About Cheat… I Mean, ‘Re-Feed’ Day

We’re 10 days into our keto diet.

The keto gods suggest a re-feed day at least once every two weeks, depending on your body fat percentage. So, we chose this glorious Sunday dinner to plan a re-feed faux-Thanksgiving meal—to seize… well, savor the opportunity.

After my record-high views on an article (like… ever) and getting feedback from people who have read our story and decided to make better dietary choices, I come to you with a humble and carb-loaded new post… one that neither tasted good going in—nor felt good coming out.

We’d been anticipating this re-feed for days. Our relatives even called it our first ‘cheat day’ since starting our diet. You know, word gets around fast. Start a new diet and the whole family knows about it before your ketone stick has a chance to turn purple.

I promised myself I wouldn’t overindulge. I even mentally plated my perfect portion of tiramisu, put on my good jeans (which were noticeably looser around the waist, thank you very much), and sat down to eat with intention. I placed my fork down between bites, basked in the joy of a turkey dinner, and even found myself satisfied with less than my usual gallop of mashed potatoes. I left stuffing on my plate when I started to feel full.

At dessert, I ate mindfully. Took significantly less than my usual portion and really enjoyed every bite. In fact, I even found the tiramisu a little too sweet for my liking—something that, I promise you, was never an issue before.

As evening came to a close, we took a break. We relaxed over good chats and some YouTube videos. Franky took a brief nap before I woke him up for the latest episode of The White Lotus. And, up until then, I was satisfied with our re-feed day. Our ketone sticks even maintained moderate ketones. Wow, we really thought we made it through ‘cheat day’ unscathed.

And then, it happened.

The voice of temptation entered the chat.

"We won’t have another re-feed for two weeks, so let’s eat whatever we’d regret skipping—then we can go into the next stretch feeling good about it."

As quickly as I had learned my lessons about keto, I totally forgot them. I was craving waffles with maple syrup, but as God would thankfully have it, we didn’t have any. So, I found a half-eaten Snickers bar and finished it. Oh, and Franky made homemade fries—and ate a bag of chips along with it.

(On a side note, I’m not as mad as I was a few hours ago—you know, when the bloat set in. We could have opted for something worse or thrown portion control out the window. So, I guess that counts for something.)

Nevertheless, the bloat—and the guilt—set in.

I think we started regretting it the minute the plate of fries was empty.

"What have we done?" We looked at each other, wide-eyed, like two kids who just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

It was like all of our progress over the last ten days had been wiped out—with a side of ketchup.

I have never, so quickly, realized that I never want to re-feed again.

At the very moment my stomach started sticking out again, I felt it—today wasn’t just ‘cheat day.’ It was the day I cheated myself.

You see, before the progress and lessons of the last ten days, that post-(ch)eat guilt wasn’t as somatic. It was familiar. So familiar, in fact, that we’d ignore the disappointment and just keep eating through it. But when you’ve been walking—no, SPRINTING—in the right direction, only to suddenly backpedal, there’s a deeper awareness that sets in, along with a very visceral "Why the f*ck am I doing this?"

We couldn’t have learned this lesson faster. Between the farts that followed (I mean, I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say our stomachs made their disapproval loud and clear) and the minor tummy aches we both endured, it was obvious—cheat day was not all it was cracked up to be.

In fact, cheat day really just meant cheating yourself out of your goals.

Had we still been used to cheating ourselves, or if our results weren’t as evident, this lesson might not have hit as hard. But there was no denying that our temporary joy had been overshadowed by a sense of culpability.

And here’s the thing: When you do better, you know better. And when you know better, you do better.

So, I won’t go down this flavored rabbit hole any longer.

To be honest, the carb-coma is real right now, and I just wanna drink some water and get some rest so I can start fresh tomorrow.

There’s no sense in berating myself on Substack for a minute longer. I get it.

Luckily, we have something better, something bigger worth aiming for—something that tastes infinitely better than French fries and Snickers bars.

But that doesn’t mean this cheat day wasn’t necessary. If anything, today fed us really important information (pun intended), and it re-fed our desire to keep going strong—to stay disciplined, think of the bigger picture, and work toward the goals we have.

I sincerely hope this article won’t scare you off from a beautiful meal or a dessert made with love. But I do hope it makes you think twice about what you put on your plate—whether it’s feeding your goals or just temporary cravings.

If you feel satisfied with your choices today, let that satisfaction be enough.

Don’t turn “one last treat” into a buffet of bad decisions.

Let it re-feed your soul without turning into a means by which you involuntarily cheat yourself out of the thing you’re really craving—a whole, healthy life where you feel positively radiant about yourself.

Xx

Sarah Elle