Hi Guys.

As a low carber I certainly do have more than 100 lbs to loose.

Low carbing doing its job, and it is all nice and dandy.

But every now and again we all have days when we eating a normal carb meal.

Because it is bloody hard not to eat carbs for long times.

Myself sticking to a 1/month full carb meal, which still makes me feel guilty as hell, because I know that it will throw me off ketosis for about 2 days.

My questions are:

-how often do you fall for the carbs?
-what are the foods you crave the most?
-If you eat carbs in form of a cheat meal, what is it?

I think I understand what your saying but I don't want to eat a carb meal cuz it screws up my appetite and I get those "bloody"
(as you put things)cravings and desire for sweets and/or bread...and that's the very reason I am big in the "bloody" first place! all kidding aside...that is the main reason I don't go off of it...but~ do try the recipes which make you feel like your cheating...seriously...so maybe try a few of them...

[QUOTE=szita2000]As a low carber I certainly do have more than 100 lbs to loose.]Because it is bloody hard not to eat carbs for long times.[/B]

Trying really hard to look at this as a change of lifestyle, not that I'm perfect in anyway but I think that if I'm ever going to get healthy, I need to approach this the same way I did cigarettes, Never again, not one, not a puff, nothing...that's just me, but I feel that if you are addicted to something, you need to just leave it alone, it may be bloody hard, but it's harder being like this...just sayin'

It's actually harder if you keep feeding the cravings. Eventually you'll stop craving stuff...

If you cave, you'll crave!

Part of this journey for me has been accepting that there is are certain foods I will most likely never enjoy again, if I want to continue to lose weight and eventually to maintain that weight for the long term, as well as maintain other improvements in health gained from this diet.

In the beginning, I did LC for about 2 weeks, then stopped.

A month later, I got my head on right and went 90 or so days under 25 carb grams. I fell off the wagon for about half a week before correcting my eating.

A week later, I fell off the wagon again, for only two days this time. I recovered.

A little while after that, I slipped again..but got right back on after 1 day.

Just about a week and a half ago, my most recent slip consisted of a single meal. Less than an hour and I got right back up.

My point is, it gets better. For me, all the slips just continually reinforced that eating off plan was no more tasty than eating on plan. That carbs did not help me cope or destress any better than fats/proteins. That the moments pleasure of carb foods didn't bring me anything tangible. These are things that IMO, must be learned through experience. One can be told these things and know them, but the information is only useful once you've experienced the truth of them. I am grateful for the experience that slipping off plan has brought me. The greater control and emotional insights.

It sounds like what you are lacking is the confidence that you can eat totally, perfectly on plan with no slip ups. You are right in lacking that confidence, it is a very rare person who never makes mistakes. However, you are letting that lack of confidence dictate your intentions. You are going to slip up whether you intend to or not. I'm only suggesting that you decide to intend NOT to slip off plan, rather than intending TO eat off plan, and that you let your failures lead you to successes, rather than only to more failures. But, you by absolutely NO means need to listen to me, if having your off plan day is what YOU want, and it works for YOU, and YOU'RE satisfied with YOUR eating plan and the pace at which you're losing, then throw my comments in the garbage, they're just words (I can make more ). I'm only adding my 2 cents, for what they're worth, because you've asked for feedback. As far as WHAT I crave, and what I eat when I eat off plan, that would be McDonald's. Like, the entire menu. Though I don't really have 'cravings' anymore, I've found that what I used to think were carb cravings was really just me being plain old hungry. Or, maybe they did used to be carb cravings, and now they've just more or less abated. Either way, even though McDonald's food is truly crap, and not 'food' at all really, I've gone there consistently, every time I've eaten off plan. Good luck and good eating to you!

-how often do you fall for the carbs? I don't "fall" for them anymore. On rare occasions, I choose to partake of something. On these occasions, it is a careful decision, usually weighed in my head in the moment, usually having to do with a social issue. For example: I don't want to see my 15 year old daughter's face fall when she comes home excited to show me the latest concoction she cooked up in her culinary class at school, because I refuse to try "a bite."

