Keto or Counting Calories: Which Diet is Best?

I have reached a point in my life where I have to make a serious choice. This will be a life-altering decision.

I can't keep flopping around from diet to diet like a fish out of water.

I need to pick a plan and stick with it.

Bouncing from Keto to CICO (counting calories) to portion control to bingeing on carbs – and then starting over with Keto or low carb again – isn't working very well.

I'm maintaining my weight loss, which I'm very happy about, but I'm not moving forward eating that way.

I'm not getting closer to my goal.

I'm just circling.

Luckily, I'm not backsliding this time, but I'm not moving forward either. I'm just climbing onto the scale everyday and eating to appetite in a haphazard fashion.

Once I admitted to myself that Keto is problematic for me, I decided to check out the CICO forum over at Reddit, and I discovered that those counting calories are just as successful as those doing Keto.

It isn't a matter of going with what works.

Both approaches to weight loss work.

It's more a matter of picking which system fits my particular tastes and lifestyle.

Which system do I want to live with for the rest of my life?

For example, to do Keto rather than CICO or portion control, I'd need to be happy with the food choices allowed, not feel overly hungry throughout the day, and not feel deprived.

Feeling hungry, deprived, and/or like an outsider is instant death when it comes to weight-loss diets. There is no sustainability in living like that.

No matter how excited you are to start Keto or CICO, if it isn't a good fit for you, eventually, you're going to cave into your urges and true desires. And for most people, that means returning to your old food habits which will return you to where you were when you first started your diet, or maybe, even worse.

Lots of people gain more weight than they were before.

So it's time to stop and consider my weight-loss choices.

Seriously.

 

What Makes Keto Sustainable?

The number one reason why people choose to go Keto is for the lack of hunger that the increased protein and fat provides. Dr. Atkins specifically designed his diet to be that way. Switching from a high-carb diet to some form of carbohydrate restriction almost always comes with a sharp decrease in hunger.

This makes it easier to eat at a calorie deficit.

So easy, that many folks don't have to take the time to measure out their food, nor keep track of those calories. They simply focus on protein sources like meat, eggs, and cheese, and then fill in with vegetables and low-carb condiments.

The weight simply slides off without a lot of effort. In fact, Keto is so satisfying that many dieters end up eating only once or twice a day.

So what's the problem?

Why Keto Isn't Sustainable

A lot of dieters have problems discerning what true hunger feels like. We are so used to giving into our food urges that the slightest bit of discomfort often sends us running to the kitchen.

Many low carbers have a mistaken notion that they can eat as much food as they want, as long as it's low in carbs.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Low carb isn't necessarily low in calories. Overeat – and you're going to stall. Some people even gain on Keto.

I know, I did.

Keto comes with a very specific list of allowable foods, so if your favorites happen to be on the “never-ever” list, like mine do, you're going to have to fight those feelings of being deprived if you want to be successful on Keto.

Why Keto Isn't a Good Fit for Me

To succeed on Keto, you'll need to enjoy eating a lot of meat.

While Keto is adequate protein, rather than high protein, I've definitely reached a point in my weight-loss journey where I'm getting sick and tired of eating mostly meat and vegetables.

I miss the rice, potatoes, pasta, and especially homemade bread.

I react badly to most sugar substitutes, especially sugar alcohols which are commonly consumed within the low-carb community today. Low-carb ice cream and low-carb barbecue sauce, for example, are high in sugar alcohols; and a lot of online Keto recipes use those types of sugar alternatives, as well.

This means I have to be careful with low-carb products, especially those that contain wheat-protein and other high-gluten ingredients. Keto products like low-carb tortillas or low-carb breads contain large amounts of gluten.

In addition, I don't have a gall bladder, so I can't handle the amount of fats that most Keto dieters consume. And because of that, I've come to the realization that Keto isn't a good fit for me.

What Makes Counting Calories Sustainable?

There's a huge group of low-carbers who believe that counting calories or moving to some type of portion-control approach is just not sustainable.

For that reason, I was quite surprised to see just how many people in the CICO subreddit are finding success with counting calories. While I've had good success with just cutting back on my portion sizes, you need to stay on top of the body's urges for that to work long-term.

The biggest argument the low-carbers have to counting calories is hunger, but the CICO folks have a work-around for that:

Eat more protein and high-fiber, low-calorie, bulky foods to fill you up.

They go for not-hungry instead of a full belly.

Why CICO Would Not Be Sustainable

Measuring with a food scale and measuring cups and spoons is extremely important, especially at the beginning. Measuring is the only way to keep track of the number of calories you're actually eating.

You need to learn what a real portion size looks like.

Just guessing isn't good enough.

Most people are not good at guessing portion sizes.

A tablespoon is a measuring-tablespoon leveled off with a knife, and not rounded. A quarter cup of almond flour is almond flour carefully spooned into a quarter-cup measuring cup and then rounded off with a knife, rather than dipped.

So you need to be willing to put in the work to make CICO sustainable. And that means keeping track of every single thing you put into your mouth.

The Benefit of CICO Over Keto

Where Keto has a large amount of foods that are off-plan, CICO doesn't. You can eat whatever you want – including fats, sugars, and carbs. You just have to fit those foods into your daily or weekly calorie budget.

This means I can eat regular ice cream, gluten-free bagels with cream cheese, gluten-free pizza, a chicken-salad sandwich, or a piece of chocolate cake.

I just have to cut back on calories where it doesn't matter to me.

Example:

I've cut my breakfast in half.

Instead of 2 eggs and 3 slices of bacon or sausage, for 350 calories, I now eat 1 egg and 2 slices of bacon or sausage for 200. That's enough food to keep me full all morning, so I never feel deprived.

When I have an urge for a half a bagel with those eggs and breakfast meats, I simply cut back at lunch or dinner to make room for those extra calories.

I might also choose to have a maintenance day where there's no calorie deficit. Slow weight loss is still a loss and allows me to eat more like real life demands.

Which Diet is Best for You?

That isn't a question that I can answer.

Each diet comes with benefits and disadvantages that need to be seriously considered. While I'm not yet at the point where I'd be happy to measure and track all of my food, every single day, I've been working hard on my need to stop being afraid of carbs.

Counting calories works, so I've started paying attention to how many calories are in a serving of the foods we eat all the time; but I've also been trying to seamlessly work calorie reduction into our daily lives so it doesn't feel like I'm dieting.

Lower calories is just the way we eat now.

I trim where I can.