Lessons learned from your Holiday eating?

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #1

I didn’t go off plan for days, but on Saturday and last night I shoved as much confectioner sugar, peanut butter and chocolate in my mouth as I could stomach. There, I thought, it’s out of my system! But I had forgotten about what comes after like being crabby and tired, feeling that headache and nausea of low blood sugar today and the worst by far is two old body injuries that were slowly healing started to rage. I could barely bend my arm and my lower back felt like it was re-injured.

I’m thankful I feel so terrible. It was a good reminder of what my body needs and why I’m doing this. Now on with the most boring months of the year!

#2

I learned that I’m a bit more metabolically flexible these days :slightly_smiling_face: Ate some x’mas pudding, took a fairly decent 10-15 min walk & didn’t feel a thing. Only a one off of course but nice to know for x’mas in future.

(Carl Keller) #3

The lesson I learned is to not mimic the eating behavior of a python. I ate about 24 oz (nearly 700 grams) of prime rib today… probably enough protein and fat for the next 3 days. I don’t feel miserable but this is most full I have been in several months.

The good thing is I was able to walk past platters of cookies, nut rolls and fudge all week and not yield to temptation. I know if I have that proverbial, “just one:”, it will end up being 7 or 8. It used to happen all the time,.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #4

Yeah, I’m still in my early days (started in Sept) so may be I won’t feel so crappy if I eat sweets or may be I won’t feel the desire at all.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

The last time I ate way too much steak I got heart palpitations. Lesson learned, but it was so good!

#6

I’ve been at it 4 or 5 years & I’d say both of those things are true for me now :slightly_smiling_face: First year I felt pretty freakin’ terrible after having too many carbs.

(Sophie) #7

I still haven’t learned that my eyes are bigger than my stomach! :confounded:

(Scott) #8

I had at trip to see my son and the grands and a visit immediately after from the other two kids with their significant others. Lots of craft beer (my kryptonite) and I did put on five pounds. I did eat mostly keto and have lost two pounds already. So I say enjoy but don’t tie the oat bag on. Going to set my jogging shoes out tonight but as tired as I am it’s fifty fifty at best. Merry Christmas to all!

(John) #9

Lesson learned is that I have no problem maintaining strict keto eating during the entire holiday period. I don’t have social obligations or any special Christmas foods that I just MUST have, so it was really very easy. My wife is fully on board (though she eats a more balanced diet) so we just have different side dishes but share the main proteins and some general purpose sides. For example, tonight we cooked a whole chicken, steamed broccoli, cauliflower rice (for me) and wild and long grain rice (for her). We shared the chicken and broccoli.

I didn’t have any baked goodies, (sweetened) chocolate, or candies during the entire season. In years past we would have nibbled on peppermint bark and toffee, and had Christmas cookies on hand, hot chocolate, and pies.

My wife did comment that as a result of my diet, she didn’t gain any weight during the holidays because she didn’t bring any of those “bad” treats home. So she got the benefit of second-hand keto dieting just because there was no junk in the house to tempt her.

I even lost 4 pounds in the week ending Christmas Eve.

#10

I visited the fam last week, and we didn’t have holiday-eating per se but it was difficult to keep up with Keto, in a way it wasn’t when I last visited them in July. My parents are supportive of my diet (even tho my nurse mother’s support is luke-warm), so they never tried to sabotage me. I had already planned on one Carb Day, and did that. Then three more days followed, including the day I came back and went out with friends for dinner.

What I’ve learned tho is that when I do “cheat” I tend to still eat less of the cheat food. I certainly wasn’t in ketosis, but I stayed fat adapted. I still can’t eat sugar. The entire time I was with my fam, I ate one small cookie and two pieces of pumpkin pie, all on separate nights; anymore than that, and sugar gives me headaches. Last December I could have easily devoured a whole pumpkin pie myself in one night.

My trigger was bread, and I knew it was going to be. On my scheduled Carb Day I must have wolfed down a loaf, but hey I got it out of my system. I didn’t say no to buns on my other days, nor to the fries or breading. But I’m not sweating it. This was the first time in eight months that I had an unscheduled “falling off the wagon,” but I know I can easily recover, and have so starting today.

