Planned breaks - who takes them?
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midwesterner85 wrote: »@midwesterner85 -
What would be the purpose and process of re-feeding?
Hoping to increase RMR. I've been eating at a deficit for so long and have to eat so little to lose at this point. If I can't get to goal in another 2-3 months, I might try a re-feed before returning to a deficit and low carb again.
This too I have read about. There is a variation called the "anabolic diet" to restore muscle glycogen 2 days/week (weekends usually) followed by 5 days of ketosis. Same thing as cyclical keto, just structured a tad differently.
It's suppose to lower cortisol & elevate T3 levels from chronic effects of ketosis; I'm not aware if these are significant changes or not. I do not buy into the bro science as far as this method being good for body recomposition; this is more an option for utilizing carbohydrates for performance purposes.0 -
I eat low carb for reasons other than weight loss too - as I say I feel way better on low carb and it helps with a lot of health issues including reactive hypoglycaemia.
However I know myself by now (I hope).
I'm very much an emotional eater, spent most of my childhood tormented by bullies. I was overweight due to undiagnosed health problems that had me on and out of hospital for most of my 20s and later exacerbated that with comfort eating and years on low fat high carb diets.
My weight tracker on here says I've lost 36lbs. That's in the last 4 months.
I've actually lost 140lbs since my highest weight. That's total - it's probably more accounting for gains relost etc. It hasn't been linear. I don't talk about it much as I've hovered closer to the 200lb than 300lb mark for the past while and I like to start over with a clean sheet each time I've called off for a long time or unplanned reasons.
I lost all my weight on low carb/keto - I'd say I've been on plan for 4 of the 6 years it's taken me to lose the weight. So it hasn't been super speedy but life hasn't been smooth - close family deaths, major surgery and other serious life matters knocked me off plan a lot and a stressful two years traveling cross country twice a week didn't help. But the thing that's never knocked me off are planned breaks.
I don't usually take 2 weeks but I've taken longer before. A month once when I knew life would just be too complicated. Usually it's 3 days to a week about 3 times a year.
I have also in my time on plan stayed flawlessly on plan through infinite parties and special occasions. Knowing I'll have a planned break within 4 months means I don't slip up. But when I used to believe this was all or nothing then my old bullied child issues would raise their head again and I would repeatedly end up binging to self soothe. That's when I would fall off plan for real and when I accidentally fall of plan the guilt cycle makes it far harder to get back on than it ever is when I'm just eating as I've planned and allowed for.
I can eat moderately on a planned break, I don't need to go nuts and have everything. I don't need to emotionally binge. Planned breaks help keep me on plan and when I am on plan I lose weight swiftly and well.
I guess all I'm saying is they work for me and my mental health and they work out positive for my physical health even if they don't feel like it at the time.
I did list all the reasons I know many people would never consider doing it in my first post - guys I know and I would never judge what works for you. This works for me. Though I guess we'll see in January if this is the time it doesn't. I'm not too worried.
Anyway, I know most of you won't do this! I understand you, but wasn't really looking for the stories of why that's your choice.
I'm not encouraging my way of eating, I was just asking who does as I do - I know quite a few people on other forums so thought I'd ask here, that's all.1 -
I'm planning a couple of break days this month, for a family Christmas event and for my birthday. I'm not keto, and this month has turned into something of a moderate-carb maintenance month, but as I've lost 25 lbs in less than 6 months, I'm ok with taking a bit of a break. I had to eat a higher carb meal several times a couple months ago when I was on vacation with family and there wasn't another option, and it felt awful, so I'm not worried about being unable to go back to low carb. I used to think one slip would be the end, but I'm more confident in myself and this WOE now. I do, however, very much look forward to my once-a-year splurge at the Melting Pot for my birthday, where I will cover all the bread in all the cheese
Then the day after, back to business as usual. 0 -
I have let family know ahead of time what my current eating regimen is and that I am not willing to participate in contributing to the normal holiday fare (my previous norms...and what the nieces and nephews expect...are cook-less cookies and soft gingerbread cookies). All seem to be fine with my current restrictions as I am the provider of holiday games and activities.
