomes work to stop the habit.

About the only advice I can give is to go really simple - even boring - with you diet for a few days. Lots of fat, enough protein, and very low on the carbs. Don't worry about calories. Eat if you want to eat. Just stay on the healthy fats and protein side of the fence. Avoid any food with carbs that you might have trouble having in moderation (for me that was nuts, berries, nut butters, and dark chocolate). When I feel like I'm getting a little too close to the edge - a sense of losing control - going simple and lowering the carbs helps get me back into the zone. Once comfortably fat adapted and out of the routine of having LC 'goodies & treats' - the diet gets much easier again. I feel like I'm back in control.

You did right by coming back here. A little accountability really helps. Keeping active with your journal helps. I'm kind of afraid to leave this place. I have my life back now and I don't want to lose it.

That was a good post. You've come clean. Now get back to business and pull the reigns in on your diet. The past is the past. It is time to move forward. You've got this!

Many of us have been through the same thing. The key is to keep visiting this site even when you get to maintenance. I cannot handle more than 35g net carbs, so have just needed to learn to live with it. On the positive side, you've caught yourself before gaining back all the weight and more, and you know what you need to do.

The "depression of feeling like crap" is caused by the food you've been eating. It should be gone along with all the retained water and a few pounds with two weeks on Induction. It will be easier now that you are no longer living in the carb-in-laws' home.

It will take you a few days or a couple of weeks to get back into ketosis and get fat-adapted. The best way to avoid induction flu is to eat enough and make sure you get plenty of salt, ideally a mix of sodium & potassium salts on food and a magnesium supplement before bed and drink plenty of water.

You are welcome back, and really, the hard, hard lessons you've learned are welcome, too. I'm SO close to goal, and I have lost and gained weight in my life, as well. I do NOT want to regain this time.

One thing that can help you stay OP once you have re-lost the weight that you regained is to imprint the way you feel RIGHT NOW in your mind. The depressed feeling isn't only d/t the weight gain. It and the weight gain come from the same poisonous source: carbs.

My limit is 20, day to day, and 30, very occasionally. I do eat dark chocolate, 90% cacao. But if I start thinking that I can have more, because I haven't hit my carb limit for the day, I have to put the danged chocolate away for at least a couple of week.

There is one very good thing about messing up. We feel SO bad about it, that we really want never to do it again! Learning how to accomplish that is an enormous gift to ourselves. (Says the person who gained back 12 of the first 20 lbs, in the winter of 2014-2015.)

khrussva, thank you again for your wise words

Yes, I am going cold turkey now. I thought dark chocolate (over 70% and good quality) would be ok as it would be low G.I more raw cocoa solid, less raw sugar. I thought, becacuse it isn't sickly sweet like milk chocolate, it wouldn't cause me to become addicted, but it did.

Question - Given that I've been off the rails for a good 6 months or more... *eek* Would it be just as tough as the first time, in terms of getting fat- adapted?

Appreciate your feedback.

I love this! Ha!

Yes, definitely a positive, it's funny I've been feeling so sorry for myself that I failed to notice that all I have to contend with is loosing half of the weight I lost when I first started out.

Thank you so much :0

That made me smile, and you are so right, I should remember this feeling. Though, I have a picture (which I will never delete) of when I was at my biggest - 13 stone. I looked horrid. The scariest thing ever, is I looked at that photo when I was tempted to cheat, and it did nothing. I just didn't care. That reaction worries me deeply. Who's to say, I loose all this weight and it happens again...

It's like the emotional/psychological effects were SO strong, I couldn't back down. I don't want to ever go through that again. I know I've been under some stress whilst we were looking for our house, and it all contributes to where I am now. You are right, the over consumption of carbs, doesn't help the mood.

Anyway, back to the drawing board, hope it's a little easier this time round..

I'm no expert. I just try to figure myself out as I go along. JEY100 has offered this link in several threads related to being in ketosis v.s. fat adapted...



It has been a while since I read it. I'm not sure if it will answer your "how long" question or not. I would imagine that it would vary widely depending on many factors. Did you keep your exercise up? Were you on again/off again with the low carbing (or just off for 6 months)? What ever the case, it really doesn't matter how long it will take as much as it matters that you do what it takes to get fat adapted again. Life is good when your body is just has happy to run on fat as it is glucose.

I wish you the best getting back on track.

Hey, welcome back! I've been through that cycle a couple of times myself - many of us have. What's important is that you learned and are recommitted!

If it helps you, though I don't know why it would, I really appreciate reading your story today. I recommitted on Monday after several weeks with some extra nut butter there, a handful of nuts here, some natural peanut butter with cocoa powder for a dessert, maybe a little extra cheese would be good... All legal treats but they sent me skyrocketing back up the scale. I can't do it this time, I CAN'T. So I'm back on the wagon and my pants fit better already.

I'm going super strict for a little while just to wash the taste of overindulgence out of my mouth, and then I'll settle back down a little. No need to kill myself getting back down, it'll happen in its time. As long as the scale is moving in the right direction I'm going to take it and be grateful.

Best of luck to you, and thank you for sharing your story.

I know what your going through, ive been on and off this site since 2007, in 2012 when I went through a divorce and got my nursing degree and started working I lost over 50 lbs, its hard to get back on the wagon, I jumped back on4 days ago after having regained all my weight plus a few pounds trust me I'm depressed and disgusted with myself, all my hard work was thrown out the window partially by a ton of extra stress in my life, I had a job for 2 years where I was working 80 hours per week and I had no life, I was on the road all day doing home health nursing and the fast food got to me along with a lack of exercise, thank GOD your getting back on track before you regained all of it, trust me its not a good feeling, I don't want to be fat anymore, and I know you don't either.

A classic story about the Weight Creep. You are not alone! Hang out here until you get the hang of it once again.

Yes, recommit at serious induction level, and you'll soon be fat-adapted again. Now would be a good time to use a food diary. Looking at the numbers is always a fact check. I usually put my "anticipated foods" in the diary at the beginning of the day, so it's not only a fact check but also an action guide. It can always be revised at the end of the day--in a good way.

You'll feel better right away when you get on with it.

Best wishes.

Hey there yabba! I am very sorry you went through this but remember the wise words "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

I am new here & new to the very low carb way of life but if I may make a few suggestions that might help you...

Reread Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution...just to refresh everything in your mind!

Start back with the 2 week induction diet

Write down some positive thoughts & put them where you can see them daily

Download a diet tracker & use it

And if you feel a craving for those evil carbs consider getting a mental picture of the bad bacteria in your digestive track feeding & multiplying on the carbs you are thinking about eating...YUCK! 😲

You have this in the bag

Hi Yabbaranks!
Reading your post, it was like I had written it myself!
I lost 56lbs 10 years ago and then got married, changed to a job with lots of travelling and got complacent.
It starts with little additions of carbs which then turn into bad habits. Then I thought it would be OK to eat more carbs if I did 5:2 or whatever. Looks like that didn't work out!!
You are not alone in your frustration or in restarting. I have a black tie party to go to on the 10th December too so maybe we can motivate each other to lose as much as we can for then. :-) We can do it!

You did it once the great thing is you know what to do to get back on track. You did the right thing getting back to the forums. We've all done it and nobody is perfect. So don't beat yourself up.

This is coming from the chief of screwing up. I was actually down to weight once. Keep looking forward and other backwards

Peace and Blessings

Happened to me at a 20 pound weight gain, and that's when I can't wear my pants, and that's when I declare a DefCon ONE.

Do you track? I've found that not only helps me lose, it helps me maintain. Something about having to log that extra number keeps me from straying.