A couple of weeks ago, I cheated after 7 weeks on Atkins without a misstep. And by cheating, I mean really cheating--none of this half a Snickers Bar kind of cheating. My wife (who is also on Atkins) and I went to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a wonderful Ozarks getaway town. We had car trouble and missed the reason we'd made the trip in the first place--my brother's wedding.

So, she was pretty bummed and we were tired, adding onto the fact that we had a 5-month old baby with us, she had a Coke in the hotel room. I decided to cheer her up we'd go out to eat, and take a night off the diet. Bad idea, I know, but we were on vacation and all that tripe.

We split an order of lasagna and fried mushrooms. With garlic bread. Carbs? Zillions, I'd guess. I told her instead of breaking it for a stupid Coke, I was going to break it clean in half, if I was going to break it at all. So we did it that night, and then the next day we were back on, eating sausage and eggs and throwing away the biscuits at a diner.

Here's the kicker: I didn't stall afterwards. In fact I lost more weight that week than I did the week before. I haven't cheated since, staying under 25 carbs a day most days. But I definitely had no ill effects from it. The funny thing is that I had no real cravings for the stuff, either before or after.

My wife still cheats on the diet, although she's lost as much weight as I have, she has stalled. She tends to do semi-regular cheating, little stuff. I did mine at one meal, and it didn't seem to hurt me.

Would I be right in gathering that a once in a while splurge, while not the best idea, is less harmful than more regular, smaller cheating? (And yeah, I know - no cheating is most ideal, and what I'll be trying to achieve).

I have done that a time or two and found i tend to drop alot more right after I have some type of carb meal weird isn't it? I guess its just shocking your body lol

wow, that could be very uselful info. Im not willing to cheat yet, but If i am stuck for much longer maybe ill try a subway sandwich or something.

This is ironic so I had to give my 2 cents. Same thing happened to me, I had no cheating at all, and I have been on Atkins since March 1 of this year. In July with my parents we ate at Olive Garden, (my all time carbulicious place to eat) I ate more pasta than was legally allowed, and had the biggest mount everest size of cheesecake you had ever seen, but I ate it, and was back on my diet the following day. I too lost more weight that week than any before. I didn't crave it before or after either, and I have been lucky, a minimal bite here or there of something irresistable, but I stay on track.

Interesting.

The "I got away with it..." part is what bugs me -- who did you trick? What did you get away with?? It just worries me -- sorry, I'm being honest here

I don't see anything wrong with having an old-style meal occasionally, just watch out for that slippery slope a lot of us have slid down (including me, in a big way, still clawing my way back up ).