Cheating on Keto: Effects and Recovery (2024)

FAQs

Cheating on Keto: Effects and Recovery? ›

A full cheat day of consuming sugar, bread and pasta will take your body out of ketosis, which may take days to recover from. That's why Carrico suggests a cheat meal every now and then instead. You'll likely consume a lower number of carbs than you would on a full cheat day.

If this is your first cheat day then it will take longer to get back into ketosis because your body has been exclusively burning fat for fuel up until that point. On average it can take about 1-2 weeks before the body begins producing enough of its own ketones after a cheat day.

How to recover from cheat meals. If you've cheated on keto, you're likely out of ketosis. Once out, you'll need to strictly follow the keto diet to reenter ketosis. This process takes several days to 1 week, depending on your carb intake, metabolism, and activity levels ( 6 , 7 , 8 ).

A significant cheat, even for one meal, can stall your weight loss, make you feel sluggish, experience significant brain fog, and if you're somewhat new to keto, perhaps cause you go through keto flu symptoms all over again. More than that, you will need to work your way into ketosis again.

“When you reintroduce carbohydrates back into your diet — and this is more about refined carbs, I'm not talking about eating an apple — you don't feel very good.” She says some people experience a so-called carb hangover — the body feels kind of bloated and inflamed, and you may develop headaches.

While it's up to you whether you decide to take a break from the keto diet, many experienced individuals do keto cycling, also called the cyclical keto diet, in which they stay keto for 5-6 days followed by 1-2 days of higher carbs. Others stick to keto for 2 weeks or more, then take a 3-day break.

Carbs do not cause weight gain or increased body fat. Only eating too many calories can do this. And while you may have a slight adjustment period with blood sugar levels and water retention, as long as you are maintaining calorie control, you shouldn't end up gaining any weight.

Regular Crust

This type of pizza crust can have up to 33g of carbs without any added sauce or cheese. If you're limiting your carbs to 20-50 grams per day, one slice of this type of crust will likely kick you out of ketosis.

Cycling in and out of ketosis can cause digestion problems and brain fog — and you may gain back the weight you've lost on the keto diet. What Really Happens to Your Body When examines the head-to-toe effects of common behaviors, actions and habits in your everyday life.

Research shows that after a cheat meal, the body increases its metabolism, causing you to burn calories faster. This is caused by increased levels of leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells and responsible for maintaining energy balance in the body.

What is the whoosh effect after a cheat meal? ›

Yeah, you read that right, a small cheat-meal triggered the drop in water-weight… And it's one of the key reasons I recommend incorporating a REASONABLE cheat-meal once a week into your long-term weight loss plan. Once again, it's important to reiterate that you don't NEED to do anything to trigger the whoosh effect.

On a high-fat diet like keto, you're all of a sudden eating lots more avocado, nuts, seeds, meat, olive oil, and other fats than normal—which can disrupt digestion. “When you switch to this high fat of a diet, it can cause diarrhea,” says Hultin.

The uncomfortable symptoms of the keto flu are usually temporary. For some people, symptoms resolve after only a few days ( 5 ). However, others may have a more difficult time adapting to this high-fat, low-carb diet. For these individuals, symptoms may last up a month ( 5 ).

To get back into ketosis after a keto cheat day all you have to do is to start eating proper meals according to your macros, drink plenty of water and mind your electrolytes. If you feel up to it do some light exercise to help deplete glycogen stores.

Most ketogenic diet guidelines recommend limiting your total carbohydrate intake to 15-30 grams or 5%-10% of your total calorie intake a day. Eating more than 50 grams of carbs may disrupt ketosis. With keto diets, however, carb restrictions vary from person to person.

Weight gain after keto is even more likely because it is ultra-restrictive—severely restricting your carbohydrate intake to less than 5 percent of your total daily caloric intake. People tend to gain weight after following the keto diet for several reasons: They don't exercise enough.

If you're healthy, your body knows how to regulate itself after a cheat meal. Aside from feeling bloated, less active, and a temporary increase in water weight (excess sodium in many processed foods means you'll hold on to more water) a cheat here or there won't do much harm.

Overall, you can get back into ketosis as soon as 12-16 hours after your last cheat meal (with the help of fasting and exercise) or it can take as long as it did when you first started keto.

Chips, crackers, cookies and snack foods are all off-limits on the keto diet. Low in fiber and high in carbs, these items do not support the goal of keto eating, aka reducing carbs enough to stay in ketosis and burn stored fat.

Eating more than 50 grams of carbs may disrupt ketosis.

With keto diets, however, carb restrictions vary from person to person. Some people can eat more and still stay in ketosis, whereas others may need to restrict their carb intake more in order to stay in ketosis.