The ketogenic diet is a popular low-carb, high-fat diet that has been shown to help people lose weight and improve their overall health. One of the main principles of the keto diet is to limit your carb intake, but many people wonder if they can carry over some of their carbs from one day to the next. In this article, we’ll discuss whether or not it’s possible to carry over carbs on the keto diet and how it might affect your results. Read on and we will tell you all.
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In this article, we will go through whether you can carry over, or save up carbs on the keto diet.
The short answer to this is, no, you can’t, however, there are some tips and tricks that you can do to keep you on your keto journey.
Can I save carbs on a keto diet?
The Concept
The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet that has been used for centuries to help people lose weight and improve their overall health. The main principle of the keto diet is to limit your carb intake, while increasing your fat intake.
This helps to put your body into a state of ketosis, which is when your body starts burning fat instead of carbohydrates for energy.
To achieve this state, you need to consume fewer than 20 grams of carbs per day.
If any of this is new to you, get out our guide to getting started with keto.
When following the keto diet, it’s important to focus on eating healthy fats such as olive oil, avocados, nuts, and seeds, as well as lean proteins like fish and poultry.
You should also include plenty of non-starchy vegetables in your meals. By limiting your carb intake and increasing your fat intake, you can enter into a state of ketosis where your body will start burning fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.
This is known as being ‘fat adapted‘.
Saving Carbs
Weight Watchers and Slimming World are two popular diets that allow you to save ‘points’ or ‘synns’ to carry over for another day.
Weight Watchers assign points to food based on their nutritional value, and users can track their daily points intake.
If they have any points left over at the end of the day, they can save them for the next day. Slimming World also uses a similar system called ‘Synns’, which is allocated to different foods based on their calorie content.
Again, if users have any Synns left over at the end of the day, they can save them for another day, or a blow out at the weekend.
The idea with these diets is that you can restrict your eating, stack up you point or synns and then go crazy.
All that this does is create an unhealthy relationship with food. Rather than enjoying your food, suddenly its something to resent all week, ready for a crazy time at the weekend when you ‘treat’ yourself.
These habits are not healthy in the long run.
Carrying Over Carbs On Keto
Unlike other diets, it is not possible to carry over carbs on the keto diet as this would defeat the purpose of following a low-carb diet in order to enter into a state of ketosis.
To achieve optimal results with the keto diet, it is important to stick to your daily carb limit and not exceed it in order to stay in ketosis.
Unfortunately, you cannot stack up your unused carbs in order to have a blow out at the weekend and eat your favorite carb-laden foods.
What Wil Happen if I kick my body out of ketosis
If you kick your body out of ketosis by consuming too many carbs, it can have a negative effect on your weight loss progress. When you are in a state of ketosis, your body is burning fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.
If you consume too many carbs, your body will switch back to using carbohydrates as its primary source of energy and stop burning fat.
This can lead to weight gain and make it more difficult to lose weight. Additionally, if you stay out of ketosis for too long, it can be difficult to get back into it again.
Furthermore, you may also experience some of the side effects commonly associated with getting into ketosis.
Therefore, it is important to stick to the recommended carb limit when following the keto diet in order to maximize your results.
Having a Cheat Day On Keto
Having a cheat day on the keto diet is not recommended, as it will likely knock your body out of ketosis.
Consuming too many carbs in one day can cause your body to switch back to burning carbohydrates for energy instead of fat. This means that you will no longer be in a state of ketosis and any progress you have made toward achieving your goals may be lost.
Therefore, it is best to avoid having a cheat day on the keto diet and stick to your daily carb limit in order to stay in ketosis and achieve optimal results.
If you do decide to have a cheat day, make sure that you get right back into the routine of following the keto diet afterward so that you don’t undo all of your hard work.
However……
If I know that I’m going to have a slightly higher carb day, possibly due to eating out, I will restrict the number of carbs I eat the day before and after in an attempt to keep my body in ketosis.
This means that on the days leading up to and following my higher carb day, I will be more mindful of what I’m eating and make sure that my carb intake is lower than usual.
By doing this, I can ensure that my body stays in ketosis and doesn’t switch back to burning carbohydrates for energy instead of fat. This way, I can enjoy a slightly higher carb meal without compromising my progress toward achieving my keto goals.
When I say ‘slightly higher’ I mean that in the day I may consume around 30 grams or net carbs, and not my usual 20 grams.
Some of the best advice that I have ever received, regardless of what way of eating you’re following is that you don’t have a bad day, you only have a bad meal.
If you’ve eaten a bad (carb loaded) meal, chalk it up to experience, and move on.
It was one bad meal, don’t allow that meal to become a day of meals, as this will soon roll into a week, a month, and so on. Stop it at one bad meal.
Wrapping Up: can I carry over carbs on the keto diet
In conclusion, it is not possible to carry over carbs on the keto diet as this would defeat the purpose of following a low-carb diet in order to enter into a state of ketosis.
However, if you know that you are going to have a slightly higher carb day, you can restrict your carb intake on the days leading up to and following your higher carb day in order to keep your body in ketosis and enjoy a higher carb meal without compromising your progress toward achieving your keto goals.