BUT...A "bite" does not become a meal. A "taste" does not become a binge. I am in control. If I wasn't, then I would have to live with seeing her face fall.

-what are the foods you crave the most? I don't really crave anything anymore, but what I miss the most is ice cream.

-If you eat carbs in form of a cheat meal, what is it? There have been two times this year where I have had a full-on cheat "meal." One was because my daughter prepared and cooked a 5 course meal for a school assignment and she needed her parents to be the food critics. The other was my hubby's birthday, in which I ate a slice of pizza and a bit of ice cream cake. I survived.

I agree with pinkcloud.

I do not plan "cheat" meals. I do have higher carb items than I feel I should. But very much in moderation. And moderation now means one bite.

My worst offense in a slice of pizza every few weeks. Fortunately I have a higher Critical Carbohydrate Level for Losing (CCLL), so I do not gain if I eat a slice. To be quite honest, I have never tried to do 2 slices at once.

I do like chocolate and jelly beans. One piece the size of a hersey kiss is not going to do me in. A pound will.

I used to really eat a lot of donuts, pastries, cookies and my previous favorite snack, Cheezits. Now almost none (well the occasional bite of cookie). Walking through the bakery section is just another isle at the super market. There is still an unopened box of Cheezits in the pantry after a year.

Most starches eg potatoes, french fries, rice, noodles now taste so bland that I cannot see why I want them. Not ordering when eating out helps. But even if I have to get them, I can set them aside. I had dinner at a nice place that served a "cube" of potatoes as a side. Very pretty. And a taste proved very bland. I must admit the smoked/grilled asparagus was fabulous.

I have managed to go long periods, up to a year, without a single cheat. Perhaps being diabetic and having more health issues than just trying to lose weight (bloodsugar control, to be specific) is a help in that respect. I have learned to view carbage as poison i shouldn't put in my body.
Some people hate living with a family member who eats carbage, but I kind of like it. When my husband has a big piece of chocolate cake, or a pizza, or a bowl of ice cream, I can have one small bite just to get the taste and feel like I got to have some, and actually feel satisfied. I don't consider that a cheat, I consider that a strategy.
As far as foods I still crave, I guess I'll never stop loving bread, toasted and buttered. But there's good lowcarb alternatives to make occasional use of, like the Burger-Bun-in-a-Minute recipe in the kitchen forum, which is basically just flax seed, egg and butter.


Wow, I thought that was very profound and insightful, tragedian!

i can't have bread or crackers or cheezits in the house...glad my DH is totally fine with it...he doesn't eat that either...i need to get stronger and have a few months below my belt to be able to be around them or have them in my house...I can give up sweets no problem...its the bread products that do me in.

once or twice a month i cheat

This is brilliant. I need to remember this statement every time I start beating myself up for taking a bite of something "wrong."

I'm very new to Atkins, and I'd planned on having two cheat meals a week, but it's impossible during induction (or the quasi-induction that I'm doing), because I think that eating such a lot of fat during the day and then a high-sugar or high-carb meal in the middle of it ... well, it's really unforgiving.

So I'm not allowing myself to cheat anymore. But, damn, do I miss potato chips.

So true. A bite here or there maybe, but a full on cheat meal will set you back days and, longer if it spirals you off into carblivion.

I've always rejected any notion of myself ever returning to a "normal" way of eating. From day one, even though I didn't really know what I was going to do yet, I knew that I was seeking a permanent dietary change. That there were some foods that most likely I would never eat again. That my situation was far too urgent for me to take any other approach.

The idea of a cheat day, or even a cheat meal, to me has always been non-negotiable. I refuse to do this to myself and I refuse to allow anyone else to push me into doing this to myself.

So yeah, I'm no fun.