What to do when you know you are going to "cheat" for a day

(Dan) #1

Hey guys! First off, thank you to everybody in this forum; since I began keto on Jan 6, I have gotten so much great info from this forum and I even posted once and you guys talked me off the ledge when I was worrying about the pee strips I bought.

I have one question that I would like to hear some of your opinions on. To be clear, I am very committed to keto and I believe that my “cheat” days can be strongly limited. In a perfect world I would never cheat on the diet, and from a strictly food perspective, I think that wouldn’t be a problem; I am loving the things I am eating. But I have a situation coming in two weeks; one of my best friends in the world is having a bachelor party and one of the activities is a beer festival. This is an event where you go around a room and sample dozens and dozens of beers from various brewerys. The food we will be eating this evening and possibly even more of the weekend is not keto either. This guy is like my brother so not going to this activity because of keto is out of the question.

So what I want to know is; what is it going to be like when I cheat on the diet? Am I going to have major side effects? If so, is there anything can do to temper them? And after this event, will getting back into ketosis be easier than the first time, or will it be like starting from scratch?

Like I said, I don’t think this is going to become a common occurrence in my life, but there will be life events with friends and family where I am forced to have carbs, so I would like to know what kind of impact one offs like this will have in the long run and if there is any proper way to go about them.

Thanks!!

(less is more, more or less) #2

I deleted this post, it’s not worth the friction. I still do wish you a great time at your bachelor party, regardless.

#3

Look, there’s a lot of different types of people here. I went away for a while because of some of them. If you want to restrict yourself to never eating a stray carb again, honestly God bless. But if you eat a bunch of carbs it’s going to be FINE. Like literally fine. Like whatever problems you might feel are barely registering as problems. They are temporary. You know what also triggers insulin? CORTISOL. Stress. So don’t stress. Have a good fucking time. Eat the meat without the bun. Or eat wings. Or say fuck it and do whatever makes the most sense to you at the time and eat keto the next day. If you get mad cravings, prepare for that with mad delicious keto food to get you back on track. You’re new. Be gentle and forgiving with yourself. I’ve been doing this a year so when I eat mad carbs I fast the next day. It’s not punishment, it’s just what I feel like doing. But I’m adapted and in a routine and have been where you are. That’s my opinion anyway

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #4

A few strategies. Having a plan to ramp back onto LC the next meal or the next day is the main thing. I’ve found that if I plan for the adventure in carb world with an exit strategy, I’m good.

I also tend to reduce meals and calories ahead of the carb up. That’s what I do when I visit my parents. Go to 16/8 or OMAD. It drives my parents nuts, which is a nice bonus.

I would add, different folks feel different things when they visit carb world. Some folks feel really miserable side effects. If I go far into carb world, all my inflammatory pain and numbness returns at full volume. If I go a wee bit, it’s not so bad.

(Chris) #5

Just have fun for a day and salt your food well. Congrats.

(Dan) #6

I respect your reply, but I am not going to go with my friends all weekend and literally just stand there abstaining from everything; I actually think people would rather somebody not show up then show up physically and not do anything. “That guy” sucks. So while I appreciate your response and I have gone out of my way to avoid carbs at dinner parties and sporting events where beer and food were previously always the norm, I am not ready to say that I am going to deprive myself of fun and social activities for the rest of my life, which hopefully for me is still a good amount of years lol

(Dan) #7

That is great, I was thinking that fasting the next day would be a great option. I am worried my body may physically react poorly to a sudden rush of beer carbs out of nowhere, but while I did stress about it for a little, I have made the decision to join my friends and I’m happy about it. I hope my body doesn’t kick my rear too much the next day though lol. Thank you!

#8

And if you change your mind about fasting, or only fast until dinner, or only fast until 11am, consider it a win that you’ve taken your health into your hands and you have the tools and the resources to make decisions with your eyes open. Every day is a new beginning and an opportunity to challenge yourself to keep your insulin as low as possible. When I look at it like that I don’t feel so guilty when I make a once in a while decision to go off plan, I just get back to it the next meal or the next day. No guilt or stress necessary. This is a lifestyle, there’s no deadline.

