Can I cheat and still be keto?

Having a cheat day once or twice per week might feel like a good idea but ultimately will make your adaptation process longer and push out the timeline to achieve the results you are looking for. When you continually switch between high carb and high fat your body struggles to ‘understand’ what energy system you are wanting to use glucose or ketones?

It is common in ‘diets’ that are low cal or low fat to have a cheat day, this is because they are very restrictive but ultimately still rely on a high carbohydrate fueling system and adjusting total calories per day. The failure in this approach is that you don’t teach your body to burn fat as an energy source, and ultimately never gain control over your weight.

In the first few weeks of going keto, it can take a few days to get back into keto if you switch back to carbs. In this time all fat burning and fat adaption process is halted, so one cheat day per week could mean you are only in Keto 2 or 3 days per week!

It’s not all doom and gloom! As you become more fat adapted and make fat burning your default ‘setting’. You will return to Keto quicker if you push the carbs.