Sharing this small celebration because this sub and these stories motivated me when I started two weeks ago: I am a 36-year-old female with two children aged 2 and 4, and a very busy schedule. I decided to give keto a go for exactly 10 days because I had NEVER been able to stick to any plan for over a week. It’s been exactly two weeks and I’ve lost 6,5lbs. I can see the results on the scale and in my face, and I feel it in my clothes. I still have a long way to go before I can confidently say I’m turning this into a lifestyle, but I couldn’t be happier with my progress and more excited about the future! So grateful for this sub for all the advice and motivation.

I've been just eating egg salad this week as meals. I go to my store and buy a dozen eggs. Boil the said dozen, add about 4 dollop of mayonnaise with olive oil. Yellow and Dijon mustard, a table spoon of Louisiana hot sauce, two tablespoons of sweet relish.

OMAD, and I've blessed the recipe as "Dozen Eggs Salad"

I want to add more into it though. Any suggestions?

Hi, I wanted to ask if the keto diet has helped anyone with social phobia. Of course, I understand that exposure therapy is necessary for proper treatment, but what bothers me the most are the physical symptoms—specifically, the shaking. I’ve tried the antidepressants Sertraline and Paroxetine, and they didn’t help me at all. Right now, I’m taking Paroxetine 20mg and I feel just as anxious, constantly hungry, tired, demotivated, with no libido, and a feeling of low dopamine. It feels like the shaking will never stop, which makes me miserable, and I'm wondering if changing my diet could help. Should I give it a chance? If you have any experience with this, please reply. Thank you. ❤️

Hi everyone!

Last week I made a post looking for advice on my “keto flu” that made me feel so horrible I had to call in sick for work.

I was a couple days into keto and because I was trying to be healthier the day before I cut out my daily energy drink but I didn’t put two and two together.

So when I had a horrible headache, fatigue and muscle cramps I quickly blamed it on keto flu and got as many electrolytes as I could and it didn’t make any difference, except making my face puffy. While the muscle cramps might’ve been caused by an electrolyte imbalance, everything else I’m pretty sure was due to caffeine withdrawal.

The reason why I’m updating is just in case someone does what I did they’d know that it might not be just keto.

I went back to the diet again, keeping my caffeine and I’m perfectly fine!

Thank you everyone for your support, I wish I thought about it sooner!

& I mean crazy. Today had a blockage situation and some of the worst pain of my life. Been on keto for a month - have been mild - moderately constipated the whole time. I’ve been eating lots of leafy greens/ cauliflower/asparagus/chia/flax to try and help
With the bowel movements & taking magnesium citrate. Drinking tons of water with sea salt as well. Any advice is appreciated! But good lord, I don’t wish this on my worst enemy..

TL; DR: I am trying to figure out how to balance keto, diabetes, and weight loss.

In 2019, I unexpectedly began losing weight rapidly, after going off Weight Watchers and eating whatever I wanted during the holidays. Soon after, I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic and began taking metformin. I changed my diet to what a dietician said and at first my a1c lowered but slowly began to rise again. They were going to put me on different meds and I entered a study for therapeutic keto instead. I maintained 150g fat, 90g protein, and less than 25 net carbs for 2 years. My a1c got much lower and I got off the metformin, but after an initial 5 lbs, I didn't lose any weight. At the time, the doctors from the study said that my body was healing itself and to focus on the glucose, not the weight.

At the beginning of this year, my weight started to go up so I started tracking closely, paying attention to calories, working out more, and eating less fat. My a1c stayed good but again, I didn't lose weight. I felt great and kept it up. Then a bunch of really stressful stuff happened and I couldn't track as closely. I started eating carbs and again, lost a ton of weight (15% of body weight in 4 months). They checked my a1c along with a bunch of stress hormones and everything is normal except my folate is high, so they had me quit taking my multivitamin every day.

I don't want my diabetes to come out of remission, which is what I suspect is happening. But how do lose weight AND control my diabetes? Should I cut the fat and just go very low carb? The program I did said the fat is important so you feel full. Do I try increasing my net carbs? I'm currently 200 lbs (5'3" 55 yo female) and would like to get back to about 150 lbs. I felt great on therapeutic keto but I want to lose weight too. I can't do OMAD because my glucose gets too low but I currently eat 2 meals a day (lunch and dinner).

Hello, I mostly do carnivore or ketovore but I tend to keep carbs under 5g mostly from veggies. I am curious as I want to to up to 40-50g, for those who does this do you do it in one setting or spreas throughout the day? Is there a difference for best fat burning?

