Hello, I don't know what happened. I am sure there are others who have asked this question but I will ask again anyways.

I started induction last friday and by the next friday I had lost 6lbs. I was soo excited. I had a cheat day that day and had 2 slices of pizza(small ones),a few mini garlic pieces and for dessert I had a half of a heart shaped little debbie cake. Thats it. The next day I steped on the scale and gained 3 lbs. I knew it was probably just water, but now it is monday and I went right back on the plan on saturday morning and I still am up 3 lbs . I drank water like I have never before as well. I am soooo upset. I worked soo hard that week and thougth one day of a small treat wouldn't hurt. I even read lots of posts of other people who did a cheat day during induction and they were fine so what happened to me????

The way one's body reacts to consumption of carbs is individualistic. Just because someone else gets by having a high carb meal or snack doesn't mean you can. It is especially important to stick to the plan during induction so that your body doesn't get too confused about what is going on. If you're back on plan, you will recover soon. Chalk it up to experience and be extra cautious next time. Also, it might help to have some non-food rewards to treat yourself to after a successful week.

Atkins mentions not to cheat during his induction and he probably makes that statement with sound knowledge behind him.

I don't know about you, but one week into induction I just wasn't ready to cheat with carbs. It would have been all over for me and kudos to you for managing to jump back on the wagon again.

You need time to rid your body of addictions, substances and foods that are causing you trouble. You'd be surprised the effect of certain foods after 6 weeks away from them. I had 1 3gm slice of lo carb bread for the first time over the weekend and within an hour my tummy was gurgling and bloated. I had no idea wheat affected me like that. No more bread for me.

So give the plan a chance and try to do a good solid 2 week clean induction then take it carefully from there.

One thing you learned here was cheat days don't sit well with you (or me for that matter). Others do great and that's a bummer for us

Sorry to hear about your woes I do know that your menu doesn't sound like a little cheat(to me). Any one of the items you mentioned probably has more carbs than I consume in 1 day. I actually consider myself cheating if I eat too many LC treats LOL.
Just stick to the plan for awhile, you may not even want to cheat once you get over the cravings.
Good luck,
Alli

thankyou for your posts. I am going to stick to it this time and instead of food as a reward i am going to buy an outfit.

I know it will work, it is just a hard thing to do when you eat lots of carbs for a long long long time.
thanks again. I feel better now.

I'm sorry you're blue.........BUT:



You call this a small treat? I'd say you went all the way......if you had cravings, I mean incredible cravings, why not choose just one 'bad' thing? Did you have cravings by the way?



Well - there you go. That is why I don't like when people come here and brag about their 'cheats' and 'carb days' and whatever they call it - the same thing can ruin someone elses hard work. We are not alike. WE ARE NOT.

Don't truse everything that's written here.....don't trust the promises you would like to be true.....

Good luck

Alina

What you did with your "cheat," and it wasn't a small one, by lc standards, is start up the fat making machinery again.
Dr. Atkin's explains that when you eat more carbs than your body needs, the pancreas secretes insulin that turns the carbs into fat. This also makes you hungry, so you want to eat more. If you eat more carbs, you are just starting the merry-go-round again.
It's way too early for you to start experimenting. You want your body to stay on the fat burning mechanism. By eating refined carbs, you tell your body to switch to the carb-burning, excess carbs go to storage mechanism. Which is bad for you!
Did you add up the carbs you ate during your cheat? I'd ballpark it at around 50 carbs, all unrefined stuff that rushes into your bloodstream.
Bad news.

Live and learn, huh? Most of that six pounds you took off initially was water, BTW. That's a good thing, I think; I know personally before starting this WOL I retained too much water anyway. Most of your fat loss will come later.

As Pam (and others) said, one week into induction is way too early to be experimenting with carbs. And even when you do start adding them back in slowly and/or allowing yourself an occasional (relatively) high-carb meal, don't do it as a celebration. If you set up high-carb foods as a reward, that automatically makes low-carb foods a deprivation. It's a psychological thing.

Here's another little piece of advice: don't eat any food that you are craving. If you are DYING for a chocolate chip cookie, are you really going to stop at one? That's one of my personal rules (although my rules are really not appropriate for induction); you can check the others out in my journal if you like. They help me.

I read once that your tastebuds recognize sweet and sour as the same?? don't know if it's true, but it works for me--if I'm craving sugary stuff, I eat some green olives or a pickle...maybe worth a shot if you're craving??

I'm not gonna repeat what was said above. I think you got the point and probably won't be 'cheating' for awhile...live and learn!!

That's a GREAT idea!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't think it was a small treat what I meant was it was one time. Yes it was alot but whatever.
I am doing the Atkins to slim down and to feel better and I think that If I have a cheat day oh well. Just get back on it the next day.

I kind of feel like I have been attacked here by some of you. So I screwed up. All I wanted to know is if one day can really throw off a whole weeks worth.
It only did a couple of pounds. Big deal. I will just work hard again this week.

Alina I don't think people go on here to "brag" about their cheats. I think we do it because we feel guilty for doing it and getting responses to help us feel better makes a huge difference. Why would we "brag"about messing up our plan.

yes get an outfit! or new shoes!! Sorry you feel bad, but you are back on track- stay there!

lightforce, I think Alina was refering to people who come here and post how they had a cheat day and it didn't effect them at all. That could lead others to think that a cheat day won't effect them either which as you found is not always the case.

All of our ties to food is emotional. Before I finally committed to Atkins, I started and stopped the program 3 times. I wasn't psychologically ready to commit to this WOE. Try not to think of this way of eating as "work". Unless you are a workaholic, work has a negative connotation to it. You are making decisions that will affect your body from now until you die.

It took me eight months of committing to this lifestyle to realize that a "clean" or "keep it simple silly" induction is the best method of losing an extreme amount of weight in this nutritional approach. Of course as you get closer to your weight goal (within 30 lbs), you should be moving on to the OWL phase. (You can move to OWL after two weeks if you want, but the DANDR requests that you consider staying on induction if you still have more than 30 lbs to lose). I still have another 15.2 lbs. to go before I will place myself on the OWL phase, so I'm going to try to do it as quickly as possible (clean, KISS induction).

Now lightforce, you are within 30 lbs. of your goal (based on your stats right now). Dr. Atkins really seemed to advocate a slower approach to losing the weight. The premise behind this way of thinking is the slower that you lose your weight, the longer period of time that this WOE has to become ingrained as a permanent way of life. So, OWL might be an option for you right now. To sum things up: You are allowed to eat a few more carbs in the OWL phase, therefore, you will be less deprived of the carbs that you want. If you want to reward yourself with any sort of food, make it nuts & seeds first, and then go up the ladder that is referred to in the OWL chapter.

I feel better now. I was having a pre pms moment.
I understand now about the bragging thing. I read it the wrong way. Sorry Alina.
I think I will go to the OWL phase and stick to that.
thanks again. Everyone is really helping through this