What to Expect When You Take a Break from Keto

(Brian) #61

HSACPA, thanks for sharing your experience!

Actually, when you went back to eating “as the locals do” in Thailand, etc, you were probably no so far from your keto diet at all. I suspect many of the vegetables you were eating were fairly low carb. The meats you were eating were good. And you were avoiding the sugars. The rice you were eating was apparently not such a large amount that your system wasn’t able to handle it just fine. Whether or not you were in ketosis, it sounds like you did just fine. And that’s good.

I particularly appreciate experiences like this that get shared. Thanks! I know, not everyone would have the same exact experience but I still appreciate your telling us about yours.

:slight_smile:

#62

I don’t know but I agree with you! I would guess that it is simply so many years of habit combined with the physical addiction snaps back into place far easier than going against that tide. It is worth it though and that is what you need to keep reminding yourself.

(Gorgias Red) #63

I felt horrible yesterday. Really depressed. I tried to figure out why. I had a rough day at work, but the extreme sadness seemed disproportionate. I realized just today after reading this post that I ate a higher carb food the day before my mood plummeted. I am new to keto and didn’t know that even one meal deviation could have such a profound effect. I ketoed yesterday and the sadness is lifting. Sheer amazing!

#64

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hearing about this from others validates my own experiences. Who would have thought that what you eat could have a profound effect on your mood and mental health. Yet, when I stay low carb, I know I’m in a better frame of mind. And, the lower, the betterer (sic).

(Felix) #65

Amazing, isn’t it?! I’m beginning to suspect the same happens to me. Was it the incessant rain, hormones, bad day at work, or the first sugar I’ve eaten in months that ruined 2 days? I can’t quite tell. But I keep the carbs down and now my mood is buoyant again. Maybe it’s all the things, reaching a tipping point, like migraine triggers. They add up.

(Madge Boldt) #66

Hi @Knusperflocke. The sweets and candy call my name as well. I was planning on posting my thoughts to the forum tonight, but I searched for “back on the horse” and found so many had already written what I felt. I had two months of solid keto and felt great and in control. I allowed myself sweets last week, and have been trying daily to get back on that damned horse! I could care less about any regained weight. What I am mourning is my lost control over the sweets. I am not talking about one cookie, btw, but candy and carbs on a grand scale. Crazy!

Like you, I question why it was so easy to fall off. I felt in control but fooled myself into thinking it would be short lived divergence. A major reason for my falling off is mental, of course. I feel like once I am surrounded by holiday treats (especially the ones left alone in the break room at work!) it is easier to give in than to fight the life long battle. My body was strong from the keto diet, but my brain was weak and conditioned to giving in from years and years of habit.

I had no intention of turning this into confession time, but I did want to acknowledge the set back. If I don’t reflect and try to figure out why it happens, I will get nowhere. And my two months of keto are worth fighting for. It’s the most success I’ve had in years.

To me and to anyone else who took the road-more-traveled: Back on that horse!

(Ketomanu) #67

Exactly! That is what’s happening. We start losing weight, feeling great, looking awesome, full of energy, but our brains are still not there yet. They have not yet caught up with our bodies. Knowing this is one thing, but acting on it, is another. I have the same troubles, can’t resist when the sweets are around me. When they aren’t any - fine. But often I am not in control of what’s around me (work place) and that’s when it really gets hard.

So hard to break a habit, and I hoped that it would be so much easier to get back on the horse after being keto for awhile. But I feel it is not that easy.

(Madge Boldt) #68

@Knusperflocke Listen to the Obesity Code holiday podcast. Megan Ramos talks about how hard it was to resist the treats for her first holiday, and how it has gotten easier each year she has been eating keto. That makes sense. It is similar to exercising the fasting muscle. Habits die hard, but with practice and experience, we will get there. And hopefully each temptation occasion will be another lesson about how hard it is to get back, or maybe the deviation duration will be shorter.

If all we are saying is that it is not easy to get back on the horse, well, that’s fine. If we really think about it, it’s far easier than getting back on the low-calorie horse, and far preferable to staying on the fat-and-bloated horse. If we just stay positive and think about the good foods we can eat, I believe it will get easier.

