What do you consider expensive? I am able to follow the keto diet on around $200 a month, and that's with splurging on things here and there. I've never really understood why people say it is so much more expensive.
Starting the diet: I transitioned from eating simple things like cheap bread, pastas, lots of frozen crap, etc to eating lots of meats, oils, eggs, etc. When you compare the cheapest routes of a poorly balanced S.A.D. (what most generally unhealthy people are following) vs properly balanced Keto, I've found Keto to be more expensive.
After losing weight and maintaining the diet: it was more expensive to maintain a high caloric load after losing the weight. At the time I racked up about 6000 miles/yr on my road bike while at my optimal weight (no body fat to burn). Fats to supply the fuel I needed (mostly MCT's) were far more expensive than simple carbohydrates.
EDIT: I'm not complaining about the cost, I'm just comparing it to what unhealthy people are generally used to. I am currently on the Sated Keto (Ketolent) diet and it's costing around $270/mo which is perfectly acceptable.
I think that it depends on how far you go after fat adaptation. Once that happened for me, and I got comfortable with eating straight butter when in a time crunch, things became very very cheap. Butter, sugar free bacon, eggs and spinach are basically all I buy anymore. I have found, personally, that all of my desire for variety was really desire for carbohydrate variety and now I'm totally fine with whatever keto option is cheap, fast and convenient.
Oh yes, but it sounded horrible to me for many many many months. Once you're fat adapted, food is often just for energy and nothing else. It took me maybe 6 months to even consider not nasty and after a year it became a regular occurrence.
I'd much rather eat a hamburger or chicken than butter... but I also have a lot of native fat to contend with. A keto nutritionist told me just eat your protein first then any veggies you can get down.. having had VSG I can only eat maybe a 4-6oz steak or burger or chicken and maybe two pickles or stalks of asparagus before I'm full.
When I eat candy/sugar/soda I can eat a lot throughout the day, and get a lot of calories in from sugar... i still eat smaller meals, but the sugar did me in. When I'm in keto, my appetite is non-existent, like ever. I'm hardly ever hungry. I don't produce ghrellin so most hunger is mental for me anyways.
Buying more meats/cheeses over pastas and sauces. Buying Almond flour over AP flour. Buying Avocado or coconut oil over corn oil. This list goes on and on. Yes, you can spend a low amount on this diet but you really might be limiting your meal variety.
After losing weight and maintaining the diet: it was more expensive to maintain a high caloric load after losing the weight. At the time I racked up about 6000 miles/yr on my road bike while at my optimal weight (no body fat to burn). Fats to supply the fuel I needed (mostly MCT's) were far more expensive than simple carbohydrates.
EDIT: I'm not complaining about the cost, I'm just comparing it to what unhealthy people are generally used to. I am currently on the Sated Keto (Ketolent) diet and it's costing around $270/mo which is perfectly acceptable.