Cheat Days are NOT an Option!
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@midwesterner85, I'm not planning to try this, but I am awfully curious what would happen if I did.
How did you pinpoint potassium as what you needed to supplement?0 -
@midwesterner85, I'm not planning to try this, but I am awfully curious what would happen if I did.
How did you pinpoint potassium as what you needed to supplement?
Based on symptoms (muscle cramps) and I know that I had really high BG's. I know high BG's causes cells to dump potassium back to the blood.
What I didn't know was whether potassium was filtered from blood yet or was ready to go back to cells. After a couple days of returning to normal BG's, symptoms didn't improve... that told me cells were not re-absorbing potassium. The obvious reason is because it wasn't still in blood to be absorbed. It had already been filtered out.
I literally pissed away all my precious electrolytes.
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JohnnyLowCarb wrote: »
Dramatic? Well read some of the "Cheat" posts out there and come back. Great for you that you can get away with them, but I find the majority of those trying to lose weight use "cheats" and then are stunned to find there not losing and give up.
There was a little drama to the op yes
As I said, happy you found an approach that works for you, but cheat days can and do work for some...just wanting to rep that side of the fence. No offence meant. Everyone has to find their own way but I've found this site at times to be a bit discriminatory towards those that don't keto as WOE but just as a diet so while i"m way past getting offended by it, but I do occasionally like to stand up for the diet side. 8 -
JohnnyLowCarb wrote: »
Dramatic? Well read some of the "Cheat" posts out there and come back. Great for you that you can get away with them, but I find the majority of those trying to lose weight use "cheats" and then are stunned to find there not losing and give up.
There was a little drama to the op yes As I said, happy you found an approach that works for you, but cheat days can and do work for some...just wanting to rep that side of the fence. No offence meant. Everyone has to find their own way but I've found this site at times to be a bit discriminatory towards those that don't keto as WOE but just as a diet so while i"m way past getting offended by it, but I do occasionally like to stand up for the diet side.
I can see that. Most won't have quite as dramatic BG issues as I do, so my experience doesn't apply to the majority of keto dieters that don't have diabetes. Doing a high carb cheat day still kicks someone out of ketosis and there is still some recovery, but not as much as what I had to endure.
If it helps someone mentally to do a cheat meal/day/weekend on special occasion, then I can understand it. TBH, I started to crave the foods I don't normally allow as soon as my cheat weekend was over. I dieted with basic CICO for years before starting low carb. I've had cheat days throughout the entire time of dieting - both with basic CICO and with low carb and then recently with keto carb levels. In the beginning, those cheat days were more frequent and were the only way I could endure mentally. Now they are less and less frequent. After that last experience, they may be almost never. But for me, this has become a WOE. If I ever change back to eating carbs (that is a big if for me), then it will have to be a very slow and gradual increase in carb intake over several weeks or months. No more suddenly going from 10g/day to 1,000g of carbs in a day.2 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »
If I ever change back to eating carbs (that is a big if for me), then it will have to be a very slow and gradual increase in carb intake over several weeks or months. No more suddenly going from 10g/day to 1,000g of carbs in a day.
I find that the best way to cycle off and that's my approach when i do.
I also find 'cheat' days way less impacting when i'm lc/keto....i can bounce back quickly because I flush out the excess water and start to feel good again fast. When I'm CICO a cheat day seems to be more impacting....and easier to justify lol3 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I have not had a cheat since the day I started.
I have had low carb desserts for special occasions and that's how I view they are intended to be eaten.
I am one that just cannot start bargaining to allow certain things back in my life because I will just continue to bargain until I'm right back to eating like I once did.
That is NOT happening and I won't allow the first step to be made in that direction.
I've learned this about myself this year.
I was doing really well and at my goal weight, so I allowed myself to eat pizza and drink beer "only the day before a half marathon or marathon"
This quickly became every Friday (which, most Saturdays I am running a half marathon or marathon, but not EVERY week).
That quickly escalated into, "This is working well, I can just eat carbs when I'm on the road"
I travel for work more than 50% of the time.
I've gained 20 lbs because of this slide, and now I've come to realize that I can't allow myself to do that again. No cheating.8 -
I don't have cheat days. I have occasions where I eat something that might go over my normal carb intake. For example birthday lasagna and cake. Homemade ice cream at a family reunion. A little scoop of potatoes at a holiday dinner. I should specify that I am not diabetic and from my prior labs I did not seem to be pre-diabetic or having signs of metabolic syndrome. I am keto because it helps keep my rheumatoid arthritis under control and it keeps my appetite in check. Sometimes these high carb meals never kick me out of ketosis at all. All other times I've been peeing out ketones by the next day so I think I'm fat adapted enough that these minor indulgences don't do much. I usually don't have cravings after and have no trouble hopping right back to my normal diet.
Another thing I wanted to point out is that I'm celiac so when I eat carbs they are still gluten free carbs. A lot of the distress people seem to get after a cheat sounds a lot like what happens to me when I get glutened. It makes me wonder if it's 100% carbs that is causing the GI issues or if maybe a few people on here are intolerant to wheat or gluten or something else that they don't normal eat on LC. Just a thought. It could very well be all carb related, especially in the diabetics.7 -
I think that if you are at a wedding, it is OK to have a sliver of the wedding cake. A tiny sliver. And I from time to time (not often) I will have a few more carbs, although I ordinarily try to keep them under 15 or 20, the last time is when I had a couple slices of home made bread, did not even throw me out of ketosis. I'm doing every other day fasting so even though I eat at maintenance on my feed day, it is still low carb.
