Yes, you read that right! After it was all said and done, I made it 17 days on the keto diet. There were parts that I really enjoyed in the beginning, but after a while, those parts actually turned negative. Being the type of person that I am, the decision to throw in the towel was a difficult one for me. I’m not one to give things up, and sometimes that is to a fault. With that being said, I’m going to dive into why I decided that enough was enough. I know that there are plenty of people out there that really love the keto diet, and that is awesome. I’m not insinuating that any of you are wrong for doing keto or bashing the diet at all. These are just the reasons why it didn’t work for me personally.

The Food

Josh from Dialed in Hunter holding one of his snacks in the field while on the keto diet

First thing is first and that is the food. In the beginning, I was really into the food I was eating on the Keto diet. In a way, it felt like I was breaking the rules if you would. What I mean by that, is it didn’t feel like a diet at all. It actually felt like the opposite. Let me be clear there. It felt like the COMPLETE OPPOSITE. The amount of cheese and butter I was taking in was an amount that actually had me worried to be honest. We are taught that these things in excess will lead to heart issues down the road. Apparently on keto, you have nothing to worry about, but it still sets off an alarm in my head. In my opinion, it is such a new diet, to the masses at least, that there is just simply so much that we don’t know about it with long term effects.

Burned Out

Another thing with the food for me was just getting completely burnt out on it. I mentioned in an earlier post that I quickly stopped putting butter in my coffee after a few days. It was just too much for me. When I sweat, it felt like I was sweating butter. Then there was the amount of butter I’d use for cooking. That also turned into too much for me. Quickly, foods that I really loved turned into ones that I started to actually hate. For instance, just the taste and aftertaste of eggs and bacon literally made me gag. Soon, the same would happen with cheese. Never would I have ever thought I’d be sick of those things. Keto made it come to life though. All in all, eating was not something that was enjoyable for me at all, which made me not even want to eat.

Unfortunately, keto just didn’t work for me and my lifestyle.

Keto is Not Sustainable for Me

When I jumped into this, I had a feeling that Keto wasn’t something that was going to be sustainable for me long term. IN MY OPINION, Keto seems like more of a body hack than a sustainable and fulfilling diet. A way to lose weight fast, and not feel like you are doing it. The perfect combo right? Losing weight while eating bacon and eggs. Sounds awesome. That is until you are sick of eating that stuff. Which is where I landed. I absolutely love fruit, and on keto, a lot of fruits are a no no. For instance, one apple was more than half of my daily carb allowance. I friggin love apples! Berries are OK in moderation, but that’s about it. After sticking to keto for a bit, nothing was refreshing to me and, like I said above, eating was something that I really started to not even want to do at all. What can I say. I love fruits and vegetables. Yeah, your vegetables are limited as well. Carbs.

Cost of Going Keto

While this isn’t the biggest reason why I threw in the towel, it is a factor. Going keto is just plain expensive! My grocery bill was at times multiplied by 3! That can wear on a wallet over time. So, with the foods being as pricey as they are, plus me not wanting to even eat those foods, do you see where I’m coming from? It became apparent to me that paying for all of these foods I didn’t even want to eat, just simply wasn’t worth it. Which is why I’m sitting here writing this blog post.

In the End

Josh Kirchner of Dialed in Hunter on a hike through Sedona, AZ

When I started this whole 6 month journey, it was for me to find out what worked and what didn’t work. Unfortunately, keto just didn’t work for me and my lifestyle. While I felt good, I felt just as good eating clean, but actually liked the foods I was eating. It didn’t make sense to me to keep the keto diet rolling. Don’t worry though! I still plan on putting together a backpacking food list for keto! Be sure to look for that in the future. Until then though, I am going to get back to enjoying my food again. Paleo starts August 1st! Got any tips? Drop them down below!

Check out the video version!