Birthday and Festival Cheats (pre planned)
 

Hello everyone - my birthday is coming up on the 11th June and I normally would go out drinking , eat what I like etc.

I been planning to have a low key birthday this year ( im turning 34 years old) becuase I am doing really well with my weight loss and keeping true to my ketogenic diet. I am over 2 months plus which for me is a big thing.

Years ago I managed to stick to it for 8 years but fell off the wagon ...hard.

So here is the problem.. I am going out to Portsmouth to a casino and a restaurant with two friends and my wife. I have decided to go for the Mexican restaurant rather than the all you can eat buffet. Also I plan to not go out drinking.. basically I think although I know I will go over 20 grams of carbs that day, I feel I can deal with that.. as long as im straight back on it the next day.

The real problem is a heavy metal festival I am going to in August. I am away for a total of 4 days and I know it will be hard not to drink becuase all my friends will be totally driunk plus as I never drink ( as in only on my birthday and Christmas normally) I think for the 4 days it should be ok..

In a way I am allowing myself these two occasions this year to cheat.. but its freaking me out a bit because I done so well so far and I am scared about piling on the pounds as a result.. This in a way I know is silly because I know the human body can not put on more than 3 pounds of fat physically a week. I am planning only 4 days.

Has anyone else have preplanned cheat days? And did you get back on the wagon after?

I was able to have my birthday meal at a Mexican restaurant and stay lc. I just asked for no tortilla, chips, or rice. Tasted great!

We went to a German bakery for dessert - I ordered a lovely éclair & had just one bite - which I savored. Husband ate the rest.

Being diabetic, I don't plan cheat days. The closest I come to it is my one bite. I did the same at my daughter's wedding.

Thanks for this Bonnie - yea I was thinking as its a mexican I might be able to have steak or chicken or something. Your idea would work too.

Thanks :-)

Like I've said a few times before. I have to treat carbs like someone who has given up smoking treats cigarettes. No, not even a puff lol.

Life is just as good and you can always negotiate your way around restaurants and food. I've been to two parties this weekend and out to lunch today. I have refused high carb junk with ease.

So IMO, planning cheats isnt a good idea.

By the way, I'm just down the road from Portsmouth, I'm in Worthing

Jo xxx

That's pretty much me, too. My occasional bites are far apart - daughter's wedding was last August, my birthday was earlier this month. :)

I'm taking my husband to a restaurant for his birthday Tuesday - 80 years young! - and he can have all the dessert he wants. I won't be tempted - it's his birthday, not mine.

But if I make it to 80, I think I might have 2 bites! :lol:

How funny, its my husbands birthday on Tuesday too - he's only going to be 59 tho!!! Hense we've had a weekend of parties and lunch. Hhhmmm, there were so many cakes, sandwiches and high carb things, but I just stayed close to the cheeses and chicken legs - I probably ate well over my 25g a day carb limit, but at least I didnt stray to the cake table, but yes my husband did lol!!!! But I am at my target. Whats annoying is that he is still slim!!!


Jo xxxx

Yeaaah, probably have to agree with the "don't do it" kind of advice.

I started this WOL last June (almost been a yr!) and I was SOLID- I mean ROCK SOLID for about 6 months straight- through BDays and thanksgiving and Halloween candy and the entire Christmas Season of baked-goods-gluttony!.... and then, having done so well... I thgouth to myself, "Hey! Why not celebrate on New Yrs Eve with a planned high carbs meal?"

Well, the planned cheat was for my favorite crusty bread (as part of a special meal)... the bread lead to more bread and chocolate and more chocolate... and before I knew what had happened, I had gone FULL OUT on bread and chocolate, eating way more than I ever planned to eat that night.

Now, that's not SO bad. I mean, I planned a "deviation" from plan. I did it. It went a bit crazy. No biggie.

I DID get RIGHT back on plan after. and stayed RIGHT on plan for many days/weeks...


BUT (and it's a big but! :lol: ) something happened when I allowed those carbs back in. When I deviated from my rigid stance of NONE! They slowly, slowly, slowly became easier to say OK to...

It hasn't been a lot.

Probably 4 different days total from Jan-June... BUT it has had an AWFUL effect on my weight losses. I was doing AWESOME! Then, planned to eat carbs... did eat carbs... and KEPT eating carbs (even just a little throws me out of fat-burning mode).

SO, that's my cautionary tale.

People warned me too- before.

They said sometimes people give in to carbs and they are gone from here for good. Never to be heard from again.

The pull of carbs is REAL.

The slippery slope is real.

for me, I CANNOT deviate. Seems I'm an all or nothin' carber.

Better to be on the NOTHIN' side.
Not one taste, not one crumb, not one bit!

I wish you ALLLLLLLLL the best in whatever you decide.

