Cheat days on keto??
LiftingRiot
Posts: 6,946 Member
Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
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Replies
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I did that... I was 4 weeks with no cheats and then had a cheat day... and didn't stop cheating until a year later.
I didn't even really like the food either. It didn't taste as good as I thought it would.
I think some people can do it, but apparently I'm not one of them.7 -
You might find that if you give yourself the freedom to "cheat" it will remove the excitement and you won't bother.
I've had to change my thinking from "can't have" to "don't want" in regards to food. It takes time and I still practice every single day.
That said, I have had "cheats" which for me were really "binges". I had a problem with bingeing during 2015, AFTER I met my goal weight. Thousands of calories at a shot. Nearly always sweet stuff. Anyway, they never made me feel sick as they do others. They definitely made me feel lethargic/sluggish.
If you are able to "cheat" and not go over your calorie goal it may not hinder weight loss except temporary water weight gain.
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I wouldn't. It's all bad.2
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I wouldn't. I'm not on keto but low carb diet. I craved sweets and fast food badly in the first 4 weeks, then I had 3 cheat days in a row, it made me feel like I worked so hard for nothing. It was hard to get back to my healthy diet.
Now I enjoy what eat. No cravings whatsoever. I've made strawberry short cake, tamales, mashed potatoes ,taquito and chocolate sponge cake for my boyfriend in the past few days. It didn't even make me want to lick my finger.
What I'm trying to say is that your cravings may disappear if you just tough it out.3 -
Nope, why would you feel the need to have a whole "cheat" day? Do you feel deprived? You mentioned you want to do whatever you want...so if this isn't what you want why do it?
Reasons might be you are lacking some yummy fatty keto foods to satiate you, this woe isn't for you, or maybe you can afford to have a carby treat and make it fit (I do this, usually have one per day and I'm 50-100 carbs a day)
This is all relative to my experience. I had to make the connection that this woe is what is best for my body and that made it much easier to adhere to.3 -
LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.7 -
CoffeeNBooze wrote: »Nope, why would you feel the need to have a whole "cheat" day? Do you feel deprived? You mentioned you want to do whatever you want...so if this isn't what you want why do it?
Reasons might be you are lacking some yummy fatty keto foods to satiate you, this woe isn't for you, or maybe you can afford to have a carby treat and make it fit (I do this, usually have one per day and I'm 50-100 carbs a day)
This is all relative to my experience. I had to make the connection that this woe is what is best for my body and that made it much easier to adhere to.
Carbs a day I eat is below 40 g to stay in ketosis. A treat a day like you speak would kick me out of ketosis. This is definitely what I want long term, it's an experiment to bring down body fat percentage while trying to maintain as much muscle as possible.0 -
baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly1 -
I eat around 50 g total carbs a day and am in ketosis. I feel so much better, that my intent for this WOE is long term, not to reach a short term goal. As such, I recognize that in my personal world, there will be the occasional craft beer or cake or something.... I do not look at them as a "cheat day", but something that I am making a short term allowance for. I work towards those choices not being impulsive. The goal is to have it calculated and accepted as part of the day. For example, last night was a pub Paint Night with friends... I ate extra low carb so I could enjoy a beer... I impulsively had 2 more (which wasn't good), but I remained under my carb limit, still in ketosis and also had an evening that felt completely decadent!! We all have our sweet spot.5
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It's best not to, I agree...
But...if you do, don't have a cheat day. Maybe don't even have a cheat meal. Instead have just the one thing you really want. And then stop yourself. (And don't only eat the sweet, eat a Keto meal like normal & then let yourself have dessert. One dessert. )
I've found if I do this very occasionally & I don't let it make me spiral out & don't use it as an excuse to fail, I'm fine. Usually back in ketosis the next day, especially if I work out. That's a lot of "dont's" but it can work for you. Just own it & remember you control this.1 -
Everyone is different and reacts in different ways....As for me if I eat something that has wheat flour, or sugar in it even if I stay within my carb limit for the day it still makes me feel crappy.0
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I only do it with a special occasion (Thanksgiving meal, birthday dinner, etc). I try to eat well the rest of the day and go right back on plan. I find that if you are creative with your meals, changing it up, it works better. I go on the low carb sites and get ideas.0
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LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.1 -
after 4 weeks i bet if you "cheat" you find that what you craved is not as nice as it was in your imagination
sometimes i think its worth doing now and then to remind yourself just how awesome you feel on keto - and that the cheats are just not worth it. 2 -
I also have a huge sweet tooth but what I like about a Keto WOE is that I can still safely and wisely indulge it. Make yourself a healthy treat at home using healthy fats and alternative flours (various nut flours, coconut flour, flax seed meal, protein powder, lupin flour, etc.) that way you get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone: safely indulge your craving while still aiming and staying right on target with respect to your diet.4
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.