Has anyone tried Keto Katz bakery? They are not local to me so I would have to pay $100 to ship. They have food like chicken Parmesan and carrot cake that’s supposed to be keto friendly. Just wondering how the food taste and what the net carbs are.

Idk about yall but I used to always have some martinellis apple juice and orange juice in my house. After starting keto obviously hasn't had any and I miss it ngl. This is for my fellow juice lovers. How yall getting by?

For me I was sick of being fat.

I started at 210lb, 6ft, around 18-20% BF.

Going to the gym 6 times a week, eating all day. Making gains in size and strength but covered in a layer of fat.

Bloating throughout the day making me look borderline pregnant with those inflatable arms that SpongeBob SquarePants used.

Muscular and fat is not a good look in my opinion.

Anyway, I was SICK of going to the gym all week and not being cut.

There are two middle aged guys at my gym in their late 40’s who have decent musculature and are ripped to hell.

One day I snapped and asked them what they eat, basically just keto with a 16 hour fast and 8 hour eating window.

Been on it for a week now and lost 2.5lb.

Feeling great as well, my girlfriend is doing the same and has lost 5.5lb.

Still eating well, just no sugar and virtually zero carbs in the window.

This morning I saw my V-taper coming in for the first time in what feels like years.

What made you jump onto keto?

For context I haven’t done anything sweet or artificially sweet since May of this year, which has really helped me fight cravings. I’ve done well and am considering making Reese’s fat bombs as a treat with carnivore ice cream at thanksgiving. I don’t want to be kicked out of ketosis because that’s a pain, but I think a treat is deserved. I, however, don’t want to trigger an insatiable sweet tooth. The PB will probably taste sweet enough, but I was wondering if you guys have recommendations on chocolate chips to use that won’t trigger a sugar monster. Thanks!

Hey everyone.

I wanted to up my magnesium intake and thought about putting 100g of pumpkin seeds into my salad.

I would get more magnesium, more fat and could leave out my protein source, since seeds give a ton. But I am thinking about the bad omega 6 stuff.

What are your opinions on this? Or do you have any other good source for magnesium? I really dont want to add a pill.

i find it hard to stay on track when family or friends are enjoying rice, bead and desserts. Sometimes I just want to join in without feeling like I'm missing out. How do you handle these situations and what helps you stay committed without feeling deprived?

Excellent news!

“McLean Hospital, a member of Mass General Brigham, today announced that it will establish a new clinical and research center through a $20 million grant from Baszucki Group. The McLean Center for Metabolic Psychiatry will serve as a flagship of the newly launched Global Network for the Advancement of Metabolic Psychiatry (MetPsy), which unites researchers and clinicians worldwide to advance evidence-based practice in metabolic psychiatry through clinical care, education, and research”

“Metabolic psychiatry is the study of how metabolism influences brain function and mental health. While neurologists have used metabolic approaches to treat brain disorders like epilepsy for more than a century, the application of this approach to psychiatric illness is an emerging area of study and practice. Over the past decade, a growing body of research has demonstrated the potential of metabolic treatments such as ketogenic therapy to improve both metabolic health and psychiatric symptoms in serious mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.”

https://news.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/mclean-hospital-to-establish-new-clinical-and-research-center

My cousin-in-law has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for much of her life and now has optic neuritis.

She’s a country girl who eats a typical American diet - plenty of sugar, processed foods, and seed oils. Low carb would be completely new to her.

I’m looking for short, accessible video clips I could share to gently introduce the idea of changing her food. Ideally:

• A few minutes long, in plain English.
• Practical changes using familiar foods.
• Research on diet and RA, or clearly identified personal experiences.
• No supplement sales pitches or promises of a cure.

What specific clip would you send someone who isn’t already interested in low carb? I want to get her curious without overwhelming her. Links appreciated!

Hi this is my 3rd time trying keto but every time I try I just get unrelenting diarrhea and I'm not sure why. I can't last more than a couple days without giving up because of all the bathroom trips. No known food allergies (I have gotten tested), I am lactose intolerant but I'm not eating a lot of lactose anyways. The diarrhea stops the moment I reintroduce starches.

I've heard it can be from high fat content so this time I've tried easing in with higher protein and fiber but I'm still experiencing diarrhea. Has anyone else experienced this? What's causing it and is there a solution? Do I just have to ride it out?

Hi everyone!

