How often do you have a "cheat" meal?

(Irene ) #62

“I prefer treat to cheat“ …cause I’m not really cheating if I stay away from sugar and stay within reason right? I’ve been trying to think of a new name for this, now I’ve got it “treat days”! Thanks @Shortstuff

#63

About once a week, which works out for me. Keto gave me a very reasonable and easy to follow outline of what to eat 95% of the time. If I’m going to stick with anything, it has to be sustainable for the long term, which means not getting too worked up about eating normal food occasionally.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #64

Absolutely not. I’ve seen the results. And I wouldn’t recommend a cheat day to a sugar addict, either.

But it’s worth remembering that, just as there are many people who can have a drink and stop (in A.A., they are known as extremely irritating wuss drinkers “non-alcoholics”), there are also extremely irritating, insulin-sensitive carb eaters people who can have a cheat meal and not have any more carbohydrate. Alas! I belong to neither of those two groups . . . (heavy sigh)

"One doughnut is too many, and a thousand aren’t enough . . . "

(Misty Torrey) #65

I started keto in Jan 2018. I got pregnant in Feb. Had a miscarriage in April. I opted to eat one meal out that was not keto. I wallowed in my sadness and ate my feelings through the entire Chinese Buffet, a box of Samoas and half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s . I purposefully chose to eat the meal outside of my house and not have leftovers in the house.

I went right back to keto. I figured I would let myself have a cheat every couple of months after that. Months rolled by and I easily stayed the course. I did not cheat again until August. I had two margaritas for a girl’s weekend. All my food was keto. I thought I was going to die. Two margaritas gave me such a hellacious hangover!! No thanks!

I have no plans to vary from my keto path. Sweets have no appeal. I have no desire to have a donut from our local cider mill that is famous for fresh made goodies. I walked in to get my husband some fresh glazed donuts and the smell grossed me out. Before keto I would have left with 2-3 dozen!

I don’t have birthday cake. My friends at work did pepperoni and cheese for my birthday treat. I don’t feel deprived or left out. I am making a choice, I am not denying myself anything. The science made me realize what that carbage does to my insides.

I will stay keto through the holidays. I am already planning some keto goods for our annual 12 days of Christmas at work where we have a luncheon potluck Every. Single. Day. for the 12 days leading to Christmas break. Each grade takes a day and we host lunch. I may have to bring stuff on more than one day this year but then I know that I will have at least one option.

So long story short. Cheats are few and far between and I have no plans to make them normal.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #66

I’m so sorry for your loss. I’m glad you are taking care of yourself.

#67

I am a person who measures progress with my waist circumference and I’m fascinated by how my waist always grows 1-1.5 inches after a weekend of a few carbier meals. I soon get back on keto and it shrinks back to normal in about 3 or 4 days. Must be my liver swelling up with glycogen, no?

(Raj Seth) #68

I am not tempted to have any cheat meals. I had a scoop of ice cream last month, and four French fries two months ago.
Keto has done such wonders for me that to have a high carb meal seems too masochistic. A high carb indulgence to me is to have a large handful or three of macadamias, or 2-3 large spoons (waaay bigger than TBSP spoonful) of chunky peanut butter. But regular old fashioned processed carbs like bread, rice etc - they no longer tempt me. I can’t say they taste bad, because i have had none of that stuff since I went Keto Nov 2017

Now I’m mostly carnivore, but will have a a slice of tomato and onion with my bacon cheese burger , or a BLT where the lettuce is the wrap, or an iceberg wedge drowned in bleu cheese dressing with a shitton of bacon on top. That’s as far as I want to go from hard core carnivore.

#69

@MistySeptember. I am so sorry for your loss. I am so happy that (reading between the lines of birthday pizza and margaritas) it seems you have a supportive tribe of people - both at work and friends. But goodness! I have never heard of 12. pot-luck. lunches. back to back.!! Best of luck with that, but it does sound fun! Peace.

#70

Once a month.

(Frank) #71

I have “cheated” many times in the past 9 months. Pie, beer, pizza, chocolate, Danish, etc. The one thing that I have come to realize is that some of those cheats were worth it and some were definitely not. What my wife and I have started doing is researching “the best of this and that” and making an adventure out of it. If I’m going to have a French pastry, I’m going to be damn sure to find the best rated one I can find within driving distance. My craft beer choices are now research based. This allows me to be a food snob of sorts I guess. Also, since the best usually equates to the most expensive, I’m less likely to overindulge on any one thing.

