Before we discuss the do’s and don'ts of the keto cheat day, let us brief ourselves about the keto diet. As many of us are new to the dieting game, it becomes important to educate ourselves about the diet plan we are going to follow. So, what is a keto diet and how is a keto cheat day beneficial or harmful for your health? When you are on a keto day, you increase the consumption of food that contains no carbs and shift towards the inclusion of a high-fat diet in your eating routine.  This diet plan makes a change in the metabolism of your body which undergoes through a process known as ketosis. 

Consequently, the body starts using the fat stored in it to perform the everyday functions, instead of the carbs, thus, effectively and rapidly burning the fat of the body. This makes the keto diet extremely effective to lose weight. Keto diet has many kinds which toward the main goal, but the main question that arises here is that if the gravity of the keto diet is comparatively higher than other diets, is it normal to have a keto cheat day? Everyone loves to eat junk food and have at least one day where they can eat the forbidden food, but the major concern that arrives here is can you really have a cheat meal on a keto diet without disturbing the body metabolism at all? Let us have a brief look over this issue. 

Can You Cheat On Keto? 

Keto diet is considered stricter and naturally more effective than other diet plans. Hence, it is quite tricky to answer definitively when you have just started your keto diet and are serious about losing weight but searching a slot for your keto cheat day. 

Body metabolism, if disrupted once, takes a long time to get back into the way you started as the functioning is interconnected. However, it also depends on how your body takes your cheat day and the intake of carbs again in your diet. 

The consequences and disruptions of Cheat Meal on Keto 

What is a cheat day? To indulge and devour in food that defies your goal, for your satisfaction and hunger for junk. Not to forget, that some diets find it completely normal to have at least one cheat day a week, the keto diet, on the other hand, makes it a prohibition against the consumption of any kind of food that falls out of the category of the keto diet. Hence, it becomes extremely difficult to get a keto cheat day. Now, let us learn why!

Remember, that your body is in the process of ketosis while you are on a keto diet. When you consume any food that has carbs, as they are tempting, this is how the bodily procedure changes:

• The moment you take carbs, the blood sugar level rises thereby, leading to change the fuel of the body from fats to carbs and glucose again.
• Consequently, the production of ketone will stop which eventually puts a halt to the ketone metabolism.
• The body will start replenishing the glycogen that was originally lost while you were on the keto diet, with the help of the sugars you consumed.
• The process continues until the glycogen and glucose is not exhausted and only after this will the body resume its ketone production.

This procedure disrupts ketosis. Moreover, a high-carb food on a keto diet can be dangerous for the blood vessels as there is a sudden spike in the blood sugar levels. When it comes to eating, it is easier to eat than it is to control. So one has to watch out for that while eating. Anyways, a single bite of cake will cause a weight gain, but one must be aware of the calories that one bit contains, because that is what leads to a weight gain. For a body to pull itself out from the ketosis depends on several factors that depend on the person like:

• How long has he/she been on a keto diet?
• The amount of carbs consumed.
• What is his carb limit?
• What are his ketone levels?

It takes almost a day for the body to manifest the effects of the cheat meal on keto. 

Keto Cheat Meal: A little savior 

Like every other diet, this too has substitutes, but strictly low-carb substitutes. Keto cheat meals are not like regular cheat meals. Also, in a keto diet you don’t have cheat days, only cheat meals. So, even though you might get some loose points here and there, you still have to remain in and follow the keto cheat meals for your cheat days. Not the best, but still better than having none. Nevertheless, let us have a glance at the same. First of all, make a plan so when you have a keto cheat day, you don’t end up ruining your entire diet. Ask yourself about your goal:

• Do you aim at controlling calories through a keto diet?
• Or ketosis is your main concern?

If your answer is the former one, it is advisable to have a cheat once a week but remember the inclusion of low-carb food only. If your answer is the latter one, you should not have a cheat meal on a keto as regular as the former one. The best is you have once a month or twice a month. 

Still craving for pizzas, croissants, and muffins?  You have our back. Instead of feeding your body unhealthy, high-carb food, it is better you go for a keto pizza or buy a keto bread and other low-carb recipes. There are many keto snacks and keto-approved cheat meals that are available in India which can help through your keto diet easily.  

Recover from the Keto Cheat Day

You have smartly cheated, but now you also want to recover and bring your body back to its normal metabolism under the process of ketosis. You can resume back to your diet after the keto cheat day quite easily. 

• As you have consumed more carbs, you need to workout more for some time to get them out of the body and resume the ketosis.
• Follow the keto diet strictly for the rest of the month or week.
• If you have cravings, delay them for later and don’t be hungry for a longer time. It is the hunger that makes you crave.
• Be earnest in drinking 8 glasses of water every day as it subsides hunger. Therefore, it helps in pausing your cravings.

Cheating, as much it is necessary if done too much, can pave a way for many problems. Eat healthily and try not to have a lot of cheat days. 

Also read: Choose Between Dirty Keto And Lazy Keto