Carb-filled cheat day

(Ron) #1

A co-worker and I were having a discussion today. I am Keto, he does Carb-Cycling.

I was telling him he should just cut out the carb cycling and just stick to Keto… he thinks it would be too difficult and he needs to have cheat days, I told him he doesn’t if he justs let his body get fat adapted he won’t even crave it anymore.

But this did spur an academic question I wanted to ask and see how everyone reacts to this… I am new to Keto, so I don’t have the experience yet, so I can’t answer for myself.

Let’s say someone was 6 months in, full on Keto-Adapted, and decides to have a carb-crazy day… True Pancakes for breakfast, Big Mac and Fries with a Milkshake for lunch… Pizza Buffet for dinner, and a huge ice cream sundae for a snack that night… WAY overboard… Not just having taco bell one night like Carl did.

What effect would this have as far as the body goes… obviously one would gain some weight, but how would this affect the body, how much of a “starting over” would this set one back? a week of getting re-fat adapted? I’m sure YMMV applies here.

(Guardian of the bacon) #2

I’m thinking sugar coma and you would feel incredibly awful.

#3

In my case, I will pay for it. My gut would become ground zero nuclear ignition, my knees would become sore (climbing stairs would be difficult), my skin would break out in zits, I’d wake up to soaking bed sheets until body is rid of the crappy food (1 or 2 weeks?), and I would suffer the onset of carb cravings.

No thanks. Pass.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #4

YMMV is definitely the rule here and I think the nature of the journey makes a big difference.

If a relatively fit person goes keto and loses ten pounds in a few months, they’re not risking as much leaving ketosis as the pre-diabetic who struggled for four years to lop off a hundred to save their life. The second one has more to lose if they cheat, pardon the pun, and I’m betting they place a higher value on their achievement.

Either way, though, your body really hates it when you make it work extra hard to maintain homeostasis. Instead of sucking down carbs, maybe find a better way to make yourself feel good. After all, if you call it “cheating,” even you know it’s not the smartest choice.

#5

^^^^^^ this!!! Brilliantly said! :+1:

(Human) #6

The impact is a lot greater if you are on a high fat diet. If you’re on a body-builder type lean meat and veg and a few extra low GI carbs from maybe legumes etc it can still be ketogenic but the impact is a lot less.

#7

Pretty much the same for me as @Fiorella, and I’ve tried it many, many times in the form of Kiefer’s Carb Nite Solution (CNS) and Carb Back Loading (CBL) and only ended up fatter and feeling lousy, so if I do have a “cheat day”, it is just overeating keto foods.

(Zbigniew Kosior) #8

I guess we can have different experiences, let me share mine. I don’t plan for it but get sucked into trying a cake, or a chocolatey, or something even lower sugar, then can’t stop myself for couple more portions. I fill myself with sugar, even got some sugar rush with blurry vision once but that was it, I didn’t want more. It stopped with one meal. I guess the body regulates itself.
Separate issue to notice is how body handles it. I don’t fully understand it but have some observations. After eating carbs I feel like my liver grows (handling carbs or storing glycogen) and stays that way for up to two days. Craving stay for couple days as well. After consuming sweets my skin grows thicker and much quicker than with carbs. Not sure if that is water retention, inflammation or handling excessive carbohydrates/triglycerides. The next morning my skin is thin again.

(Jake P) #9

Same here. A cheat day for me is eating a whole Fathead pizza, or two rib eyes for dinner.

(David) #10

That’s a cheat day? Oh ! :open_mouth:

(Jake P) #11

I got a lot to lose, I try to stay around 1500 calories.

(Larry Lustig) #12

I don’t mean to be disputatious, but I don’t understand why people use the word “cheating” to refer to eating more ketogenic food than they planned. Portion control isn’t really part of the basic ketogenic diet. Indeed, many people on ketosis make fun of the notion of “Calories In / Calories Out”. So it’s not cheating to eat a lot of ketogenic food – at least it’s not “keto cheating”. It may be cheating your own personal diet plan.

As a side note, I was in a three-day all-you-can eat situation through Sunday morning. And I ate way more than I normally eat (more times during the day, and more food each time) although I kept it almost entirely keto. I was afraid to weigh myself for two days after I got home (because, you know, “cheating”).

I lost two pounds.

#13

Some who have been keto for a long time have precipitated a kidney stone on a heavy carb cheat. That’s enough for me to want to avoid it.

(Brad) #14

Weight loss aside, people that are using this WOE to help with metabolic issues may suffer from more symptoms than others. Headache, glucose response, and many other things. IMO planned cheat days can be extremely dangerous to some. High fat, high carbs is not a good combination.

(Charles Keezer ) #15

I just did this last week! Had some family issues and resorted to eating crap food. Cake, ice cream, beer… three days. I felt like crap! Very bloated, headaches, muscle aches, my back hurt again (been a year since I had any real pain). The funny part, I did not gain anything other than water weight. Not so funny, I did not lose any weight and felt like shit!

I am back on full Keto and doing 20/4 IF. I also plan on doing an extended fast next week to kick off another round of loss!

(Larry Lustig) #16

Been having a lot of family issues recently. Can’t say I’ve been dealing with them super-well, but a hell of a lot better than I would have been if I weren’t feeling, physically, so much better than this time last year. I need to stay keto at this point, quite aside from any metabolic / weight issues, just to keep up with the stuff life is throwing at me.

(thefeatherdustersllc) #17

If my experience eating a hamburger bun is any indication, you will be sick as a dog for days! Your body is no longer producing the enzymes to break down all those carbohydrates. I had a hamburger bun on Saturday, after being fat adapted, and gave myself the worst gastritis you could imagine! Don’t do it!

#18

My husband and I cheated once time about two months into keto. It was his birthday and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We felt stuffed and miserable like we’d eaten a bunch of rocks. We were also very lethargic. I had an immediate gain of several pounds that I’m sure was water and it took an entire week to get back to where I was before the cheat.

Very occasionally I’ll fit something non-keto in like a small egg roll that doesn’t take me very far over my carb allowance for the day. So far that hasn’t seemed to have any effect.

(thefeatherdustersllc) #19

Totally! I learned that the HARD way!!!

(Ron) #20

Yikes! Kidney Stones are like my greatest fear