STUDY – I WENT OFF KETO FOR 1 WEEK – WHAT HAPPENED?
I embarked in a study to report on what happens to your body – weight loss and health when you stop doing Keto for 1 week. My hopes for this study are to improve knowledge for people on keto and to help with stalls and overall health and to find out if it is – in fact safe to Carb up for a while on the ketogenic diet.
ON CARBS DAY 1 – 7
During my 7 days eating carbs I ate foods that were high in carbs right away. I did not ease my way into it. Foods I ate were spaghetti, pizza, turkey dinner, pie and ice cream. All my go to carbs when I was a carb addict and obese.
I did find I became addicted again to them in such a short period of time. It is essential you have strength and will power if you’re going to do this. I knew at the end of this study it was going to be hard to get back in ketosis because of my severe carb addiction. The best way to get back at it was to meal prep and plan for my future goals.
I gained 7 lbs at the end of the 1 week study. About 1 lb per day in total weight. (It could be water weight as well. I will report more in the study as I enter ketosis on how fast I lose the weight – that will determine how much of it was water weight in the quick weight loss in the first week back on keto.)
My overall health was obviously deteriorating. My blood pressure increased every time I ate carbs. I got the sweats and my heart hurt and palpitations became regular after eating. I became lazy and tired. It was difficult to even walk upstairs by the 7th day on carbs. My good health took a hard hit!
My clothes became tight and my body swollen. Even my face looked chubbier. I actually felt like I gained 20 lbs based on my clothes not fitting me good by day 7. I probably grew 1 full size in clothes. Basically it sucked big time and I could not wait to be back to normal on keto.
BACK ON KETO WEEK Days 1-7
Day 1 was super hard to get back on low carb. I had minimal energy to cook and meal prep. I did not experience “keto flu” and was back in ketosis rather quickly. Foods tasted bland, unlike before on keto they tasted brilliant.
Day 2 I woke up and lost 2 lbs over night. I assume that was gained water weight. My energy returned quickly and I started to feel like my old healthy self again.
Day 3 I didn’t lose any more weight but I did feel very energetic. I could hardly sleep and woke up extra early. My laziness was gone. Cravings were 100% gone and taste buds returned to normal.
Days 4-7 I lost all the weight gained. I got back to my original weight. My blood pressure is back to normal and I feel amazing. I did suffer from a little dehydration which I easily fixed by upping my electrolytes and water intake.
Conclusion
Eating high carbs while on a ketogenic diet is frowned upon. I experienced why during my 1 week on carbs for this study. Would I do it again? Not for that long. It made me feel like crap and my health took a nasty turn in a short period of time. I do however believe in carb-ups to help with weight loss stalls. If you’re maintaining your weight then it’s more for special occasion treats. A carb-up would only consist of 1 meal – not 1 whole week of carb meals.
I love the way I eat, and quite frankly I can design any recipe that is high carbohydrates to cater to my ketogenic way of eating. So I’m not suffering at all.
If you require help with your keto journey, check out my books or blog that have tons of recipes so you also don’t have to suffer from being a major carb addict like me.
Eat Healthy – Live Clean – Be Amazing!
With Love and Ketones,
HealthyWholesomeHomemade.com 