Just curious what some of ya’ll’s experience has been with having a Keto “Cheat” Day with Keto foods. So essentially going over my macros with calories and carbs (from either almond flour or cabbage-I haven’t quite decided what my “cheat” meal would be…either Keto cinnamon rolls or a whole entire sauteed cabbage head with ground beef). I know I am in ketosis, and have been sticking to my macros pretty well that I calculated thru the ketogains macro calculator; however, I’m hungry and need a higher calorie day (I recently started lifting and doing cardio). Thru the ketogains calculator, I eat about 1250 calories a day. I’m loosely calculating that my “cheat” day meal (I do OMAD/Keto) will be between 1800-2300 calories. Do you think this would do more damage than it is worth??
Keto Cheat Day (with keto food)
My keto cheat day is to eat between meals with keto food. Love pork rinds, peanuts and no carb beef jerky.
1250 seems like very low for calories. That’s approximately how many calories The Biggest Loser contestants ate, and follow up studies showed they slowed down their metabolism too far, and all but one contestant gained all the weight back, plus.
After I read that, I’ve upped my calories from 1500/1600/day to 1900-2200/day and continued to consistently lose weight. I don’t know the right amount for you, but the idea is to get your body used to burning more calories.
At some point, you’re going to get more hungry. I did. Plus, you need added calories for the exercise. So I say yes to the extra calories from keto friendly foods. It will not do any harm. It will help you stay the course and give you more confidence that you can be in control of your food choices.
Now, that said, your idea of a cheat day with keto foods is a great one, and that’s been helpful to my success. When I get really hungry, I eat higher fat keto foods, even if I have to eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day. Whatever I have to do to stay away from sugar and junk. My daughter had some of her friends over yesterday for pizza (and choc chip cookies and chips and salsa). Yes, they were all tempting, but I got out the brie, summer sausage and peanut butter and stayed keto.
Good luck.
Thank you! I thought the calories were low as well…but I am eating at a 25% deficit. I have about 10-15 more lbs to lose and have hit a stall for the last 3-4 months. I was eating around 1600-1700 during the stall (so I know now that is a good calorie range for maintenance for me). Since adjusting my macros, the scale has started moving again. My plan is not to eat at a deficit long term, just long enough to get to goal and enter maintenance. I have NOT been adding back in the calories burned while exercising (I had read not do that), so I am pretty sure that is why I am so hungry. Once again thank you for your response…I’m planning my keto “cheat” meal in my mind for tomorrow as I type this :)
As long as you are keeping your carbohydrate low enought to avoid stimulating insulin secretion above the minimum necessary (we can’t live if we have no insulin at all), then your body will tell you how much to eat, if you let it. As long as your carbohydrate is under control, and you adjust protein to somewhere between 0.8 and 2.0 grams per kilogram of lean body mass, then you can eat fat until you are satisfied.
In the absence of insulin, the body adjusts our appetite to the appropriate level, so that if we have any extra stored fat hanging around, it can burn that as well as the fat we eat. (Fat stimulates insulin secretion the least, so it is the safest source of calories, paradoxically.)
If we eat at a caloric deficit, we run the risk of forcing our body to reduce its energy expenditure to compensate. As long as it thinks there is a famine going on, it will hang on to our excess fat like grim death. But give it enough calories—well, then! 
So if you’re going to cheat, cheat with fat and protein to keep that insulin low! 