after you cheat
 

First of all, forgive yourself. You made a mistake. Guilt causes no weight loss at all. Guilt can (and often does) lead us to more comfort eating or self-punishing eating. The guilt, in other words, is worse for you than the food you ate.

Many of us are addicted to the brain chemical cocktail that high carbs (especially eaten alone) give us ... we're addicted to the foods we're allergic to ... we're addicted to eating for comfort, solace, to numb pain, to punish our mothers, and a hundred other emotional reasons ... and we're habituated to old familiar habits, too, like eating popcorn at movies. This can be helpful to remember.

None of that makes us "bad." Food has no moral component. If you're a good person in the rest of your life, don't rob banks or beat children or the like, no amount of overeating food could possibly make you "bad."

Once you've dumped your guilt and gotten calm, figure out why you made the mistake. (What triggered it? An event? A smell? A sight? Spending time with someone who stresses you out? A fight with your teenager? A painful memory?)

Brainstorm how to deal with the same situation next time. Write down this plan.

Apply one or two of those ideas next time the same situation arises.

If those don't work, add to your list and try other approaches to this particular trigger.

Remember, you can't "blow the diet" because this isn't a diet but a permanent way of eating. Part of a WOE is finding strategies for dealing with challenging situations. As long as you are learning something from this experience, you're still moving forward.

If the cheats seem to become chronic, you simply can't stop, it's tearing you up inside ... then think about finding a local OA (Overeaters Anonymous) meeting. Their website is here

Falling by the wayside......
 

Thanks for this very sensible message about cheating and getting it back together. We went away this weekend, and having had some very frustrating experiences traveling, I thought, "what the hekc, I'll be moderate." I can't really say I binged, but I can definitely say I feel hung-over this morning, and it would have been easier than I might think to have stayed low-carb. I was doing really well, and I need to start experiencing things without self-destructive eating and to realize that I can still have a good time. Damn. I am an addict indeed.......

re: after you cheat
 

Wow! I am so happy to find this forum! I too went away last weekend for several days and did really well until the last two days. I was at my mother's 75 b-day party and only ate the whipped cream frosting and a few strawberries off the strawberry shortcake. That was ok in terms of how it effected me. But the next day I drank a beer AND had a piece of cheesecake! I can't tell you how grumpy and hungover I felt the next morning!! :mad: I haven't felt like that in over 2 months!!. Then it was 11 hours of traveling, dealing with trying to find protein in airports, munching on snacks I had packed (jerkey, pepperoni and cheese, mac nuts). Here it is almost a week later, and I still don't feel that great. I was feeling sooooooooo good before this trip! My mood is stabilized but I still have cravings and feel FAT! Don't know if I actually gained weight. How long will it take before I feel better? Do I actually have to go back to induction to aleviate this? Any suggestions?
Thanks for being there evryone! :(

Thank you for posting this message.....I have done so well with this WOE, but recently I made a mistake and ate the noodle outside of a pan-fried dumpling. Once I did it, I thought (unreasonabley) "Oh no, i have just ruined everything.....the past two months of LC has been erased"....when in actuality, it did not negatively effect my recent weight loss accomplishments. In other words, a moment of weakness does not negate everything. As long as you control yourself, and get your wits about you, stop the problem, all is fine. To everyone that is low-carbing......do your best to be tried and true to this WOL, but in those rare occassions when you "fall off the wagon".. be sure to get right back on. Do not allow yourself to get caught up in that out of control state. This WOL has given me such a power......I feel so in control of my life now that I am in control of the way I eat.

An honest mistake....
 

Started Atkins one week ago today and have felt so good. No more 'naps', no hunger, staying well within the induction guidelines without a problem. So today I went to visit a family member and she offered me a soda. I have been drinking one cup of coffee daily and then ice water the rest of the time so I thought a soda sounded good. She ALWAYS has diet soda. She brought a glass of ice and soda and since it was hot I just chugged it down in a short time while we talked. About ten minutes later I broke out in an immense sweat. I knew immediately it had to be sugar. Asked her if that was regular soda and she said yes, she had ran out of diet and her daughter brought home regular:-( So I looked up the carbs and there they are in big glaring numbers 41 carb per can. I really feel guilty but it was not a cheat by design. Glad I found this post and hopefully I will just move past it and go on. I have no desire to cheat and it blows my mind that this happened. Hopefully it won't affect my overall intake this week. I wound up with 54 carb total today:-(
Merry (NOT)

It's also helpful to remember that even when I "cheat" (I just started LC'ing, so I'm not an old pro by any means yet!) - I am still consuming a <i>fraction</i> of the carbs I did before I started and that's a good thing!

