Hey folks,

I have a question about fat adaptation.

Let's say you are fat adapted after being ketogenic for 6+ weeks. Would having one carb meal cause you to lose all those precious fat-burning enzymes and such? What about one day or one week of carbs?

How long would you have to eat carbs before you have to go through the whole process of fat adaptation all over again from scratch?

Thanks for your help.

No, at least not for me. I have proven this thru experimentationing.

I don't recommend you do it but as far as I can tell there is now ON/OFF switch, no "I got kicked out of ketosis", and for me no cravings/withdrawal/"keto-flu" moving in and out of carb overload.

I'd have to look back but the longest stretch of carbs >100g net was 16 days - a few times I think I hit 1000g net. I didn't "feel" bad but I packed on water/fat/muscle weight like mad (mostly the first 2). You'll do that when approaching 10,000 kcal/day

Experimental tracking data available on requests or do your own experiment

NO, just go vlc often enough to keep challenging a need for those enzymes.

I can jump back into ketosis very fast now. Just 2 days vlc and Im back to happy me.

I think it's so much easier to focus on the goal by saying to yourself, I don't eat that because to me it's more physiological. The on off switch might be more in our heads. It's a slippery slope.... If you're very disciplined that's one thing but I don't think we would be where we are if we were.
Being at goal and adding back some carbs from time to time might be different from actively trying to keep loosing.

I've found my personal adaptation to be rather sensitive. Slipping over the minimum carb level for me - much less than a full blown carb binge - will kick me out of a ketotic state. Likewise having certain other items like too many soft drinks that have artificial sweeteners and a higher citric acid content.

I won't generalize it to all LC eaters, though, since I can only attest to the effect on me personally.

(Worse for me if I have a carby meal is an unsettled or painful stomach. Once I become properly adapted, a high dose of carbs actually hurts physically. I actually like that effect, since it's become something of a secondary deterrent for cheating.)

Just posted about this in a couple other threads. I believe one's ability to stay in fat burning state depends a lot on how long your metabolism has been burning fat as its primary fuel. If it's been a few years, you'll rebound back into ketosis very quickly, if you're newly fat adapted, it might take a while. I don't veer off of my consistent ketogenic eating very often, but in the rare circumstance when I do, I'm back within 24 hours. Note that I have only one meal of carbs, those carbs that I allow are not sweet or a dessert, and I limit the variance to once or twice a year. I don't get cravings after the meal, and I'm usually back into ketosis over night and by the next morning. It takes time for one's metabolism to adapt, but the longer one stays consistently in ketosis, the easier it is to get back to it.