Kppgreen's Journal, 27 May 2016

I know some people take a "free" day once a week in order to stay on track, and that may be ok if you don't go too overboard. I personally find I can keep the cravings in check by allowing myself a "treat" (or perhaps a cheat) by choosing a day (or days on occasion) and building in the extra in my planned menu (as least it has worked so far.) I think the key is to finds out what works for you and that you can stick with. 

I diet hard in the week ,and gym my heart out .Then one day on the weekend I have exactly what i want ,and i mean no holds barred .I am still losing weight .I suppose if you gonna cheat be mindfully of it .It can help you lose weight if its plateauing as it will spike your insulin and kinda reset your metabolism  

You have to do what you feel comfortable with and what you can honestly handle. Processed carbs (if that's what you are craving) unfortunately are highly addictive. So make sure you are in control if you decide to have something out of the norm. Get in and get out. Watch out for having a little more the next day and the next or a full binge. We will all fall off from time to time but it's about how fast we recover. Also read about spike days. I tried it briefly and it may work well with the 5:2 eating style. Best wishes!  

Far better to plan a treat (item, meal, day) than to have an urge overtake you, go "unconscious" and find yourself in weight gain territory with no end in sight. I would choose something that satisfies as a treat but not something that has been a binge food for you in the past (if that has ever been a problem for you).  

I think you're feeling unnecessary angst about having something that's not on your plan, it's better to go ahead and feed the monster and get right back on track than to feel some kind of unidentified pressure to stick to something you feel confined to. Popularity isn't everything, it's your diet, your body, do it your way.  

Since u r still in the process of losing I'd say have a bite or two of that half cup and move on. But that's me. Now one weekend while traveling I had fast food all weekend. I went home and did a 24hr fast then 16:8s until March 15. I was so scared I'd never flush all that out but I think I ended up losing five lbs the next week.  

Great posts above Kpp...far better to have a way of eating that is SUSTAINABLE for you, whatever that is...if you were to look at my food diary yesterday and the day before...on Thursday I knew we were having a birthday celebration...fasted all day and ate/drank only at supper...stayed within my RDI quite easily, even with a fancy meal and some adult beverages. Yesterday, I had a big calorie day and a few treats...about 20% over my RDI...however if you look at the monthly average or even weekly it is all good. Not saying to eat whatever, whenever, but with some planning and accepting that life happens and we need to deal with it, you will still have month after month of success...this will translate into years of success if you stay on course. Of course I too have to deal with carb/water bloat and the weight gain from those indulgences, but I don't stress from it as I know in a day to two days I am back to normal weight, what ever that is. I do like the butter tart plan though...I just don't think I could sustain it...take care and hope you have a great weekend! 

I don't think you need to schedule a "cheat" day...they will happen in the normal course of life often enough...just my opinion of course. ;-) 

RE diabetes...absolutely agree with Ollie regarding the dangers of a bad diet and sugar...even now I struggle with that aspect of my diet although I have a lot better handle on how and when to satisfy my sweet tooth safely...still not perfect but have killed off some real bad habits (I was pre-diabetec) which got me here to FS last year.  

@TIOJ......You didn't just join on the 27th of May?  

Try to eat something with natural sugars vs. something with simple sugars. I know if I eat something with simple sugars I go into piggy mode.  

Thes is YOUR plan... you need to make it work for YOU. So yes... try to build a day in. Then work it for a while. If it sabotages you, change the plan. You are in this for the long haul, right? So you need to come up with something that you can keep going with. Proud of you for making this work for YOU. You got this! 

ImLaura is right. You have to do something that works and can be maintained. Experiment a bit and see what works.  

