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Birthday cheat day with beer?

lostcouch
lostcouch Posts: 17 Member
edited November 15 in Social Groups
Ive been doing keto for over a month with no problems with food. My birthday party will be at a brewery (no wine or liquor) and I really would like to enjoy some beer and celebrate with my friends and family.

How bad is it to cheat one day with beer?

I'm not talking 1 or 2. I probably will be out all night. So more realistically I'll probably have about 5. I don't and will not do light beers either. I'm more of a guiness/dark beer drinker. How does it affect you when you are doing the ketogenic lifestyle? I need to somehow balance it our so I can continue keto lifestyle and also be able to enjoy my favorite beers on my birthday.

Thoughts?

Replies

  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    Beer is not a cheat food - unless you quaff it all night AND it's not your birthday anymore....... :s

    If you've got that 1-in-1000 kind of self-control, it's not big deal. If you're like, uh, certain people I know, it could be baaaaad.
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
    Question is, can you drink 5 beers as a one off, not get the hangover needing carbs and be back on this woe the next day?
  • pacific904
    pacific904 Posts: 92 Member
    That is real life, birthdays, Xmas, meeting friends when you will want to stray away from keto. Jason Fung who advocates fasting, low carb , stresses that you need to partake to all this and NOT feel guilty. After the event just resume keto.
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    edited February 2017
    pacific904 wrote: »
    That is real life, birthdays, Xmas, meeting friends when you will want to stray away from keto. Jason Fung who advocates fasting, low carb , stresses that you need to partake to all this and NOT feel guilty. After the event just resume keto.
    ..... If you can summon the willpower.

    Somehow, I doubt JF views drinking beer with your buddies as a universal human "need" ;)
  • TishaGettinFit
    TishaGettinFit Posts: 77 Member
    When events like these come up for me I usually just set a higher carb limit for the day. Maybe something like 75g carbs for the day. It keeps me enough in line that I don't lose control of my innner carb loving beast. But not everyone finds this as easy to control.
  • sati_18
    sati_18 Posts: 18 Member
    edited February 2017
    I've had reasonable success with just keeping my food in line with LCHF and still drinking. I find the next morning if I start straight off again with a LCHF breakfast and have the right foods in the house ready to go I don't go find carbs. I do usually end up eating over my goal on both days but as long as i stick to the right foods it doesn't go terminal
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    It's easier to resume normalcy after an event like this if you tell yourself absolutely it's a plan, the next meal is back on plan, no options, etc. Just having that, especially having announced the intention here is it's own kind of accountability. That being said, while I don't understand the fascination with beer, a few things I do recommend are:

    1) consider if this is a want/desire - or if it is traveling into the mental need focus. If it is a choice, and you could do without if you decided that was necessary, with only a little disappointment, you're good. If you feel that no way could you ever go to this event or location and not drink EVER, then maybe some more mental evaluation is due. Just saying that sometimes the foods/drinks we find ourselves powerless to avoid are "gateway" or "downfall" foods.

    2) drink a full glass of water between beers. Your tolerance for alcohol is lessened by this WOE, and so it may take far less actual alcohol to get you feeling good than expected. That means the risk for dehydration is amplified. So make sure to get some good electrolytes, alternate beers with water, and make sure to have a glass of water and electrolytes before bed. I've been told low carb hangovers are the worst ever in existence.

    3) don't allow carb creep while you are drinking. Make your food choices while in full command of your facilities. If you have a friend who can "back you," get one friend to keep you from grabbing/ordering/eating foods that you're not wanting to have. Some people can't drink their favorite beers without XYZ food they used to pair with it.

    4) just be aware that alcohol in any form affects blood glucose control, so you may have blood sugar spikes and drops as a result, so try to be prepared with nuts or something as a backup emergency plan in that event...

