How To Get Back on Track‍ on Keto After a Cheat Day

So you just had a keto cheat day, and you stopped losing weight. 

You might consider quitting keto because you just can’t seem to stick to it. 

But, there are ways of getting back on track & eating keto consistently again if you know what to do.

Today I’ll share with you some helpful tips that can help put an end to cheating on keto & how to recover from a cheat day on keto as fast as possible.

First let’s start off with how keto works so you have a better understanding.

How Does Keto Work?

Ketosis is a metabolic state of the human body where the body transitions from using glucose as its primary source of energy to using fats. This is achieved by drastically reducing or eliminating carbs from the diet, and increasing protein and fat intake.

Ketosis is an effective method of losing weight because it reduces insulin levels in the body, which in turn causes the liver to break down fat into fatty acids and ketones. This is the process the body uses to fuel the cells when there is no carbs available.

To be in ketosis, you must have a very low carb intake. 

Though it can be challenging, I recommend eating under 50 grams of net carbs per day to stay in ketosis.

Some of the signs that you are eating too many carbs and not enough fat are excessive thirst, constant hunger, frequent urination, fatigue, and frequent headaches.

What Causes a Keto Plateau?

There are many things that could cause you to hit a keto plateau, though the most common is that you aren’t doing intermittent fasting on top of eating keto.

Intermittent fasting is a type of eating plan where you eat for around eight hours of the day & fast for the other sixteen hours. 

This helps to lower your insulin & lose weight, so it’s a great addition to add on top of keto.

If you aren’t doing IF with keto, you’ll eventually stop losing weight.

That’s why if you stop losing weight with keto, add IF on top of keto so you can keep losing weight.

You can also hit a plateau if you’re not drinking enough water. Your body needs water to function, and if you get dehydrated, it will struggle to burn the carbs and get into ketosis, so you may end up holding yourself back and not losing weight.

Why Do People Have Cheat Days on Keto?

The most common reason why people cheat on keto is because they have an addiction to carbs. When you first start keto, you might find yourself craving carbs or snacking on high-carb foods. If you don’t have enough energy or you’re just too tired to cook or plan meals, this can also make you want to cheat.

There are a few reasons why someone would want to cheat on keto.

Maybe Auntie’s pecan pie was too good to resist, or you got peer pressured into eating carbs at someone’s party.

But, the most common reason is that people get temptations to eat high carb foods like ice cream, candy, pizza, etc, & then they go off of keto.

This is especially true if you became overweight because of you addiction to eating unhealthy foods (me!)

How Many Carbs Will Break Ketosis?

If you eat more than 50 grams of net carbs in a day, you’d break ketosis. This is because your body would sense that it doesn’t need to use its own body fat for fuel anymore, so it would go back to using carbs as fuel.

But, if you’re eating nothing but keto foods like eggs and bacon, you won’t be breaking ketosis, and you’d be losing weight. 

However, if you’re eating some soup, berries, & some higher carb vegetables, you’ll get a bit of carbs, and your body will turn them into glucose. 

But, if you’re a bigger person or if you exercise more, your body would metabolize the carbs faster.

This would mean that you could probably still stay in ketosis if you ate even 50 grams of net carbs in a day.

However, if you’re a smaller person who doesn’t workout as much, you likely could only get away with eating under 40 grams of net carbs per day.

This is because it would take longer for your body to burn through the old carbs in its system & get back to burning its own body fat for fuel.

But, in general, as long as you eat under 50 grams of net carbs per day, you likely won’t get kicked out of ketosis.

How Long Does It Take to Get Back Into Ketosis?

For most people, it takes about 24 hours to get back into ketosis. You may be able to get into ketosis quicker if you eat less carbs, for example, 10 – 20 carbs per day. You could also get into ketosis faster if you did intermittent fasting on top of eating keto.

But, as I said previously, how long it takes for you to get back into ketosis depends on multiple factors like how many carbs you eat, how much you exercise, etc.

Can You Have Cheat Days on Keto & Still Lose Weight?

Though it is possible to have cheat days on keto and still lose weight, you’d lose weight much slower. This is because it takes your body time to get back into ketosis. So, for a couple days after your cheat day, your weight loss potential would be hindered. 

If you did have a keto cheat day, get back into ketosis as soon as possible and make up for it by eating strictly low-carb for multiple days.

This means eating fat, vegetables, and protein, and if you want to get into ketosis even faster, make sure to workout as well.

Though working out isn’t necessary, it can help you to get into ketosis faster because exercising would burn through the old carbs in your system.

Will One Cheat Day Ruin Ketosis?

No, one cheat day wouldn’t ruin ketosis. If you did have one cheat day, don’t get mad & instead just focus on eating keto as much as possible going forward. It would only take a day or two to get back into ketosis, so as long as stay away from eating carbs, you’d start losing weight again.

In my weight loss journey, I’ve had dozens of cheat days, but I still lost the weight eventually. 

As long as you keep coming back to keto, you’ll keep losing weight, so even if you do go off track, always come back.

What Are The Signs That You Aren’t In Ketosis?

