Monday will be my 28-day mark. I've stayed in induction for 26 out of the 28 days. I've been careful about having my three cups of approved vegetables, minimal artifical sweeteners, not too much cheese, lots of water, and I made sure to count any extra carbs. I've been enjoying low-carbings a lot.

Last Saturday and today I went off it, however. I haven't seen the scale move in three weeks (I lost 7 pounds in the first week), so I am getting frustrated. I know that losing 5-7 pounds in the first week and then nothing for a couple of weeks is normal, but I don't even think I've lost any inches. My boyfriend says I look a little bit smaller, but I don't see it. I haven't been measuring myself with a tape measure because I think it'd be another obessive thing like the scale.

Now I feel really, really sick from what I ate today... a pulled pork sandwhich, macroni salad, and a very big bowl of chocolate ice cream. I felt sick the last time I cheated, too... my body does not seem to want these carbs in my system. The sad thing is... I wasn't even craving carbs either time I cheated. I haven't been getting cravings AT ALL since I've been doing low-carb. I ate just to ate.

I know this is a long and rambling post. I guess I wanted just to get this out of my system. I could use some words of support and maybe some tips or stories about how your first month or two was, too.

Thank you,
Honey

Hi Honey,

One slip does not a diet fail. Just pick up and get back on the wagon!

DO NOT STEP ON THE SCALE TOMORROW!!!!!
It's going to give you a false reading because you're going to be retaining alot of fluid after eating all those carbs.

Taking your measurments is actually a good idea. If you have been following the SAD (standard American Diet) in the past and then started locarbing, you are adding muscle on at this time. So the scale may not reflect a big weight loss, but the tapemeasure will show you are shrinking. I would suggest monthly measuring.

It will happen eventually in your first weeeks. That doesn't make you of atkins. It only means that you gave in to your cravings, which, like I said, is relatively normal for all of us who have ever first began atkins at one time or another. Just get back on the wagon and forget about it. Just learn from the lesson about stalling. You will start losing again steadily. So good luck, visit the board daily, and keep low carbing and you will do fine. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, there is always someone around who will know the awnser and to help you out.
Have a good day, Belle

its ok.....i bet everyone has given into their cravings.....just get back on that horse. Sometimes, when people are at stalls, they cheat and go strictly back to atkins and they lose even more!
Just dont discourage yourself about it and dont go on your scale that often
Good luck!!

Um, why do so many people write in these threads that "everyone" cheats? I'm sorry, but that isn't true. There are those of us that don't, and haven't.

I really, really don't advocate beating yourself up if you fall off the wagon - I think that is really self destructive. Yes, we are human, no one is perfect. So don't be sad, just get back on the program.

OTOH, I also don't believe in making excuses. Cheating is bad. Period. This is supposed to be a way of life, so as long as you are clear that a slip up is a negative thing to the WOL, you can get past it. Not something that can or should be swept away as "no big deal".

I honestly believe that if you minimize the importance of this, you are setting yourself up for eventual failure. I know too many people who, after reaching their goal - ostensibly a success - start slacking, and gain it all back again. They invariably blame Atkins, but the real culprit is their own state of mind, because they didn't really internalize that they were making a life change.

And cheating early on in the game? Uh uh. HoneySnow - My wish for you is that you learn from how you are feeling right now. Binging on carbs did not make you feel better - it made you feel worse. You don't need any other proof that you don't need those foods anymore. I wish for you to succeed, to make up your mind to get rid of all that actually harms you, and to reach all your goals - weight-wise, and beyond.

You've got it! It does not! Please, listen to your body if not to us

I just want to add one thing - the impression everyone here is cheating is WRONG. I don't and I know a number of people who don't. No cheating - no cravings. Just too simple.....

Good luck, be strong!

Alina

I felt the same as you around the same time. I could have gone both ways (giving up or keeping on). I chose to keep on because I started to feel better physically. I also realized that I had to break the addiction/cycle of bad choices and eating foods that were "chemically enhanced" and contributed to my gaining weight. I had to really deal with why I ate. I am a recovering carboholic and emotional eater. In order to not kill myself with food, I had to deal with why I ate and start to change my behavior/attitude towards food. Fortunately, I do not cheat. I find it to be self-sabotaging. I am now in a size 8 and I feel wonderful. There is a saying that "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels". I have also found substitutes (natural ones) to help when I feel this type of urge. I also read posts of people that cheated and felt horrible. It really isn't worth it. This truly is a WOL. Be encouraged, you will look back on this as a lesson well learned.

Katana and Alina,

Where in this thread's posts did I, Belle, or Anzlily68 say cheating was good? Don't put words into MY mouth.
Belle and Anzlilly68 said everyone gives into their cravings now and then!

To be blunt, if the 2 of you had never given into cravings you probably wouldn't need to locarb.

