Cheating on Keto: Effects and Recovery (2024)

FAQs

Cheating on Keto: Effects and Recovery? ›

The bottom line

Yes, even just one carb-rich meal can quickly get you out of ketosis. The carbs eaten on a cheat day will halt the production of ketones immediately until they are all metabolized by the body. It's not that complicated to achieve ketosis, but it does take time and effort.

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.

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.

Transitioning off the keto diet should take a few weeks. About 14 days is pretty reasonable for your body to adjust to the change. Some people find it helpful to increase their carb intake each day by about 10 percent, while others use an app to help keep track.

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.

While your metabolism may go up in the immediate aftermath of a splurge, it doesn't stay that way for long enough to make a significant difference. “Cheat day calories can add up fast and bring your weight loss progress to a screeching halt — or even reverse it,” Taylor warns.

If you've cheated on keto, you'll need to strictly adhere to the diet to reenter ketosis. A few techniques, such as intermittent fasting, fat fasting, and exercise, may help you reach ketosis faster.

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.

They may also feel very tired or experience digestive issues when they reintroduce the carbs they once enjoyed, and even regain a bit of weight due to higher insulin levels. This phenomenon (known as carbohydrate intolerance) is a normal response when the body is adapting to these changes in diet.

How long does keto sickness last? ›

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 ).

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.

In addition to the Keto Flu “symptoms” you might experience in the days following your cheat day, you may also experience some physical discomforts on the cheat day itself.

If your cheat day knocked you out of ketosis, you need to get back to restricting your carb intake to 20 to 50 grams a day. Then, it will take between 2 to 7 days to reenter ketosis, but this will depend on your metabolism, exercise, and hydration.

The time required to return to ketosis varies from person to person but typically ranges between 24 hours to four days. Factors affecting this timeframe include age, metabolism, adherence to the ketogenic diet plan, and physical activity.

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.

If your primary goal of following a keto diet is to lose weight, the occasional cheat day or cheat meal is not going to completely wreck your progress even if it disrupts ketosis. Ketosis has potential health benefits, one of which is calorie control.

Not following accepted ketogenic diet guidelines can disrupt ketosis because carbs are the body's preferred energy source. If your carb intake is too high, carbs may be used for fuel instead of ketone bodies, which is the main source of fuel during ketosis.

While cheating may be helpful for some eating patterns, it's far from ideal for the keto diet. That's because this diet relies on your body staying in ketosis. To do so, you need to eat fewer than 50 grams of carbs per day. Eating more than 50 grams can kick your body out of ketosis ( 2 ).