Greetings and well met everyone,



Ahh it's a chilly and snow covered day here in Ottawa Canada and I am ready to hide out somewhere sunny and warm. I think I need to purchase a Hawaiian shirt for days just like this and wear it proudly around the office. Something that shouts... "I defy this weather and any sort of decent dress code and style this office ever set out".



Well on to my point in regards to suggestions to prevent cheating on our LC lifestyle.

I have read lots of posts here and enjoy them immensely. Many of you have helped me without even knowing it and I am sure so many others have gained valuable ideas or suggestions or just simple lessons when it comes to sticking with something. In this regard I wanted to bring up a collection possibly of things you all do that have been successful in preventing you from falling off that wagon.



Just trying to remain positive is too broad and heck to tell yah the truth it’s hard to remain positive all the time and it may have nothing to do with what you look like or where you are in your weight loss goal. Sometimes life has a funny and peculiar way of just testing you and throwing in a monkey wrench to mess things up. A recent break up, an illness or death in the family, a loss of employment and man the list goes on and on.



Here's a thought... do many of you find that when you need the resolve not to cheat, say to not have those fries or not have that pizza, is it a trick you do... such as take a supplement or drink a glass of water, go out for a walk or is it a mind game where you remind yourself of a promise you made, or a comment some nasty idiot made about you that strengthens your determination? Or is it a combination of all of the above?

I know this is really vague but I believe that there are so many good ideas out there and it's all about helping each other out. Personally if I were to give a suggestion it would be to keep yourself busy. If I stay home and do nothing at home all night after work, I find myself walking to the fridge and looking inside at its luscious contents. If I am out of the house with a million things to do… it’s never a problem.

Why are some people so much more successful at not cheating? Wow there's a loaded question... we could discuss that till the cows come home.

Great idea for a helpful thread Claudius. My first suggestion would be to have only non-cheat items in the fridge to begin with! Its hard to do when there are others inthe house but I make every effort to not buy foods that would tempt me. I especially like using foods with nuts in them so as not to be tempted. I am very allergic to nut so I won't go near them! When my sweet tooth is calling, I try a cup of sweetened cappuccino. It usually fills me and fills the need for something sweet.

Well, about all I can think of is you GOTTA CHANGE YOUR HEADSPACE. I hear alot of people on this board talk about "I feel so deprived!". Why IS that? Is it really DEPRIVED?
On this WL journey, I've learned that attitude is everything. Am I "depriving" myself of the joys that only FOOD can bring? No. At the moment, I'm making sacrifices to get what I want--a trimmer, sexier, HEALTHIER body. And, fortunately, for the FIRST time, I'm doing it WITHOUT HUNGER! How much better can it get??

Here's another piece of inspiration I draw from, periodically. I usually use this more for exercise, but it can apply to one's diet, as well. I'm alive. I'm relatively HEALTHY, I have the ability to move myself, I'm fortunate to have a family that loves me. In reality, I have it made, compared to what some other people have. There are many people out there that can't feed themselves and have to rely on someone else to feed them, and hopefully make good choices FOR them. There are people that are malnourished, underfed, and ill because of a tainted water supply, and have no means to improve their own conditions. There are people who have tragically LOST their lives in car accidents, natural disasters, sudden onset illnesses, and the like. What would THOSE people give to have another chance to BREATHE, let alone have a healthy lifestyle!
YOU have all the opportunities these people do not. Given all these circumstances, now, WHY ON EARTH would you choose to eat anything less than the best, most nutrient-dense foods you can find? Is food now a fuel, a means to a better, healthier body, or is it still a "quick fix"?

For me, I just brainwashed myself into seeing cookies, chips, pizza as poison. I also make sure that I am never hungry...thus I nosh all day long sometimes. Not having the temptations around also helps...kinda hard when you have kids like I do...but even my kids rarely eat carbs these days....and if they do its not in my home.

Its willpower...some have it...some don't...but everyone can attain it....its all mind over matter.

Great post OHGal1415!

For myself I go for a long walk with my walkman and think. Usually when I want to eat bad foods I get very restless and walking calms me down and gets rid of that explode feeling.

I try and find low carb food choices if I am hungry and sometimes my choice of food isnt the greatest but still low carb and that way I dont totally feel like I blew it and go on an all out binge.

