Carbing up is never as fun or good as it seems

(Susan) #21

Not for your age; it might work now, but when you are in your 50’s and it doesn’t work anymore, then you might wish you had of just stayed Keto is all. Good luck!!

(Chris Kornelsen) #22

I definitly dont believe its healthy that wasnt the point. More it was hey there is pizza I love pizza I’m eating it. Hey someone bought coffee and donuts well I’m already carving up who cares haha

(Cristian Lopez) #23

Excuse me but a deadly solution to this is roasting some butter squash and eating it till you get full. Trust me you’ll never get there :smiling_imp:

#24

Lolol, for me a “carb up” (which I’m actually aspiring to on the weekends for midlife female metabolic agility on the ‘keto cusp’ as defined by the Drs Eades and further expanded by Mindy Pelz) is, like, one sweet potato, or some carrots & potato, and maybe some refried ghee-basmati rice for RS in my curry - plus the usual 2/3 veg plate or smoothie with tasty fattty protein. And a 6g carbs dessert (often Ritter’s euro chocolate or a cup of berries with cream/sweeetener) and a bit of wine if it’s Italian/French cuisine.

Makes my brainz feel GREAT, and supports my recomp.

But I’ve never been attracted to the junk carb-bombing advocated by some.

There’s a HUuuuuuge difference between junk food ‘carb ups’ and quality fat-coated ‘carb ups’ as well as root-veg ‘paleo carb ups’.

Of course a junky food increase in carbs will create a sugar high and sugar withdrawal - and who wants that??? (Apparently Tim Feriss & friends is find with taking a day off for a hangover, but I think that is whack).

I have found that over time in LCHF/keto (2 years +), that there is def an energetic positive impact from utilizing real foods to surf the keto cusp and up the carbs a couple times a week. And I basically have ZERO cravings, though I can wax poetic about my memories of Irish/British black stout ale and its B vits wonders on the palate…

In recent moons, I’ve had zero negative side effects from some days of aiming for 100+ grams of carbs - including homestyle fresh made tortilla chips - in moderation of course (only one small-medium bowl compared to three, etc). But I do stay away from wheat… except that I am open to buying a French glazed fruit tart custard torte at Whole Foods for my birthday, or some such - because… life is short and JOY can be expanded with once-a-year desserts… once one is free of cravings & addiction.

#25

I’ll be doing an involuntary “carb up” today. My nephew’s 8th birthday.

My husband and kids are super supportive about me doing keto, and my husband is 80% on board himself. But the extended family…oh boy!

So to not ruin the birthday party and turn the focus to me, I will just eat some cake and shut up. And then fast all day tomorrow and hopefully minimize the damage.

(April Harkness) #26

I am having an apple tonight for Rosh hashana. That is it. No more. I saw a guy on the ckd page demolish a huge bowl of cereal. It looks like a binge to me. I dont care if a depletion workout was done prior. It’s a binge.

#27

Funny this topic came up because I was just looking around to see if there was any benefit to having a carb-y day once in a while. I’ve been eating this way nearly 10 months and have seen good results. But I’ve hit a wall. Weight change has slowed down (stopped really) for a couple months, which is fine, but makes me wonder if there is some way to “shock” the system into a reboot to get things moving again.

(Chris Kornelsen) #28

Worked for me. And its minimal the damage. Couple days of feeling bad. At least for me then I’m back in ketosis. I think there are two extremes the people that say one carb up is soooo terrible and brutal and then the others who do it regularly. It’s not like I’m never gonna have cake or pizza again in my life hah this lifestyle is meant for long term health and the ability to switch around and enjky your life and feel good 95% of the time. At least for me

(Bob M) #29

For me, it’s taken my 6+ years to get to the point where a carb up (by this, I mean eating ice cream or some high carb dinners, not a real carb-up as others are doing here) does not cause cravings and degradation into throwing carbs into my mouth. Carb ups are why you see threads like “I went on a 3 month binge!”.

If you’re a body builder, maybe you could do carb ups, but for the vast, overwhelming majority of people on keto, they shouldn’t do carb ups. Special occasions excepted, of course.

(Chris Kornelsen) #30

Ya I cant speak for anyone else but one of the interesting things Iearned was that allowing myself to carb up didnt create any kind of need to eat this way. In fact each time I carbed up by the end of the day I was itching tk get back to keto.

(April Harkness) #31

agreed. I have friends who do NO alcohol on the weekdays and then get blasted on the weekends. From what I remember from doing that myself(not that I did it often but once or twice and observed people where this was the NORM)…it was NOT fun either. And there was a price to be paid for even that short of a discretion. Noone would tell a heroin addict “Go live a little… just have it once or twice. you gotta party!” I can party without alcohol and I can live without eating 5 boxes of fruity pebbles or boxes of No pudge brownies the people on that page seem to love so much. Seriously. look at the Cyclical keto page on FB.HOly s**T. I agree…this could be used for bodybuilders with EXPERIENCE Again…EXPERIENCE .But for the average ketoer, the vast majority as @ctviggen mentioned, it’s a BAD idea. Plus alot of people in that physique comp world have MASSIVE eating disorders.

