8 months strict as hell - one cheat weekend?

#1

Have been Keto for 8 months (-20ng for 4 months, -35ng for the last 4). During that time I’ve gone over 50 zero days - not one. I’ve lost 65 lbs (245-180), which I’m SUPER happy about. I have been plateaued for about 2 months, and I’m ok with that too - I feel great.

My wife and I are going to Vermont for our anniversary and I love - well used to love - craft beer. I’m really thinking about spending a weekend off the rails. I’m wondering if anyone has had a prolonged non-cheat period, followed by a binge weekend, and how easy or hard it was to jump right back into it. TIA.

(Bob M) #2

If you can, reduce the amount of time off the diet, and fast as much as possible when you get back. Or at least that’s what I do. :wink:

I’ve been low carb/keto 5.5 years and will have cheat times a handful of times per year. I can gain quite a bit of weight, though, and it takes me a while sometimes to get it off.

That’s an amazing amount of weight loss. I’m only around 60 pounds or so, and that’s 5.5 years, not 8 months.

(Little Miss Scare-All) #3

Story of my life. It depends on the person. I have an eating disorder, so for me it can be tough. For someone without one, it may be easier. It does risk it, though. A lot of people end up screwing themselves for a month because of 1 weekend.

Here’s what I’d recommend: set a plan and allow the cheat, but set how much youre allowed to have and follow it explicitly! Say 12 beers or whatever, and dont go above that. And for food, set a rule beforehand and dont deviate from it. Like its life or death. This tricks the brain into thinking its behaving when youre really just allowing yourself to enjoy something off plan. But the important part is to plan it exactly. It may even help to write it out and sign your name to it. Sounds a little schizo but it helps.

('Jackie P') #4

I had a day at Wimbledon today. I knew I was going to drink some prosecco and I sure did! I took keto friendly food but had a generous portion of strawberries and cream! I ate everything in a 4hr window pretty much. And now I add it all up and I’ve barely cheated at all! Even though I felt like I had.
Enjoy your beers but don’t use it as an excuse to eat pizza and chips!
My brother is very annoying, he started keto after me and often drinks beer! I’m very strict but he has still lost more than me!
To be honest, keto is a way of life, and life is for living. Enjoy feeling well and all the benefits, but enjoy social occasions and holidays as well.
Have fun😊
Ps even Dr Jason Fung has a little Birthday cake!

(Little Miss Scare-All) #5

Men! :confounded:

('Jackie P') #6

Yep😶

(Susan) #7

I have heard that you will feel the alcohol much quicker now then before you were Keto, so you might find that you can “cheat” on the weekend without really cheating a lot kind of thing. I think if you go too crazy, you might regret it because you might end up feeling really sick. Have a great time, and have fun, but maybe be a bit cautious so you don’t end up with diarrhea from the food (I saw a youtube vid of a lady that had lost over 100 pounds and was giving warnings about stabilizing and said she had issues with that) which is what I was thinking of, mentioning that.

Have a lot of fun, but don’t go wild on the off-Keto, so you will not feel horrible on your holiday =).

('Jackie P') #8

Very true, and of course after 2 craft beers you might feel like you have had 6😀

(Art ) #9

Congratulations on your progress to date. That’s great. You’ve earned a cheat day and it’s obvious you have great discipline.

Use that discipline to state ahead of time “I am going to have only 3 12 oz beers” or what ever amount you feel like ‘cheating’ on. And then, no matter what, don’t have a even a sniff above and beyond the limit you set for yourself.

As well, commit to this is a reward for 8 months of solid progress and don’t allow to have a new habit where cheat days are every weekend or every month. Set another hard (both “inked” and will require some effort) goal in advance and make your next cheat day dependent on meeting that goal.

(Ken) #10

A Weekend of eating carbs will be fairly insignificant. You probably won’t even refill glycogen, which has to happen to really put you back into lipogenesis. Even then you have to continue to overeat carbs for anything bad to happen. This.is why people can take a break while on vacation and have nothing happen except gain water weight from glycogen and water retention. It can be a fair amount of scale weight, so don’t freak out. I usually just avoided the scale for two or three days afterwards to let things get back to normal. Or, if you are interested to see how much glycogen you can carry you can weigh yourself throughout the process. I found that I normally carried about 14 pounds of glycogen, but could easily push it to around 20 if I pushed the salt. It all goes away afterwards so enjoy yourself.

(David Cooke) #11

I haven’t seen my son for three years and you can be sure that whatever happens, I won’t be worrying about food and alcohol (he wants to pay for everything while he’s here, so…)
I usually follow these occasional splurges with a hearty breakfast and then a 24 hour fast. I don’t gain weight and don’t expect to die a day earlier doing this.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

Advising a carb addict to have a cheat day is a lot like advising an alcoholic to have a cheat whiskey. The consequences are not usually good. On the other hand, not everyone is an addict. Just know yourself and be honest about your motivations. Looking for an “excuse” is a sign of addiction, in my experience. Normal drinkers normally don’t drink.

(PSackmann) #13

I would not plan an entire weekend off the rails, that’s too open-ended. As others have said, plan what you can have ahead of time and stick to it. Remember, the beer is going to hit you harder and you’re also liable to feel the effects of the carbs along with the alcohol. Can you find a good brew-pub with a flight instead? You’ll end up experiencing the taste of several high-quality craft beers without drinking a whole one of each. Keep your food in line, or restrict your eating to one meal a day and the effects won’t be too bad.
Also, have your return strategy mapped out, it’s not the single meal or day that trip people up, it’s the lack of return. So, have the next week’s worth of meals ready in the freezer so there’s no excuse to get right back on.