When I’ m happy with weight and size....?

#1

I’m only 3 weeks in and already thinking about when I reach my target :grin:. I tried Keto before and went off the rails and gained 2 stone in 6 months! I am just wondering… is it possible, once I have reached my target, to eat (naughty) carbs once a week and not regain any weight? In other words, go out for a meal or get a takeaway and eat what I want and have alcohol ( which will, no doubt, be over my maintenance macros and be carbidiculous!)… only once a week?..

#2

I would like to know the answer to. Keto is good thing, but I would like to have some ordinary food once in a time after I’m happy with myself

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #3

It varies from person to person.

I have a couple of normal meals a month. I eat out a lot, but I find LC options where I go. And maybe I bend from a keto level of carbs (7g) to an LC level (10-15).

If you are a ways from maintenance, i wonder if you’re not hoping to maintain or return to a disordered relationship with food. If you do return to your previous relationship with food, you will return to your pre-keto relationship with your body. I speak from experience. It’s a damn shame to do so, as I’ve done it twice after 30+ pound losses.

#4

Metabolically you’re likely to be fine and some folks do this on purpose. I think it just gets tricky if you tend to have cravings. There are lots of people who can’t have a high-carb meal and go back to keto the next day.
Also, once you’re fully fat-adapated (will probably take you another month or so), it will likely be much easier to get back to ketosis quickly. There’s actually a pretty big change happening as we adjust to burning fat rather than sugar - new mitochondria! - and you usually want to have that pathway fully established before re-introducing occasional carbs.

#5

I definitely don’t want to return to my old ways but I know that there are always going to be occasions where I won’t be able to eat Keto friendly for example, Christmas Day… :santa:

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #6

Yeah. There’s a big difference between special holidays and every Friday. There’s also a difference between Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve/Day, New Year’s Eve/Day and the entire silly season from Thanksgiving through New Years.

I advise folks to take the reintroduction of high carb meals very carefully. For your first foray, maybe IF ahead of and after the high carb meal, and keep an eye on how what effect it has on your body, your cravings, and your ability to get back into the keto/LCHF way of things. After a birthday or a holiday or three, you can see how it is and try for more normalcy with cheat meals. Note, it’s meals, not days and not weeks.

Once you understand your body and mind’s relationship with carbs, you can make better decisions, and maybe get back to Friday night pizza and beers, or whatever.

It varies from person to person.

#7

Thank you, that’s really helpful :blush:

(less is more, more or less) #8

Very much this. It’s no accident that, by removing carbs, your body takes better care of itself. I’m wondering how much worse we’ll discover, in time, how all this unnecessary carbage we eat is killing us? Just because it’s culturally commonplace doesn’t legitimize our eating it. There’s no stuffing, cake, or pie that is that delicious.

(Cheyene Burnette) #9

I, myself, will be cooking #keto for Thanksgiving & Christmas. Hubby, kids, and I really don’t desire a ton of junk anymore, so we’re shooting for a keto filled holidays. Already looking forward to cheesecake goodies, :joy:.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #10

I find that I can accept maybe 100 grams of carb for a special day without adverse effects. But if I over eat and go over that, I have a return of a bunch of pain points, probably due to the inflammatory response.

The return of the pain keeps me very honest about indulging and about long term costs and benefits of maintaining both my new and developing physique and carbohydrate restriction.

(less is more, more or less) #11

This is where it gets interesting, applying LCHF to each individual. Perhaps it’s my severity of insulin resistance that effects my ability to eat more than 20 total grams, or some other factor I’ve yet to learn. Since I failed so poorly at the Atkin’s maintenance phase, and Dr. Westman now says “20 total grams for life” I’m sufficiently motivated to stay that course.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #12

Yeah, we’re all gonna find different levels based on genetic predisposition and what we did before we went LC. Puts the larger lie of the Dietary Guidelines on blast. We know different people need different nourishment, so why have a single standard for 300 million Americans, with versions of the same thing exported to most of 7 billion people.

(less is more, more or less) #13

A thousand times yes.