We see this question a lot. Can I have cheat days on keto? No. It’s impossible to have a cheat day on keto. Why? Because this is not a diet you can cheat on. It’s a lifestyle. You don’t cheat on a lifestyle – you just live. Well, that’s a quick post. We know what people mean when they ask this question. They mean can you take a day when you don’t eat keto. That, you can do. You can have an off-plan day.
Keeping in the Macros
The option we tend to go for is keeping our macros stable but increasing the amount of food we are taking in. So, this tends to be days when we eat at restaurants. We try to keep our macros at 75% fat, 5% carbs, and 20% protein. We just take in more food.
An example of this is when we went to Prince Edward Island recently. Restaurants give you more food than what we would typically eat if we were making it ourselves. We didn’t worry about the amount, we just ate until we were full and enjoyed the fact that someone else was making it. This option keeps you in ketosis, and while you probably won’t lose weight, you won’t likely gain any either.
We will also have days when we buy some keto-friendly treats and indulge a little. Back before keto, we would buy a bunch of junk food and eat it all in one day. Chips, chocolate bars, and candy were all fair game. We’d spend like $40 and sit down and eat it. Now, we spend the $40 on keto treats from No Sugar Company or a Locally Baked (a Nova Scotia keto company). There are few carbs in the treats, so we stay on track that way. There are a lot of sugar alcohols in them, so it’s not something you want to do all the time, but if you’re missing that “cheat day” feel, it’s a better option.
Intentional Cheat Days on Keto
If you are actually going to go off-plan completely, it’s better to go into the day knowing and planning for it. I wouldn’t do this for the first 6 months or so. Wait until you are firmly into ketosis so your body can readjust and get back into ketosis quickly.
The last time I did an intentional off-plan day was in April of 2021. It was just past my birthday and I was going out shopping with our daughter. I knew what I was going to eat, and I planned the day around it. I had poutine with a Skor Blizzard from Dairy Queen for lunch. For dinner, we had pizza and garlic fingers. I drank regular Pepsi all day.
Here is what I didn’t plan. I felt so sick. It took me several days of strict keto eating to start feeling better again. On top of that, I didn’t really enjoy it. The poutine was good, but a bit too salty for me. The Blizzard was way too sweet. The pizza and garlic fingers tasted okay, but not what I had been dreaming about.
I realized that the idea of the food was so much more than the reality. I’m not sure if it was because my tastes had changed so much or if I just got used to real food with real flavour, but it wasn’t all I had expected. I haven’t felt the need to do it since.
Unintentional Cheat Days on Keto
This is when you don’t plan for it, but it happens. Because we do this for Bill’s health and he actually can’t go off-plan without becoming very sick, this isn’t a trap we fall into. If you are doing this to feel better and lose weight, it could be a risk you face. This is when you eat that piece of birthday cake that’s offered. Or, you say screw it and eat the bread that comes with a meal when you’re with friends at a restaurant.
These are the days that can throw you off your game. Because you don’t just feel badly physically afterwards, you also feel horrible mentally. You feel like you failed because you gave in to your cravings. This is when you need to truly believe in the fact that this is not a diet, it is a lifestyle. This is why we are so adamant about that.
If you eat something that is off-plan, look at why you did. Was it a craving? Was it peer pressure? Is there something you can do differently next time to keep from eating that? And then move on. One off-plan food, meal, or even day, is not going to undo everything you have done. If this is truly a lifestyle, one misstep does not define you and your overall choices. The physical act of eating something that is not keto will not put you back to where you were before. But the mental part of it can easily put you back where you were before.
A Final Thought
Personally, I’ve found that off-plan days are not worth it for me. That doesn’t mean I’ll never do it again. But, I have enough options now of keto-friendly foods I enjoy that I don’t crave the high-sugar, processed crap. But, I do know that if I venture off-plan, intentionally or unintentionally, my biggest hurdle to get back on track will be my brain. Physically, you’ll get back into ketosis and move on. Your body is not the issue. It is your brain that tells you that you failed. Remember that you only failed if this is a test or a diet. Keto as a lifestyle is not pass or fail. It’s just a series of daily choices.
Wendy
