Throttle said:
i'm of two minds about carb-up or cheat meals/days. some folks advocate one meal a week, or an entire day where you "carb up"--these are usually part of a very low carb diet that also includes fast carbs immediately post-workout. i've had no luck with such plans but obviously they work for some people (though how many are receiving chemical assistance, i cannot say).
this plan isn't quite so low carb, and as far as i'm concerned, cheating just puts you off your goal by two or more days (especially if your cheating includes alcohol). you're welcome to disagree, and try incorporating a cheat meal or day, and see how it goes for you.
all that said, due to social obligations i find it more convenient to cheat once every few weeks than to try to explain at a high-carb wedding reception why i'm not eating any food, not even the cake. and even then i weight my plate towards protein & veggies if I can. this tends to blunt the insulin spike from dessert, and fill me up so i have zero temptation to grab more than one.
actually cheating for an entire 24 hours as hardcore as possible will throw your system so out of whack that after 3 or 4 cheat days you may think you never want to see another carb again, but human appetites are... durable.
I don't drink alcohol so my fun carbs are your garden variety candy and cereal. I agree with you about a 24 h carb binge, it does nothing for the body but spike the insulin and lead to a slower metabolism and weight gain. Last year (May 2008) I went to a buffet and only ate chicken, ham and some sliced oranges. I was quite pleased with myself for skipping over the pies, cakes, cookies, ice cream, etc. But last March it was not the same, I gobbled down a lot of sweet food and felt sick after doing so. I mean literally light headed and a scratchiness in my throat that was similar to a sore throat. It was the chocolate, the whipped creme, cherries, etc. The thing is I had been regularly eating carbs and didn't really need that stuff. It was more of something else going on which was affecting my diet, working out but not eating properly was not benefiting my body at all, and this all contributed to the weight gain.
I don't know how well it works for you (I don't know how many other guys will want to even try this) but I've now designated two days a week to have sweets, those days are Wednesday and Saturday. I had a lot of carbs today (191.7 g) and when I went out this evening, some of my friends wanted to get soft serve ice cream at McDonald's. I was torn between eating ice cream or not. A few hours earlier I had eaten dinner and had promised myself that would be the last food I'd consume for the day. So when the ice cream offer came up I was tempted but decided not to buy any. Still, one of my friends mistakenly bought one for me anyway. I didn't eat it, I brought it home and put it in the freezer, I won't eat it until Wednesday. You'd be surprised how quickly those carbs add up, and I don't want to interfere with the work I'm doing, keeping the levels down. So , yeah, you're right, binging on carbs will mess with your system, and undo all of your hard work.
