Keto long term is very possible – You CAN do it if it’s something you decide is good for you! Once I experienced the feeling of eating a low carb diet, I decided this was definitely for me. And I don’t have any plans to give it up!
I’ve shared quite a few recipes on my blog so far, but this blog post will be more informational and hopefully motivational for you to decide to take some sort of steps to improve your health.
If you are new to keto or a low carb diet, and you’ve shared with people your new way of eating, then you’ve probably heard a ton of negative things about eating “like this.” *eyeroll*
One of the most discouraging things you can hear when you are learning about something new and making a decision to do it, is to have people discourage you because of bad things they’ve heard or read about keto – and not personally experienced.
I have personally found that for me there are many more positives that come from eating a high fat low carb diet, than there are negatives.
When I first started eating keto, I experienced a lot of criticism about trying it. I had quite a few people say things to me that I wasn’t expecting. It really made me really consider if I was doing the right thing or not, but I stood firm with trying it – and so glad I did!
If you haven’t heard the statements below from people yet… you will.
I want to help you be prepared to hear them, process them and understand that the people who say these things to you probably have never successfully eaten a keto diet or a low carb diet for any length of time before they gave up.
Below is a medical disclaimer because I’m not a doctor and my post contains my own experiences and opinions. Remember, I’m just a regular person who decided to start a keto and a low carb way of eating. If you decide to try keto, I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about it.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
Please note that I am not a medical professional. I am sharing my own experiences on this blog, and nothing I share should be taken as medical advice. You should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained on this website.
Ready? Here we go…
These are just some of the things that people have said to me about keto…
1 – Keto isn’t a long term solution because it’s too hard.
Hard… Hard is relative. The feeling of hard is different for different people. I can personally only speak to a little over a years worth of time, but over the past year it’s been my solution and it’s been one of the best decisions in my life. It was hard at first, but the more I researched and learned and prepared the less hard it became. I was committed to giving it a whole hearted try. Not half-way… All in. You can’t go keto and just do it some days, and not others, in the beginning. It doesn’t work like that, and quite frankly, you will feel like crap if you do it that way.
2 – Keto is too hard because the food choices are so limited.
People that say food choices are limited, but I’ve eaten way more varied foods since our family has changed to a low carb way of eating. I’ve also eaten more veggies since we started eating low carb, and I’ve learned the correct veggies to be consuming to keep my blood sugar from spiking (fyi-corn is one of the worst veggies to eat if you are trying to keep your blood sugar regulated). Check out my post about Green Carbs.
3 – You won’t get enough vitamins and minerals if you don’t eat grains.
Grains spike blood sugar so they are a no-no for low carb. Most of the grains that are available to us in the 20th century have been stripped of those vitamins and minerals anyway. Fresh veggies and salads contain many vitamins and nutrients our bodies love, and many are totally keto approved.
4 – Eating like this doesn’t give you enough fiber.
When you are eating REAL non-processed foods your body is getting real fiber and enough fiber.
5 – Your cholesterol will go up.
When researching keto, this was one of my main concerns. Since learning that 75% – 80% of the cholesterol is produced by my own body, the approximate 20% left comes from the food I eat. That’s not much, and I have the power to decide at what level and type I consume fats. What I have learned through research is that the particle size and inflammation is of more concern than a number your cholesterol has been assigned. So, I would encourage you to learn more about particle size of cholesterol and inflammation if you are concerned about cholesterol. Dr. Berg’s YouTube Channel is a great place to start learning about cholesterol and keto. Here is a good first video to start with https://youtu.be/5vIoHR7J24I
6 – You have to pee on a stick all the time to see if you are in ketosis.
You do not have to pee on a strip, but I have to admit when you are first starting the keto way of eating, you will want to do this… (shhh, it’s kinda neat). The strips are available here and they are pretty inexpensive. It’s kind of like immediate feedback when you are starting, but it’s in no way necessary, and it is no way accurate to tell if you are in ketosis. You will ‘FEEL IT’ when you are in ketosis. All the strips are telling you is that you are excreting ketones. It doesn’t say whether you body is actually using the ketones for fuel. The only way to tell for sure if you are in ketosis is through a blood test. It’s simple and the method is just like testing your blood sugar, except you use a different machine and different testing strips. This is the machine and test strips I use when I test. (Some machines can test both blood sugar and ketones, but different strips are required)
7 – You’re gonna get sick if you do Keto — Keto flu.. What?