This.
If you wanted it for physiological reasons (insulin spikes and glycogen for training intensity), I'd recommend a CKD. If you want it because "rewards and treats and wow, I'm talking like a six year old", it's probably best avoided, unless you have exceptional discipline. However, if you have exceptional discipline, you will never need such things to begin with.
Basically, if you're strength training, consider a CKD. If you're not, don't.4 -
Have you tried making a keto friendly version of what you are craving i was looking up keto recipes and saw all kinds of sweets cookies, cakes, ice cream they also had pan cakes , waffles ect. It looks good when my mom was doing paleo she made a batch of chocolate chip cookies with almond meal they were actually pretty good and super filling i was only able to eat 3 and i was stuffed0
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Here is one of the sites i saw the treats on
http://www.ruled.me/keto-recipes/0 -
food_lover16 wrote: »I did that... I was 4 weeks with no cheats and then had a cheat day... and didn't stop cheating until a year later.
I didn't even really like the food either. It didn't taste as good as I thought it would.
I think some people can do it, but apparently I'm not one of them.
Yes!LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Keto treats might be better. A bunch of fat bombs or nuts with some dark chocolate.... It will be too many calories but you can avoid some of the side effects of a carb binge like lethargy, bloating, headaches and such. Plus if you are a carb/sugar binger this might not lead to a loss of control.
Of course, not eating excessive amounts, and staying in your caloric goal (roughly), is best.
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I am the same. I got on keto this past October for 5 weeks, dropped 15 lbs and have struggled ever since. I love sugar ... candy, cookies, especially donuts and I indulged. Since then it has been hard to get back on point. That sugar really has a pull on me. In fact, I wld think about it all day. A stupid piece of candy and it wld have its pull on me like that. Anyhow, what I want to say is that never ever did I feel great and happy after I indulged. In fact, I was pissed at myself and always always had regret! Good luck an let us kno what u do.1
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.
This.
If you wanted it for physiological reasons (insulin spikes and glycogen for training intensity), I'd recommend a CKD. If you want it because "rewards and treats and wow, I'm talking like a six year old", it's probably best avoided, unless you have exceptional discipline. However, if you have exceptional discipline, you will never need such things to begin with.
Basically, if you're strength training, consider a CKD. If you're not, don't.
What are your thoughts on TKD?
http://ketogains.com/2015/10/the-ketogains-tkd-targeted-ketogenic-diet-protocol/0 -
After I get down to where I want to be (in terms of my body fat, weight, and waist numbers), I plan on following Jason Wittrock's Ketogenic diet plan. His website is www.ketocycle.com -he is a Bodybuilding.com spokesmodel & EAS Myoplex athlete. He created his own Ketogenic diet plan that includes a "carb day" about once a week after you are Keto adapted. He has a bunch of videos on YouTube that explain some of what he does. I shelled out the $20 to purchase his Keto Cycle Program & I dig it. It's the same diet that he follows himself. I figure that if a guy who gets paid to workout & look good follows this program, then it should work well for me too. His program is actually meant for anyone at any stage of weight loss, but since I've been having such great success with the standard Ketogenic diet right now, I'm going to stick with what I already know works good for me until I get achieve my target numbers. But it sounds like something that you might be interested in. I recommend checking out his YouTube videos to see what you think.0
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.
This.
If you wanted it for physiological reasons (insulin spikes and glycogen for training intensity), I'd recommend a CKD. If you want it because "rewards and treats and wow, I'm talking like a six year old", it's probably best avoided, unless you have exceptional discipline. However, if you have exceptional discipline, you will never need such things to begin with.
