Derrick, many people seem to find ketoadapting, especially to a zero-carb woe, difficult. Stephen Phinney, in Ketogenic Diets and Physical Perfomance, says "There are to date no studies that carefully examine the optimum length of this keto-adapataion period, but it is clearly longer than one week and likely well advanced within 3–4 weeks. The process does not appear to happen any faster in highly trained athletes than in overweight or untrained individuals. This adaptation process also appears to require consistent adherence to carbohydrate restriction, as people who intermittently consume carbohydrates while attempting a ketogenic diet report subjectively reduced exercise tolerance." (My emphasis)

And in his newest blog post, Dr. Mike Eades talks about keto-adaption.

I didn't have much trouble, but that's possibly because I'd been VLC for the previous two years. Other folks will probably tell you to ease into it, but I'm an all-or-nothing gal myself, so I'm going to advise that you rip the Band-Aid off all at once -- just get it over with. Your choice, of course. ;D

Make sure you're eating enough. Eat whenever you are hungry, and at this stage whenever you just feel like it. Eat a lot of fat.

Keep the calories high - lots of fat (don't be scared of butter!) and get LOTS of rest. Weight loss will be automatic and you won't need to push yourself to lose weight at the same time.

Depending on where you are with your body, health, history, you may need to spend a lot of time resting. As body used to carbs will continue to 'ask' for them by being really tired... I had zero interest in doing any extra exercise for almost four months. Then one day I woke up thinking "hey - I feel like doing pushups!"

When I started I ate a lot of salami and cheese - both have a fair amount of carbs in them so I think it was a way to transition without too much pain. At least I wasn't eating pasta/rice/gluten etc.

Good luck!

This sounds all too familiar to me! Sugar, binge, tiredness. Last weekend I started to crawl back out of the sugar pit. Sunday was hellish, tired and cranky. Monday wasn't much better but by some miracle I started to turn the corner on tuesday and I actual went to the gym. I had went very very low carb and zero carb for most meals. Zero carbs is new to me but I wanted to give it a go. Keep us posted on how your doing.

Perhaps it'd be better to kill sugar first and then move on to zero-carb; going whole-hog is going to give you some really fun headaches, tiredness etc!

I've found the best way to stop eating things I shouldn't be (especially sugar) is to use one very powerful word.

No.

Don't piss about with "oh I shouldn't...." 'cause then you'll inevitably end up taking whatever you've been offered anyway. Just say "No, I don't eat that" and move on. If people challenge why you're refusing sweet sugary goodness, you can tell them that you're not eating sugar because it's not good for you, you feel you eat too much of it and you want it out of your life!

My work colleague hosts a blog which is part her getting ready for a trip around Europe with her boyfriend and part sugar-free diary. I highly recommend you check her out!

http://www.dancinginbarefeet.com

What worked for me was starting with the "Tim Ferriss diet" - essentially paleo with beans and a no rules cheat day. The beans make the carb reduction manageable and the cheat day means your craving can be met soon. After a few months you realize that the cheat day makes you really sick and it's easy to take out the beans.

So bottom line for beginners...3-4 months Ferris diet then go paleo. Very easy transition, at least for me.

i was under estimating my caloric intake by a lot when i tried zero carb. what i was guestimating at 1400-1500 a day was closer to 800 and i was exhausted.

i went back to low carb last week and bought a kitchen scale. it helps immensely and provides yet another crazy mom story for my kids to tell their friends :D

Try the hcg diet I lost 6 pounds in a couple of days! It's not to difficult and the food is very good.

Even Finney eats some carbs from veg and berries. You can still stay keto from 200-600g of carbs. My carb flu lasted 2 days. Definitely feel better getting some small amount of safe starch. No sugar and no fake settener eliminates cravings for sugar entirely. No sugar crashes anymore. As everyone said eat more good fat.