I’m not saying don’t do it, but I will tell you my cheats have led to MAJOR carb cravings. So a one time incident has led to a 3-4 day relaps.
I’ve discovered it just isn’t worth it to me.
Though some people don’t have any problems at all with it. I guess you will have to experiment to see how it affects you.
About 3 weeks back I went on a family vacation with my inlaws, and this vacation usually includes lots of ice cream and pastas for whatever reason. Anyway, I participated in 1/2 the amount I used to compared to before I went Keto. At the end of a week of going from <20 net carbs to about 100, my body weight went up about 4 lbs. Right after getting back, I did a week of alternate day fasting with <10 carbs on feeding days and dropped all the water weight and then some.
My major lesson learned was even though I wanted to carb binge, when it came to actually doing it, I couldnt do it. Don’t be surprised if the fair food just doesn’t taste good anymore.
I think it’s a perfectly valid question. I’m heading off on vacation next week to a land with a very carb heavy cuisine. I, too, want know what others have gone through. I will be going off keto because it would be a shame to not try some of the delicacies on offer–whats the point of travel if you aren’t going to see and do things you don’t see and do at home. I’m very curious to see what happens to my body after 6 months of strict keto. I fully intend in returning to keto and fasting when I get back. Sorry if some people disagree, but you do you…blah, blah, blah.
As a former Minnesota resident, I say eat all the fried cheese curds and corn dogs!
One thing I did on vacation was delay indulging for a while. It was a week long vacation, so the first three days I continued eating keto approved things just to prove that I could do it. I didn’t initially set out to delay actually, I just told myself I’d hold off until I felt I had proved to myself I was in control. That ended up being three days. Your version of that might be holding out until afternoon each day, maybe eating a good keto breakfast before you indulge to help curb your appetite.
OK, it’s mostly done. Here’s what I had…
On Friday night:
Half of a pork quesadilla
Margarita
Chips
Guacamole
Half a bottle of wine
Today at the State Fair (where I ate half my wife ate the other half):
Half of a turkey sandwich
Half of a small serving of cheese curds
A full large Chicago dog
Part of a corn dog
A pork egg roll
A handful of French fries
A small serving of jalepeno cheese curds
A large vanilla with raspberry shake
A few chocolate chip cookies
3.3 20oz beers
It all was fantastic and I surprisingly don’t feel sick. Not sure what we’re having for dinner yet but it’ll probably be something like sushi and wine.
I’ll report back when I weigh in on Monday, if I’m still in ketosis, and how long it takes to get me back to where I was. I’m thinking about doing a water fast on Tuesday then back to the program I was on.
Bill, I too went to MN to visit relatives. Here is my full account of what happened if the Keto guys allow it:
Keto going off and back on:
I had been almost perfectly keto for 40 days prior to a vacation. I had gone from 191 down to 178.
I had good intentions of eating mostly Keto on an 11 day vacation back home. I even packed a “keto-kit” with my own frying pan/oils/powders/electolytes, etc. We left on a Thursday night, and did really good through Tuesday, then at dinner time on Tuesday, I pretty much let loose eating anything and everything that everyone else ate and drank. I did not drink sugared beverages until the drive back, since it was a long one, and I was kind of sick of coffee. I ended up having a Mt. Dew and a Monster Energy drink.
My weight at the house I was staying at was 179 when I got there, and 186 when I left.
Got home on Monday and just decided not to start up on the Keto regiment until Tuesday.
During the blow out, I ate a lot of Asian food with rice and noodles. French Fries in abundance, and a lot of craft beer and wine. I had a few bites of ice cream as well. I had some fast food during the road trip, and pizza at the hotel. I did pretty much stick to skipping breakfast, except when we went out for a big one. My wife described my eating as “going off the rails”.
At home weight:
Tuesday a.m.: 185 (did a 21 hour fast until 4:30) Broke fast with dinner and some lite beers
Wednesday a.m.: 181 (again did 21 hour fast) Broke fast with 15 Buffalo Wild Wings, miller lite, veggies and tons of blue cheese.
Thursday a.m.: 180 (normal keto day with 2 BPFs)
Friday a.m.: 178 (back to starting weight)
How I felt when I started to eat carbs again: I was immediately gassy and my eyes felt really tired all the time. I was rather drained of energy.
How I felt as I went back to Keto once I got home: 1st day felt ok, did a 21 hour fast with only coffee.
2nd day felt ok most of the day
3rd day morning headache, keto flu variety
4th day morning headache, not too bad1st day felt ok, did a 21 hour fast with only coffee.
2nd day felt ok most of the day
3rd day morning headache, keto flu variety
4th day morning headache, not too bad
Thanks for sharing your story! The good news is it doesn’t sound like it took you all that long to get back to your weight. We just got home this afternoon. I’m going to eat mostly normal today (maybe a little more wine than normal), get back to my normal eating plan tomorrow, then do a fast on Tuesday and see where I wind up on Weds.
Well, just like Mark I put on 7lbs. Wow, that was a lot more than I thought from a day and a half of bad eating. I know it’s mostly water weight but wow. Hopefully it falls off quickly. I’ll report back.
I was down there last weekend and had a blast. I didn’t eat nearly as much as I would’ve in the past and most of the food that I remembered being awesome was like meh. Corn dog is always worth it though in my world.
That’s the day my wife and I were there. It was PACKED! And HOT. For us the cheese curds are the must-have. FWIW it is possible to eat keto at the MN State Fair if you can stay disciplined.
You could do keto there sure but damn, why? 220,000 were there the Saturday before that and we could hardly move by 3 pm. I’m not sure how 50,000 more packed in. That’s nuts.
2-5lb? Sound more like 8 to 10lb to me.
Hubby took me to Golden Coral and I ate just 4 pork ribs with whatever the BBQ sauce was on them. Gained 2.6lb overnight. Lost it now though. I felt like crap too!
I’m now pretty fat adapted. I can eat normal for 3 days with carbs (pizza, burger with bun, mexican, rice), and then do a one day 20:4, then one 16:8 (keto of course) and be back in ketosis. Good luck, I’d like to know how it works out for you.
I also had a major carb bender from Saturday though today. I prepared for it by going ultra low calorie for a week so my weight was artificially low (meaning I’m sure some of what I lost was water weight) so I’m sure I gained back a lot although I don’t plan to weigh for a few days. I hit a low of 156 right before and I’m hoping with some hard work, I can be back to about 157 in a week or so. My carb binge was because I was visiting a friend and she cooks amazing food and we enjoy eating together (she is super skinny though!). I don’t plan to do this often and I don’t even believe in cheat days but what can I say I cheated. I plan for the next cheat day to be Thanksgiving and that one should only last one day.
I will blow the whistle good and loud so that your support team can be here on stand-by!
Results so far…
I dropped about .7lbs from yesterday to today so I’m about 5.5lbs over where I was when I left. I’ve been testing as “trace” keto according to the strips since Sunday (my first day of mostly eating normal). The color hasn’t changed at all since Sunday. Starting a 24hr fast to try to kick start the keto again.
No sir, all I have are the pee strips. I know they aren’t the most accurate way to test ketosis but FWIW they were always on the dark side right up until I ate bad. Maybe experiment wasn’t the right choice of words either. I went on a planned carb bing because I wanted to have fun at the fair and not worry about my food, but I was also curious what it would do to my body and how long it would take to recover.