Don’t give up on re-starting keto. Be kind to yourself like when you first started. Eat to satiety, as they say!

(Ketomanu) #69

Thank you for pointing out this episode! What a great pep talk it was. I was beating myself up way too much for the slip-up (falling off the horse). It was so good to hear from Megan that it will get easier each time. Thanks again!

(M) #70

I never knew the side effects of going off the keto diet for a day or two. I ate spaghetti last night and a cookie at my son’s team’s spaghetti feed. I went to bed with a headache and woke up feeling hung over. Headache, drowsy, brain fog. After drinking a ton of water its getting better. I was thinking I was getting sick, but now after thinking of what I ate and reading this post. It has to be what I was eating. Also since I rarely have anything sugary, it must’ve been a toxic combination. Hopefully this will pass in a few days.

#71

Thank you so much for this post!

(Ann Marya) #72

From the words I feel so…u really miss them!

(Bunny) #73

I am really starting to like (cognitive dissonance) the concept of double think and not fall into the “…Oh I should ONLY do one or the other for the rest of my life…” way of thinking! (body needs a break either way from high glucose or ketones)

(Cheryl Meyers) #74

Add another point: Depression returns with a vengeance. Which feeds all the other things, too.

Back on the wagon after Dec-Jan finally!

(Wenchie) #75

I took a two day break over Christmas and another two day break when I saw @Groversaurus some days ago.

While I am always happy to be back on keto (just feels better) and will do a fast beginning next week I never experienced any side affects really. Nor can I (unfortunately) claim I didn’t enjoy the carbs. I enjoyed the heck out of it! While I don’t feel like I suffer on Keto and love feeling good eating my good fatty things I also do enjoy carbs- I just know they are bad for my body…

But maybe I didn’t feel side affects because it was only a 24hr trip to naughty land. I can imagine that staying for days on carbing would not feel ver good :grimacing:

(3c6f21097d06511a9e23) #76

For sure its easier for me to take a day or two off when I have too. However, its easier I think when you’ve been adapted for some time to get right bsck on the horse. I only start feel rough if I really go overboard on the carbs, not just out of keto but way out where it might take me a week to get back on track. For this reason I avoid big get offs. Just have to remember what it felt like last time which can be hard sometimes. Seems to be getting easier though the longer I stick to the plan.
\v/

#77

yeah, adding onions to steak is, to me, within the acceptable parameters of keto. I don’t want to get to the point of obsessing over vegetables.

#78

For everyone who has gone off keto for a period of time, did you need to continue to use extra electrolytes for a few days into eating carbs? Keto is just not for me currently but probably will be in the future, but it seems I still can’t get enough salt. I’m 2 days into eating carbs and still need supplemental sodium. Is this normal? Granted, I’m not eating complete garbage (maybe 100-150 carbs each day) and only gained 2 pounds so far, so maybe that’s why???

(Ethan) #79

For me, I feel the high insulin more than the high sugar. I figured this out after I stopped the keto woe a few years back. (I am so back forever now though!). While keto, I would occasionally consume too much sugar and my heart would beat faster and generally just feel like its pounding for a few hours after eating–even though my blood glucose wouldn’t go up that much. Later, as I was no longer keto, I felt similarly in the mornings when waking up. I learned about insulin levels and attribute that ill feeling of being baked from the inside and sensing that my heart was pounding up to my head to the high insulin.

(Arlene) #80

Madge, I’m with you on this one. When I choose to eat a junk food sweet, be it candy or ice cream bars I don’t stop at a few bites, or even a few bars. No, I go whole HOG and eat until I’m sick, and then I do this for weeks, until I can get my mind back to being WILLING to make wise food choices. I will talk to myself the entire time and say “This is the last binge. I will make wise choices after this”. When the next tempting thought enters my head, I go with it and eat, eat, eat. Sometimes I am able to get back on the keto horse very quickly, but other times I’m off the horse for a few months, and I only get back on when my pants are tight again. Tight pants mean I either need to straighten myself out OR buy a larger pair. That reality usually smacks me in the face and I’m able to turn myself around. Life is crazy, indeed.