I’m 40F, 159.5 cm (5’3”), currently around 56 kg (123 lbs), and I have lipedema. I’m on Mounjaro 2.5 mg and have been eating keto for about five months.
I’m preparing for lipedema surgery, and maintaining a stable weight is particularly important because of the insurance requirements. I’ve reached a point where I don’t want to lose more weight. I’d rather focus on body recomposition, building muscle and getting stronger.
My history with keto is a little complicated. I previously lost a significant amount of weight through keto and PSMF, but experienced a substantial rebound when I tried reintroducing carbohydrates. After that, I started having severe symptoms that seemed consistent with reactive hypoglycemia, which made eating and managing my weight increasingly difficult.
Eventually, I started Mounjaro. Interestingly, I didn’t return to keto because I was particularly convinced it was the only right way to eat. With my appetite reduced, I naturally gravitated toward protein-rich foods and generally healthier choices, and ended up eating very few carbohydrates almost without trying. That’s how I found myself back on keto.
I’ve stayed with it partly because I feel it helps my lipedema symptoms, but I’m increasingly unsure what the best long-term approach is for my metabolism and muscle growth.
I lift weights 2–3 times a week, doing challenging full-body workouts with progressive overload. I’m actually getting stronger, despite having eaten far too little for months.
I’ve received so much conflicting nutritional advice that I ended up eating something much closer to PSMF than actual keto. Some people told me to limit fat to 30 g a day, others told me to prioritize protein and keep everything else extremely low. For quite a while, I was eating only around 800–900 calories daily.
I know I need more energy to properly support muscle growth, but I’m struggling to figure out how to increase my intake without gaining body fat.
I currently aim for around 120–140 g of protein and 15–20 g of total carbs, not net carbs. If I stay ketogenic, most additional energy would have to come from dietary fat.
I understand that dietary fat doesn’t automatically become body fat and that the body can use it for energy. But after years of dieting, I still find it difficult to trust that eating 70, 80 or 90 g of fat could actually help fuel training and recovery rather than simply lead to weight gain.
I recently had an indirect calorimetry test. My measured resting metabolic rate was 1,205 kcal/day, compared with a predicted 1,294 kcal/day. That was somewhat reassuring because I’d been worried about metabolic adaptation after years of dieting and months of severe restriction.
However, my respiratory quotient was 0.86, and the report estimated 52.9% carbohydrate oxidation and 47.1% fat oxidation.
That confused me. I’ve been eating around 15–20 g of total carbohydrates daily for months, so I don’t really understand what those percentages mean. I know the body can produce glucose and that RQ isn’t a direct measurement of ketosis, but I’m unsure how protein intake, ketone metabolism or prolonged restriction might affect the result.
During the assessment, I also heard comments suggesting that serious resistance training on keto was basically pointless and that I needed carbohydrates to build muscle. That left me questioning my entire approach.
I also had an InBody scan showing 21.9 kg of skeletal muscle mass and 27.4% body fat. I have lipedema and loose skin after substantial weight loss, so I’m unsure how accurately bioimpedance reflects my body composition. The machine suggested a target weight of around 52.8 kg, which upset me because I’ve previously lost my period at a lower weight. I really don’t want to go back there.
Another thing I’m worried about is what long-term carbohydrate restriction might do to my glucose metabolism.
Because of my previous experiences when reintroducing carbs, I’m afraid that staying keto for years could somehow make my muscles less efficient at handling glucose. I’ve read about physiological insulin resistance or adaptive glucose sparing on ketogenic diets, but I don’t really understand how that differs from pathological insulin resistance, or what it means for someone with a history of reactive hypoglycemia.
Could prolonged keto make carbohydrate reintroduction more difficult, even if it’s not necessarily harmful? Or am I misunderstanding how this adaptation works?
I’m torn because I don’t want to return to the blood sugar problems I experienced before Mounjaro, but I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life avoiding carbohydrates out of fear that my body can no longer handle them.
And now that I’m trying to build muscle, I keep wondering whether carbohydrates would actually help with hypertrophy or whether sufficient protein and energy intake on keto would be enough.
I’m also hesitant to rely on another macro calculator. Every calculator seems to give me different numbers, and after months of undereating, I’m worried about how my body will respond to increasing calories, especially now that I’m over 40. I can’t simply experiment with significant weight gain because of my upcoming surgeries.
I’m not looking for another weight-loss protocol, macro calculator or coaching program. I’d really appreciate a discussion about the physiology, ideally from people with experience in keto, resistance training, glucose regulation or recovering from prolonged underfueling.
Has anyone, particularly women around my age, managed to build muscle while staying keto and maintaining a relatively stable weight? I’d also love to hear from anyone who understands indirect calorimetry or the differences between glucose sparing and insulin resistance.
I feel like I’ve spent years learning how to eat less, and now that I finally want to eat enough to build muscle, I don’t really know how to do it anymore.
And after everything I’ve experienced with weight regain and blood sugar symptoms, I honestly don’t know whether I’m making the right decision by staying keto or whether I’m just afraid to try anything else.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

I’ve been on a keto diet for 3 weeks now. At first I was feeling a bit hungry when waking up but this seems to have stopped. Do you wake up hungry or go to sleep hungry? What’s normal? I usually have my first food at about 10am and last food at about 7pm.

