I have not been 100% low carb every single day. I aim for 30g of carbs or less each day and I hit that 95% of the time. There's a day here or there that I hit 45-50g of carbs usually because of portion size, not ingredients.
Then if I think something is worth it - like homemade cake or pasta or pizza on a special occasion - I will splurge for that one item for one meal, which will send that day's carbs up to about 100-120g. Those days are few and far between and I find the longer I eat this way, the less things that are "worth it".
The only thing I truly miss is pizza. I have tried quite a few low carb substitutions but nothing beats the crunch of a wheat crust so I pretty much have given up on that and don't bother with the substitutions as they just make me want the real thing even more!
Every 3 months or so, I'll go to a pizza place where they make the dough on site and order one slice and cut in half. I'll eat half and put the other half in the freezer to eat 6-8 weeks later. That small slice has not yet affected my body in the way other carbs do, especially sugar. The few times I do indulge in sugar or pasta or rice or bread, the next day I wake up achey, brain-foggy and generally feeling "off". I guess the pizza slice is small enough that it doesn't do that.
Weight wise, I am holding steady at 183-186. I have been at a stall for about 6 months so I obviously need to change something to get better results.
On a regular basis (except for those exceptions above), I eat lean meat, healthy fats and vegetables and have a processed low carb/sugar free bar/treat 1-2 x a week. I don't eat wheat, rice or processed sugar or the starchy vegetables.
Looking at my daily macros, I could probably go to a full keto diet of 20g of carbs a day as most days I'm between 22-26g. I haven't officially decided on my next plan of action though.
Good news, my A1C without medication has been 6.0-6.3 which is considered pre-diabetic so there is still some improvement I can make there. I don't exercise as much in the Winter as I do the other seasons so that definitely has affect on my blood sugar these months, and I see it mostly in my fasting numbers which are higher than they were when I was hiking 3-4 x a week.
A few weeks ago I bought a used treadmill and have been doing 30 min every other day. I should bump that up to every day as it's just light walking and the days I do it, I do notice a reduction in my fasting blood sugar the next day - so it works!
