My vacation cheat and recovery documented

fasting
(Mark P) #1

(I’m writing this because I always wanted to know what might happen if you cheat for a vacation, individual results may vary. I’m a male, considered obese by medical standards, but not in a crazy way, just in a love handles and beer gut way. I’m in very good health.)

Keto going off and back on:

I had been almost perfectly keto for 40 days prior to a vacation. I had gone from 191 down to 178.
I had good intentions of eating mostly Keto on an 11 day vacation back home. I even packed a “keto-kit” with my own frying pan/oils/powders/electolytes, etc. We left on a Thursday night, and did really good through Tuesday, then at dinner time on Tuesday, I pretty much let loose eating anything and everything that everyone else ate and drank. I did not drink sugared beverages until the drive back, since it was a long one, and I was kind of sick of coffee. I ended up having a Mt. Dew and a Monster Energy drink.

My weight at the house I was staying at was 179 when I got there, and 186 when I left.
Got home on Monday and just decided not to start up on the Keto regiment until Tuesday.
During the blow out, I ate a lot of Asian food with rice and noodles. French Fries in abundance, and a lot of craft beer and wine. I had a few bites of ice cream and even some cotton candy at the zoo. I had some fast food during the road trip, and pizza at the hotel. I did pretty much stick to skipping breakfast, except when we went out for a big one. My wife described my eating as “going off the rails”. My guess is that I had 3,000 calories per day, but I wasn’t counting.

At home weight (after the vacation, back to my home scale):

Tuesday a.m.: 185 (did a 21 hour fast until 4:30) Broke fast with dinner and some lite beers
Wednesday a.m.: 181 (again did 21 hour fast) Broke fast with 15 Buffalo Wild Wings, miller lite, veggies and tons of blue cheese.
Thursday a.m.: 180 (normal keto day with 2 BPFs)
Friday a.m.: 178 (back to starting weight)

How I felt when I started to eat carbs again: I was immediately bloated a bit and my eyes felt really tired all the time. I was rather drained of energy. Other than that, no issues that were alarming. I just hate that tired feeling.

How I felt as I went back to Keto once I got home: 1st day felt ok, did a 21 hour fast with only coffee.
2nd day felt ok most of the day
3rd day morning headache, keto flu variety
4th day morning headache, not too bad

I normally run 3 times per week, but did not do it on vacation, or when I got back for the first week, due to my running partner also being out of town. I’m glad I didn’t have to run.
In conclusion, I would do the exact same thing again. It made vacation a lot more enjoyable.

(KCKO, KCFO) #2

Well done, paying attention to what happens when we go off plan is important.

It sounds like you are pretty flexible, able to eat high carb for a while but get back to it quickly. Congrats.

(Bob M) #3

I’m much more conservative. I’m about to go on vacation and plan to have ice cream, pizza, corn chips with meat and jalapenos, and darker chocolate with nuts. That’s about it. That’s mainly because wheat, particularly pizza, causes causes me chest congestion and allergies. And I will gain 10+ pounds in no time. Much of that is water weight, but the rest of it takes forever to get off. Put it this way, I gained 3.4 pounds of muscle and lost 5.6 pounds of fat in a YEAR (verified by DEXA scans), for a scale weight of -2 pounds. In a YEAR. If I gain even two pounds of fat, it takes me a long, long time to remove that. (And that’s fasting all the time, too.)

I usually fast 4.5 days after coming back from vacation, but I’ll see if I can do that this time. I may have to wait until my kids go back to school.

I also find the scale to be a poor indication of what’s going on. I can easily lose 5-7 pounds in a day if I fast, but that weight jumps back on immediately upon eating. Furthermore, the scale doesn’t say anything about muscle.

So, for me, I try to eat conservatively even on vacation. I will usually eat breakfast if we go out (I rarely eat breakfast normally), but I might skip lunch. When I have pizza, I’ll try to have something meat-wise before that to blunt the effect. Same with sugar.

Each person is different, though.

(Mark P) #4

Yeah, I did a DEXA when I first started, and will do one again in a couple months to see my true results. I’m lucky to not have any real reactions to wheat, other than being groggy. I was kind of surprised how easy those 21 hour OMAD fasts were. Once I hit a plateau, I’ll do more of those to see if it breaks it.

(Lorraine) #5

I was on keto for 8 months before my 2 week Disney World vacation. I planned and looked forward to what I would eat almost as much as what fun we would have. I broke the vacation up into thirds, as a two week binge was way too much. The first 5 days I was strict keto with IF just like at home. The second 5 days was IF and little splurges like one french fry or one bite of my daughter’s dessert. The last 5 days was still IF, but whatever I wanted, including buns on burgers, “yes, I’ll have fries with that” and dessert every day! The best tasting splurge of the whole trip being 8 tater tots with breakfast one morning!

It was wonderful and I enjoyed every minute! I did gain about 9 lbs of water weight, but felt pretty normal. I lost 8 lbs of those 9 the first week back and the last 1 the second week back. I then resumed my normal 2 lb per week average. I thought about fasting, but just didn’t want to. So, I just resumed my normal keto woe when the plane touched down in Kansas City!

I will definitely splurge on my next summer vacation. However, I just spent this last week (before school starts) with family in Springfield, MO. I did not plan on splurging and kept as keto as I could during the five days. I don’t feel like every little trip or holiday warrants going off plan. If I were to do that, I would be right back to eating SAD again.

(Leslie Gardner) #6

This is a timely topic for me. I am going on vacation next month to Uzbekistan where the national dish is oily fried rice with mutton/horse meat. Plov–it even sounds gross. I don’t want to spend my short vacation avoiding the local cuisine (will skip the mutton/horse meat) or stressing about all the carbs I’m ingesting–all the must try delicacies are carb heavy. I’m going to enjoy myself and revel in the gluttony.

Every night after a long day of sightseeing and stuffing my face with exotic/unpronounceable carbage, I will stand naked in front of my hotel mirror rubbing my bloated belly all while whispering “Keep calm” over and over. I order another awful local beer from downstairs.

Good to hear your recovery went so well. This gives me hope for mine. I’ve been strict keto for 5 months with 40 lbs down, so I’m very interested to see how my body handles it.

Thanks!

(Deb) #7

Timely for me too. Just got back feom vacation myself and was 132 when I left, totally planned relaxed the whole week eating SAD, then back to keto on the drive home. Was 145.4 on returning, and by Wednesday, was already 137. It’s not a big deal. Just a little blip on the road map.

(Ken) #8

All your gain was merely water and glycogen.

(Frank) #9

I had almost the exact scenario on a trip to Seattle in June. Ate and drank what I wanted for a week. Gained 8 lbs and lost it within 4-5 days back home back on Keto. Did make vacation much more enjoyable however after day three I did start to miss my Keto. I kinda had to force myself to indulge. Twisted I know but that’s what happened. Both my wife and I, who eat this way, we’re happy to be home with our own food and more control.

(Brandy Leigh) #10

I just got home from vacation today!! And am freaking out. I had every intention of staying keto, I had my little keto kit too! my BF convinced me to let loose. I did but unfortunately I feel terrible! I had pre existing stomach problems prior to keto, which immediately came back. Extremely bloated. Extremely tired. Gained 9#s back of the 11 I lost. Going strict keto tomorrow with fasting and hoping for a quick return to the way I felt! I began re-training for a half marathon and was feeling great prior, I think for me I know now bad eating is just not worth my discomfort!

(Mark P) #11

Get back on the wagon and let me know how it goes!