• You’re craving carbs––If you’re craving carbs, this is likely a sign that you aren’t in ketosis. This is because once you eat carbs, your body becomes more dependent on carbs, so it sends signals to your brain to eat more. However, as long as you ignore the cravings & eat keto, most of the cravings will go away & you’ll continue to lose weight.
• You’re getting headaches or feel exhausted––If you’re feeling tired or are having headaches on keto, you might not be in ketosis. This is because when you eat keto for a long time & then eat some carbs, your body isn’t used to processing carbs. So when you do eat carbs, your body doesn’t know how to metabolize them correctly. This may result in you getting a headache or being tired.
• You’re getting constipated––If you’re getting constipated after eating carbs on keto, you may not be in ketosis. This is because after you eat keto for a long period of time & then eat carbs, your gut bacteria doesn’t know how to process the carbs you just ate. This could result in you becoming constipated.

These are just a few signs that you aren’t in ketosis, and there are many more. Keep an eye on them, and if you notice any of them, you probably aren’t in ketosis. 

As long as you continue to eat low-carb, these symptoms will go away.

How to Get Back on Track to Keto

1. Eat <50 Grams of Net Carbs Per Day––The most important thing to get back on track to keto is to eat less than 50 grams of net carbs per day. This would lower your insulin & put you into a state of ketosis again.
2. Buy Keto Foods & Get Rid of Carbs — This may seem obvious, but you may have forgotten about buying keto foods all together. Try to keep some low-carb foods in your house and in your fridge so that you are reminded to eat them & so you don’t go off track again. If you have control of whether or not you can have carbs in the house, getting rid of them would be a smart idea since it would limit the amount of temptations you got. But, if you live with other people, than just stay disciplined & don’t touch the carbs!
3. (Optional) Add Intermittent Fasting to Keto — If you want to get into ketosis even faster, I recommend doing intermittent fasting on top of keto. With intermittent fasting you eat for 8 hours of the day & don’t eat for the rest of the day. This helps you to lose weight much faster since it lowers your insulin & your opportunities to snack. If you want to start IF, just skip breakfast or dinner.
4. (Optional) Workout — Once you’re eating low-carb again, it would be nice if you added exercising on top of keto. This would allow you to burn more calories, keep your metabolism going, & keep you less hungry throughout the day. If your goal as a guy or a girl is to look better, I recommend doing a full-body weight-lifting workout.

How to Get Into Ketosis Fast

The biggest things that you can change to get into ketosis faster are how little carbs you eat, how often you eat, & how much you exercise. These factors affect how much you lower your insulin & how many calories you burn.

1. Eat Less Carbs — Though you can get into ketosis by eating less than 50 grams of net carbs per day, if you want to lose weight faster, you should eat less carbs. Eating less carbs would lower your insulin even more & put you into an even deeper state of ketosis, allowing you to lose weight super fast. If you want to get into ketosis ASAP, I recommend eating under 25 grams of net carbs per day.
2. Do Intermittent Fasting — If you want to get into ketosis & lose weight as fast as possible, you should do IF on top of keto. You can start out IF by eating for 8 hours of the day & fasting the rest. But, later on, progress to make the eating period even shorter. This would help you to go into an even deeper state of ketosis.
3. Exercise Daily — If you add working out on top of keto & IF, you’d basically become a fat burning machine. Though exercising doesn’t burn many calories, it helps you to look better, be less hungry, & improve your heart health. If you haven’t worked out consistently before, I recommend just doing one air squat a day for two weeks & then go to the gym. Though it sounds silly, this is what I did to build the habit permanently & I never quit working out daily ever since.

What If I Stopped Losing Weight on Keto?

If you stopped losing weight on keto, add fasting variations on top of keto to keep losing weight. Fasting works because it limits the time frame in which you eat, so your insulin lowers. I recommend starting with intermittent fasting, & then one meal a day, & then prolonged dry fasting.

It’s possible to eat only keto for a few months and lose weight, but eventually you’ll hit a plateau.

For example, I personally stopped losing weight on keto when I only reached 50% of my weight loss goal.

Then, to keep losing weight, I added intermittent fasting on top of keto & then I kept losing weight.

Intermittent Fasting + Keto

Intermittent fasting is a type of fasting type where the time you eat is restricted. For example, you may eat for 8 hours of the day & fast for the other 16 hours. This combined with keto can help you to break your keto weight loss plateau & lose weight faster.

Intermittent fasting works because by limiting the time you can eat, you automatically eat less often, which means that your fat storing hormone, insulin, lowers.

After adding intermittent fasting on top of keto, I lost around another 25% of my weight loss goal.

OMAD Fasting + Keto

After that, I added OMAD (one meal a day) fasting on top of keto to lose even more weight. OMAD fasting is one meal a day, & it helps you to lose weight by lowering your insulin even more then normal intermittent fasting.

After adding OMAD fasting on top of keto, I lost around another 10% of my weight loss goal.

But, I still had 10% of weight to lose so I did prolonged dry fasting.

Prolonged Dry Fasting + OMAD + Keto

Prolonged dry fasting is a type of fasting where you don’t eat or drink water to lose weight.

After I did prolonged dry fasting + OMAD + keto, I lost all the weight I wanted to lose.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you keep having cheat days on keto, don’t get frustrated & quit. Most people, including me, have dozens of cheat days until they can stick to healthy eating forever. But, as long as you keep coming back to keto, you’ll eventually lose all the weight you need to lose.

If you’re interested in learning how I lost 40 pounds on keto, here’s my article where I share everything I’ve done on keto & IF through my weight loss journey & how you can lose weight too.