Any nutritionist, dietitian, or keto veteran will tell you the key is to meal prep and then know and to track your macronutrients(especially your net carbs) with a macro calculator like Cronometer or Carb Manager this way you’ll be able to ensure that your body burns body fat for fuel, your blood-sugar levels decrease, and you again reach ketosis. Fluctuations in the diet won’t do you any favors. It should go without saying, but the best way to get back into ketosis is to strictly follow a keto diet (i.e a high fat, low carb diet, with modest amounts of protein and a low carb intake of 20 net grams of carbs per day). Remember, cravings and flu symptoms are short-lived as long as you stay on track, so your energy and mental clarity will return. As you begin your efforts to get back into getting energy from blood ketones, fight any urges for carbs, and if you’ve been “off” for a while, don’t be surprised if you get some side effects of reentry, or more specifically “ keto flu ” symptoms. This vicious cycle of eating carbs, craving carbs, then eating more carbs to satisfy your craving is the American dilemma that has perpetuated obesity and has so many of us sick, or at least not at our optimum health to begin with. Eating carbs and sugar may incite cravings for more. Regardless, the following are things to consider when trying to get back into ketosis after eating one or more cheat meals. You won’t get back into ketosis without taking important steps. That said, whether you’re dieting or eating a keto meal plan for other health reasons, you can generally expect that if you go back onto the keto diet, you should be able to get back into a state of ketosis within one to three days, and you can speed up the process with simple steps. However, there are some indicators that you’re more likely to return to ketosis quickly: if you’ve been in ketosis for four or more weeks before your cheat meal, you got into ketosis easily when you first started, you’re regularly exercising, you didn’t go too overboard with your cheat, and you begin intermittent fasting (more on that below). It depends on what and how much you ate, how adept your body is to the keto diet, how long you stayed off your low-carb meal plan, and the reactions of your own distinct body every body is different and has different reactions. If you find that your cheat did kick you out of ketosis, unfortunately, there’s no way to predict your exact recovery time. How Long Will it Take to Get Back into Ketosis?

Of course, these results depend on how much and for how long you cheated on your low-carb diet.

While higher tolerance to carbs isn’t a hall pass to regularly dive into the bread basket or ice cream carton, it may afford you more resilience from the occasional misstep. If you’re one of them, you may find you’re still in ketosis, albeit in a lower state. Some people can tolerate more carbs than others, especially if you’ve been on a keto diet for a while. Second, use the situation as a learning experience: test your ketone levels the next day with a ketone meter to see if you really have been kicked out of ketosis. Returning to healthy eating and monitoring your daily carb intake and daily calorie intake will help you get back on track. If along with eating lots of carbs, you’ve also been overeating, you have a little more work to do to get on track. Hopefully, if you’ve seen any weight gain it’s mostly water weight and not the reversal of your fat loss. If you cheated with high-carb foods and are wondering how long it will take to get back into ketosis, first give yourself a break. if you’re fat-adapted or keto-adapted), how much you exercise, how your unique body reacts to excess carbohydrates, and whether you’ve stopped cheating and are back on track. How much and how long does it take to get into ketosis again if you cheat? That totally depends on many things, including what you ate, how much of the offending food you ate, how long you’ve been on (and off) a keto diet (i.e. It’s not the end of the world or of your keto journey. Whether this is the first time or a repeat offense, relax and don’t give yourself a hard time.

Or, you simply decide you deserve a keto cheat day and plan to splurge.Ĭheating on the ketogenic diet happens to all of us, sometimes in small and sometimes in big ways. You have a terrible cough, can’t find sugar-free cough drops, and settle on regular, sugary options. You’ve had a crappy day and a comforting bowl of pasta seems just the thing to pick you up. You’re out for happy hour and buzzed hunger hits at the same time a golden, towering tangle of fries arrives at the table. It’s your birthday and someone slides a piece of your favorite cake under your nose.

Kick the cheat