Cheat days?

(Garry (Canada)) #41

The only negative attitude I see is how you are approaching this new endeavor.
Unless you are 100% committed to making a positive change to your health and lifestyle, you are guaranteed to fail like so many others…

(mole person) #42

I’m going to take the approach of explaining what will happen in your body. As several others have said here, you really don’t want to do ANY cheating in the first two months at all. This is the time when your body is going through some pretty hardcore changes getting used to using fat efficiently and you can set the process back significantly with any cheats at this stage. It’s very important to get through the early fat adaptation phase quickly because people tend not to feel 100% during this time. So you will just be increasing the length of time where you feel shitty and your energy is low. But more importantly you will be increasing the period of time when you are HUNGRY and so need more calories to be satisfied. It is only when you are fat adapted that the ketogenic diet really begins to give the best weight loss benefits. This is because once you start metabolizing fat efficiently your hunger will drop as your body becomes satisfied that there is plenty of fat around (on you) to keep it going.

With respect to a cheat day, here is what will happen if you have one after you are fully fat adapted. It will knock you out of ketosis. So for some period of time you will not burn fat. How long that is depends on both the magnitude of your cheat and your own level of metabolic derangement. As others have said, there is a difference between have a single off plan item like a hamburger and having a day where you just go crazy and eat anything that you want. If you have a single hamburger you will likely be back in ketosis two days later at the most and won’t gain any fat. But for those two day you will stall your progress. If you have a hog-wild-anything goes day you will start adding fat to your body that very day and you will have to wait to get back into ketosis days later to start to undo it. Doing this too frequently can stall you. You don’t lose the fat gained in a bad day in one good day. It might take a week or longer depending on the degree.

The rest is up to you. Some people can cheat quite often and get right back to it and it doesn’t send them off the rails. For others a slice of pie is as bad as heroin to a junkie. We’re all different. Only you know you. Probably, through this process, if you take it seriously, you will get to know yourself even better.

Good luck!

#43

Once the miracle happened for me the last thing I wanted to do is cheat and mess it up.

#44

Nothing tastes as good as KETO feels.

(Jennibc) #45

I wouldn’t consider a cheat every two weeks as you will never get anywhere. And certainly not an entire day. We do a cheat meal about every three or four months - we go eat pizza or pasta. That works to help us stay on track because then we don’t feel like we are NEVER going to eat something we love again because that feeling of eternal deprivation would make it difficult to commit to this way of eating. But it is so infrequent that if it sets me back a week or two, then I don’t mind.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #46

So, while I agree with most folks here, I will say, it depends. It depends on the cheat, it depends on the context of the ketonaut, and it depends on the context of the cheat.

Let’s talk the context of the ketonaut. Diabetic? Insulin resistant? Fat adapated? Metabolically flexible? Muscular? Addiction issues? As a fairly metabolically flexible person who was insulin resistant, but fat adapted now, I can have an off plan meal pretty regularly. But, do they drive cravings that make it hard to go back to keto? More context?

Context of the cheat? Are we talking an English muffin with breakfast or a loaf of bread? A slice of pizza or a large pizza? Are you cheating for a social occasion, because you want variety, because you miss the food, cravings, addiction, what have you?

Really, ask yourself… why do you want to cheat? Who are you cheating?

As an aside, I have a couple of mild carb ups a month, and have from the jump last year at this time. I keep a higher carb limit than many ketonauts, at 30-40 net, and occasionally let a Sunday drift to 50. I eat off plan for my birthday, anniversary, wife’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and 1-2 random weekends in the summer. But we’re not talking a return to 200+Grams. We’re talking a piece of pie, or a side of potatoes and a dessert.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #47

Yeah, I’ve done that about five times. Perfect delivery vehicle for the bacon, butter and cheese.

Edited to add five times in nine months. I’m pretty proud of myself.

(Running from stupidity) #48

(Empress of the Unexpected) #49

I don’t believe for a moment that one glass of milk or one English muffin per month is going to erase all the progress I have made. There, I’ve said it.

(Running from stupidity) #50

Again, not sure anyone is going to disagree with you there.

Much as I like disagreeing with you as a general principle.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #51

But, @kass, please wait a couple of months.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #52

Not quite artform level yet, but closing in on it.

(Running from stupidity) #53

I’m workin’ on it, lady.

#54

You might need the paddling sticks for this level of non-compliance.

(Running from stupidity) #55

"Not an artform? That’s a paddlin’ "

Blame the PTA

(Kassandra) #56

Thank you Regina! I will do it, I will wait a couple months before eating carbs again! Thank you a lot! :heart:

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #57

I would add that it might be a good idea to be a bit judicious with your first carb meal. A lot of folks will go the whole pizza route, and feel pretty miserable, both from the carbs and just the massive amount of food. I think I did that once this past year, but on my previous low carb journey, I wrote a whole list of symptoms that a day long carb odyssey triggered, including mood shifts, return of carb flu, cravings and more.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #58

I agree with WHAT kind of “cheat” you are talking about. A piece of fudge your coworker made? Using some tortilla chips to scoop that low carb taco salad into your mouth? It depends on how often and how much. For me, these don’t “ruin everything” but a whole day of eating every carby thing in sight? Yeah, that’s going to halt progress.

(Cynthia Anderson) #59

I generally keep my carbs at 50g or less. I use a breathalyzer to check ketone levels. I usually blow .4 mg/l or better.

My oops days or cheat days generally stay at 100g but occasionally go a bit higher.

I just had 5 days in a row at close to 100g and still registered ketones in my breath.

Yesterday I stayed on plan.

Keto or low carb I say keto. I’m losing fat, I’m in ketosis, and probably fat adapted.

I feel better. I sleep better. I very lost 20 lbs at least. I’ve lost inches but haven’t measured at all. I just know because of my clothing size shrinking.

If someone wants to say I’m low carb not keto then please kindly explain how I’m in ketosis if I’m not keto.
I’m my humble opinion ketosis =keto.

(Cynthia Anderson) #60

Oh and when I first started I was already thinking of cheat days too.

I thought I would miss so many foods so much. Now some of the same foods I thought I’d miss I don’t even like anymore

If I ever quit keto I think I’m low carb for life.