I don't like the terminology myself.

If cheat means allowing yourself to go over plan for a day, why is it considered "cheating"? That sounds like a planned plan excursion.

If "cheating" is another word - a euphemism really - for losing discipline and diving into a bag or two of chips or a a tin of cookies or a loaf of sour dough bread or ^ insert your vice here ^ - that isn't cheating, that's a loss of control, not a plan.

If I *want* to go over my plan, I do. Usually this only occurs in conjunction with an evening out, and as we don't go out all that much, when I do if I'm in the mood for a beer I'm not going to deny myself a lovely tall pint of locally brewed hoppy IPA waiting to be drawn. You'll find beer and salad on a couple of my nights out.

Even then on such a day my calorie intake on such days rarely goes above what would be considered maintenance for me, but even if the intake was higher yet, one planned day is not an issue.

Live is there to live. Have your plan-vacation day if you want, just plan for it.

I've got one planned already: On my birthday in September I'm having cake. Home made carrot cake with cream cheese icing, or my wife's chocolate zucchini cake so moist no icing required or wanted -- I've not decided. It won't be a cheat but a choice.

It isn't worth it, if you are trying to lose weight and you suddenly eat a truckload of carbs for a day. Not for me anyway. 2.2kg flew back on overnight for me last time and it takes at least 2 weeks to get back down to lowest weight.

If I were to plan a binge, because that what it is, isn't it? I'd just scoff down some meat and fat.

I gained 7.5lbs last time I "cheated" during a vacation. Most of it was water, but not all of it.

I guess we're designed to "cheat" from an evolutionary perspective. If you're knocked out of ketosis by a carb binge, the resulting hunger is probably evolution's way of saying "yay! feast time! eat! eat! store fat! mmm!"

mwyvr wrote: »

I don't like the terminology myself.

If cheat means allowing yourself to go over plan for a day, why is it considered "cheating"? That sounds like a planned plan excursion.

If "cheating" is another word - a euphemism really - for losing discipline and diving into a bag or two of chips or a a tin of cookies or a loaf of sour dough bread or ^ insert your vice here ^ - that isn't cheating, that's a loss of control, not a plan.

If I *want* to go over my plan, I do. Usually this only occurs in conjunction with an evening out, and as we don't go out all that much, when I do if I'm in the mood for a beer I'm not going to deny myself a lovely tall pint of locally brewed hoppy IPA waiting to be drawn. You'll find beer and salad on a couple of my nights out.

Even then on such a day my calorie intake on such days rarely goes above what would be considered maintenance for me, but even if the intake was higher yet, one planned day is not an issue.

Live is there to live. Have your plan-vacation day if you want, just plan for it.

I've got one planned already: On my birthday in September I'm having cake. Home made carrot cake with cream cheese icing, or my wife's chocolate zucchini cake so moist no icing required or wanted -- I've not decided. It won't be a cheat but a choice.

PBI: Mwyvr your wife's Chocolate Zucchini cake sounds delish. I couldnt have the recipe by any chance could i? Im a serial baker!

I, too, dislike the term "cheat day". I dont want to be part of a mindset where i plan to deliberately cheat, it doesnt feel positive or controlled to me - If anything i would tend to call it a treat day (or treat meal or w/e).

I prefer not to have planned cheat/treat days because i will naturally have days where i have higher hunger and will allow myself to eat more if necessary, but these tend to be balanced out naturally by lower hunger days.

When i do have higher calorie days im still careful to not allow my carbs past 30g absolute maximum (im normally 15-20g), and i watch that my protein doesnt go too high as that can turn to glucose, so i concentrate on fats. Those are the closest i get to cheat days. I wouldnt choose to eat higher carb foods ever now because i know it would throw my body off balance and make me gain weight and would take days to get back into keto & stop the cravings. If planned 'cheat days' work for you - you still feel good and continue to lose weight - then why not if it makes you happy and aids you sticking to plan the rest of the time, but they just dont work well for me.

I know there are a lot of people out there that have discipline and can go through life doing low carbs day in and day out. Whether you call it a "cheat" or "plan" or "vacation"--the hardest part will be getting back on track. As long as you have the discipline to get yourself back on track and go through "Missing carbs" once again--do it as often as you like. If your weightloss slows down or stalls, just make sure you hold yourself accountable. For me, I don't want to go through the period of time it takes to get carbs out of the system. I'm always hungry, miserable, and craving every sweet thing I can think about. I liked it when I was weeks in and no longer was controlled by cravings. I just had a 4 day binge, and this week has been awful. Your results may vary. I just know that I don't want to go through this again.

_jayciemarie_ wrote: »

I know there are a lot of people out there that have discipline and can go through life doing low carbs day in and day out. Whether you call it a "cheat" or "plan" or "vacation"--the hardest part will be getting back on track. As long as you have the discipline to get yourself back on track and go through "Missing carbs" once again--do it as often as you like. If your weightloss slows down or stalls, just make sure you hold yourself accountable. For me, I don't want to go through the period of time it takes to get carbs out of the system. I'm always hungry, miserable, and craving every sweet thing I can think about. I liked it when I was weeks in and no longer was controlled by cravings. I just had a 4 day binge, and this week has been awful. Your results may vary. I just know that I don't want to go through this again.

But at least you learned from your 4-day choice. Imagine the people who jump off for 4 weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas...(not judging at all - just observing the fact in a curious manner...) I don't know that I could do that or have any interest in trying, really. I know I really don't want to go back to that old me, so going back to my old habits is really unappealing still...

I have been experimenting with having planned excursions away from my normal routine, planned around family special occasions, but have not gone over 60g carbs while doing it. So I try not to go overboard and stray too far. So far I have been able to get back on track easily. In fact I think that the last carb excursion resulted in kick starting my most recent weight loss. My weight went up about 3 pounds artificially, and the change to ZC immediately afterwards yielded an 11 pound loss or 8 pounds net in 2 weeks. This was after losing only 2 pounds in 2 months doing keto aiming for under 20g carbs. This is something I can see myself fitting into my routine in the long run.

I ate close to my calories back today, for losing 1.5 lbs per week.

But I also don't log anything at all for lifting weights.

It felt like a splurge!

I know what you mean about feeling bad after eating gluten. I don't want to ever eat gluten again, so the carbs I reach for are usually more vegetables, a bit of fruit or sugar and starchier items like potato or sweet potato, or alcohol, but in portions small enough not to have too much of an impact on how I feel. And I still feel as if I've had a treat.