(Daisy) #11

Lesson learned is I still have no kind of self control and a reminder of how terrible my previous way of eating made me feel all the time. I’ve been eating off plan for over a month with this excuse or that and have returned directly to chronic stomach pain and hypoglycemia. So I will no longer say that keto cured me of those things, but that they perfectly manage them. I am fully back on keto as of today and have sworn off sweeteners. I’m also reminded of how easy it is for me to gain weight.

(Lisa ) #12

Don’t have sugar after a long time being keto. You will get very, very ill lol

(Cindy) #13

I’m sad, in a way. I’d told myself that I’d eat off plan today and I set that up kind of as a goal. Sort of “It’s going to be so nice to have bread, a slice of homemade pie, sweet tea”, etc. But it wasn’t. :\ I had about 2 oz of baked chicken, and truly only about a tablespoon of sides and it was all just “meh.” The dessert I thought I’d want so much was “meh.” The tea I brewed? I couldn’t bring myself to put the “normal” amount of sugar in it. And in a way, that sucks.

It’s like giving up something that formerly made me happy. I know that, in the long-term, things like sweet tea made me more unhappy, but in the immediate moment, sitting down with a good book, a bag of popcorn and sweet tea was a “happy place” for me.

So I’m trading the benefits I hope to get from keto (primarily weight loss) with something I know I used to enjoy. Immediate “happy” vs long-term “hopefully happy.”

It feels like a precarious trade-off. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone else…but that, combined with my mom (cancer patient) not feeling well today and it hasn’t felt like a very Merry Christmas.

(Mike W.) #14

I’ve learned that I can give a big FU! to stacks of treats like this. These were the beginning of my downward spiral last year. Did I eat more this week? Maybe, but it was eggs Benedict casserole with hollandaise, macadamia nuts, bacon, meats, cheeses, olives, bolognese sauce over spaghetti squash, and a bit of bourbon. I’m REALLY proud of myself. I finally feel I can stick with this long term and reach the goals I’ve set for 2019.

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#15

Well I’ve had a rough Christmas and I learned that Keto and Extended Fasting are curators of health but not cures.

I started off with food poisoning over the weekend from eating a bad batch of raw oysters. Wretched experience. Then it slowly passed and by today (Christmas Day) I felt well enough to eat after a 4-pound weight dump.

Knowing I only had a one-day window of non-Keto eating, I started with hot sweetened egg nog, 2 oatmeal cookies and three sand tarts. Yum! But that was mostly it and I ate well for supper but just veggies and laid off the prime rib because my pre-poisoned tummy was not up to heavy digesting. And then, of course, came the homemade bread pudding. Limited myself to a small serving but, alas, the damage has been done.

My already sensitive stomach is achy again and I have a strange soreness and weakness in my upper right shoulder and back. Liver in revolt maybe?

Already looking forward to my next extended fast starting in a day or two.

#16

I hope you’ve not got Hepatitis A from those oysters :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

(Troy) #17

My Lessons learned in Summay -

Observe:
And watched Others and loved ones around endulge in sweets and carbage
Then get tired, full, and want to all but pass out.

Result:
I just enjoyed myself…stayed the WOE course
In fact, I’m about to take take a nice late walk in the SoCal still mild weather
All in comfort and to relax and reflect in peace🙂

Giving thanks for this wonderful day!

#18

Cherries - got lazy to look up the stats. I had 10 of them. Rude shock - 1g each so that was a 10g carb hit.

Then another day I drank a glass of milk. 11g carbs/sugar. Yikes

Still about 20g carbs on both days but … wow cherries and milk are packed with sugar…

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #19

Cindy, Christmas morning with my parents, son and sibs was a bit of a letdown. My brother’s two little ones were so over opening gifts and the adults all seemed to be in a crap mood. It didn’t seem very merry at all. I’m glad to return to a normal routine. I sure hope your mom sees some better days soon. Maybe now that the stress of the holidays is over?

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #20

I did the same thing, but with alcohol. The spicy Bloody Mary looked so good (alcohol already mixed in) but then I watched people get glassy eyed, tired and loud and I’m glad I didn’t touch it.