(Chris) #32

I wouldn’t call what I did a binge though. The timing and amounts were planned and executed. I didn’t go to an ice cream buffet and it definitely wasn’t like getting trashed, either. Nor was it a cheat day.

I’m familiar with binges, believe me. Not the food kind but still.

(hottie turned hag) #33

I had an unexpected (good) reaction recently to my first carbs/sugar since starting Aug 2017.

I had a coupon (“use up to 5X”) for boxes of 6 (in each box) KIND bars; some are almost all nuts and my friends on here who know me know how I am with nuts :grimacing: nomnomnom

Short version, I ended up having 1-3 KIND bars per DAY for about…2 weeks? The maple pecan version, 5gm sugar in each and around 18gm carbs I think. But they have actual SUGAR of which I’ve had zero for 2yr.

I HAD NO BAD REACTION AND NO BINGE :astonished: which I feared would happen as it has when I ate only PLAIN pecans #pecangate

I actually looked even SMALLER during the first week or so and no fluid retention, whaaaat? Noticeably so.

After the second week of this I looked bigger, but not bigger than when I started, just back to the size I was.

They’re so expensive and I’m so frugal I won’t buy them again unless I get another good coupon BUT I don’t crave them and I was able to not binge on them!!

Just dropping this small anecdote here in the carb up thread, just because. :blush:

(Andrew Anderson) #34

So I ate a pizza, the entire thing. I can’t have a piece… My morning glucose went from a steady 80 every morning to 110-120 for 3 days. Ketones never fell below .5 but I usually avg 1.5-3. I really paid for it.

(April Harkness) #35

My carb up. I told myself…only half an apple. But I ate the whole thing. It was truly satisfying and delicious. https://youtu.be/vXfYpEbK84Q carnivore made me appreciate natures carb. I am still not on the ckd train. I wont binge on cereal and cookies…as a former binger I admit…it angers me to see ppl post pics like that. But This apple? This was sweet enough and a delight to eat.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #36

For me, if I tried that, the weekends would run from Thursday to Wednesday . . . Just saying.

When I first joined these forums, I’d come across a thread like this one and be going, “Huh?” Something just wasn’t making sense.

Then it occurred to me that replacing the word “carb” with “alcohol,” “heroin,” or “crack cocaine,” makes what’s going on crystal clear. So to speak.

(Ken) #37

After about 10 years of VLCHF I started to do some n=1 experiments with carbs, nothing severe, less than CKD amounts I had consumed in the past. Mostly just adding some carbs into my pattern for a set duration before returning to lipolytic levels. It would generally be something like having a bagel or fruit for breakfast and a side of starch at my evening meal. I gradually increased the duration of these experiments, going back to my normal VLCHF habit for a couple of weeks in between. The longest duration I got up to was three weeks, any longer and I simply got tired of eating carbs.

The result? No fat gain. I carried a little glycogen which always disappeared within a week of normal eating. Did I feel different? Yes, and now I make a point of occasionally eating carbs. That was nearly ten years.ago and I’m 30 pounds lighter than then, so I’ve continued to experience a slow fat loss since. Last Fall I noticed I had less energy, needed more sleep, and my libido was dropping. I added the same limited carbs back in from Thanksgiving to New Years. It put everything back to normal. In reality, I often forget to eat carbs so I really have to make a point of eating them occaisionally to keep me feeling normal.

(Chris Kornelsen) #38

Yes I like this. I truly believe humans were meant to eat both. 100% keto or 100% carb I think isnt natural. Humans would never have walked by an apple tree and said “nah I’ll wait.” But in our society we have been 100% heavy carbs and processed crap for so long it has created all sorts of disease and issues so keto seems like this insane cure. I think for healthy people keto is a great life but probably healthy carbs seasonally or at times is perfectly natural.

(Ken) #39

That type pattern has been used for decades, but it’s hard for Noobs to accept. Carbs at lipolytic (keto) levels for fat loss, hormonal derangement alleviation, and relief from discordant nutritional effects, then limited and periodic carbs for metabolic purposes. All within an overall fat based pattern. It’s a pretty simple and effective concept, yet extreme Heresy for some.

(Pam) #40

I have found no benefit for me unless adult beverages are concerned. There don’t seem to be enough carbs to absorb the alcohol, so I wake up unable to sleep around 3:00 am when the drowsy part of my alcohol has worn off. That’s when I have a guilt free buttermilk biscuit from my freezer slathered with butter. Then I sleep like a baby and have a planned return route to ketosis over the next couple of days. Luckily I drink so seldom, it always feels like it was worth it for the fun I had having the drink or couple of drinks.