Low carb & having a cheat/celebration/treat meal

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glypta
glypta Posts: 440 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm trying to get my head around this, so those that've read this 100 times before, apologies. And please no low-carb bashers :smile:

I'm doing Dukan (high protein, low fat, 0% dairy) so similar, but not the same, as Atkins/Paleo, etc. It's worked well until I had a treat/cheat meal last weekend, where I had carbs (rice with curry) and crisps (chips) and cake. Yes, I could've eaten better. But it was with friends and it was yummy. It was my first 'off' day in over a month. And I felt dreadful, like being hungover, the following day. Sugar crash? Possibly that combined with guilt at having had so much.

Anyway, I'm going out for a meal this weekend, having climbed back on the wagon first thing Monday. It appears I'm a lb up, though I'm not sure whether this is due to the feed, or just a natural and unfortunate fluctuation.

My question is, physiologically, weight-wise, carb-wise, whatever-wise, what happens if/when a low carber has a meal/day off? Dukan allows for a celebration meal in his third phase, which I'm pretty much at (I'd prefer to be a few lbs less so that my current weight is my actual weight, and not my weight-minus-water weight).

Thanks so much for any advice...

Replies

  • satousan88
    satousan88 Posts: 29
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    A friend of mine did 'metabolic balance' and there was a 'cheat day' once a week in the 3rd phase too. Why? It's supposed to kick start metabolism again, after eating below your calories for weeks! (depends on how long the 2nd phase lasted lol)
    So once a week she had pizza, ice cream whatever and she still lost weight... so don't worry, just continue to eat the way you did before! Don't let one single "cheat day" get you all worked up :)
  • verlouria
    verlouria Posts: 21
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    From my personal experience and a few others I know. Carbs can cause one to retain water (esepcially starchy bread carbs for me). That is one reason I thoroughly believe people who start "no" carbing and lose all that weight the first week will find it was mostly water weight they lost. I have no scientific proof of this, just my own personal experience. I would gamble its water, and it will come off as soon as you resume your normal diet. I have only been on MFP for a little over 3 weeks, but I have been working out and eating sort of low carb for awhile since I am diabetic. Now I am trying to find a happy median between my old low carb ways and my new low cal ways. The nutritionist I saw yesterday for the first time said that people who do low carb can tend to have more fat on them than muscle (unless they are working out), because the body needs things its not getting in a low carb diet, so it gets it from muscle. She was trying to tell me its ok to have some carbs as long as they are in small portions. I don't trust some carbs even in "small" portions. I don't eat potatoes and I try to eat bread as little as possible, no white flour (been trying almond flour instead), and of course no refined sugar. I even limit the amount of whole wheat pasta and brown rice I eat.
  • katberz
    katberz Posts: 123
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    I'm doing Atkins and I had a curry and booze last weekend. I shot up nearly 7 lbs overnight. I thought it'd go in a couple days but no, it's almost a week later and I'm still holding onto 2 extra lbs! I've noticed my tummy isn't as slim as it was before I had that bloody 'treat' as well. I know some people can have treat meals and carry on losing but that doesn't seem to be the case for me. Never again!
  • silentpost
    silentpost Posts: 26 Member
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    From my personal experience and a few others I know. Carbs can cause one to retain water (esepcially starchy bread carbs for me). That is one reason I thoroughly believe people who start "no" carbing and lose all that weight the first week will find it was mostly water weight they lost. I have no scientific proof of this, just my own personal experience. I would gamble its water, and it will come off as soon as you resume your normal diet.

    This sounds right—whenever I have my cheat meals on the weekends, I usually go up a couple of pounds, then drop back down a couple of days back into the diet. water weight should be your primary suspect. remember, all things equal, a pound is 3500 calories. do you really think you ate THAT much extra over the weekend?
    The nutritionist I saw yesterday for the first time said that people who do low carb can tend to have more fat on them than muscle (unless they are working out), because the body needs things its not getting in a low carb diet, so it gets it from muscle. She was trying to tell me its ok to have some carbs as long as they are in small portions. I don't trust some carbs even in "small" portions. I don't eat potatoes and I try to eat bread as little as possible, no white flour (been trying almond flour instead), and of course no refined sugar. I even limit the amount of whole wheat pasta and brown rice I eat.

    This doesn't sound right... I'd call your nutritionist out on this if I were you/if you care enough to ask. somebody doing a Dukan diet is getting sufficient protein to prevent catabolization of muscle during weight loss. This is anecdotal, but I've lost 30 lbs over the last 6-7 months and have seen little muscle loss. Chalk it up to good genes if you want, but I believe it is a result of watching macros closely, making sure I have 1-1.5 g of protein per lean body mass.
  • ashfuse
    ashfuse Posts: 224 Member
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    Salt and Carbs cause water retention. Refined sugars also have an addictive type of effect on the body--which is why people with high processed food diets are obese. Alcohol is pretty much all carbs and fat so yeah, it's no wonder you felt bad the next day. You more than likely are still holding onto some water weight from the mix, yes, sometimes it can take a long time for that water weight to go away. You could try having LESS on your cheat days..much less. Cake, bread, and booze is a lot to add to a diet that has been super clean and very low on carbs. If you can't have just small amounts, then I'd suggest to avoid altogether. As far as what you could eat, I have no idea if there are tweaked "cheat" foods that fit an extra low carb high protein diet.
  • glypta
    glypta Posts: 440 Member
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    There was no booze, that's my only redeeming quality from the weekend!
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    Yes, carbs cause retention of water and is why you will often see drastic weight loss in the first week of low-carb (don't think many low-carb people will argue that.)
    That's why you'll see fluctuations when you re-introduce carbs in the diet (if even for one day).

    That's not to say low-carb is bad at all. It does work at lowering your weight and fat (your nutritionist who says low-carb people are more fat than muscle, I don't think has done her research) ; it just also has the benefit of dropping the excessive bloat that carbs cause.

    If I'm off carbs for 2-3 days, I can see it immidiately in my stomach; as soon as I cheat, right away the bloat/gut comes back.

    And ya, one lb up is really no big deal. On bad weekends, I've gone as far as 5-6 lbs higher on Monday than on the Friday; with that said, it's generally lost as quickly as it was gained (all water retention).
  • getfitnow112
    getfitnow112 Posts: 1
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    I am doing keto and I find it I can have a cheatmeal or day as long as its a low carb cheat day. Like I will usually eay 2000 calories a day about 500 under maintence and on cheat days I eat 3000 I will go to like Red Robin and get a burger but not eat the bun so my carbs are low, or go to applebees and eat a whole rack of ribs. Low carb cheat days are really fun :D

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