Just my 2 cents. 2 sense? Whenever I try to be really strict with my diet like that (I don't mean to say it like that, it's just I have history of anorexia and when I was strict, I was strict) If I had had one thing of sugar or whatever, I would go way overboard, so I would just try to stay out of it. Now I'm just trying to eat all things in moderation so I don't get those intense food cravings like I did when I was starving myself. I have studied A LOT about dieting and one thing I read about dieting is that planning is key, so if you want to plan in a day where you can reset, do it , but plan ahead. Write down everything you want to eat. Rolls, cake, icecream, whatever. plan the calories and I used to eat that instead of regular food for meals. I wanted a rootbeer float so I had it for breakfast, but I looked at everything and only had 400 calories worth. I wanted strawberry shortcake for lunch so I had 400 calories worth. I had a thin slice of cheesecake for a snack and a chocolate cake with german chocolate frosting for dinner. I indulged and overdid it on fat, ate almost no protein, but didn't overdo it with calories. I didn't get the intense guilt and self hatred after eating like I would if I just overate. Anyway, good luck, do what makes you feel good about yourself. 

I wondered about that, too, Engeland! Profile does show a joined date of May 27. 

ok...so i'm with Kppgreen. Here's how to do it, and more importantly, why. Most importantly, it is not a "Cheat Day". Calling it a Cheat Day implies it is something you should not be doing, far from it, you should be doing it. 7 Days a week, keep your carbs at less than 30gms Net (Net Carbs = Total Carbs - Fiber). Once you reach your goal weight, increase this to 50gms Net. Once you maintain this schedule for 21-30 days, you'll empty your glucose stores and shed excess water and burn fat at a high rate. After about 30 days, fat mobilization (burn) slows. This is due to Insulin. Without an Insulin release, your body knows that it cannot store fat and most hold on to its fat reserves and limit their release, as it does not know when it will be able to store fat again. Remember, you are either Fat Burning, or Fat Storing...one of the two, never static. This is evident when you look at a traditional Low Carb, High Protein diet....first 30 days are great, afterwards it slows dramatically. After 30 days, have ONE afternoon and evening per week where you load on carbs a good "Spike Night", eating something sugary every few hours. Not "Good" carbs either, Ice Cream, Pies, Cakes, Candy, etc.. (I just ate an entire Apple Pie with Ice Cream the other night). Then for 6 days go back to your Low Carb HIGH FAT (LCHF)...not High Protein..HIGH FAT diet. Day 7 morning is again LCHF, the afternoon and evening are again High Carbs. This cycle repeats weekly and gives you a diet that is sustainable long term as you can now plan a night out...pizza and beer, fries and a burger, etc.. So that is the HOW, now the WHY. The answer to the why is in the first part of this post...Insulin. On your Spike Night, you want a large insulin release, and this will only happen with a large carb/sugar/glucose intake. As we know, insulin removes sugar from the blood and typically stores as Fat, however, as your liver glycogen stores are very low from your LCHF diet, it goes to liver glycogen stores, and not to fat stores. Once insulin is released at a sustained rate over several hours, it triggers the body into fat storing mode, and for the next 4-5 days you burn fat at an accelerated rate. However, you've tricked your body. It believes sugars are incoming due to the high spike of carbs on your one Spike Night. It is only around Day 4 that it realizes that insulin has not been released and that no sugars are incoming and that it must slow the rate of fat burn. A few days later, you hit it again...and continue back on plan afterwards. What you will see is that for 1-2 mornings after your Spike Night, you'll put on a few pounds of excess water weight due to glucose stored in the liver. This drops off very quickly and you're back to your pre-Spike weight by Day 3-4.  

Kppgreen, you're not an alcoholic. You're just human. Nothing to be ashamed of or worried about. Keep doing the best you can but don't beat yourself up about it / because we're all in this together (for better or worse 8-) but I'm voting better for you ! 

before I forget. The "Spike Night" or "Carb Night" concept is not new, look for a book by John Kiefer - Carb Nite. Very good e-book in PDF format. John's research is always supported by in depth references. 

At first glance, Mahjohn's post is TLDR. It does bring science into the conversation, though and it makes sense. My point is from the addiction angle: Sugar is more addicting than cocaine. That being said, there are people who are able to use cocaine on occasion without destroying their lives. Be honest in your food log and your journal. You will learn if you can use sugar occasionally or if it triggers obsessions. 

This is just MY experience: I have tried the once a week planned "any food". For ME that was too much. It's like there wasn't enough time between the "off" days. I have done much better with a schedule more of "I know I'm going to eat such and such on memorial day" or christmas or birthday. That way there is more time between so I don't get so used to eating the "off" foods. I hope this makes sense.....