I’m sometimes overwhelmed by the number of phone calls and Facebook messages I get about living the low-carb lifestyle.
So many of you have asked if I ever have cheat meals.
The answer is yes. I feel that cheat meals are what has kept me living this way for over two years.
Over the Labor Day holiday, I had what I call a carb fest. I ate anything I wanted to within a three-day time frame. I do want to warn you, however, that you will gain weight when you do this. I gained 7 pounds during my little cheat fest. I feel it’s important to reward myself with some of those “forbidden” meals from time to time.
When I have my cheat weekends, I always restart on Monday mornings by doing what I call a 24-hour fast. That means I have no food whatsoever for 24 hours ... water only. I ate dinner at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night and did not eat anything until 7 p.m. on Monday. I find this is important because it kicks my body back into shape from eating all the carbs and find that I do drop quite a bit of weight in those 24 hours.
For example, I talked about my seven pound weight gain over the holiday weekend. When I did my 24-hour fast, I had dropped four of those pounds and by the end of the week had dropped the remaining three pounds. The fasting is not easy by any means. You will get hungry. I always tell newbies to try a 12-hour fast before you ever move to a 24-hour fast. I’m not saying it works for everyone but it certainly does me.
—————I often struggle when finding new things to eat. I tend to get in a rut where I eat the same things over and over again. If you ever see me at the grocery store, I’m one of those crazy people that seriously read everything on the food labels.
The other day at the store I found a frozen cauliflower crust pizza. Knowing what I know now, just because you think something is healthy doesn’t mean it always is. I was amazed to turn the box around and find that two slices of the cauliflower crust pizza had 37 grams of carbs (34 net carbs). That amazed me. All I can say is make sure you read the labels.
I was really craving ...