So this is a real thing. At least it was for me and #KetoHusband. The severity is wide-ranged though. And this is one of the biggest things (besides cholesterol) that people will tell you about that might discourage you from keto. The real deal is this – For me, it did not feel flu-like. It felt like I had a cold and I noticed I was unusually tired for maybe a day or so; and I didn’t even realize it until #KetoHusband said he thought he was getting sick. Then, together we realized that ‘this must be the keto flu” that people were talking about online. He felt worse than I did and it took him probably a few days to get over his symptoms. After the ‘keto flu’ passed we both felt great! It was something that until you experience it, you can’t even explain it correctly. But I’ll try… It’s a feeling of energy that feels different than any other energy you’ve ever experienced. Who knew?! Fat Energy I guess!
8 – You are going to be constipated, irritated at everything, have insomnia.
I personally felt none of these after starting keto. Actually, I had them before I started eating keto and after being in ketosis for a while, I noticed these issues were gone. I slept better and more soundly, was ‘regular’ for the first time in a long time, and I actually felt less anxious and more patient in general.
9 – You get cramps and it’s going to hurt.
This is true, but you can do things to control the cramps from occurring. For me, I got cramps in my lower legs and I think that is the most common place people get them. A lot of times they are caused by low electrolytes. This too will pass the longer you are in ketosis or even just eating low carb. When you aren’t eating carbs (or processed foods), your body isn’t holding excessive water, so essentially you can get dehydrated. So drinking lots of water is helpful. I found adding salt to my foods helped too. I would encourage you to research and try different things to see what works for your body the best. For me, extra water seems to work the best.
10 – You only lose water weight, not fat.
You will lose water weight at first (see #9 above), but you WILL also lose fat… it’s science. Plain and simple. No/low carbs = fat loss. I’ve lost over 60 pounds to date and there’s no way that was all water. When your body makes that shift to use fat for fuel, your body starts to use it’s own stored fat for energy. This is why some days you never actually become hungry. You are carrying around your meals/energy in the form of your own body fat. Using your stored body fat for energy accumulates in the form of big losses! If you find that you aren’t losing weight it’s usually because you are still consuming carbs that you don’t realize. We call those hidden carbs. Just like little losses of weight add up to big losses of weight… So do carbs. An extra carb here and there add up and can cause you to get knocked out of ketosis or to stall = no fat loss.
11 – You can’t exercise on keto.
You can absolutely exercise while in ketosis. There are plenty of bodybuilders who do this and that is why their body fat is so low. You have to adjust your macros to accomplish this, but you most certainly can exercise.
12 – You will gain it all back.
Well, don’t we all gain back the weight we lose if we don’t stick to the same eating plan we did to lose the weight to begin with? If you go back to eating like you did when you were gaining weight, then um… yeah, you will gain the weight back. To be successful at keeping weight off, you need to find a new way of eating that you can stick with long-term.
13 – You are going to kill yourself eating like that.
This one always gets me. The fact of the matter is that the way I’ve been eating for years up until I started eating a low carb and then keto was the diet that had actually been killing me.
Your body doesn’t flourish with the modern processed foods available today. Our bodies crave fresh non-processed foods and water. It’s that simple folks. When we aren’t getting those things on a regular basis our bodies start to revolt in the form of diseases and illnesses.
When you are at the very beginning of getting rid of the carbs and processed foods from your system, you may be suffering from the ‘keto flu,’ people are calling you crazy, you may not feel supported and you’re just trying to get through each day at a time, it’s tough. I know, I’ve been there. At some point you have to look more long term. A month from now you will be thankful. Six months from now you will stay to yourself – Why didn’t I know about this way of eating before now! A year from now you will have settled down and be thanking yourself for what you did and are doing! A few days or a couple weeks that are tough at the beginning is a short amount of time to pay for the rest of your life that you are going to enjoy!
Bottom Line
Don’t let people discourage you from your success. Whether it’s Keto or Low Carb don’t let them discourage you from trying to make improvements to your health.
When you need some encouragement or motivation you can come back and re-read this article again.
Pin this article on your Keto Lifestyle Board by clicking here.
Need Support?
If you feel like you don’t have enough support for this way of eating, or you are trying to do it on your own there are many places you can turn to find support.
Instagram was huge for me for finding motivation and support! You can follow me at www.instagram.com/keto.amy_2017 I will support you and any of the people that I follow will give you support with this journey.
Pinterest is also a good place to gather great recipes and information. You can follow me on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/breakfastwithamy and search for lots of great low carb and keto information and tips through Pinterest.
I have a page on Facebook (www.facebook.com/breakfastwithamy) and there are several Facebook groups out there for Low Carb and Keto. Beware that some of those groups publish a lot of information and opinions. It turns into information overload which can lead to confusion. Remember that your own personal research from reputable sites is invaluable.
You can also subscribe to my blog for updates here. I won’t bombard you will emails. You will only receive an email when I publish a new blog post.
You may also want to check out my post about How I got Started with a Keto and Low Carb way of eating.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
Please note that I am not a medical professional. I am sharing my own experiences on this blog, and nothing I share should be taken as medical advice. You should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained on this website.
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