Everyone is different.

For me, a "little carbs (sugar/grains)" is a very bad idea.

Good luck to you! Enjoy your party and the festival!

:)Jammie

YES, YES, YES!!!! This is exactly what happened to me and I suspect it happens to most of us once we deviate from a rigid policy of No Sugar No Starch. I'm currently trying to undo the harm to myself that easing up has caused.

The whole problem is that you (meaning people) CAN have a cheat meal or a cheat day, not gain anything or just a bit of water weight that is soon gone, and you can get back on the wagon again immediately. What your brain has now learned is that you can eat a little bread/French fries/ice cream/cake etc. occasionally without consequences. The consequences show up later because now you know that you can get away with it again. And again.

The whole process happens so insidiously that you don't even realize you're pushing your luck. Eventually an extra lb shows up on the scale and doesn't go away, but it's just a lb, no big deal. One day you notice it's 3lbs that aren't going away. And all the time it's getting easier and easier to say ok to more carbs.

Whether or not people ever get back to strict low carb again depends upon how much weight gain shocks them into action. 10lbs, 15lbs, 100lbs? The lucky ones can be shocked into getting back to strict basics again. Sadly, this forum has seen more than it's fair share of people who were doing so well but eventually gained too much back and couldn't face starting over again.

I'm with ojoj: I've learned the hard way that I have to treat sugar and starch as though they were cigarettes and I can't even have a puff. (Spoken as a 4-pack-a-day addict who quit cold turkey 27 years ago and indeed has not had one puff since).

Hi everyone - I got through my birthday, I was bad and enjoyed myself on the day and also spilled into the next 2 days as well but during that time I got through all the things I had previously craved without binging or going to OTT.

Been back on the wagon since which im ok with as im stil losing fat . The only other thing I have coming up that is going to be very tricky is the heavy metal festival Im going to called Bloodstock that will be 4 straight days of drinking and eating horrible burger van food. I know there is no way around it for me other than not to go but thats not an option for me as I near want to live my life that I miss out on things I want to do.

The main thing for me here is the Psychology in that I am making a choice, I know I will break my lifestyle for those days.. but as I have been so on form elsewhere I dont have a problem with it. I know it will reset me back .. but it will only take another 3 days to get the chemistry going again ( ketosis).

I got 5 weeks before then anyway soooo...

PS - I am going to stick to Vodka and diet coke as my only drinking .. no beer/other carbs at all.

I believe there is always a way around it! You can get lettuce wrapped burger, chicken wings, salads, etc.

To answer your original question I had a planned cheat about a month ago. To me it was NOT worth it. It took me 10 days to get rid of the 10 lbs that I gained due to my cheats, the same 10 lbs that took me 2 weeks to get rid of in the first place. So more than 3 weeks were wasted, in my eyes. Yeah, sure I got back in ketosis relatively quickly but I know I would have experienced a loss of at least 5-10 lbs more if I had stayed on the whole time.

Plus the food wasn't as good as I remembered. At all.

Hi there Rucasquare - thanks for your input as well.

how many days did these cheats of yours occour over though? to lose or gain weight is one thing, becuase your including water retention when you say "weight" wich can be lost in a matter of days or weeks. Did you measure actual fat percentages put on and lost?

I know what your saying, when I had my birthday cheat, I seemed to have gained 3 pounds (in one day!!) but it was all gone by 3 days later and I was losing again.

I guess we are all different.

That's why I limit myself to 1 bite. Somewhere, long ago, I read that the taste experience goes downhill after the first bite. Experience tells me the same, so I quit while I'm ahead.

It was 2 meals over the course of 2 days. I didn't measure fat percentages so I get what you're saying. What I'm saying is that if I had just stayed on plan I wouldn't have had to re-lose those 10 lbs, water or not.

If you're okay with possibly gaining a few from water or whatnot and you know you can go right back on plan, I say go for it.

Ah I see - thats quite interesting - sounds like you had some water retention but that would happen to alot of us if we cheated ( like it has for me too) .

Fair enough, it would of been interesting to know but over two days there is only so much actual fat a human can lose or gain. Like you say its the psychology.

Well to be honest if anything like last year's festival, Ill be craving to get away from carbs after lol.

I'd say even with possible low carb options at the heavy metal fest you'll be buzzed all the time and your judgement impaired.

I guess we all need to learn about ourselves and what we're good at and what we're not-so-good at. If falling off the wagon and getting back on again works for you, then count yourself lucky.

You did mention something about "living life" and somehow eating low carb isn't compatible with "living life". I've gotta say that I disagree. I guess it depends on how you define "living life". Sometimes we have to redefine that from time to time. If I were a heroine addict, "living life" might include shooting up. Maybe I'd be better off rewriting that script.