We now know that a lot of the keto flu is caused by loss of electrolytes during the first stages of transitioning to ketone-based metabolism. You tend to purge quite a bit of water in the first days and couple of weeks that it takes a lot of sodium, potassium, and magnesium (plus some others) with it. So a lot of people find that significantly upping the salt intake (unless you have specific conditions that argue against doing that) really helps alleviate those problems.

Good luck this time around. If you look at the boards you will see that you are the rule, not the exception. Many of us here have been up and down and are struggling to get it right (i.e., make it last).

I started here more than nineteen years ago and I restarted, yet again, on New Year's Day. So clearly I haven't figured it out. But I think I'm getting closer.

It requires a fundamental attitude shift at a deep, emotional level. While knowing things intellectually is critical, it is merely the necessary precursor to changing your attitude. I don't think anyone has figured out a magic bullet for accomplishing that -- but it can happen.

Part of that is recognizing, again, at a deep emotional level, not just in your head, that this is a long process and losing the weight is just a very small part of it. This is for the rest of your life, so you need to stop focusing on how fast the weight is coming off (I know -- not easy at all, and I am NOT there yet, either, just inching towards it).

I think back to nineteen years ago when I started. I needed to loose 200 lb. If I had lost just one pound a month, but stuck with it, I would have been at goal three years ago!

I still want to see ten or fifteen pounds a month go away. I still get frustrated when I don't see any forward progress after one or even two weeks (or more!). But I am getting a bit better at convincing myself that, when all is said and done, it doesn't matter. If I stick to it, then ten years from now I am not going to still be hung up on the fact that it took three years instead of one; that will all be forgotten and I'm going to just be ecstatic that I stuck with it and am still at my goal weight and enjoying the health benefits of being slim and eating LC.

As long as I make at least one pound a month, that is demonstrable forward progress -- and not every month is going to be just one pound.

I'm also working real hard to find ways to make it sustainable -- not necessarily right this moment, but to have a path from where I am now to where I believe a sustainable road lies.