Reintro "good" carbs

[Greentomatoes21]

I lost about a stone on keto through November and December. I logged everything and was very strict. Took a few days off over Christmas and over-indulged, knowing I would likely put on rapidly. Anyway, scales say I put on 6lb 🫠 I know some of this is water weight and salt etc so am not too worried and have started back on keto today.

However, I don't want to be keto forever. How do I come off keto sensibly once I get to my goal weight? (I am 5ft 1 and want to be about 9 stone - this is the higher end of a healthy weight for my height). I know I over-indulged at Christmas so the obvious answer is not to over-indulge when I've reached my goal but is there a way of doing this without loading on water weight and bloating?

Thanks everyone.

[BigBoysDontCry]

I've gone from keto to low carb. My motivation was blood sugar though rather than weight which maybe gives a different level of motivation.

I'm currently still underweight by about half a stone. I couldn't stop losing as I had gone off most keto friendly food so wasn't eating enough. Now I have some carbs with every meal but team it with fat to slow the absorbtion, I just watch my portions of carbs and try to stay at around 30g or less per meal and I've been told to ignore the carbs in fruit and veg but I still struggle with that.

My blood sugars initially went up but sticking to low carb and they have dropped again with no further dietary changes.

So, I tend to eat paleo granola with whole milk for breakfast or occasionally I'll have a small bowl of porridge with some berries. For lunch I'll either have a small baked potato with plenty butter and prawn cocktail/tuna mayo/cheese etc or a couple of bits of wholemeal sourdough with butter and pate or cream cheese and a bit of salad.

For main meals I might have a little bit of brown rice or 30g wholewheat pasta or even a few chips if that takes my fancy. I usually also have some full fat Greek yoghurt with berries after dinner.

Snacks might be half a green apple with peanut butter or some nuts or a couple squares of 90% dark chocolate.

I find this completely sustainable for me but I still cannot put weight on. I add butter into everything and will have diet whey shakes (low sugar) made with whole milk and sometimes cream.

I think low carb will be good to maintain weight, but it just takes a bit of effort and restraint.

Well done for losing what you have, you can definitely do this.

For me, as I'd become quite obsessed, just not worrying whether the stock cube or tomato puree had 0.5g more carbs than the other brand helped me to relax and not get so stressed about it.

I was eating virtually no carbs at one point, nowhere near 20g.

Ive even recently had the occasional few crisps and I had roasties at Christmas without panicking. I just try to keep at 90ish grams a day but if I am out for a meal and don't know what's in a sauce then I don't worry about it as an occasional thing.

[Greentomatoes21]

Thanks so much, this is really helpful. I work well with numbers when it comes to food, so even knowing 30g per meal is an acceptable amount once I come off keto is so useful! I hadn't thought about continuing the full fat element when coming off keto - I assumed I would just have to calorie count.

I agree that keto can make you become really obsessed with carb intake, it was actually really hard for me to shift my mindset to come off at all.

[BigBoysDontCry]

I don't count calories at all but then I'm not trying to lose weight. What I do might not work for you and I've got to the point now where I roughly know how much carbs I've added in without really weighing stuff. My husband does low carb too and my DS eats a "normal" diet. So say we are having a curry, for quickness I'll use a packet of brown basmati. DS gets half and DH and I split the other half. Half a pack is about 35g carbs so I could have a half if I wanted to, but that feels enough with some added veg. The sainsburys wholewheat fusilli works out 1g per piece so easy enough to measure out. I think a portion is deemed 90g dry weight.

Some meals I'll still have very little and then have a carbier meal or an extra snack if I have enough left in my allowance.

I still make keto granola bars and cookies for snacks.

I mean I'm no expert and my diet would in no way be deemed "clean" in keto terms, but it's reasonable and I feel healthy and have energy and sleep well and my blood sugar is doing OK so I'm at peace with it 😊


I've also finally lost my baby weight, pity its 22 years later....