For a long time, carbs were seen as the villain of fitness and nutrition. Bread? Bad. Pasta? Fuhgeddaboudit. If you wanted to lose weight, you had to cut carbs out of your life. At least, that’s what everyone seemed to be screaming when keto first hit the mainstream.
I’ll be honest, I bought into it. Like many others, I jumped on the keto train when it first became a craze. And at first, it worked. I dropped weight faster than I ever had before, but what started as an exciting experiment turned into an obsessive lifestyle that I couldn’t (and quickly realized didn’t want to) maintain forever.
This is how keto sharpened my discipline, why I eventually walked away from it, and how understanding macros changed my relationship with food and training for good.
My Two Years on Keto
For almost two years keto was my lifestyle. The structure was simple enough: 70–75% of my calories came from fat, 20–25% from protein, and less than 5% from carbs. That meant I spent my days eating 3–4 meals loaded with fat and protein. Which isn’t so bad as it included things like eggs, bacon, cheese, fatty cuts of meat, avocado, butter, coffee, and low-carb recipes I found online. At first I thought I could do this forever as it didn’t seem as restrictive as other “diets”.
I even used those ketone test strips, yes, the ones you pee on to check if I was still “in ketosis.” The more I got into this Keto fad, I kind of become obsessed with them. Every day became a game of confirming whether I had “done it right.” That obsession eventually made me realize keto was becoming less about living and more about micromanaging my food. And while any diet is essentially that, Keto started to feel more like a chore than a life long change.
Like many others I even experienced the dreaded keto flu (which kind of felt like a rite of passage). I remember waking up to that foggy, run down feeling when your body is transitioning from burning carbs to burning fat as its main fuel source. The first time, it hit me hard. But interestingly, later in my journey when I fell out of ketosis and went back in, I didn’t experience it the second time around.
The Good: Keto Worked
To give credit where it’s due: keto absolutely worked for me. I lost real weight not just water weight and the results stuck even after I left keto behind. Lots of research actually backs this up: low-carb diets like keto often lead to greater initial fat loss compared to low-fat diets, especially in the first 6–12 months and I can vouch for this.
One of the best parts? Keto trained my brain to be mindful about food. By cutting carbs, I naturally stopped mindlessly snacking on bread, chips, or sugar. I built awareness of what I was eating, and that discipline carried over into my post keto life. Many of the tactics I used to stay in Ketosis, I now use when I am managing my macros.
The Bad: Dieting Became a Job
Here’s the thing: a diet should feel like a lifestyle, not a second job. For me, keto eventually became the latter. I was obsessively checking ketone levels, overanalyzing every bite of food, and saying no to social meals because they didn’t fit “my plan.”
The weight loss was real, but so was the restriction. Over time, it wore on me and it seems that’s the common issue with keto. Research also confirms this: while keto can be effective, adherence is often low in the long term because of how restrictive it is . Simply put, most people don’t want to live life without bread, sugar, or the occasional pizza night … myself included. Chicken or cauliflower crusts aren’t bad but they just don’t stack up to some good ole fashion dough.
Turning Point: Strength Training and Carbs
As I begin shifting into powerlifting at the gym, I also started to shift away from Keto and that’s when I truly noticed how much better I felt eating carbs again.
Heavy lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench all require explosive power. And carbs are the body’s preferred source for quick, efficient fuel . While I didn’t notice it much at the time, looking back, I had more energy, better recovery, and stronger lifts once I reintroduced carbs fully back into my diet.
This was a big lightbulb moment for me, also once I started to eat bread again I realized just how much I had missed it.
Macros Demystified: From Guessing to Fueling
After keto, I dove deep into fully learning about macros – protein, carbs, and fats and how they effect training. I didn’t just want to “diet” anymore; I wanted to understand how to fuel my body for strength and longevity.
Like many in the modern fitness world, I owe a lot of this education to YouTube. Jeff Nippard was and still is one of my biggest influences, he breaks down science-based fitness in a way that is easy to follow. I also found practical meal inspiration from Fit Men Cook (Kevin Curry), which helped me see that eating for performance could still taste good.
I began tracking macros through apps, and today I use MacroFactor to dial in my nutrition. My current approach is balanced:
- I track calories and macros during the week to stay aligned with my training goals.
- On weekends, I eat a little more intuitively but still keep protein high and calories reasonable.
This blend works for me because it’s flexible, sustainable, and rooted in science. Plus it’s actually a lifestyle I enjoy, can maintain forever and isn’t a chore.
The Science on Carbs and Training
Long story short carbs aren’t the devil, they’re essential for anyone doing serious strength training and studies consistently show that carbohydrate intake improves performance in resistance training and high-intensity exercise . Carbs have a key function in replenishing glycogen stores, which are your muscles’ fuel for heavy lifting.
Meanwhile, long-term studies show that diets balanced in macros are just as effective for weight management as restrictive ones like keto, as long as calories are controlled . In other words, you don’t need to cut carbs to lose weight, you just need to manage your overall intake. It really is as simple as more calories out (burned) than what you take in. No need to overcomplicate it.
My Takeaway: Balance Beats Obsession
Looking back, I don’t regret trying keto. It taught me discipline, gave me real results, and helped me transition into a more mindful way of eating. But it also showed me what happens when dieting becomes a chore instead of a lifestyle.
Today, my nutrition philosophy is simple:
- High protein to support strength and recovery.
- Moderate carbs to fuel heavy lifts and energy.
- Healthy fats to round out my diet.
Carbs aren’t the enemy. They’re fuel. And when used wisely, they can be the difference between spinning your wheels in the gym and actually making progress.