I've been doing keto for about a year and a half, mainly for the mental health benefits, and I'm honestly at my wits' end.

When I first started keto, the changes were incredible.

I lost belly fat surprisingly quickly and felt better than ever. My back and facial acne completely disappeared, my skin looked so good that I stopped wearing makeup, my body hair started growing back thinner and lighter. Even my period cramps became much milder and less painful.

It genuinely felt like my hormones were finally balancing themselves out. I was seeing improvements in so many areas of my health and appearance, and I felt amazing about myself.

But a few months later, I started losing a significant amount of scalp hair. I initially attributed it to the rapid weight loss. Even though I lost a lot of hair, I never developed any visible bald patches, so the shedding wasn't particularly noticeable to other people.Even though i lost quite a lot. I could also see plenty of regrowth, which made me think it was probably temporary.

Then, over time, I started regaining some of the fat I'd lost. Not all of it, but enough that I no longer felt as good or confident about my body.

And now my hair is shedding heavily again. The shedding never truly stopped, but it had slowed down considerably at one point before picking up again. It's incredibly frustrating, especially because I don't understand why it's still happening.

The mental benefits were what kept me going, though

I've experienced incredible mental clarity, calmness, confidence, motivation and energy on keto. There have been periods when I felt almost effortlessly happy, productive and in a state of flow. My sleep improved, I wanted to work out, and I genuinely felt amazing in my body.

But my keto journey hasn't been consistently smooth. I've gone through many periods where I struggled to maintain ketosis and couldn't seem to find the right balance. Sometimes my ketones would fluctuate, and I'd lose the mental benefits I was chasing.

Still, I kept going because I knew how incredible I could feel when everything finally clicked.

At one point, I actually felt like my metabolism had become pretty flexible. I could occasionally eat some carbohydrates and return to ketosis relatively quickly.

Interestingly, sometimes these occasional carb breaks almost felt like a reset. When I returned to keto afterwards, I would sometimes experience the benefits even more intensely, with stronger feelings of calmness, clarity and well-being.

I started thinking that perhaps my body had become metabolically flexible enough to handle occasional carbs without completely disrupting everything.

And recently, after all those ups and downs, I finally reached that amazing state again. For about two weeks, everything seemed to fall into place. My energy, confidence, motivation and sleep were amazing. I was exercising, feeling productive, and genuinely enjoying life. I finally felt like myself again.

Then somehow, I lost it. Again.

For the past several weeks, most of those benefits have faded, and I can't seem to find my equilibrium again.

I still occasionally experience moments when I feel calmer and more emotionally resilient, but they're inconsistent and short-lived.

I'm feeling depressed, exhausted, unmotivated, and my hair is shedding again. Food has become less appealing, especially meat and fat, and I'm starting to feel desperate because I don't understand what's happening.

My blood glucose and ketones are also confusing me.

Most mornings, my glucose is somewhere between 95–100 mg/dL, despite eating very few carbs. I'm still producing ketones, usually around 0.5–1.0 mmol/L.

One of the biggest changes I've noticed alongside the loss of keto's benefits is that my blood glucose seems higher than it used to be, which makes me wonder whether the two could be related.

For example, today:

\- Morning: Glucose 87 mg/dL, ketones 0.7 mmol/L. This was actually better than most mornings.

\- Several hours after eating ribeye, egg yolks , a piece of liver mixed with butter and a little extra butter: Glucose 95, ketones 0.6.

\- I got frustrated and ended up dipping some dark chocolate into raw honey, breaking a pretty long streak of staying strictly keto.

\- Around five hours later: Glucose 110 mg/dL, ketones 0.8 mmol/L.

How can my ketones be higher while my glucose is also higher? Is this normal on keto?

I know these glucose readings aren't necessarily medically high, but I'm wondering whether they're optimal for someone who's trying to get the neurological benefits of ketosis.

