How often do you “cheat” if ever?

#1

My sister made a low carb dessert at Thanksgiving. I wasn’t going to say no although I did refuse on my birthday. How often do you cheat and how does it affect your progress?

(less is more, more or less) #2

I bristle at the word “cheat” regarding LCHF living. I’ll get over myself for a response.

I don’t cheat, but I’m highly motivated to do well. My friends marvel at my resolve, the freak of nature I am. I screw up all the time, however. I am strategic and will make allowances, all things considered. I made a delicious low-carb pie and ate it at Thanksgiving. Some might call that cheating, but, as humans, stuff happens. I had a delicious pint of IPA after my first half-marathon. I feel no shame in having done so. I don’t see the point in calling it a “cheat,” either.

Sometimes I accidentally consume a boatload of carbs. When I do, I move on and work to never repeat that mistake.

We carry so much emotional baggage from the broken CICO model. We’re not bad people when we stray from a diet, as experts claimed we were under the standard American diet. We know better now, we’ve eaten the promised land of better health and weight maintenance.

So, do I “cheat?” I say “to hell” with the word “cheating” for we low-carbers. Do I go over my 20 total carb max? Of course. I account for it, change my habits if need be, and move on.

<exhaustion settles in after rant>

(Allie) #3
#4

I never ‘cheat’.
I make conscious decisions to eat off plan under controlled circumstances, and accept the consequences. :rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl:

As for how often… well, I usually have 2 or 3 non carnivore meals on a holiday week. I thoroughly enjoy them, and by the 3rd one I usually feel rough enough that I want to get back on track for another 2-3 months, til my next week of holiday. My off plan choices are still low carb, gluten free and low veg, because those minimise the ‘consequences’.

:laughing:

(John) #5

I am starting a self-experiment of adding in higher amounts of carbs on occasion to see how well I tolerate them and what, if any, positive or negative results I experience.

Today, for example, I made hot breakfast cereal from 1/4 cup oat bran and 1/8 cup wheat bran, topped with some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice) and a couple of pats of butter. No sweeteners. It was about 17g net carbs - 68 carb calories. Nothing dramatic, but still higher carb content than I usually eat in a meal.

Though that is a planned experiment and not a “cheat” meal.

I don’t accept the concept of “cheating” meaning breaking a set of rules so that I can go back to doing something I would rather be doing. It defeats the mental state needed to transition to permanent changes in the approach to food and nutrition needed to maintain a healthy eating pattern.

I think it is OK to include planned meals or days with a managed higher than normal carb intake, as long as the food choices aren’t sugar-filled or highly processed foods that will trigger a relapse of addictions or cravings.

(Tiarn) #6

I am now fat adapted (started mid Sept 2018) and have had the odd high carb meal e.g pizza and pasta.
If I do this for only 1 meal in a week, my weight on scale goes up 1kg (generally), then 3 days to deplete my glycogen stores and get back to my pre carb meal weight. The next 4 days are spent burning fat and losing weight! The best part about it is I find that I now know everything that goes on with my body, I don’t ever panic about weight increases, I trust the process and keep on keto’ing on!

#7

edit

(Ken) #8

A better term is LIMP, or limited (carb) intake for metabolic purposes. For me, when either planned or unplanned, a period of carb restriction always follows. That enables glycogen depletion and prevents any lipogenic readaptations that could lead to fat regain. At my stage, they actually are necessary for metabolic purposes.

(Lazy, Dirty Keto 😝) #9

I don’t cheat on carbs. On some days, usually only when I go out with friends (so maybe like once a month), I may be a little less strict about my fat to protein ratio. And ok, I might eat literally 5 French fries :joy: but that’s as far as I’ve gone so far regarding “cheating.”

For me, aside from the fear of gaining weight, I’ve learned that carbs caused a lot of issues for me and I don’t want to go back to feeling like crap all the time. I used to constantly struggle with IBS. Since starting Keto, my tummy troubles are no more.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

I don’t call it cheating, because for me it’s risky eating. Any large amount of carbohydrate risks putting me back into sugar-burning mode, and I might never make it back into ketosis.

Alcoholics have a saying, “One is too many, and a thousand aren’t enough.” For me, it’s just as true about carbohydrate. I am okay with a salad, or some onions and Bell peppers on a Fathead pizza, but I am just as capable of bingeing on cauliflower as on glazed doughnuts, and that carries consequences. I am just fortunate that my experiments with eating bread or a sugary dessert have not triggered a full-on sugar binge, like the one I went through eight years ago that put twenty pounds on me in the space of three weeks. The consequences of a cauliflower binge are not quite as awful, but they are bad enough.

The problem is to live in such a way as to keep the memory alive of why I needed to start eating keto in the first place, because in the moment, those glazed doughnuts can be mesmerizing. Ask any alcoholic who had “one beer” and came to with a hangover several days later, in a hotel room on the other side of the continent. Or the scientist who published a study twenty-five years ago, claiming that alcoholics could learn to drink “moderately.” I used to know several people who knew her from A.A. meetings. Apparently, she ended up going to jail for a long time for vehicular manslaughter while under the influence.

So to those of you with high carb tolerances, or those who can have a hefty dose of carbohydrate from time to time with no ill effect, I say Mazel tov. But please be aware of, and compassionate toward, us food addicts who dare not follow your example.

(Carl Keller) #11

Well said. Nothing wrong with testing our limits or even rewarding our resolve and dedication to keto. We ate wrong for decades. One slice or plate of carbs or sugar won’t erase all our work and everything we learned. Enjoy your pie Screen. :wink:

(Carl Keller) #12

In your case, I can understand the desire to abstain. There’s a variety of reasons to do keto so I guess it’s up to the individual what is at risk, when cheating, relapsing, rewarding or whatever you want to call it.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

You’ve got it there, brother! :+1:

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #14

Could not have said this better myself.
Cheating implies I should feel bad about my actions, or my carb blow outs, but I don’t. So why take such a negative approach to it?