I have no expectation that I will need to go off plan as I will be able to come from/return to my RV where I have everything I need every day. There will be lots of temptations, but fortunately...the most tempting would be things I made in the past were things I craved, (cranberry/sunflower seed/white chocolate bark is my krypton) but are now things I simply no longer make.1 -
Never took any breaks. Didn't feel the need to do so. My body has thrived on LCHF!
I am now in the hospital and am facing surgery. Hospital food is all carbs! But is what I need to heal my gut for now. Once I'm recovered I will go back to LCHF!
But no, never took planned breaks. Even while in Jamaica0 -
Emoji cut me off!
This past summer, while in Jamaica, I was able to maintain food choices without problems. Even alcohol was vodka, lime juice, and water.
IMO, LCHF is very easy to maintain once it's learned.1 -
SuperCarLori wrote: »I agree with the blips and splurges. There's no way I'd ever consider two weeks! It really is easier for me at this point, to reconcile with the occasional meal or even day. I feel like it may be the key to me staying keto for the long haul, not just to try and hurry weight loss.
Maybe it's mental, but knowing that if I want to eat x food, of course I can! But only until it's gone and then it's pretty easy to jump back into keto.
If two weeks works for you, then do the dang thing!
Do you buy tiny hard-to-open containers that could barely feed a paramecium or family-sized, 55-gallon fun drums of funny foods?
Those Nickles bags of crullers are single serve, right?1 -
I've been on an unplanned break. lol. First it was "if I eat on plan during the weekdays, then I can have a few things on the weekend". Then it was, "hey, I'm not gaining weight so I can eat more of _____ any time". Then it was "I'm gaining weight, and I need to stop eating whatever I want whenever I want, but it is soooo hard." And now, that's it, go back on plan because it is only going to get harder and you've gained 12 pounds back.
So, you might find you can have planned breaks, as long as you don't let it start to be a slippery slope.0 -
I'm going to be taking a break simply because I've been plateaued for too long. 1 day every 2 weeks will be high carbohydrates (400-500g), moderate protein (~100g), & low fat (<50g). I would regularly do "refeed" (not implying anorexia) days with excess fat but have not routinely used carbohydrates.
In the past when doing a targeted carbohydrate diet (I.e 400kcal aerobic activity = 100g carbohydrate), I would perform a 1x per week fat refeed day (higher kcals, mostly fat, ~25g carbohydrate) that seemed to work well in the long term. I abandoned this diet because it involved too much effort and daily variability (harder to comply with).0 -
moonlights wrote: »First of all, I know in an ideal world we would all stay flawlessly on plan forever. I know I don't need to come off my plan. At most events over the holidays I could just eat the meat and veg on offer and at others I could not eat anything. I know I feel best when not eating carbs. I know I can choose not to take a break. I know that for many people one bite of sugar ends up in a major wagon fall. I know it's smartest for most people to stay on plan. I'm not even craving carbs right now.
But I'm still going to take a planned break this Christmas.
I've been at this Keto lark for many years and one thing I have learned is that, while I can and have stayed on plan for holidays, it makes me resentful. I seem to be able to take two weeks off, give myself a set restart date and climb back up and carry merrily on with my normal low carb lifestyle. But if I get resentful I fall off the wagon accidentally, have an all out binge, and often take months or years to get back on plan.
Planned breaks work for me. I have Christmas lunches, a funeral, a party and a Chinese buffet dinner to go to over a two week period and my planned break means I can eat what I want on those occasions and not worry. I tend not to pick things that will make me feel terrible anyway (e.g. Bread) but I can make the best choices and not fret. Inbetweentimes I will eat moderate (under 100g) carbs as I don't want to swing in and out of Keto.
At the end of my two planned weeks I'll go straight back to my usual Keto eating habits, no fasts or blasts just what I know works.