And then I did what everyone is talking bout, the slippery slope, I just slid down it and ate 4 slices of pizza. Day before yesterday.
Sick does not begin to describe how I felt the next day. Nausea. Headache.
I guess I should be grateful that it was so,so, so bad, because I'm not going anywhere near the edge of that slope again.2 -
Soooooo... the app crashed on me after typing out a bunch of thoughts and now I'm grumpy about it and don't want to retype everything. Couldn't possibly get it the same anyway... lol
Just imagine I said some insightful stuff in support of both those that are able to incorporate a cheat without thwarting their goals and for those that can't go there for even a second.
But ultimately, I wanted to share this article about a Ketogains member who is also one that feels strongly against cheating because of an unhealthy food relationship.
He's a major success story and inspiration.
'It is not willpower that drives me but the lack of willpower,' he explained. 'I have no self-control and moderation does not exist for me.'
http://dailym.ai/2qxJCM310 -
@Sunny_Bunny_ The article and Ketogenic.com site were very inspirational! Great stuff, sorry to hear your app crashed, I am sure you had more insightful comments - as you always do 2
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Think about what cheating means. It means you are ready to set yourself back, after a lot of hard work. Who are you cheating? You are cheating yourself, no one else.
Don't cheat, find a way of eating that doesn't require you to cheat.2 -
Actually, having carbs occasionally helps to trigger fat mobilization by releasing hormones if done in a planned way as opposed to a triggered event. The body naturally uses carbs for energy (if you are not fat adapted), and we can cause the body to adapt in weird ways if you don't occasionally feed it some carbs, whichever ones you like--it doesn't matter which--on specific days of your of your low carb diet. I am a low carber and I don't have cheat days but I will give my body carbs on occasion, like recently Mother's Day I had pasta and a dessert. The next day, right back to my regular low carbing. I still watch calories and I think the key is to not binge. If you want to call eating carbs cheating, I guess that's ok, it's just a word. For me, it's helping my body's metabolism along so that it doesn't try to make unwanted changes or adaptations so results in low carbing not having the intended result. Once I realized my body wants to be low carb, I made the decision to please it and there are tons of wonderful things to eat and I don't really crave carbs as I'm fat adapted now. If you find that you have a tendency to binge on carbs, that's a wholly different problem and it might require that you make your carb eating days a more well-thought out menu, perhaps staying away from trigger foods, if you are the type who feels that having a carb eating day may get you completely off track. Carbs can change your mood, make you feel bloated and it's best to listen to your body and see how they affect you. Especially after being on low carbs for a while you can get a fresh impression of your body's reaction to carbs. I know now I can't wait to get back to low carb eating after a day of eating carbs. I find I enjoy it more. But don't feel restricted from eating carbs occasionally on special days or just for a night out. You're just giving you body a little switch to keep it working the way YOU want it to.5
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I have cheated off and on for last couple of months. Bread here or there. A few chips, pho, pizza crust. I have only gained four pounds. But I feel worse, I look more bloated, blood pressure is up to. Some. I gotta get back on track. I like the once a month treat. My cheats went from one day to the next, then treats from work, then pho when I had sinus infection. You get the idea.1
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Actually, having carbs occasionally helps to trigger fat mobilization by releasing hormones if done in a planned way as opposed to a triggered event. The body naturally uses carbs for energy (if you are not fat adapted), and we can cause the body to adapt in weird ways if you don't occasionally feed it some carbs, whichever ones you like--it doesn't matter which--on specific days of your of your low carb diet. I am a low carber and I don't have cheat days but I will give my body carbs on occasion, like recently Mother's Day I had pasta and a dessert. The next day, right back to my regular low carbing. I still watch calories and I think the key is to not binge. If you want to call eating carbs cheating, I guess that's ok, it's just a word. For me, it's helping my body's metabolism along so that it doesn't try to make unwanted changes or adaptations so results in low carbing not having the intended result. Once I realized my body wants to be low carb, I made the decision to please it and there are tons of wonderful things to eat and I don't really crave carbs as I'm fat adapted now. If you find that you have a tendency to binge on carbs, that's a wholly different problem and it might require that you make your carb eating days a more well-thought out menu, perhaps staying away from trigger foods, if you are the type who feels that having a carb eating day may get you completely off track. Carbs can change your mood, make you feel bloated and it's best to listen to your body and see how they affect you. Especially after being on low carbs for a while you can get a fresh impression of your body's reaction to carbs. I know now I can't wait to get back to low carb eating after a day of eating carbs. I find I enjoy it more. But don't feel restricted from eating carbs occasionally on special days or just for a night out. You're just giving you body a little switch to keep it working the way YOU want it to.
This certainly sounds interesting.. .. Any references or sources you can recommend that lay out the details about it all works?
Thx!0 -
Extremes never worked...personally I aim for 100% but settle for 80%...also the "all or nothing"-mentality usually dont work long term...5
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The 'all or nothing' mentality is what saved me from yo-yo dieting....2
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What surprises me on this thread is the lack of consideration for others. Yes, what works for one person clearly works for that person and thats wonderful but the amount of convincing and blanket statements is frankly disturbing.6
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@mmultanen, I was honestly speaking from a purely personal PoV... I'm just saying what did and didn't work for me. I know that if I give in to temptation, I'm doomed to failure... I'm sorry for my part if I came across as 'boorish'...2
