hey everyone,
been low carbing seriously for 4 and a half months now. lost about 45lbs. yesterday and today i fell off the wagon and i am discouraged and wonder if i can continue and or keep the weight off after i get to goal weight.

every time i take off a few pounds i get so hungry for a few days. my body wants to put the weight back on...i get it. up until now i have been able to get through it with willpower and determination. so what happened yesterday and today?

i have lost weight twice before with LC. up to 50lbs. i always put it back on. i am fine until i get this overwhelming feeling to EAT! don't know it is mental or physical. probably both.

i am just now looking "successful" from my diet. maybe i can't handle success. it is so frustrating. i should be getting ready to go to a zumba class right now but my stomach is too full of junk to move. also i am so tired from the sugar and carbs i just ate.

how do i get my photo on here?

Hi Flower, welcome to the board!

The thing that kept me eating Atkins is that if I am hungry I am supposed to eat, so I did! Maybe more food than most people feel is right to eat if on a diet, but soon it got so I didn't want to eat so much, and as I lost the weight I now seem not to want to eat much at all. But on the days when I do feel hungry I eat, but I stick to on-plan foods and keep going.

Maybe next time you start to feel hungry you can plan to have lots of "legal" food ready so you can feed that hunger and still stay on plan?

Did you stay on induction all the time last time around or did you move to the main weightloss phase of Atkins? I found this made it easier to stick to plan because I gradually could widen my available food options while still being onplan. Now I am at the premaintenance phase I can choose to eat most foods which makes life so much more simple!

Hi, don't think that its the end of the world, it happened, and it will happen again. No one is perfect, I've just finished a piece of Black Forest gateau that I made for us for Easter. It is divine! BUT, I cut out a lot before the Holiday's so that I could have the special things.... But it is true, stick to the diet and you'll feel less hungry as time goes on. Think of it as more of a health kick, drink your water and you'll be just fine.

Hi. Stinks when we don't stick to the plan - eat what we want, then have to face ourselves in the morning. It's the dietary walk-of-shame to the scale. No need for witnesses - we beat ourselves enough, dont' we?

You've done an amazing thing! You've lost 45 lbs - and the wagon comes around the second you decide to climb back on it. It's the discouragement that's the hardest thing beat.

What kept me from discouragement was to recognize that this whole WOE is something that *I* control. It doesn't control me. There are no accidents. I don't 'fall off' the wagon. If I deviate - it's something that *I* chose to do, and I have to be completely honest with myself. I have to ask myself where I went wrong, why I went wrong, live with the mantra that there ARE no excuses, and find measures to avoid the temptation.

Once *I* accepted the role of 'controller' of my WOE, the weight pretty well sloughed off.

Here's a bonus for you: You KNOW how to do it. You've proved that to yourself already. When you lack faith for today, you can always lean on yesterday's measure.

i have to get back on track. don't know if it is possible but i think i have to give up sugar all together for good. i can not just have one cup cake. after 4 and a half months i thought that i could have a chocolate cup cake with chocolate frosting. yum! it was so good, but it instantly made my stomach hurt. that was not the problem. the problem is that i am still off track wanting and eating sugar and carbs today. i ate that cup cake almost a week ago. i have done perfectly up to now. can a person never have a piece of cake for the rest of their life!

anyway, again i should be at a zumba class but i feel too fat and tired. i do love how i feel when i am eating low carb. this sugar makes me so sluggish and tired.

hate to sound so "woe is me". when i get back on track i will write wonderful happy things. hope that is soon

Come on! WE can all do it, were doing it now! small steps....

I remember thinking that. I remember the thought tumbling through my mind. "I'll NEVER have potatoes again. OR spaghetti. Or cake!" And, until I was close to my goal weight, I did abstain.

It's important to remember that maintenance is a different beast. What you're doing now is 'detoxing'. You strip away the unnecessary - the harmful. Following the ladder allows you to see what foods you react negatively to - and which one's you can safely consume.

As cliche as it sounds, trust the process and know that you aren't forever doomed to never eating pasta or sweet treats.

Learn what you can - read the book a million times over if you must - cook LC - learn portion control and self-control. These are the by-products of low-carbing.

I am in the same boat. I have a donut hole now and then that I usually share with the beagle at the water store. That's the extent of my sugar intake, other than the incidental amounts that are in just about everything.

I am pretty much convinced that, at least for me, there is no more cake, or candy, or donuts.

It was not an easy thing to give up. It was not unusual for me to eat a dozen donuts at a sitting. Or half a dozen sweet rolls. Or 2 or 3 Big Macs.

I think the desire not to die had to outweigh (pun intended) the desire to eat before I could give it up.

thanks for the encouragement. i needed that. i am doing better and feeling a bit better too. back to zumba classes and haven't eaten anything off my plan. it will probably be a few days until i see weight loss again. i will think about all of this misery the next time i think i can handle eating a cup cake. i am looking forward to maintainace. but i must say that that scares me. i am either gaining weight or losing it. have never maintained my weight very well. will cross that bridge when i get there...

How can you be hungry on low carb? If you are hungry eat some eggs, or steak, or hamburger patty or a salad. No reason to be hungry on this WOE.

most of the time i am not hungry! but sometimes, especially when i lose some weight i am starving for a couple of days like my body wants to put the weight back on. also if i eat anything off the plan (sugar) i am going nuts for more for days and days. so of course i am not going to eat anymore cup cakes for a long time.

you know, if you eat too much, low carb or not you stop your weight loss, or at least i do. besides, when i eat too much i feel fat and bloated and i don't want to exercise and all that makes me want to eat more.

you obviously do not have this problem. i am glad for you

When that happens to me I eat something like a deviled egg or a slice of bacon, something very low carb and high in fat; it helps.

i think that might work. i may need both of them together though. gonna try it next time. hopefully i can get back to weight loss soon. i am doing okay again, even pretty good, but not perfect like b4. i will get there again soon because i liked having weight or inches come off weekly and knowing it was going to happen. thanks

I am glad you are back on track and working out strategies to stay there!

However do bear in mind that there is no certainty that you will always lose inches or weight every week, so don't let it throw you off the plan if you find some weeks it doesn't happen.

We are human.

There is no perfect.