I have been doing atkins for about 3 weeks now and have been doing so good, until last night. It started out with a few beers, I had miller lite b/c they are lower in carbs. I had no intention of totally going off, but I ended up eating a rueben sandwich and french fries, and if thats not bad enough, I then proceeded to eat ice cream right before I passed out for the night. I am so discouraged. I feel like I totally screwed myself up. Now I'm thinking I should just go off for the whole weekend and start back up on Monday. So do I have to go through the full two weeks again before I begin to lose weight? I need advice and encouragement.

Peace,
Jenna

Hi Jenna,

Just go right back to square one immediately. We all blow it, but those who are most successful just keep going back and don't use a binge as an excuse to keep binging. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and believe me it's worth it!

Karen

jenna, don't beat yourself up over this!! you've come so far. do like karen says and just start lcing again. in the overall scheme of things this little deviation isn't going to make much difference!

Hey Jenna --- failure is part of life and we all have to dust ourselves off and start all over again -- as the song says. I fell and fell hard. Instead of getting right back on I became a lurker, after all who would notice that I wasnt posting? Let me tell you they, meaning those here on the board, noticed when I started reposting. I am still lurking and getting my act in gear and getting motivated to start up again. I can do this and so can you. Rejoice in others losses, ya you can feel a little jealous too -- we are all human. But getting down to brass tacks, I say we can both do this and finally feel good about ourselves. So we fell, we will do it again too but there is always this board and this way of life and they are both very forgiving. Come on Jenna, meet you here daily for a dose of reality --- carb less mind you!!

Stephanie

Totally, atomic! Glad to see you back. I was wondering where you went to.

And Jenna, I'm not talking through my LC hat. I've been on countless binges, but I always came back. I've had lost weekends where I've woken up surrounded by empty Hagen Dazs cartons and covered with banana bread crumbs. Although going off is like your safety net now, eventually, LC will become your safety net.

Regular posters do notice when someone falls off the board. I always wonder if it's a binge then shame, or the forum was not comfortable for them, or they went off the WOE completely, or had no need for a support group. I wonder too, how many lurkers are daily readers and benefit from the posts.

Karen

... and Jenna, hugs and hello to you too.

Although you (and all the lurkers) only get to exprerience us as typewritten words on a webpage ... it's real flesh and blood people, who really mean it when we say, "Been there. Seen it. Done that." Heck, I even bought the T-shirt!

Have you ever watched skating competitions? Where they fall flat on their keesters, and get right back up and continue on with the flow of the music, and with the very next jump or spin or accomplishment, the tumble is forgotten ... it's a mere 0.5-point blip on the sum-total of the whole program.

It helped me to think of that when I used to cave in and gorge myself on brown rice or Wasa crackers. Generally, I felt so caaaacckkkk the next day ... and I would go through the self-recriminations, and the "I'm a failure and a complete flop" talk and then I'd come here, and post, and read that somebody else is having a bad day too, and there's something about being able to offer a little support and understanding to someone else ... that helps keep a person on the path, even if the path has bends and twists in it along the way.

Don't give up, and keep posting. It helps. And any lurkers out there, if something you've read here has helped you, let everyone know about it. It will make YOU feel some good

Doreen

I'll gladly admit that I am a lurker. I just don't really have that much to say that hasn't been said. I have been doing CAD for 2 weeks now, and although I haven't lost much weight, I am so happy that my carb cravings are gone. I was afraid that I was going to nibble the summer away and go back to school even fatter. I am eating less throughout the day, so the weightloss will come. As I read so often, "You didn't gain that weight all at once, so you can't expect to lose it all at once." Reading the posts at this site have helped me through weaker momments and given me encouragement to keep going. Now I can see the LC is the way to go, and I might even be able to switch to Atkins, which I had previously failed because it seemed so strict.

Let's hear it for lurkers everywhere, yea!!!

Hurray for lurkers!

See ummy, you de-lurked and had something valuable to say.

I actually lurk on the ASDL-C newsgroup and even delurked two or three times. I've learned tons from that newsgroup. That place moves so fast it's hard to make a lane change into the stream of traffic, and I'm a very cautious driver.

Karen