Muse - you have said a word that is not in my vocabulary: cheat.

I never cheated - not once, not a single time. None of us do. It's a word that low-carbers have come up with to punish themselves and others. This WOE isn't about punishment, it's about rewards.

Once upon a time I was fat. I didn't know how to get thin. Then I read a Low Carb Plan that somebody else invented. I read it over and over until I learned the principles of low carb living. I ate all the foods the plan told me to eat. And stayed away from the ones it told me not to eat. I started to see some results... then when I was within 10-12 pounds of my goal, I started to have a problem - namely STALLING.

I tried everything. I started (gasp) experimenting. Up the carbs, down the carbs, up the calories, down the calories, reversal diets, fat fasts, different supplements, added foods, took out foods, exercise up, exercise down, - you name it, I did it. I experimented, and tweaked, and cajoled, and worked at it nothing really seemed to do the trick. However during the last year I lost the final and last 10 pounds I had to lose.

During that time I made an astonishing discovery. I had not been working the 'Atkins' plan - or the 'Sommersizing' plan---- I was working MY plan - not 'CAD', not 'PP' - MINE. My plan still involved low carbs and no processed foods, and no sugar... the basics are still there - the guidelines that Atkins taught me were well learned.. but my plan all the same.

In MY plan there is no such thing as a cheat. I am fully aware of what I am putting in my mouth, and have been throughout this journey - and it is all PLANNED, even if the plan began only 3 seconds before I ate it. That's not a cheat - that food I ate just became part of my PLAN. I can keep it in my plan daily, enjoy it monthly or drop it altogether. The choices are all mine because it's MY plan.

Guilt doesn't come 'with or without' carbs. In fact, guilt isn't a FOOD type at all and shouldn't be *eaten* at mealtime. Guilt should be saved for things like raising children to be criminals, or running over the neighbours dog.