#15

I’m with @Screenack . Cheating, is psychologically the wrong way to look at it. So you have a few more carbs one day… … so what? It’s just food. As long as overall, you are eating sensibly, you’re good.

I haven’t yet strayed from my planned intake. I like the formality of it. It will be tougher for me, when I try to relax my plan, so I maintain my weight instead of losing it.

(Laurie) #16

As @PaulL has pointed out, some of us are carb addicts. Carbs are dangerous to me. Thank you for the reminder.

(Robert C) #17

I agree that the term “cheat” carries a lot of baggage.

I “cheat” often in terms of macros and calories.

Basically I cheat as often as I fast - essentially always making up for the - I don’t know what to call it - maybe indiscretion?

So, Italian meal at a great restaurant on Sunday night where it would be crazy to skip the incredible house specialties - I eat again maybe Wednesday morning (even though my blood ketone level is 0.6 to 0.8 on Monday morning).

Or, a smaller indiscretion, a Thai meal where I get a lamb curry and keep the rice pretty restricted on a Sunday night, I eat again on Tuesday morning.

Essentially staying almost continuously in ketosis but definite single meal “cheats”.

I do not pre-fast because it makes me too hungry sitting down to a social meal out.

(Chris) #18

I eat cake on my kids’ birthdays, but it’s homemade cake without veg oils and other trash in it at least. I don’t handle cheats well, I tend to binge. So I avoid it.

(the cheater) #19

I cheat regularly and have no shame about it (or any shame about calling it cheating). I’m quite outspoken on the subject and I do not hide behind euphemisms and alternate ways to “spin” the cheating. That said, I enjoy it and if a little cutting loose once a week or every 4-9 days or so lets me remain happily and healthfully strictly keto for the rest of the week, then I’m happy.

The caveat to this, is, of course, that I could probably be dropping more weight if I didn’t cheat. I went from about 220 down to about 170, and now I hover between 175 and 180; but I look good and I feel healthy and recently made it up to 19 pull-ups in a row (something that was unthinkable this time last year; even one!). I attribute the weight gain to building muscle since I’ve been hitting the gym and weight lifting a lot more over the last 6 months.

So, I suspect if I were still trying to lose weight, eliminating the cheats would help. However, after the initial few weeks of strict keto beginning in February, I’ve had regular cheat days (again; every 4-9 days, typically not more than one in a week, but sometimes), and still managed to drop the weight. I suspect the weight I’m at now is where my body likes it. I COULD lose more and get shredded, and if I started eating carbs regularly again, I’m sure I’d put the weight back on, but I seem to have found a good equilibrium.

I have done some experimenting, though. Everything from allowing a full day of anything/everything I want, to just a few hours, to even two days in a row! My body definitely did not appreciate the two-in-a-row cheat. I felt pretty “meh” for several days. The once-a-week cheats are pretty standard and kinda provide a ‘something to do’ as well as allow me to have some of the things that might catch my stomach’s eye throughout the week (again; I don’t deny myself anything; just postpone). The last month or two I’ve been cheating on, say, Friday evening and maybe next Sunday (keto Saturday), then keto again until Friday. OR I might cheat Wednesday and Sunday.

Days that I cheat, I usually fast all day until about 20 hours or so before hand; say from 2000 the night before to 1700-ish when I start my cheat.

So, I guess my system is DEFINITELY n=1; it’s a lot of experimentation. To me it’s kinda like, once I learned the rules, i started to see which ones I could break. I know what my body feels like in ketosis and I know how long it usually takes me to get back into it after a cheat (usually about a day and a half).

in any case, I know my perspective isn’t terribly popular around these parts since (understandably) a lot of people come into keto following a lifetime of bad habits and need the discipline and regimentation that strict keto promises. My story is more or less just wandering around the health/wellness/nutritional wasteland and getting lost; keto was just a guide to get me back on the right track; not some miracle savior, though I have (and continue to) enjoyed its benefits on a daily basis when I wander naked into my bathroom and flip on the light and actually appreciate my body.

It’s like some people in AA; they have to abstain completely whereas others can simply cut back on drinking and be perfectly fine. I’m in the latter group. One of the ways this manifests is that some say they can’t cheat because just HAVING the food in the house would be too great a temptation. Well, not for me. Even if I have any goodies left over from my cheat day/night/meal, I can see it sitting on the counter or shelf or fridge every day and have zero temptation to sneak a bit of something non-keto.

TLDR: Cheat every now and again and you’ll be fine.

(Todd Allen) #20

I went keto to avoid type 2 diabetes and for all of the health issues I had developed as a result of insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and crazy blood glucose swings. Everything has been getting better and after a couple years of keto I now have good blood sugar control so long as I eat appropriately. I monitor my blood glucose with a current goal of staying between 65 and 100 mg/dl and adjust what I eat as needed. Which varies day to day, things like sickness, stress, injuries/pain and poor sleep can all jack up my blood glucose forcing a need for strict keto for a few days. But generally my carb tolerance has been improving and I can eat a fairly relaxed higher carb version of keto and I don’t consider it cheating.

Yesterday morning before breakfast my blood sugar was 80 mg/dl. Roughly 25 g net carbs at breakfast followed by 30 minutes of strength calisthenics and my blood sugar was 86 mg/dl. No lunch and a similar pattern at dinner. I rarely check blood ketones now due to the cost of strips but I regularly track breath with a cheap breathalyzer and know I’m staying in ketosis too. Some days I’m able to eat significantly more carbs. Rarely I over do it slightly but I’m always back on track the next day.