Basically, if you're strength training, consider a CKD. If you're not, don't.
This. Also even if you are training hard and want to foray into CKD tread lightly. I attempted CKD for training reasons (long distance runner) and to attempt to stop losing weight on the advice of a mentor. The problem was I completely lost the plot and gained 8lbs before I got my *kitten* together.
For me this wasn't an issue overall because I was about 5lbs into underweight country anyway and have since lost the additional 3 fairly easily because I reigned it in quickly when I realized CKD was a bad scene for me. Other people who don't have the luxury of having room to gain while figuring whether this stuff suits could suffer really significant set backs as a result. Furthermore, as a runner anyway, I found my performance on CKD very manic and my times suffered.2 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.
This.
If you wanted it for physiological reasons (insulin spikes and glycogen for training intensity), I'd recommend a CKD. If you want it because "rewards and treats and wow, I'm talking like a six year old", it's probably best avoided, unless you have exceptional discipline. However, if you have exceptional discipline, you will never need such things to begin with.
Basically, if you're strength training, consider a CKD. If you're not, don't.
What are your thoughts on TKD?
http://ketogains.com/2015/10/the-ketogains-tkd-targeted-ketogenic-diet-protocol/
TKD definitely appears to work just as well. The main reason CKD came to mind was because he said "days", which CKD fits the bill. TKD might actually work better for individuals who are prone to letting a refeed turn into a binge, especially if you just use dextrose inva whey shake for your carbs. It gives the intensity improvement without the carby foods that seem to send some off the edge. It would also probably work better for people with higher bodyfats, as they aren't reloading their glycogen stores all at once, which will allow them to resume ketosis faster.1 -
So I had ice cream with candy in it yesterday on a date. We will see how I feel this week from that. I felt fine yesterday.0
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Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »baconslave wrote: »LiftingRiot wrote: »Ive been on Keto going on 4 weeks now with no cheats. I have a bad sweet tooth. I really want to take a day to just do whatever I want. Does anyone have cheat days and how does it affect your diet, mood, progress?
Diet: you may feel a very bad case of the "hungries" and/or the "cravings" for several days thereafter making it more difficult to get back to your regular routine or keep your calories reasonable.
Mood: you may feel down/depressed and/or irritable for several days after.
Progress: you will almost certainly gain water weight that won't leave for about 4 days to a week after a cheat day. You may experience gastrointestinal discomfort/distress, headache, or fatigue as well, including a return of keto flu symptoms. Whether or not you get right back on track after (and stay there without repeated cheats), you may see no further disruption in progress. Or find that the water weight does not leave as soon, and you're progress is setback temporarily. Not everyone responds the same.
Given these caveats to a cheat day/meal, you have the information to help you decide whether or not it's a good idea.
Thanks for the input. I just feel like I want to reward myself with something but I know I'll regret it. To me it doesn't seem worth it to have one meal or a day even that will kick me out of ketosis for a week. Too much work to be lost so quickly
Why reward yourself with a treat. You're not a dog.
If you truly want to feed the sweet monster, make something low carb friendly. Or go with a sweet whole food like dark chocolate or even a small fruit of some kind.
This.
If you wanted it for physiological reasons (insulin spikes and glycogen for training intensity), I'd recommend a CKD. If you want it because "rewards and treats and wow, I'm talking like a six year old", it's probably best avoided, unless you have exceptional discipline. However, if you have exceptional discipline, you will never need such things to begin with.
Basically, if you're strength training, consider a CKD. If you're not, don't.
What are your thoughts on TKD?
http://ketogains.com/2015/10/the-ketogains-tkd-targeted-ketogenic-diet-protocol/
TKD definitely appears to work just as well. The main reason CKD came to mind was because he said "days", which CKD fits the bill. TKD might actually work better for individuals who are prone to letting a refeed turn into a binge, especially if you just use dextrose inva whey shake for your carbs. It gives the intensity improvement without the carby foods that seem to send some off the edge. It would also probably work better for people with higher bodyfats, as they aren't reloading their glycogen stores all at once, which will allow them to resume ketosis faster.
Very good points. I'm sure both are good options for someone wanting the intensity boost. I think your ideas on which is right for each person are very good to consider.0
This discussion has been closed.