And I don't think Honeysnow needs to hear she's a failure. That is the sort of attitude most of us live with in the real world. I don't think we need it here.

I did not say any of the things you mention. I was not even adressing you. I said:

1. Not everyone here is cheating

2. By not cheating we avoid cravings

3. "Good luck, be strong!" and "Listen to your body" - if this can be interpreted as "you are a failure" - I sincerely apologize.



Now that is interesting! You mean I was never fat or was never a carboholic or both???
All my life I have given into cravings. All my life until january 27th 2003 when I started induction. But not since then. And I need to lowcarb because I'm a sober carboholic.

Alina

Uh, yeah!

I think I explicitly said that one should NOT beat oneself up, because that is self destructive (i.e. - makes you feel like a failure). So - what the heck are you talking about?

Plus, everything else that Alina said. I never said I was anything but human, and of course I USED to give in to my cravings. But not since beginning LC - not even once. You know why? I don't have any cravings. And I don't have them, because I don't cheat.

Nor am I saying that I am better than anyone else - I am hoping others can learn that it is possible through following the program. Whereas if you cheat, you never get past the cravings.

Nor was I addressing you - I am simply alarmed at how many times I read that it's okay to cheat, no big deal, etc. There was a tone of that in this thread, and I wanted to make sure the other side of this was heard.

I wished HoneySnow success, happiness, everything good. I don't think there was anything negative or personal in anything I posted - just being realistic and informative. Anyone is free to take the advice, or leave it, as they wish.

Roberta,

After reading this thread, it is clear that both Alina and Katana were correcting what was a gross mis-statement of the facts, which is that "It will happen eventually in your first weeeks (sic)" by Belle and "i (sic) bet everyone has given into their cravings" by aznlily68. I, like the both of them (Alina and Katana), have never cheated. And, stating that "everyone" does it is attributing behavior to ME that is false.

aznlily68 even went on to say "Sometimes, when people are at stalls, they cheat and go strictly back to atkins and they lose even more!" This is very misleading (and very anti-Atkins) and an exception rather than a rule. More often than not, if you stay up on these boards, those "cheats" turn into binges. I realize she said "sometimes" but, the implication is that this is "acceptable" which it is not. This kind of rationalization is most harmful to newbies and I am grateful that there are people like Katana and Alina around to represent the Atkins program as it was written.

I support, the gratiously presented, positions of Katana and Alina one hundred percent.

One final correction, "You are adding muscle on at this time.", unless you are exercising, you are not building muscle. Simply eating protein does not build lean muscle mass.

Jones

It is possible to gain muscle weight if you were previously following a low fat/low protein/low calorie diet. When a person loses weight in that way, a large percentage of that is lean muscle mass. Eating adaquate protein will give you back your lean muscle mass that you lost if those were your circumstances.

Eating extra protein will not help you bulk up unless you are regularly working muscles and letting them rest and repair between workouts.

If you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time, the tape measure or the pant- o-meter will show the results rather than the scale.


Beth

It appears that I misunderstood what Katana and Alina were truely saying and I apoligize to both of them and to the people in this thread.
It was not my intention to start a war, I thought I saw something that apparantly was not there.

And I thank them for both for being far more gracious in their responses than I had any right to.

Also, I think there's a big difference between a cheat and a binge. If you eat a cookie, that's a cheat. If you eat five cookies and a sandwich and a coke and a piece of cake, that's a binge. Eating small quantities of carb-containing foods at a special holiday meal is a cheat; eating whomping portions of everything and munching on the leftovers for days is a binge. It's about how much you ate, and whether you planned and controlled it, and how long it lasted, and why you did it to start with.

Most of the "cheats" I see around here are really more like binges, and not everyone does that, by a long shot. I "cheat" occasionally, but within some pretty strict parameters -- it's planned out beforehand, involves a special occasion or food, and is limited to a single serving or less of carbage. But I'm basically in maintenance mode, am not a carboholic, and have been LCing nearly a year. I've never pigged out on a bunch of junk because I'm unhappy, or eaten one bad thing and then kept going because I've blown it for the day. And when I do cheat, I recognize that it's not a good thing, but something outside the parameters of my normal, good, clean eating. I don't want anyone to tell me it's OK afterwards, because it's not; it's not the end of the world either, but it is something to be regarded as hazardous and avoided if possible.

Supportive is good and all, but I don't think it's ultimately helpful to downplay the fact that cheating is bad. When you write it off with "everyone does it", that's exactly what you're doing -- making it seem like it's just no big deal. I don't agree with that viewpoint, because I think going off-plan is a big deal. If you think it through and decide it's still worth doing, well, it's your responsibility to make your own choices. If you just screw up, I think you need to at least do a little contemplating of your goals, your motivations, and your weaknesses, and blowing off the cheat doesn't encourage that.