I'm sure I am not the first to ask, but I searched and couldn't find anything. What do we think of taking one day every 2-3 weeks and carbing up to satisfy cravings? Would this simply knock one out of ketosis for a few days, or does it make weight loss impossible?

One day every 2-3 weeks can't cause weight gain, so I am not worried about that.

For many people taking a whole day off from low carb eating can trigger overwhelming cravings leading to going off plan in the next few weeks.

What Elizellen said.

Being knocked out of ketosis can cause you to gain 1-10+ pounds very quickly as well.

I have found that ignoring cravings is the best way to beat them. (835 days without a "cheat") Sometimes finding a LC substitute with the flavor or texture of the food you're craving works as well.

If you are following low carb and staying away from the low carb shakes and bars, you shouldn't be having any cravings. I think givin yourself a carb night is just going to set up an endless loop of cravings. As to your weight loss, when I've cheated and had a lot of carbs, I'd gain 3-5 pounds over night and take more than a week to lose it.

I lost a ton of weight following a similar low carb plan that included planned 'off' days. I also put back on all the weight I'd lost and then some. I'm sure there are some who can do that version of LC and be relatively successful. But I think most who try it will not succeed. I know I never did. The idea sounds good on paper and we want to believe that if we feed our craving, we will satisfy it. But that is not how it works. If you feed your craving, it will grow stronger. Eventually, the cravings will overpower you. Your diet will fail and the weight will come back on.

A planned day off is cheat, no matter how you slice it. A quote I read somewhere on this board said that "if you return to eating the foods that made you fat, you will be fat again." That may be a tough pill to swallow, but I'm afraid it is true for most of us. When I did the version of LC with "cheat days" built in - I dove right into all of my carby favorites and I had an increasingly difficult time finding the willpower to get back on plan. Sometimes the diet would fall apart within weeks -- sometimes I could go for months and make good progress with the weight loss. But it was always a struggle. Eventually, I'd have one diet vacation too many and just could not find my way back.

After more than 2 decades of LC diet failure, I finally learned my lesson. Certain foods give me problems. I had to accept that can't eat those foods. Not just for a while -- I needed to stop having them forever. By not indulging the cravings -- those cravings faded away eventually. Without cravings, this WOE has become pretty darn easy and enjoyable. I lose weight and I feel great. And provided that I never get the 'stupids' at some point in the future and go back to eating junk, this weight will stay off and I will live a long and healthy life. If I go back to eating the foods that made me fat, then back up the weight loss roller-coaster I will go. Where I stop, nobody knows.

The people who don't cheat, succeed. The ones that do spin their wheels year after year losing and regaining the same pounds over and over again. I was a pro at it.

No! Why mess with it? As mentioned, your cravings no longer exist if you're eating right. The biggest transition is to change your mindset to a totally new way of looking at food. What you don't know when you start this WOE is that your desires and cravings cease to exist, and you can finally eat how you should. Once you've accomplished that, the rest is elementary.

Friends, let me establish my credentials. I'm no newbie. I've been low carb for over a year now, and lost over 70 lbs! I'm just wondering can I safely slow the weight loss by doing a "CarbNite" once every 2-3 weeks.

Eating carbs doesn't give me more carb cravings. Not bragging. Not saying I have amazing will power. I'm just inquiring about what I thought was a legitimate diet - Carb Cycling instead of straight up Atkins. I take it, you are not fans of carb cycling then.

I will never go back to being 254 lbs!

Congrats on the 70 lbs gone. I'm a little confused with exactly what you are looking to do - in the original question you asked about having a day every few weeks to eat foods you are craving. Above you say eating carbs doesn't give you cravings.

You have Atkins listed as your current plan and certainly if you feel changing to a different woe would work better for you then go for it. If you are saying you want to "do Atkins" but with a day off every couple of weeks, I would recommend against it. In DANDR, Atkins addresses that going back and forth is not a good idea for several reasons including that repeatedly bouncing back and forth can damage your metabolism over time.

How far have you moved up the carb ladder in OWL? Are you just wanting to add in more whole foods that are higher carb like a sweet potato or higher carb fruit or do you mean a blow out with pizza, beer, popcorn, cake, and cookies?

For me, what you are considering would not work. Partially because the foods I no longer eat I believe aren't healthy so why would I eat something I consider poison to me? You will ultimately have to decide what you think will work best for you. Regardless of which way you go - good luck and enjoy the journey to a happy healthy you - whatever path you take to get there.

I'll answer your questions. I don't get daily cravings where staying on plan is a daily struggle. It's more of a boredom with the foods I eat every day and desire to plan something different for rare occasions. Call it a cheat - fine.

I haven't moved into OWL. I am on straight induction for a year now. I don't care for any of the foods in OWL so have no desire to move into it.

Specifically, you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned popcorn, beer etc... junk food. I don't at all consider any food to be poisonous, but I have accepted my body will store fat when I eat certain foods. That doesn't mean that if I eat cookies for a day the next 5 days my mind will be filled with sweet cravings. Far from it. It's more an issue of after 4-5 weeks of induction, I would like to look forward to a donut or something like that. - And I have read that there arer carb cycling diets that would allow me to do this sort of thing very rarely.

They justify "CarbNite" with 1 million excuses. I don't have a problem with calling it cheating. It is what it is. I'm just wondering if it's done once every 3-4 weeks - if it would cause permanent weight gain or not.

