Cheat meal question

(Jonathan Fillingane) #1

I started Keto on January 21, 2019 and I’ve lost 26lbs. I haven’t really had a cheat meal and I’m going out tonight with my wife for our date night. I worked out good yesterday after work and I worked out this morning when I got up. Yesterday I fasted from food all day and still haven’t eaten. I was wondering if a cheat meal of say a burger would throw me horribly off my diet? Thank you

(Full Metal KETO AF) #2

Get your burger lettuce wrapped if you can, I really like them that way and don’t miss the bread. In all honesty it’s way too early in your keto to start “cheat meals”. And cheat is just a bad way of looking at it. Life happens and sometimes you make a choice to go off plan.

But cheating implies that you’re getting an advantage reaching your goals by going against the rules. But going off plan never is getting an unfair advantage towards reaching your goals. Ask yourself, “Is a few minutes of eating some bread going to be worth what that does to your insulin response to your food?”, which is what causes weight gain. Just be conscious of the real consequences when you decide to eat off plan. It’s recommended that you’re sure you’re fully fat adapted before going for a off plan meal if you must. :cowboy_hat_face:

(Jonathan Fillingane) #3

Well you made my decision easy lol. Steak it is!

(Robert C) #4

26 pounds in 47 days is a bit fast for Keto - where you are eating fat to satiety and becoming fat adapted.
(Unless you started with a very large amount of weight to lose.)

I am not suggesting that you do a cheat meal.

But, you might want to take are hard look as to whether you are really calorie restricting while eating Keto foods. Doing so will cause a nearly uncontrollable bounce in the future as your metabolism slows to accommodate the low calorie level - where even cutting further adds weight.

(Jonathan Fillingane) #5

Mainly my wife and I make Keto meals for dinner, and I input the information into my Keto diet app. I’m usually close or right on my fat intake, been slightly over protein once or twice but my carbs are always below 18g.

(PSackmann) #6

My agreement with myself is that I can eat off plan anytime I want, as long as it’s worth it. So, for me, a hamburger bun wouldn’t be worth it, but a meal at an upscale Italian restaurant might be. Then again, I’m eating this way primarily for inflammation, so I know if I go off plan there’s a possibility of pain the next day or so. Besides, one of the joys of eating a burger with a knife and fork is not worrying about dribbling on yourself.

(Jonathan Fillingane) #7

Of course as part of Keto my calorie consumption dropped considerably. Do you thing my weight loss could be from how I cut my calories?

(Jonathan Fillingane) #8

I’m just doing it for weight loss but I originally didn’t want to do Keto forever, so my fear is gaining all my weight back

(PSackmann) #9

One off-plan meal probably won’t derail you, unless it starts a slippery slope of “oh, I already had X, I can have Y tomorrow as well and go back Monday”. The other issue arises if you weigh regularly and don’t gain due to one meal. That can set up the internal dialogue of “I didn’t gain, so I can do it again”. These type of dialogues are why I focus on my NSV results.

Another question, if you’re only eating this way to lose weight, what are your plans for after goal? If you go back to the way you were eating before, how will you keep yourself from gaining again? This is why so many look at Keto as a WoL rather than a diet.

(Jonathan Fillingane) #10

I would like to swap to just a clean eating meal plan, continue working in the gym and maybe have a cheat meal once a month. I’m not a robot, I like a cheat meal every once and a while lol

(Robert C) #11

It depends on how much weight you had to lose when you started.

Someone 200 pounds overweight could have a big initial drop but if you started out just 50 pounds overweight, then it is likely you are on a calorie restricted diet.

Keto is about becoming fat-adapted and (usually) increasing your metabolism (especially for people coming from many other calorie restrictive diets). This allows you, in the long run, to not yo-yo in another slow metabolism weight gain situation.

Some people even gain weight at the beginning of Keto but, if they stick with it, are rewarded with a metabolism that keeps them in shape forever.

I cannot explain everything here but you should do more research to avoid a bounce. Look at Keto as a way of eating to reprogram your hormones instead of it being just another calorie restrictive diet.

(Jonathan Fillingane) #12

I got to 187 and I need to lose to 145-150. I did this once before and was on a calorie restrictive diet and got down to 150. It stayed off for a while but it came back honestly because I went back to eating bad. I lost the same amount of weight super fast just like I am now. I think your right, I think I’m just calorie restricted

(Robert C) #13

I think you meant 287?

(Jonathan Fillingane) #14

No 187

(Jonathan Fillingane) #15

I need to make it to 145-150 not lose that much lol

(Robert C) #16

(Got it - guilty of reading too fast and thought it said you were at 187 looking to lose 145 to 150.)

This is a good reason for thinking about going and staying Keto.

Your body will force you to eat “bad” for its survival.
Once the “diet” finishes, the “lizard” part of your brain will trigger on every fast food commercial, every supermarket visit and every time you see someone else eating.

It seems to take around 6 months for your metabolism to slow down enough to make further calorie restriction impossible.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out it takes 6 more months of your “lizard” brain pushing you to eat hyper-palatable foods at every opportunity to finally calm down and stop pushing (and maybe at a higher weight than before).

(Jonathan Fillingane) #17

Update: I have eaten a couple of cheat meals but I know for a fact I am fully Keto adapted now and as of Saturday I have lost 40lbs.