Holiday Eating on Keto: Extra Carbs or Extra Calories, Just Not Both
A four-and-a-half-minute handheld video, shot on the way out the door to get a haircut, two weeks before Christmas 2017. One idea, said three ways: if you go off plan over the holidays, go off in one direction, not two.
In this recording
- [0:00] Heading into the holiday season. I said it takes two things together to undo fat adaptation and "start over": excess calories and excess carbohydrates. One or the other won't really do it. The reason I gave: getting into ketosis starts with drawing down glycogen, the carb storage in your liver and muscles, and glycogen gets refilled when carbs come in on top of a calorie surplus.
- So a keto feast that goes over on calories is a maintenance or gain day, I said, but it won't stop your ketone flow.
- [1:03] The other way round: if you eat dessert-type foods with more sugar but stay under your calories for the day, your body burns that glucose and gets back to needing ketones. My example compared a 1,000-calorie day that was half carbs with a 3,000-calorie day that was 30% carbs: the bigger day carries more carbs in total, and I said the insulin response follows that.
- "Don't do both." Carbs plus surplus calories is when glycogen refills, and that's when you get the multi-day breaks from ketosis that slow a diet down.
- [2:52] If your grandmother makes a pecan pie on Christmas morning, eat it, then watch your calories for the day. Before a party, get your protein in earlier, take your multivitamin, and keep the day's calories low.
- Then the line I wanted to close on: don't make mistakes, make decisions. Decide beforehand "I'm going to have a brownie" instead of "I cheated." Your diet isn't your only value; family, culture and the holiday itself are values too. Keto is a tool, and it will be there when you come back.
- [4:23] Sign-off.
Watching this in 2026
The part that holds up best isn't the glycogen mechanics. It's "make decisions, not mistakes." A planned brownie and an "I slipped" brownie have the same carbs. They don't have the same next morning. One is a choice you can stand behind; the other starts a story about failing, and that story is usually what turns one meal into a lost week.
I kept saying it. In March 2019 I told people to log food before they eat it, so they can decide to skip a portion or share some of the steak with a friend before eating it, and to "always make decisions rather than regrets" (live KPDK8043). In a January 2019 Q&A a member asked me to go over the carbs-versus-calories idea again, and I gave the same rule with a new example: a 2,000-calorie person who eats 1,100 calories, a good chunk of it carbs, burns those carbs instead of storing them (live LMPM3790). So this little holiday clip became a standing answer.
The claim worth unpacking: "it takes both"
Two halves here, and they don't have the same backing.
The calorie half. A keto feast that runs over on calories is still extra calories. That part has real support. In a metabolic-ward study, 17 men switched to a ketogenic diet at the same calories; energy expenditure rose by 57 kcal a day, and body-fat loss slowed after the switch (Hall et al., 2016). Being in ketosis didn't cancel out the calories. So "it won't stop your ketone flow" may be true, and the feast can still show up as fat if it's a habit rather than a day. I called it a maintenance or gain day in the video, which is the honest way to put it.
The glycogen half. "Carbs under your calories won't refill glycogen" is my reasoning from how glycogen works, not a finding. None of the evidence pages has a study that tests a single high-carb, under-calorie day and measures whether people stay in ketosis. So treat it as a rule of thumb that made sense to me then and still makes sense as damage control. It isn't a guarantee you'll stay in ketosis.
One small correction to my own arithmetic: 30% of a 3,000-calorie day is 900 calories of carbs, not 1,000. The point survives. A big day at a lower percentage can still carry more carbs than a small day at a high one.
Who should not use this as a plan
- If you take insulin or other diabetes medication, a planned carb day is not a self-serve experiment. Your doses were set for the way you usually eat, and cutting total carbohydrate is the approach with the most evidence for improving blood sugar (American Diabetes Association, Evert et al., 2019). Ask your doctor before the holiday, not after.
- If you have a history of an eating disorder, "eat the pie, then keep the day's calories low" can slide into compensating. That's a conversation for your therapist and doctor, not a tip from a video. More in eating disorders.
And for everyone: expect the scale to jump the morning after a carb-heavy day. Most of that is water coming back with glycogen, not fat. See gained weight overnight and the video on weight spikes.
Key points
- Off plan over the holidays? Pick one: a keto feast that's over on calories, or a few carbs on a day that stays under. Try not to combine them (live LXTA1256).
- The calorie half is backed by ward data: keto at equal calories didn't add fat loss (Hall 2016).
- The glycogen half is reasoning, not a tested finding.
- Get protein in early before a party; decide what you'll have before you go.
- "Make decisions, not mistakes." Your diet isn't your only value.
- Diabetes medication or an eating-disorder history: talk to your doctor first.