I have this really bad problem where if I mess up on one little thing like eating one cookie at a party I will tell myself that I blew it for the day and since I already messed up just have more until it turns to an all out binge. Sometimes I can get myself on track the next day and sometimes it goes for days, weeks or even months.


ever since I began this WOE I havent felt the need to go off plan and if I was craving something, the idea of having a low carb substitute helps me with portion control knowing that I can have XYZ amount and not totally get off plan because of it, which pschologically keeps me from going on an all out binge (weird I know)

I just try and keep things in perspective and stay focused most of the time on whats going on and what triggers certain reactions from me.

Hi everyone,

I agree that this is a great question to pose to the forum. Whenever I feel cravings, I'll have a glass of diet soda with a little heavy cream. It satisfies me. I find when I follow induction eating that I don't have many cravings at all. Wish me luck on sticking with that!

Okay, how I keep from falling off the lc wagon:

Look at yourself naked in a full length mirror

Try on your tightest pants, hopefully they get a little closer to buttoning

Think of how good you feel while eating lowcarb

Read all the successes many have had, I find that one of the greatest motivations.

Hi,

I'll tell you what I did - I told myself: 'You can't have everything' After realizing how much better I felt without heavy carb foods I decided to just eliminate them from my life......I don't miss them, don't think about them, when I see them I see them as something others eat, but not me.
As for difficult periods in life - last year I had to go through major stressful events several times and I never once turned to food for comfort as I used to do before.
This connection is broken......food is no comfort and no substitute for a life/company/romance/job/loving parents/good weather/etc........
That's me. I eat good and feel good.

Sounds like you should only keep legal foods in your fridge.....

Best of luck to you!

Alina

The weather is awfull here too, I will buy the shirt you are talking about.......

Keeping the temptations out of the house will help a lot, but obviously it doesn't help at places like work. I had a hard time with this at first. I started paying attention to why I was cheating and what I was eating. What I discovered was that I was eating when I was angry or lonely or tired and needed a quick boost. Often at work.

I bought one of those little refrigerators and I keep it stocked with low carb snacks. I also keep something in my purse in case a meal is delayed so I have a low carb option at hand if I ever get hungry and there aren't good choices nearby.

Another thing that really helps me is journalling what I'm eating. I carry it with me at all times. That keeps me from accidentally going over what I should have each day. I don't think I'll always carry this, but for now it helps.

It also helps me if I have a goal I'm working towards. I'm facing surgery in a few months and I wanted to go into it being as healthy as I could be. I think this way of eating will do that for me. It's keeping me from cheating. I think any goal or motivation you can think of would help, doesn't have to be as drastic as mine

And finally I agree with Yvonne. I've come to think of those sugary foods as poison. They just don't appeal to me anymore with the possible exception of chocolate. I get so angry when I think of all those food companies putting corn syrup in everything so it tastes sweeter, sells more and make them a higher profit. That is exactly like the cigarette industry. They know it's bad for us, but they care more about their profit than they do about the health of their fellow human beings. In my mind, I don't see eating these sugary foods as any less harmful than puffing on a cigarette.

My hope is that this low carb way of living catches on and we see our food start to change again with much less emphasis on sugary foods and drinks.

Squid

I make sure I have something LC with me at all times. I long ago mastered the art of sloooooowly nibbling at somthing to stay awake on long late night drives. I used to be able to make a Super Sized Big Mac meal last for over an hour, now I've changed the "nibbles" from Big Mac meals to pork rinds, pepperonis, cheese sticks etc.


With my current schedule, sometimes it 's difficult to get regular meals and if I get too hungry then it's much more difficult to avoid those high carb foods.

I think the most overridding factor for me is fear. Fear that if I give into a temptation that I will loose it and slide down the slippery slope to where I started this, or be worse off. The other thought that floats around in my head is that I WANT to do this, I want to be able to keep up with kids, I want to be here when I have grandkids. And all of the other things that motivated me to start this woe in the first place.

Hmmmm, interesting. What do I do to keep going... at the very beginning, it was a bit tough to work out meals that were tasty, varied, and well-balanced. I soon worked out that lettuce makes a great bread replacement for egg salad sammies.

Anyway, I now have over 2 weeks worth of different dinners each night that I make. Some get into rotation faster than others. And I no longer have the urge to graze after dinner because I feel full. We are also lucky here - far fewer add breaks and not nearly so many of the food variety.

Plus, my family has joined in (DH lost 7 kg, and Mum can't find her 11 kg excess any more...). So they are supportive. Another thing we do is seldom talk about food anymore, especially "what shall we have for dessert", or chocolate talk!

The trying on clothes thing was enormously motivating. That came as a surprise. Didn't expect to have such a happy glow feeling about that. Have my next suit picked out for being the one I'm going to fit into again soon!

