I (34F) have done keto in the past and had success with losing weight, curbing sugar cravings, and most importantly getting my type 2 diabetes into remission. Over the past year or so, I have gotten way off track. I had a series of stressful/traumatic situations that affected my mental and physical health. I’ve gained weight, fasting blood sugar has risen, energy levels are low, and appetite is all over the place.

I’ve tried and tried and tried to restart keto and it’s just not sticking this time around. I don’t know what’s going on. I find myself getting super hungry and my blood sugar drops and makes me lightheaded/dizzy often. I add in electrolytes, and all the usual suggestions from the FAQ. Idk what the deal is. I can’t fast either. I wake up ravenous and will feel faint if I don’t eat within an hour or so of waking, and this is even after eating plenty of calories the day before (2000 ), and close to bedtime. My appetite is fucked up. I prep meals and bring them to work but then can’t force them down. I’ll be super hungry, but nothing keto-friendly will “sound good” to eat so I end up just eating things like Atkins bars or protein shakes. Or I cave and eat candy or something carby. Idk if this is a mental/emotional thing, or something related to the gut.

I have hypothyroidism which causes fatigue and makes it so hard to lose weight, and am going through an SSRI taper process and have hit some brutal waves of withdrawal. It affects my CNS and so essentially everything including my appetite, energy levels, balance, digestion, sleep, etc is affected. I also went through a very traumatic abusive relationship so my body is still healing from elevated stress levels. I’m seeing a naturopath and she wants me to go dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, and artificial sweetener free; and says I shouldn’t do keto because being in ketosis “puts too much stress on the body.”

I know I’ll feel better if I can just get into a consistent rhythm with keto, but I’m having such a hard time.

Has anyone else felt like this or had similar challenges and still found keto success? What was the most important habit/mindset/hack that helped you?

TLDR: life got really hard, I fell off with keto, and now it’s feeling impossible to get back into it. Help plz