#9

I should mention that, like when I make the decision to drink too much, whenever I do a big carb day, I ALWAYS say to myself the next day, “ugh gross why do I do this?” But I joke that it is to remind me how good I have it doing keto and reminding myself to stick with it.

(Nigel Basson) #10

It’s just one day mate, it’s not the end of the world because we also have to live, to have fun and enjoy special occasions, they are what memories are made of. Go your hardest and enjoy yourself and if it takes a few days to get back on the wagon then so be it, it’s not life changing.

#11

Even Dr. Fung says to eat the fucking cake sometimes

(Frank) #12

So this is coming from a homebrewer and craft beer guy and year long ketoer who is in maintenance mode now. First…have fun. Second…go slower than you are used to. Third…stay away from the imperials and triple and quad Belgians. They will kick your ass. Fourth…stay away from fatty foods while you are carb/beer loading. I actually feel better after a beer festival if I eat high carb for the day. Pizza, corn dogs, etc etc. Fifth…drink at least a glass of water every other or every 2 glasses of beer minimum. Alcohol is going to hit you harder than before. Sixth…be aware of how your body is reacting. You know how getting drunk feels. If it gets too far outside what you expect stop for a bit. Get rehydrated and have some food. Seven…know that this is not the normal now and that you need to tighten the reigns moving forward. You will probably feel less than ideal the next day which is a good reminder as to why you chose the keto path. Eighth…repeat number one!!! Beer festivals are the shit!!!

(Carl Keller) #13

From my interaction with people here on the forum, I’ve noted that some people feel miserable the next day; bloating, the return of cravings, flu-like symptoms. I imagine it all depends on how much processed food you ate, mainly sugar. But I’ve also noted that others might briefly be kicked out of ketosis (often less than a day) without any ill-effect.

While I do like @Screenack’s advice, I see this as an opportunity to see how you respond to cycling out and back into ketosis. You have survived a lifetime of eating garbage and I don’t think one day of (hopefully) limited relapse is going to terminate your ketogenic journey.

One tip I might suggest is to eat a generous amount of protein and fat just prior to this event so that you can eat what others are eating without needing a lot to fill you up. And be on the lookout for unbreaded chicken wings. Those go great with beer.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #14

I’ve had off-plan meals and don’t suffer any ill-effects. My only issue is it sometimes makes me think: “Oh, hell, if I’m going to be kicked out of ketosis I might as well eat more of this then start over tomorrow.” But I usually don’t and am fine the next day. I don’t do anything other than continue to eat keto.

(less is more, more or less) #15

Totally valid. My body doesn’t handle carbs well, others don’t experience my problems. I was merely offering a point of view. I take no offense if what I wrote doesn’t make sense for anyone else.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #16

It does make sense - that is the ideal I continue to strive for. Just because I feel fine after eating carbs does not mean I wouldn’t be better off without them.

#17

Just in case this ^ gets lost I thought I should highlight it. I would vote for having fun, but do know that your tolerance to alcohol might have changed quite a bit.
From the carb perspective, keeping active that day will definitely help, and maybe steer toward the meatier/fattier foods rather than the starchy and sweet ones.

(Shane) #18

I went away for 4 nights a couple of weeks ago and broke a 3 day fast when I got there with 7 stubbies and 1/2 a kilo of yoghurt. followed that with beer every night and not so good eating.
Came home, got my eating back on track for a few days and did a 4 day fast followed by a sensible start to eating again and I’ve been in ketosis since and managed to lose 4 or 5 kilos in the last few weeks. I’ll stay in ketosis until my next fast or my next trip (I didn’t finish all the beer last time).

#19

Also wanted to add: Some folks find that even one slip is dangerous for them, so it’s different for everyone, but I think when you have clear boundaries around a diversion and you’re going into it happily and with so much clear intention you’ll be fine.
I’ve gone much higher carb when visiting family, and knowing that I can come back to LC and not make a big deal about it has been really important to me.

(Dan) #20

that is 100% something I would think too haha