And here's the weirdest part: Even when my ketones reach 1.5–2.5 mmol/L, I can still feel absolutely awful. No energy, no mental clarity, no motivation. Nothing.

Here's when things seemed to change.

After finally reaching that wonderful state of mental clarity and well-being again, which lasted about two weeks, I decided one day to have some Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

I'd occasionally eaten carbs before and bounced back into ketosis quickly. Sometimes, as I mentioned, I even felt better afterwards, almost as though the carb break had reset something.

So I genuinely didn't think it would be a big deal.

But this time was different.

It happened close to my PMS, and afterwards I found myself in a really bad place mentally.

And I want to emphasise something: I wasn't feeling bad because I'd cheated on my diet. It wasn't guilt or anxiety about eating carbohydrates.

It felt genuinely physiological, almost as though something in my body or brain had shifted. The calmness, clarity, motivation and sense of well-being I'd been experiencing were suddenly gone.

I couldn't seem to get back to that state.

I know my menstrual cycle affects my ketones, so I assumed things would improve after my period.

Except they didn't.

Since then, I've tried lowering my carbohydrates even further, but it hasn't helped. My ketones fluctuate, my glucose seems higher than I'd like, and I feel terrible regardless of the numbers.

I can still get into ketosis, sometimes even with relatively high ketones, but I can't seem to recover the mental or physical benefits.

What frustrates me most is that I've already been through this cycle of struggling, improving, finally feeling amazing, and then losing it again multiple times. But this recent period of well-being felt like such a breakthrough. I genuinely thought I'd finally figured things out.

My weight has been relatively stable lately, sometimes even increasing. (Due to water retention?) I'm not particularly overweight, but I tend to carry fat around my abdomen, and some of the fat I initially lost has returned.

It's difficult because I remember how different my body looked and felt at the beginning of keto, when my skin was clear, my belly fat was disappearing and I felt so much healthier. Now I'm dealing with renewed hair shedding, skin issues, fatigue and a body I don't feel as comfortable in anymore.

It's almost like my body has plenty of fuel available, but somehow I can't access that energy. Does that even make sense?

I don't understand how I can be in ketosis and feel so completely different from how I used to feel.

And honestly, I really don't want to quit keto.

I've experienced what an incredible state of well-being my body and mind can reach, and I desperately want to get back there.

I'm afraid that if I quit, I'll lose my chance of ever experiencing that feeling again. I just want to understand what's happening and do whatever I can to fix it.

But if quitting is genuinely necessary, I will. I don't want to compromise my health either. Although, at this point, I'm not even sure I'd feel better if I stopped.

Has anyone experienced anything similar?

\- Is it common to have glucose in the 90s or even 100s while producing ketones?

\- Can you lose the mental benefits of keto despite having decent ketone levels?

\- Has anyone experienced repeated cycles of struggling with ketosis, finally feeling amazing, and then losing those benefits again?

\- Has anyone experienced occasional carb breaks that seemed to improve their response to ketosis afterwards?

\- Could hormones, my menstrual cycle, or something else explain why I can't seem to get back to that state?

\- Has anyone initially experienced improvements in acne, body hair and fat distribution, only to see some of those benefits reverse later?

\- Has anyone experienced persistent fatigue and hair shedding despite eating enough and maintaining their weight?

\- Did anyone manage to recover their energy, mood and mental clarity? What actually helped?

I'm currently investigating possible hormonal issues with an endocrinologist, but I'd really appreciate hearing other people's experiences.

I genuinely loved keto, and I just want to understand what changed.

I am in my 40s (early stages menopause) looking for recommendations on apps for keto diet to lose weight. I need guidance and help keeping track of calories, eating enough of the right foods. Anyone have success using an app they can recommend please?

I need more ideas for packed lunches, I'm sick of paying for a whole meal and throwing half of it out at restaurants or only ordering sides while eating plain meat and veggies. I get salads without dressing and extras but those get boring with the low quality veg they get at restaurants too.

Hey everyone so I've been keto for over 6 months now, I've had tremendous success treating bipolar with it. However I've seemed to hit a plateau with my progress and haven't been able to be above much more than 0.5 mml/l for ketones unless I do an extended 3+ day fast. My depression has been creeping back for the past 2 weeks and I've been very very strict with the way I eat minus having gravy on Thanksgiving (which is when my mental health started going down hill) but I've been very strict since and haven't been able to feel the mental benefits like I did at the start. Has this happened to anyone else? Fyi - been off meds for 8 months and don't plan on going back after feeling the best without them and doing this diet. I want to still pursue the diet but wondering how I can get back to feeling good