How to Have a Keto Cheat Day…

Should you have a cheat day or meal on the Ketogenic Diet? Will it ruin all those weeks of avoiding carbs or can it actually help you stay on track? Find out how to “cheat” the right way on the keto diet AND minimize the damage.

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IS IT OKAY TO HAVE A KETO CHEAT DAY OR MEAL?

If you’ve been following a ketogenic diet for a while and had some success with weight loss, at some point, you’re going to have to deal with real life occasions when it’s going to be hard to stay keto. You may want to relax your diet a little when faced with a family wedding, a vacation, girls weekend or during the festive season.

So the question is – should you have a keto cheat meal or cheat day and if you do, what are the consequences?

Firstly, when you have a cheat meal, you’re going to be kicked out of ketosis, which you’ve worked hard to achieve.

Now, if you’ve been on a keto diet for a while, you may be able to get back into ketosis reasonably quickly, but if you’ve been eating keto for less than 6 weeks, then you’ll set your self back a long way.

HOW TO DECIDE WHETHER TO HAVE A KETO CHEAT DAY OR NOT?

The first step in thinking about having a keto cheat day is how long you’ve been eating a keto diet for.

If you’ve been eating keto for less than 6 weeks, then I’d strongly advise you to stay on track if at all humanly possible and I’ll explain why.

In that first 6 weeks, your body is working really hard to become fat adapted.

WHAT IS FAT-ADAPTION?

What does becoming fat-adapted mean….when you first start keto, your body is not used to using fat as a primary fuel source so it needs to ramp up the cellular machinery required to burn fat efficiently.

This process can take 3-6 weeks.

When this process has taken place, you are now fat adapted. 

This means that your body can readily and easily burn fat for fuel and your muscles will burn fat and your vital organs can run on ketones.

From here you can lose weight at a steady pace.

If you measure your ketones, you know you’re fat-adapted when your ketone readings are between 1.0-3.0 m/mol.

SO, if you’re still in this fat-adaptation phase, then try to avoid a keto cheat day or meal. If you’re unsure if you’re fat-adapted then wait at least 6 weeks.

THE AFTER EFFECTS OF A KETO CHEAT DAY OR A “CARB-OVER”

Ok, so you’ve decided to have a cheat meal – and I will distinguish here between a cheat MEAL and a Cheat DAY.

A cheat day is where you gorge yourself senseless for an entire day by eating everything in sight. Sounds fun? Well, not really…

If you’re going to cheat, I would suggest a cheat meal NOT a cheat day.

There are usually consequences to the cheat meal or day so you want to minimize these after-effects by keeping it to one meal (not an entire day!)

Typical consequences of a keto cheat meal or day are:

1. Get kicked out of ketosis
2. Bloating
3. Headaches
4. Hunger and kicking off cravings due to the insulin spike
5. Tired
6. Moody
7. Thirsty
8. Gain weight – usually water
9. Nausea
10. Spike in blood sugar can be an issue for diabetics
11. Suffer keto flu again – as you get back into ketosis
12. Vicious hangover if your cheat included alcohol

 

MINIMIZE THE DAMAGE OF A KETO CHEAT DAY

So if we’re being realistic, at some stage you’re going to go for a cheat meal.

What’s the best way to minimize any damage after a keto cheat meal?

1. Don’t go on an alcohol bender. Keep alcoholic drinks to 2 maximum to prevent your carb hangover from being made even worse.
   Your body is not used to eating all those carbs and alcohol so expect it to freak out a little bit (just like when you started keto)
2. Get back on track the next morning and get on with it. Don’t beat yourself up or feel bad. We’re only human after all and it’s okay to have a cheat every now and again. The most important thing is what you do next. Remember your health goals and why you’re on keto in the first place and get yourself back into the zone.
   This is a time when using an exogenous ketone supplement and/or MCT oil will help you get back into ketosis. Bulletproof coffee may help.
3. Drink a lot of water during the cheat meal and the next day. This will help when you get back on track quicker and with less keto flu. 
4. Be careful if you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic OR INSULIN resistant as a cheat will cause an insulin spike and may not be appropriate for you medically

The other thing is, often you go and have that delicious pizza with the cheesey crust with the lot and you think….you know what? It wasn’t that great! Your tastebuds have changed and you may not enjoy those foods as much as you did before. Just saying….