As I am learning, at the beginning of a Keto based diet it is easy to knock yourself out of Keto. With that being said, and having done low carb in the past I never concentrated on my daily intake. Instead, I looked at a full 7 days and worked to stay within my 7 day totals. If I wanted to go out and get those incredible nachos I already knew what the macros were, and adjusted the rest of the 7 days to balance it out.

Now that I am on Keto, I plan to do a similar approach *after* I reach my target. There are several things I cannot see myself never eating again. Sushi being up in the top 10. Same with a few desserts, Italian, and Americana comfort foods. And we never called them cheats. We just *knew* we could balance out over a 7 day average and the body would do the rest!

One concern you should watch out for karahunts, is that YES, cheating is normal.. so is failure on LC... the vast majority who do not fail, do not cheat.

I have done LC for 10 years. In the first 6 months, I dropped from 340-242.. that was in 2012.. Atkins Induction.. under 20 g of carbs a day. I did that for years, adding in some cheat meals, and then in 2017, went to Keto, still with some cheats.

On September 11th, 2021, I was in the low 280's. I have been as high as 306, and as low as 255 over the past 9.5 years of eating LC, with a cheat meal here or there.

I have lost about 40 lbs. in the last 54 days on Carnivore. I eat a lot more on this WOE, and have had no desire to cheat, and am not currently wishing I could. I stumbled on this WOE by accident, so after 9.5 years of 260-300 range, I finally got below the 242 I was in 2012.. 241.2 today.

It was probably healthier to be 260-280 most of those years, than be 361, where I topped out at.. but a decade later, I am more unhealthy at 280, than I was at 280 in 2012. Maintaining the weight, does not mean maintaining my health. In another decade, 280 will be even more unhealthy.

The question you asked was answered correctly.. yes, most of the people on LC cheat some, but are they at goal weight, in excellent health? Would they be, if they did NOT cheat.

So you will be normal, if you cheat on LC, or any diet really. Is the goal to be normal? or to be healthy? Normal in America is overweight, and sickly once you reach a certain age. Cancer, heart disease and diabetes are normal too.

If I had it to do over again, I would recognize that LC didn't fix all my issues. I had no cravings, but I still thought about things like potato salad, sweet tea, pop, macaroni & cheese, or Ho-Ho's. Some days, I simply wanted to add rice to a stir fry. I would make deals with myself.. just have this much, and then I would have cravings, and head to Taco Bell, and 7-11, and start over the next day, or maybe give myself another " bad " day.

The problem is that you still think about them. That is why cheating is normal. That is why failing on LC is normal.. you are normal. That is not necessarily a good thing in regards to diet.

As I said, I stumbled onto Carnivore, and it just works for me. For others, they may need to seek counselling, or keep looking. I looked for 10 years, but not hard enough. I kept telling myself I could handle it.

What you have decided is that at <60g of carbs, you still want to eat food which was harmful to you.. and are asking if indulging is normal. What you should be working on, is how you stop thinking about food you no longer eat.

That may be " normal ", but if you think about it for a few seconds, is it really OK? Is indulging in harmful foods good for you, or is it simply a way to avoid thinking you cheated yourself, or failed?

The goal is to be healthy, not to be normal. If you really feel this will work, go ahead, but write down every measure of health.. where you are now, and in 6 months, do a review, and see if they improved, or got worse.

I would recommend, not beating yourself up when you do cheat.. that's normal, but to try to avoid it as much as possible, and keep looking for a way to end this desire to eat harmful foods.. the fact that you can't stop yourself from thinking of food which you do not regularly eat, is a warning of danger. It SHOULD NOT be normal. It is a problem to be solved, not an inevitability which must be accepted and managed.

As @russellholtslander1 said, it is normal to want to eat those old carby foods again, but you have to think about how they make you feel after you come down from that dopamine hit... So one way I do this is to use low carb versions of old favs, like egg-white bread (Maria Emmerich recipes) or things like chaffles or pancakes made with coconut flour or almond flour (search for a million options). Once you get over the "it's not the exact same!" complaint, you appreciate the fact that it doesn't leave you feeling tired the way a high carb food would. After a while, you won't be tempted by them. This is a way of eating, not a short-term diet, because all the pounds and health problems return if you fall back into the old, SAD way of eating. kcko!

I do low carb presently since 2013 and have done strict keto in the past, to lose my original 35ish lbs. I have Celiac disease so I found a workaround a loooong time ago for pastas and breads. I use Explore Asian edamame and mung bean pasta. https://explorecuisine.com/product-category/all-products/pasta/ Texture is like regular pasta, NOT like Miracle Noodles, although I like them too for other things. They are high in protein 36g, and relatively low in carbs for a pasta 11g net (after 20g fibre.) - Canadian version seems to be a bit different from their US version. That's for a decent plateful - not a dinky 1/2 cup cooked side dish. Of course I always add a very meaty homemade pasta sauce, a good pesto, or just quality EVOO and garlic as a sauce.

As for bread, I use CarboNaut Gluten Free Keto bread. One 'normal bread' sized slice is 1g net carb, and it toasts up lovely! Needs to be toasted though to hold together better, otherwise it tends to fall apart crumbly. Vegan, certified GF, Kosher, Non-GMO certification, and ketocertified.com. There's a white bread, a seedy bread, and a raisin cinnamon. The seedy and raisin ones are a teeny bit higher in carbs but still keto. https://www.carbonaut.co/products/ If you don't need to be gluten free, their non-GF bread has a slightly better 'regular' texture and higher protein count due to wheat protein in the ingredients. This bread is worth every penny - NOT cheap - but great to have when you feel like a real toasted tunafish sandwich or get tired of lettuce wrap for your burgers.

I still eat rice occasionally, but at small side dish proportions and not like the main part of the meal. Also, I only eat very good rice to make it worth it to me, like organic Thai black rice, well aged basmati, and Bhutanese red rice.

Being 'strict' until you reach your goal usually sets you up for success better than having 'cheats' here and there as noted by a few others here besides myself.

Do what you can to make it to your mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy goal. If that means a 'cheat' food once in a while, ok, but just monitor how it affects you. You might try making your higher carb food some beautiful, perfectly ripe fruit, or the highest quality whatever it is to make it worth it. Why spend your carbs on junk bakery products or candy - go for the vitamins and other healthy ingredients instead, then you can feel better about it too. Like if you crave mac 'n' cheese, don't go buy a box of KD, make yours from scratch baked in the oven (tastes waaaay better anyway.)

Carry on!