Had a cheat weekend of sorts, wondering how much damage I've done?

[Samb335]

Hey there!

I had a stag do this weekend to celebrate a long time friend’s upcoming wedding. It required me travelling far from home, long car journeys for a scavenger hunt portion of the day, and not being able to control my food intake too much. I packed away the best food I could, cooked a whole pack of beef mince, chicken thighs, lots of steamed brocolli.

During the day (it was a long, 20 hour day) due to hunger I managed to knock back almost 800g of chicken thigh meat (skin on) and around 500g beef mince, with some brocolli. This was way over my protein macro (105-115g usually, hit 220g though) and my fat was 221g also (usually 150). We did about 3 miles of walking (I am usually quite sedentary) and also some swimming too.

I sat and ate my chicken and brocolli whilst they all ate obscene amounts of takeaway pizza, and drank lots of beer - I stuck to water. The problem is, the pride that I felt at managing to stick to my diet had a bit of a sting to it because when I put in my data I realised I’d over ate on protein for the day and probably allowed my body to break excess down into glycogen. It would have been incredibly hard to get the fat calories like I usually would have through my bacon with melted butter etc, as it would have solidified and tasted a bit manky. But at the same time my macros for that day showed fat as 70% and protein as 28%, so should I feel as guilty as I am?

We’re going shopping this morning for breakfast so I can buy some cheese, bacon, and save my last container of beef mince and brocolli for lunchtime, at which point I’ll be close to travelling home where I can be a bit more in control again. If it helps (don’t have my tester kit with me), I can still taste ammonia breath, and still have a thin layer of oil on top of urine.

Sorry for rambling, been sat here feeling super annoyed at myself!

[Chance]

I think you could write that whole narrative as a success story. You were faced with a challenging day, so you prepared for it. Yes, getting through it meant going over on your protein for the day, but you didn’t fall into the temptation of the beer and carbs and stayed strong. I want to clap and say, “well done”. (not sure if I could have done as well).

[MooBoom]

[MiKetoAF]

I thought this was gonna be a “I ate a whole pizza and drank a case of beer” post. I’d say you nailed it! A little extra protein (occasionally) never hurt anybody. It also actually helps to keep the body guessing. Great job!

[LizinLowell]

You listened to your hunger & gave it Keto food, success! KCKO

[Bellyman]

I can’t see you did any harm. I think you could have done a whole lot worse.

It’s not always easy to eat when we’re in situations we have no control over. We do the best we can.

I did see an interview a while back, of a person who was on a keto diet for quite a long time, maybe a year or more. And they had an occasion where there was a special event and they all went out to eat, and she did eat… the pasta, the bread, and the dessert. This person was extremely worried about what would happen to her blood sugars after eating a meal like this. It was barely a blip on the radar. After that year or so of healing, her body was able to handle that stress very well. But it was one meal, not a return to former eating habits.

The occasional excursion into an area we don’t usually go is not as big of a deal as we sometimes make it. (A T2 or T1 diabetic might be an exception.) A rogue meal between weeks or months of being on a keto way of eating, for most of us anyway, is a non-event. It becomes a problem when the rogue becomes a new way of eating. Sure, you had a meal or two with higher protein than you might have had ideally. So what. It was only a couple of meals, not a new way of eating.

I would say, “Good job!”

[lfod14]

But at the same time my macros for that day showed fat as 70% and protein as 28%, so should I feel as guilty as I am?

Not even remotely!

[Mglasbrener]

???
You did very well. KCKO. You’ll be fine. Keto is a bit more of a lifestyle and way of eating not a 4 week fad diet. If you had eaten and drank all the crap carbs you’d feel like crap and it would take more discipline to “get back on track” and it would take a bit more time to “recover”. But regardless KCKO. You did well and You’ll be fine.

[marklifestyle]

This is what you did do. You stayed fat adapted. You didn’t eat carbage. My weekend had a Saturday of meat at about 3 gs to every KG of LBM. Sunday was Mongolian Grill. About 45 g of carbs that day. The result? Added 3.8 lbs. My BHB was .5 Sunday and Zero this AM and BS was 102. My norm is .7BHB and BS about 85. I am drinking my coffee black today with no added calories of any sort until my dinner of lamb. I go in for a Dexascan on Tuesday so it was not the best weekend for a splurge but I am also not worried. I know what I did and the damage was minimal short term and NIL long term.

Be very proud of your success in living through an awkward situation. Also know that you were an example to the others. Not now, but later when the see your success and dedication combined with not giving up having a good time- they too will inquire of you and you will have the opportunity to pass it along.