the worst thing i EVER did was to get off this woe!!!!! i am sooooo mad at myself. i started on october 1st originally and did it until january 3rd. thats when my husband and i went to florida, opened a sandwich shop and, because of all the chaos, atkins went out the window (slowly, i mean i tried, but it was just near impossible). anyway, the month of january, while working 100+ hours/ week and eating 1 sandwich per day i still managed to lose another 8 or so pounds and i got down to 275.

great, right??? business got under control, hired great people, and i didnt really have to work anymore. well....i wish getting back on atkins was as easy as opening up a business!!!!! honestly, i NEVER had such a hard time starting back in october. this time its 1000's of times worse (bc now i know what i was missing). the funny thing is, while on atkins, i didnt really have a hard time sticking to it, you know??? i could go to a restaurant and have breadsticks and pizza and whatever sitting right in front of me the whole time, NO PROBLEM. didnt even care to touch them. now, i have become like, AN ANIMAL! i can not stop eating carbs. and its always, "tomorrow-atkins, tomorrow!!" well, that makes it worse too bc, subconsciously i am telling myself, "you better stock up on extra carbs today" and i eat even MORE. arggggggggghhhhhhhhh

ahhhh....anyway i gained about 12 pounds back.

BUT.....
i know how helpful this site is and all you people here are so positive so i know i can re-start this,
i know i can,
i know i can,
i know i can............

YOU CAN DO IT!! I know it's hard to get back on track, but you CAN and you WILL!! Just keep coming here when you need support. We are here for you!

I have a friend who lost mega weight on this woe..she got off of it in October...although she didn't go nuts untill about February...she has gained like 10 pounds back.
She is going back on induction next week.

One thing with all these low carb breads out now, once you are into OWL you can have the odd sandwich

Good Luck, good for you for coming back, 12 pounds is'nt bad, you'll do fine, just stick to that induction good and clean

Kathy

I'm in the exact same boat. I followed the Atkins plan last year around this time and lost about 15 pounds. I was back to the weight I was in high school but was actually smaller in size because I'm more muscular now. I bought some great suede pants at the end of the season last year on super clearance thinking that I could wear them this winter. Sadly, they're still hanging with the tags on them because I've not only gained back the 15 pounds, but about 5 more on top of that. I stared at them all winter, and now that spring is here, they're doomed to the closet until at least November (which is when it finally gets cold in Texas.)

When I did Atkins last year, it didn't seem nearly this hard. I was able to pass on pizza and burgers without problem. Now I see a loaf of bread and I lunge for it. Why is it so hard to start over?

You can do it! I did the same thing in December and in January I had the hardest time getting back on track. Then I found this forum !!!! Best of luck!

I know that personally, without this website I probably wouldn't still be doing this WOL. The support and inspiration here is outstanding. I can be feeling down and discouraged but reading through the different threads, I will all of a sudden come across wise words and feel 100% better about what I'm doing. What I've learned is it doesn't matter what you ate last month or last night, the most important thing is what you're going to eat next.

I recently had a similar experience - followed the woe successfully but started to drift away, did okay for awhile and then went hog wild and gained back a lot of the weight I lost. I had a few fits and starts but have been following Induction since last Monday. The first few days were VERY difficult but I must say were so worth it.

I think you just need the catalyst to help you commit to it and then you'll be okay. A picture of myself always seems to do the trick for me.

thanks for the encouragement! i am hoping tomorrow will be THE day. i am going to try and throw away the tempting stuff tonight.

robsgirl i dont know why it is this hard!! i dont even know if it is going to be hard while on it bc, i cant even get started!!!!!! i never ever could have imagined it being this difficult to start over. honestly if i knew it was going to be like this, i would have sent my husband to florida to start the shop himself and i would have stayed home in philadelphia.

I too fell off the wagon...I mean I was lcing for about six months last year and lost 25 lbs... and was ECSTATIC. I started slipping off of the wagon when I was bicycling.. I was doing long distance rides and just could not keep up my endurance w/o some carbs. Even though I watched it and tried to limit the carbs - I would crave them later. I mean I rationalized it that geez I'm riding my bike for six hours, I can have a friggin egg mcmuffin if I want it...or wait no it was the one w/ the syrup baked right in that got to me...

So I think I did prob work off those carbs during the course of my ride, but it did the most damage to me by inducing cravings and whittling away at my will power..

Happy to say I'm now back ON the wagon, but worried about getting back on my bike. I've lost another 15 lbs (this would be from the 30 that I gained)..and really need to lose about another 50 or so.

Some people report that they have more energy lcing and it just doesn't seem to work that way for me. Hopefully this year will be better. I've got more lc time under my belt before cycling season begins.

We'll see.

its a mind set..... hang in there

Boy I think you just read my mind. That is exactly how I did and still do. I keep telling myself I will start tomorrow so I had better get what I want out of my system today. The good thing is that today is my 2nd day and so far it has just been mind over matter. I want to go grab all that good stuff like before, but I also want to have clothes to wear again. I gave away all my big clothes and all I have now is a couple pair of jogging pants. I was 170 in Oct. and 197 this morning so that tells you how much I gained. I was 183 on March 1st. It is sad that I let myself go that bad but I know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. My best advice is to just take it one day at a time. Good luck to you and getting started back.

it is hard to come back once you have taken a break but it is not impossible. i gave myself a break over the holidays still eat low carb but carb counts >20. got addicted to all the sugar free goodies out there. but i joined one of the challenges on this site and it helps with the accountability to stick to this WOL. you want to give it a try. this WOL is not about perfection but about perseverance.

Eve...as a famous intergalactic short little green dude with big ears once said, "There is no try. Do or do not." Take it from a professional procrastinator...I can always find a reason to put off starting something, like: "I can't bring myself to waste the junk food I have in the house. I'll just start when it's all gone." or "I can't start low carbing right now because I'm too stressed/busy/whatever. I'll just wait until my life calms down more."
My suggestion would be to not wait until tomorrow. Start with the very next thing you put in your mouth. If you can't bring yourself to throw away the high carb stuff you have in the house, box it up and bring it to a local food bank or shelter. Yes, I know...that stuff isn't good for anyone, but if it's a choice between that and starving, I think most folks would choose the less-than-good-for-you stuff over starving and this time of year many food banks are critically low on supplies and would more than likely be overjoyed at your donation.
You can get back on track, but not if you keep putting it off until tomorrow.
We're here rooting for ya!

Lisa is right. The only reason it is hard is because you gotta get through the cravings/withdrawl period. If you do it, it is done. If not, it isn't done! Be merciless with yourself! No caving.