I am getting the idea that it would make weight loss impossible. Damaging the metabolism sounds like something that would make me quite fat. Am leaning towards taking your advice.

With few exceptions I find the carby foods I used to really enjoy no longer have their original appeal or addiction, even if I do try them again. They can also lead to gas, indigestion or heartburn.

Increasing carbs for a day might increase metabolism by breaking a routine the body has become accustomed to, but then so might a day of fasting?

From what I read: People who do the "Carb Nite Solution" primarily use safe starches such as rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes as the source of carbohydrates.

It depends on how carb tolerant you are, but I'm not a fan of carb ups.
Especially if the reason for doing them is to satisfy cravings, because I find that they're actually a good way to trigger more cravings.
If you don't have that problem you can try it to break routine and increase metabolism.

I'm not one to sugar coat things, though, and I think doing carb ups because you want to eat popcorn or cookies or whatever is a terrible idea. Putting those foods on the level of forbidden treats gives them that pleasurable connotation that you're better off seeking elsewhere than food. I'm not saying you have to think high carb = poison, but am saying also don't think high carb = fun.


Oh and the part about never weighing 254 pounds again...yeah, I said that once upon a time too. My stats show how well that worked out.
So I am speaking from experience about why "occasional treats" or "CarbNites" or whatever you call them, though they may work for you for years (as they did for me), can eventually turn into ending up piling the weight back on.
Maybe you're just that much more disciplined than me and it'll never happen to you. Actually, I hope that's the case, because I wouldn't wish having to try to lose 100lbs twice on anyone!
That is the reason, though, why I would encourage you not to risk it.

I'm another nay-sayer on the cheat days for the sake of satisfying cravings, which really only lasts for the duration that you're sticking it in your cake hole.

If you just stick to plan and tell yourself 'no', your inner two-year-old will have a meltdown and you'll be sad and angry for a little while. You'll feel sorry for yourself. But two-year-olds have no attention span, and you'll forget about it a short time later and just get on with life as usual.

If, OTOH, you go for that cheat... YAY, party in your mouth for 15 minutes, but what happens after that? If you're anything like me, and especially because you've been VLC for a long time:
- you'll want to fall asleep. Fine if it's bed time, not so great if you're at work.
- If it's bed time and you just go to sleep, you'll wake up DYING of thirst at 2:00 am and just have a crappy sleep overall.
- Regardless of time: you'll be bloated as heck.
- Ew... acid reflux.
- You'll still be DYING of thirst. Remember that 5-10 lbs that came off when you first started induction? That was water weight shed from your glycogen stores being burned off. Now, you've just replenished a ton of glycogen and your body needs that water back. So you're thirsty... and there's not enough room for the water. You'll wish you could hook yourself up to an IV.
- You'll wake up the next day determined to get back to business, but you're starving-hungry. Like, could-hold-up-a-7-11 hungry. And it can be like going through induction flu again.

So, is the subsequent misery worth a day of "carbing up"?

Nope. Not for me. Not that I haven't done it anyway, but I always regret it. So I've avoided it 1000x more often that I've actually done it.

I've seen your posts before, but I don't recall your age. I didn't consider any foods poisonous until I did a gluten-free challenge and saw health problems disappear that I never would have thought were diet-related. One of the deal-breaker symptoms that disappeared was the emerging arthritis in my hands. That is permanent damage. There's no healing it - all you can hope to do is slow it down. I'm 40, so my 20 or 30 free years of eating whatever-crap has expired. I mention that because you mentioned donuts. I make donuts for a living. I got this job after I went gluten-free. I have not cheated ONCE and it's not even a consideration for me. The crap I make is completely off my radar.

Another point that's been mentioned: almost anything you miss can have a substitute. No, nothing will taste like a Krispy Creme or Pizza Hut, but... this is something that keeps me on plan: I keep ingredients on hand to make slightly-naughty-but-still-on-plan treats like LC cookies or a LC pizza, and I'm generally too lazy. Heh. Point is, if I'm craving something badly enough, I can make the LC version. If not? Well, the craving can't be that bad, can it? I guess this wouldn't work for people who love baking, but like I said, I'm harnessing my laziness here and using it to my advantage.

I also second the idea of adopting certain higher-carb "safe" foods if you feel it's beneficial to your metabolism. I can handle a serving of certain higher-carb foods that don't send me into that tailspin. That's fairly subjective and requires experimentation; hence the carb ladder. Not sure why you're resistant to it...

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

PS - pardon the novel.

I swear I'm printing this out!!!!! You've hit the nail on the head!

I was low carb for many years with decent results, and it wasn't until I gave up ALL grains and stayed true to this approach in my WOE that my health markers dramatically improved. I was surprised and am still listing the many things that have changed for the better. I'm at the point where I say, "Why risk it and reverse all these good things?" And like Kristine, I often don't have the time to be "creative" even with low carb substitutes. I understand the results vary by person, but one last note: How many times do we hear from people who formerly were low carb, Atkins, whatever come back to the forum and state that this time will be different? Too many!

Raises hand sheepishly. Testimony: You can blow seven years of maintenance in less than two.

For that matter, in certain cases, you can blow six months of losing overnight. That would be water mostly, but it's still a huge discouragement.

I'm not a "craver." But every now and then, when company's coming, I break out the pots and pans and make a fabulous low-carb cheesecake. Everyone loves it. I get a piece of it. Also, the Deep Dish Pizza Quiche is easy and delicious and perfectly legal. Deprivation is not on my list of Atkins advantages.

Best wishes.