However, sometimes, when I really MUST have something, I have a bit - but only a small amount. But stop at that. It works. I have the taste and am satisfied.

Finally, have discovered SF Belgian pralines (just the best chocolatiers in the world), so from time to time I have one (eg I had 2 last week when the weather was really dismal).

I have also had to accept that when going to friends for dinner, there's no use in avoiding what eating what they serve. I just accept that they are friends and this is not the end of the world. They cook the best they can, use fresh ingredients, and I just go easy on anything with flour in it (no bread, smaller portions than in the past). But no more obsessing. And things stay on track.

I've been doing low carb for a fairly long time... I think I started 8/2001.

Over time, I've learned that: A cheat never tastes as good as you think it will.

That alone usually keeps me from cheating. I've tried it, and it's not worth it! Also, I've actually gone off the diet for a few months at a time, twice. (Due to finances). I know exactly how I feel when I'm not eating low carb, and for me, it horrible (hypoglycemia and migraines). I crave feeling good more than I crave off limit foods.

So, for me- I guess what keeps me from cheating is knowing that the cheat will be a disappointment anyway, and that I will pay for it with more than weight, or a stall. I will end up feeling awful.

If I am really hungry for something, I try to find a low carb substitute for it. Sometimes I do go over my carb limit from eating too many low carb foods, but at least I'm still eating low carb! I don't feel nearly as bad, doing that. Also, I accept that some days will be higher carb than others. That does not have to be the start of a binge. My job is to make sure that I am flexible enough to allow a higher carb day once in a while, and at the same time keep my general eating habits in line with my carb limit (ACE). I keep a food journal to make sure carb creep is not gaining on me.

These are such wonderfuly thoughtful responses! And I agree with all of them. I certainly have learned that there are physical issues and there are emotional issues. Not to be cheesy but I once heard Dr. Phil say something that made alot of sense to me. "If you chronically eat for reasons other than nutrition, you'll end up fat." After really thinking about that In the middle of a month ling carb fest, I started to realize that at least 80 percent of my food consumption had absolutely nothing to do with hunger. That was all the motivation I needed to go back to induction. This last time I made myself a very solemn promise. No more dieting. NO MORE. I know what it takes for me to be healthy and strong and gorgeous and I'm not going to accept any less than that. Contaminating my body with sugar and refined carbs that send me into tailspins of hunger, depression, and fatigue is not indulgence. It's sabotage.

It's funny, but I find that is I'm conciously working towards health in one area of my life, the other areas start to become healthier as well. Right now I'm exercising 7 days a week, in school, and deeply in love with myself. I couldn't jeapordize that for anything.

BTW I'm a fairly new poster but I can't thank all of you enough. There are so many loving, intelligent people here and I just love reading your thoughts!! Very inspiring!

Cheers-Emmsy

I know for me what has helped me is a small piece of paper which I copied and put on my fridge and inside my shelves and also on my work computer. On it says:

When I eat carbs, I get in return for that moment of pleasure and joy:
asthma-so I cough all the next tow or three days, aches-so I walk stiffly and my wrists hurt,
sleepiness-Look Guys, I'm a zombie,
Hives-Oh aren't they so attractive,
cravings-so now tempation is always on the mind,
and guilt-For knowing better than to eat the carb in the first place.

Also you need to focus on what you can eat. Learn to have a blind eye. When I go to a part, I look for the cheese plate and the veggie plate. There are times inwhich these are my actual meal.

Well, this is my 2nd time LC'ing. The first time I lost on induction and no more. This time I learned that it really isn't as easy as the general public thinks that you do have to watch how much your eating. With that in mind I did well for the 1st month, lost almost 8lbs, but unfortunately did not exercise AT ALL when pre-Atkins I was at the gym 3 to 4 times a month. Which leads me to believe that most of what I lost was muscle. Then over the Holidays, I still LC'd but I ate WAY too much of everthing and gained some of what I had lost. I am now back on track, exercising and eating correctly. Normally I would have stopped and found a new DIET to follow, but instead this time I'm sticking this WOE out.

Why?

Because I'm never hungry.

I eat fulfilling tasty meals.

My stomach doesn't have to be growling for me to lose weight.

My migraines have diminished

But, what keeps me from cheating is the bloating feeling I have the next few days and knowing that I won't stop at the one bite. I try to keep only LC snacks around, actually I try not to keep ANY snacks around. If I want a snack I have to actually prepare it and sometimes that's just way to much work so I skip it.

Wee