I tend to have a planned break like this around 3 times a year. Ironically it helps me stay on plan in between - if I'm at a special occasion dinner and everyone is having amazing desserts, I can stay on plan and think - well if I want one of those I'll have it on my break. It helps me not feel resentful.
I know I'll gain around 7lb over the 2 weeks, I know most of it will be water and I know it will come off again. I won't let my progress be slowed by random days off here and there, I just package my days off into a bundle and accept the time it will take to work it off again.
This is a lifestyle/lifetime for me so I'm not worried about losing a week.
And a couple of weeks off plan usually reminds me why I'm on plan to begin with.
As I say, a lot of people either can't take breaks or don't want to, and that is Fantastic if it's what works for you. This is what works for me. Anyone else do what I do?
Ok, this is just my experience. I was doing hard hard (20g total carb) for a long time, maybe 6 or 7 mos. It's great, then I realized that this will be a life long way of eating if I want to continue to lose weight, and get healthy. During those 7 mos, I would of rather jumped off a bridge than "cheat on my diet"...then it happened, I did. But then jumped back on track, hard again...By today, I can count the times that I "cheated" on all fingers. Im one of those people that , if I mess up, I use that as an excuse to spiral out of control that day, and make sure I get a banana split in there. But in these last 2 mos, it has really hit me...that this is a lifestyle. We have to be realistic (again, this is my opinion/experience) I cant say that I will never eat fries again, or get some ice cream...but you have to make sure that you understand that it is a "treat" (its really poison) and get back on track ASAP. But to me, it's ok to let loose every few mos, but only for 1 day. I have to tell myself that I have actually stuck to something (i quit everything) and come so far, I couldn't imagine losing all of my progress...sorry, didnt mean to rant5 -
I have occasional planned breaks, and unplanned IDGAF breaks. Today just happened to be one of those IDGAF breaks. I went to a retirement party where I indulged on a piece of chocolate cake and 3 cookies. (seeing it written out doesnt sound like much but it sure felt like eating a ton of junk food!) But this was after a 10 mile run this morning so I had an extra 1700 calories to possibly use. Even with that splurge and a dinner at Chilis, I'm still 1000 calories under my goal. So I probably kicked myself out of keto, but I'm still under for calories which is why when I saw all the sweets, those run calories were flashing through my head and said F it, I'm having some. I even had a few chips, a bite of my garlic bread and a few of my fries as dinner
But like all breaks should be, this one was short and not over-the-top excessive, and completed. Tomorrow morning it's back to my strict keto WOE (and another shorter run)3 -
Consumed 500 grams Carbohydrates yesterday in the form of oatmeal. Not enough to saturate muscle glycogen, not spilling over into fat storage. Doing this long term AND not exercising it off will lead to fat storage. Not recommended for everyone...back to Keto. Muscles feel tight/inflated today.
That was just enough carbohydrate to make me sick of carbohydrates again0 -
Not that there's huge value in comparing apples and orangutans, but if there are any T2Ds out there planning on breaking, I'd be curious how your BGs compare before, during, and after.
Thx!2 -
Not that there's huge value in comparing apples and orangutans, but if there are any T2Ds out there planning on breaking, I'd be curious how your BGs compare before, during, and after.
Thx!
@RalfLott as a T2 diabetic I don't take planned breaks, but as a flawed human being who has a challenging relationship with food and a very chaotic life, I've had my share of unplanned moments of keto interruption.
I've been eating very low carb for a year now. In the first 3-4 months it took me about 2 weeks for my BG to recover from one carb-laden meal (meaning I had to increase my meds to keep my BG down). I've gone off the rails twice in the last couple of months and now my BG recovers within 2 days.
What affects me now far more than carbs is stress and illness. I've had to go back on meds a few times now for up to two weeks during some particularly stressful periods in life and when I had a really bad cold. Because I know the food isn't a factor, it's much easier to identify the probable cause. I always knew stress and illness raised my BG, but now I'm seeing just how bad it is. That's why exercise is so important to me, it helps keep the stress under control.
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I'm wondering if I am an apple or an orangutan.
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