New here! Cheers!

#1

Hi all! I’m new to the board but not new to keto, I’ve been living the lifestyle for 2.5 years. My question for you guys is…has anyone ever gotten to the point when you start binging every weekend and having a hard time staying disciplined? I workout very hard 4-5 days a week as well as playing soccer on Sunday’s but come Friday night it’s beers and carbs time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated :pray:t3:

(Ethan) #2

Some may do this. For many of us, this diet is a life requirement. We can’t even consider such options.

#3

I believe Carl of the 2Dudes mentioned that decades ago when he did low carb he would go back to ‘high carb’ on weekends, because of family pressure saying it was unhealthy. I believe it didn’t work out very well for him, and the experience of instead maintaining ketosis and allowing the body to get into and stay fat adapted was rather different. It’s in some of the early podcasts.

I’ve done going out around holidays and such, and by that time I often don’t like a lot of the carb stuff as much (though certain ones I do find I still love) and it takes a bit to care about them again. But, do that too much or in certain situations and it gets hard to get back on things properly. I say I’ve done it plenty, I won’t say I recommend it to anyone though. If someone is doing this to treat a current and real problem though (I’m not) then I’d certainly think it wasn’t a good idea.

(Jody) #4

Yes, I know women who have had this problem. Their solution was to ease up on their strict rules overall and make it more flexible. It may have slowed their results, but it was mentally easier.

(Katie) #5

Welcome to the forum!

Usually it is a feeling of deprivation (mental, emotional, and/or physical) that leads people to break their keto goals. In what way do you feel restricted/deprived throughout the week that leads you to bingeing on the weekend? Are you getting enough keto calories every day?

Is it the carbohydrate foods that you miss that leads you to consume them on the weekends? If so, can you find/make keto alternatives?

Is it the company? Are you eating them because you are with soccer buddies who are eating and drinking and you want to join? Can you find/bring alternatives to them?

#6

Thank you all for the replies. I think the worst thing to happen to me was weight loss success. I had gone from a strong semi muscular 270 to a muscle deprived 195, my wife told me that I looked sick,So I decided to concentrate on adding muscle and only checking body fat, what I found was the more I trained the more I cheated. Now I’m a week day keto guy with horrible weekends and the weight is creeping back up and the training discipline is getting bad.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #7

You can have all the carbohydrate you want—tomorrow. Today, not so much; keep it under 20 g.

I know that if I told myself I were never going to eat anything sweet again, within five minutes I’d be at Dunkin’ Donuts, getting my fix. But I can stay loose today, knowing that tomorrow will be different. Tommorrow, I’m going to have those three dozen glazed doughnuts, just you see! :grinning:

#8

That’s funny, I’m kinda the opposite. I find it easier (with anything really) if I just accept a thing has become simply off limits forever, something that will not happen and cannot happen. My mind adjusts to this reality and it no longer becomes a struggle over it.

On the other hand, if I say, “well, in a few weeks I’ll do this” or “I can hold out at least another week”, of even, “I can hold out one more day”, I tend to have problems even making it that far (with anything). Which is perhaps why my own breaks from ketosis are actually more problematic for me, since it means I haven’t taken on a “never” mentality for it.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #9

When I went keto I went cold turkey on all my previous fav carb foods. These included ice cream, frozen yogurt, bread of every sort and variety, pasta of every description, potatoes, rice, beer. Never touched any of it for a year and never missed it a bit. I never felt like I was ‘giving up’ that stuff. I felt like I was discovering new stuff. All the while I kept learning more and more about the benefits and positives of eating keto and the downsides and negatives of eating carb based. I guess I’m an oddball. :upside_down_face:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

I experienced some of that too, but for me the addiction to sugar/carbohydrate is the dominant part of the experience. I really enjoy my keto diet and certainly don’t feel deprived by it, but the sugar cravings remain a significant reality. It makes for a weird experience, not wanting something, but craving it anyway. I don’t claim it makes any kind of sense.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

I wonder if there is really something to that in the clinical sense of physical/psychological dependence and overwhelming, irresistible desire/craving to satisfy it. Rather than in just a non-rigorous sense of ‘I really like such and such so much I’m addicted’. I realize many people are what I refer to as ‘foodies’ and what I mean by that specifically is that food/eating fulfills some needs other than strictly nutritional.

I’m what I refer to as a ‘functional’: to me food/eating is a refueling pit stop. Sure, I have stuff I like and stuff I don’t like. But I would never say ‘I couldn’t live without such and such’. And, I would never eat a half gallon of ice cream (or whatever) because it made me ‘feel better’ about something other than hunger. So although I can intellectually understand ‘foodies’ I can’t really comprehend what it must be like. Maybe that’s why I could drop all those fav carbs I had eaten for decades in a day and not miss them.

Related, I’ve been accused of being addicted to caffeine on this forum simply because I drink coffee each morning. But I’m not addicted. I like coffee and I use it to create a keto breakfast that is nutritious, satisfying and keeps me going into the afternoon. Just because a lot of people get clinically addicted to caffeine does not necessarily mean that everyone who drinks coffee, even daily, is addicted. I’m not drinking psychological support. I’m drinking a meal that ignites my fat burn for the day and provides a balance of macros to my current ratios. Plus it tastes very good. Whereas something like bacon and eggs would feel like I ate an anchor.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

Addiction appears to be related to the effect of dopamine on the nucleus accumbens, the reward center in the brain. We know that ethanol and fructose both stimulate this site in similar ways, as do the other drugs that people become addicted to. Gambling and sexual intercourse can also release hits of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, which would appear to explain the existence of compulsive gamblers and sex addicts.

Note, however, that while estimates of the percentage of people vulnerable to any given addiction always appear to run about 10-20%, it does not appear that anyone who is vulnerable to one addiction is necessarily vulnerable to any other addiction (although people do exist who appear to be vulnerable to everything). I, for example, know not to trust myself with alcohol and fructose, and suspect I should never risk any of the street drugs, but I don’t appear to be vulnerable to nicotine or gambling addiction.

There is also the phenomenon doctors call “habituation,” which is distinguished from addiction. For example, I have at various times had to deal with habituation to certain anti-depressants, which necessitated care in stopping taking them, but I never craved those drugs the way I crave alcohol and sugar, so apparently there was no dopamine response involved. I have never been sure whether my physical reaction to caffeine constitutes addiction or habituation, but withdrawal has always been difficult, regardless.