(Frank) #72

Btw. I’m saving my pizza cheats for Frank pepes in new haven Connecticut.

(Wendy) #73

Probably just water weight I’m guessing.

(Brian) #74

You’re not alone. I don’t have access to network tv since we live too far out for an antenna. And I refuse to pay for the garbage they call cable or satellite these days. So…

(Susan) #75

Three nights in a row at work i have had cookies. I was trying to fast. I have to go back there two more nights then i am off for two weeks, except if they call me for overtime. What happened to my willpower? Chinese food (just meat dishes no breading but the sauces tasted sweet) on Saturday wrecked it for me.

(Carl Keller) #76

Maybe try to have a safety net for those times of weakness? Keep a can of sardines, a bag of nuts or pork rinds somewhere in your car or office?

And don’t fret too much about it. It’s just a speedbump, not the end of the road.

#78

I am a person with very little willpower. I know and accept this about myself, and I structure situations so that the need for willpower is minimized. The ability to design a system that leads to doing a desired action, is the definition of discipline. Despite being weak of will, I get results because I’m fairly disciplined.

There are occasions when I eat “off plan”. I enjoy those moments, without any guilt or angst. Whether it lasts a day or a week, I know that it will be temporary and I will soon be back on plan. My metabolic derangement wasn’t created by eating junk 30 or 40 days a year, it was created by years of daily neglect. Fixing the derangement will take years of daily effort, and won’t be derailed by eating junk 30 or 40 days a year.

On Thanksgiving I ate a lot, including cornbread stuffing and peach cobbler. I throughly enjoyed it. Now its all gone and I’ve started a fast to allow my body to dedicate its efforts to “processing” the food. In a couple of days, I’ll resume eating back on plan. This is sustainable for me over the long run. Though the occasion will vary, I’ll repeat some version of this process (adjusting as my body becomes more metabolically flexible) for the rest of my life.

(The amazing autoimmune 🦄) #79

I don’t view it as cheating if you plan a special meal or vacation and know you aren’t able to eat Keto or simply want to be a part of the celebration. I haven’t feasted on purpose once as of yet. But on accident, I have once. I am also only staying below 30 carbs at this point in time and am in deep ketosis with that amount. I plan on feasting during Christmas, with my family and then fasting on the 26th. Hopefully it will work out. I feel by planning these days out, I have more control. We will see…

#80

I am capable of gaining 3% of my body weight overnight based on what I ate. I have gained 10 lbs, which is 7% of my bodyweight, in 3 days. Fortunately It can come off just as quickly if I do a water fast. It has never taken more than 2x as long. I don’t know where you are in your weight loss journey, but I think the closer you are to your set point, the faster this is. I think rapid changes in weight are a sign of metabolic derangement. The metabolically healthy people in my family do not experience large weight fluctuations based on what they eat.

(Jane) #81

^^^ This

I don’t recommend newbies do this until fat adapted in order to get your body switched over to efficiently burning fat for fuel… but once you are at that point then planned higher carb meals are not a problem unless you have other issues like binge eating and can’t stop with one meal or one day.

If I told my husband he could NEVER have another piece of my apple pie or homemade yeast rolls the rest of his life he would have told me [spoiler]”fuck that shit”[/spoiler] and live with the joint pain. He didn’t really need to lose any weight and wasn’t T2D.

So for special occasions we indulge. And fast to compensate.

(Laura) #82

After I went low carb, it was 3 or 4 years before I let down my guard to have some sweet potato or maybe a peach or pear or a small piece of candy at Christmas. I learned that I can do that and not be tempted to eat more carbs and I learned that I really cannot tolerate any thing with sugar in it. That small piece of candy caused my stomach to burn, so I took that as a clue to not do it again. Lol.

I just don’t really have a desire anymore for carby food and processed stuff taste like chemicals to me. So, for me it was better to commit fully and get to the point where I don’t want the stuff anyway. It was about a year before I stopped wanting bread. Now, I don’t care about it.

I always thought that I was an emotional eater, unable to control myself. All it was for me is the carb rollercoaster that kept me eating constantly. When I realized that, I was very angry at all the years wasted trying to eat ‘the healthy way’ and feeling like a failure because I had no willpower. Turns out that willpower has nothing to do with it.