    5) enjoy your birthday!!!
  • ncahill77
    ncahill77 Posts: 501 Member
    edited February 2017
    guiness isn't too bad from a carb perspective, the trick is not getting drunk enough to go to taco bell at 2am!
    It's not as thick as guiness but Shiner black is pretty tasty and only 11g of carbs per 12oz bottle.
  • kimberwolf71
    kimberwolf71 Posts: 470 Member
    Craft stouts and porters will always be in my world and microbreweries are my favorite thing. I work at keeping other carbs lower and give myself permission to enjoy but not make further bad food choices lol. If you have been keto for a month you will likely notice a difference/drop in your tolerance. Be careful and enjoy your bday
  • Cadori
    Cadori Posts: 4,810 Member
    I would caution against going all out simply because alcohol hits you hard on keto. I shared a bottle of wine with my husband on our anniversary (so 2, 2.5 glasses?) and was full on drunk from it. That would not have come close prior to keto.
  • lostcouch
    lostcouch Posts: 17 Member
    Awesome. I know the food won't be an issue and @KnitOrMiss that's great advice with drinking water inbetween. I honestly didn't even think of that. Thanks everybody for the feedback!!
  • RalfLott
    RalfLott Posts: 5,036 Member
    Cadori wrote: »
    I would caution against going all out simply because alcohol hits you hard on keto. I shared a bottle of wine with my husband on our anniversary (so 2, 2.5 glasses?) and was full on drunk from it. That would not have come close prior to keto.

    Good point. Most of us are super-cheap dates these days. (Another reason to interlace with H2O.)
  • StarshipFighter23
    StarshipFighter23 Posts: 73 Member
    I think I must be an outlier - my tolerance for alcohol has gone WAY up even though I'm in deep keto... Can't find any reference online to this happening to people, but what I do know is that I went out a couple of weeks ago, drank 10 double vodka sodas and felt almost sober by the time I got home... And enjoy your birthday! :-)
  • mmultanen
    mmultanen Posts: 1,029 Member
    edited February 2017
    @StarshipFighter23 my tolerance hasn't dipped much either though I swore off alcohol completely while doing this challenge at work, I suspect the 8 weeks without wine will impact my tolerance to some degree. Cheep date right in time for my birthday. :D

    @lostcouch like many have said, I try to make conscious decisions about what to eat when and if I'm having pizza with a fabulous Aunt who is in town only once a year I make sure I eat nothing with a carb in it for the 2 days prior. I still try to make good choices at pizza night but I do enjoy the food and company and lay off the self guilt. It's all easier said than done but I strongly feel the most important thing for all health conscious individuals is to understand why we make the decisions we make, do the things we do, and learn from them when appropriate.

    happy birthday!
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    StarshipFighter23 wrote: »
    I think I must be an outlier - my tolerance for alcohol has gone WAY up even though I'm in deep keto... Can't find any reference online to this happening to people, but what I do know is that I went out a couple of weeks ago, drank 10 double vodka sodas and felt almost sober by the time I got home... And enjoy your birthday! :-)

    I would probably attribute that to improvement in liver function. If you liver isn't having to fix your blood glucose all the time, it can work on processing the alcohol faster, etc.
  • StarshipFighter23
    StarshipFighter23 Posts: 73 Member
    KnitOrMiss, I hadn't thought of that as being a factor. Can't be a bad thing though - last time I had a full medical the doctor was slightly concerned about my liver function and looking back to my WOE at that time I was basically fuelled by sugar - eating probably 2-2500 calories a day of sweet stuff most days. I think I'll take this as an inspiration to go back and have my bloodwork done again to see what sort of improvement LC has made to my overall health.
  • swing72
    swing72 Posts: 20 Member
    Im in Australia and i found a normal strength low carb beer (2g carbs per bottle) its called pure blond - it has made celebrations much more fun :) also discovered a 0 carb wine but im not remembering the name atm
  • lostcouch
    lostcouch Posts: 17 Member
    swing72 wrote: »
    Im in Australia and i found a normal strength low carb beer (2g carbs per bottle) its called pure blond - it has made celebrations much more fun :) also discovered a 0 carb wine but im not remembering the name atm

    Thanks for the tips. I'll definitely check it out and see if they have it at the place I'm going to. (They have over 150 beers on tap.)
    Let me know when you remember the name for the wine. That's so awesome. Thank you!!!
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