One cheat day?

Osulindsay21

I am a lover of anything carb, so I was a bit surprised how well I'm doing while lowering my carb intake. I'm not doing any specific program, just taking the things like sweets, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc. out of my diet. This typically puts me b/w 20 and 40 net carbs a day which is just fine for me! I feel better, good energy, less bloated, etc. Here's my question. My birthday is this weekend and my family and I are going to a winery that has italian food. First, how terrible is wine for carbs if I decide to avoid pasta and be good? Second, what would happen if I decided to have some pasta? I've eliminated this from my diet for a solid two weeks. Would I get sick? Would the buttons on my pants explode from the bloating? Just want to know what I should expect. I wouldn't want to get sick on my birthday from my body asking what the hell I'm doing. I also don't want to bloat up so badly that I can't do any ::cough cough:: extra curricular activity on my birthday. Bow chicka wow wow.

Any advice?

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

There is nothing wrong in celebrating and indulging on your birthday. Go have fun, eat and drink what every you want. But, just make sure you can come right back after that, yeah it might take few days to get back in the grove.

Osulindsay21

Thanks for the reply. I don't necessarily have a guilt feeling about indulging one day. What I'm more concerned about is my stomach rebelling against that same idea. Has anyone ever had a carb day after a while? What was the result? I know when I did the lowered fat and calorie diet for a while and then ate a greasy burger, my stomach got super upset.

ixchel78

I usually go a couple of months and then induldge in a cheat meal or two for a trip, birthday, etc.

Since low carb is generally high fat I didn't notice my stomach rebelling. Maybe TMI but I did notice a bit of constipation from the starchy food and felt sluggish and tired from the carbs. Those feelings just help me jump right back into the diet!

Want2BeBetter

It really depends on the person. If I have to many carbs I do bloat up and get tired but that was the case for me before I even went low carb. It is usually gone for me in about three days and doesn't really kick in for a couple of hours after. Except for one time at an indian restaurant I don't know what was in the food but the person across from me pointed it out before I noticed, my stomach had gone up like a balloon.

Plenty of people have regular treat or carb up days and are fine so it's really a matter of listening to your body.

If I were you I would indulge in moderation, but mostly go for the carb free choices. With Italian that's pretty hard though. May have to just wing it and take note for next time. Some places will make something for you if you ask ahead of time.

Have fun and don't worry to much though, your not going to keel over from a little indulgence and should be fine to enjoy any extra curricular activity.

tru2one

First, how terrible is wine for carbs if I decide to avoid pasta and be good? Second, what would happen if I decided to have some pasta? I've eliminated this from my diet for a solid two weeks. Would I get sick? Would the buttons on my pants explode from the bloating?

Pasta gets me every time (bloat, gassy, heartburn), but then again, most wheat products do seem to affect me that way. I can do a cheat meal of Mexican or Chinese pretty easily, but Italian is tough for me.

The good news? Wine is A-OK for me. Don't expect any losses, for sure, but no bloat. And just a warning...alcohol ingested while doing low carb hits you much harder than if your belly was full of carbohydrates...so if you opt to steer clear of possible bloat inducers go really easy on the vino or you may not be awake for your later extra-curriculars. ;-)

tru2one

Oh, and forgot to say, stick with the drier wines...lower carbs there. For a 5 oz. pour, expect a dry white (Chardonnay, Sauv Blanc) to be around 3 grams of carb, a dry red (Cab, Pinot Noir, Syrah, some Merlot) 3.5-4.

GiGiBeans

If you're at keto levels and drink you'll feel the alcohol more so go easy. You might want to go easy a also so you don't go overboard carb wise. Add bread, pasta etc to the mix you'll need a week or so to get to keto levels and get rid of the water weight gain.

Personal advice is if you are new to low carb don't go off your diet, you'll find more and more reasons to go off it.

TheSatinPumpkin

One cheat day or one cheat meal? I personally would just do a single off plan meal if you must but each individual and body is different. Been on this WOE for 9 months and have had 2 off plan single meals (NYE and Thanksgiving) and was able to get back to it just fine.

Good luck and enjoy.

VaporDeb

Last time I did 3 months of Atkins Induction if I wanted a couple of glasses of wine (as dry as I could find - Pino Grigio is what I usually stuck to), I would avoid all other carbs for that day. It worked fine. I lost 30lbs in those 3 months and had wine a few glasses of wine at least one time per week (with no other carbs on that day). Yes, it will hit you harder if you are in ketosis...or even just because you haven't had any alcohol in so long that your tolerance is very low. That might be a good thing on your birthday though .

It is your birthday so go celebrate!!! Do what you want!!! There are usually some good meat entrees at Italian places from my experience but they always come with a side of pasta. If it were me (likely because I'm a wine lover), I would not have any carbs that day, drink wine and get a meat dish/"hold the side of pasta."

My biggest suggestion is to promise yourself that if you eat pasta that you will get right back on the diet after or you will likely be sorry.

Going on a diet right before your birthday or the holidays is usually a bet for disaster, or at least it always has been for me. Celebrating important things I find to be more important than dieting. Lucky for me: I don't have anything to celebrate for the next few months .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! ENJOY!!!