So Merry, even 54 in one day is a drop in the bucket compared to how many you once consumed - and that's an accomplishment, not anything to feel bad about!

This is a wonderful thread - nice to hear I'm not "alone" out there and others have the same thoughts & feelings after a slip-up. :)

Merry, I cheated today (Aug 3). Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The serving is 1/2 cup, and there's 4 servings per container. It was sooooo good, I just couldn't stop at a 1/2 cup.....are they CRAZY???? There was nothing to trigger me wanting the ice cream. I just had a taste for it! I think I can handle the plateau for punishment. :bash:

I'm gonna really stick to the lifestyle change of being low-carb this time (I can't tell you how many times I've started Atkins or Somersize, cheat, then never go back to low-carbing). This time I have my fridge stocked will all kinds of LC stuff. But the most important thing IS getting back on the wagon. That's why I'm still overweight!!!! I don't wanna keep repeating this cycle!

It's that TOM & I'm craving carbs
 

I cheated over this past weekend & the scale hadn't budged in 2 weeks , the first 2 weeks I lost 10 pounds ,now the I'm not losing any thing I've must have hit a plataue. I got off the Induction after the first 2 weeks. I thought I was going to go nuts ,there's nothing to eat. So I stoped & the loss also stoped. Is this common, will the lost start back up after TOM or do I have to go back to Induction phase again. :cry:

Josie

If you follow the logic of the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet, a cyclical infusion of carbs will not cause fat gain and might break a stall. This is especially true if you are exercising/weight lifting.
For example, if you have a so-called free day every now and then, and don't extend it past one day or so, and follow up with some decent exercise, it just might do a body good.

I was reading about weight lifters on another site who do a "carb-up" on the weekends and then low-carb all week. They seem to do fine with this. I'm assuming that is with some intense workouts as well. One guy gave a list of foods he ate in one day...get this..
18,000 calories
5 pounds of smarties (candy)
8 protein shakes
whole bunch of chicken and so on....
basically he ate a ton of carbs but then in two days he was back down to original weight. :p

I wonder after getting down to the weight I want to be if I could do the "carb-up" on weekend as long as I'm working out. :confused:

i carbed binge for 4 straight days i feeelll sooo fat and depressed..i dunno what made me do it probably becoz of my period triggering cravings that happens all the time...i dunno how to start again tomorrow coz i know im gonna feel miserable and start all over again....darn :(

If I told you that I had done this, you would probably give me a big hug and say' You aren't a failure till you give up!' and make me a cup of decaff tea.
Which is what you need to say to yourself.

And then say 'I'm only 20lbs overweight, for goodness sake, with all the pressures I am under, and the period thing making it hard every month. The world is so full of gorgeous carbs and I am only 20 lbs overweight? I must be tough!!'

And have a better time next month

Hey your goals are simular to mine
 

NicoleB,
:wave: I know how you feel, I had the same problem at first, it will pass. Try a herbal supplement called Gynemena Slyvestre (least I think that's how it's spelled) it helps w/ sugar cravings. I'm also addicted to sugar it really helps me even at that TOM.
Just cut down to 20 grams of carbs a day & exersize 5 days a week. Drink lots of water. Your weight will drop pretty fast & you won't feel bloated & fat. I droped 10 pounds during my 2 weeks of Induction ,which I heard was rare because I really didn't have a whole lot to lose. I only stayed on the Induction for 2 weeks because my resistance is low, and I didn't have that much more to go & Dr. Atkins says to take the last 10 slow, plus I thought I wanted more varity in my diet. But if you don't drop that fast at first don't let it get you down, I heard most will lose around 8 pounds & they may have more to lose then 20 pounds.
And we are all here for you & everyone eles who needs the encouragement.
:cheer:

Josie

And another thing
 

You may get close or even drop 10 pounds of fat & think that all you need to do now is to tone up. I might just lose 5 pounds & change my mind. Right now I am happy w/ my legs & arms I just want my belly to be flat as a pancake, I still have a little fat there in my lower abs, but I'm sure it will go away. Than I know that I have reached my goal ,I am more concern about that now than I am about my weight.


Josie

JOsie,
thanks! ill try to look for that supplement...ryt now im not yet Lcing....too many darn excuses bt ill be startin this weekemd jsut preparin myself again for it! :o