I see a lot of Cheat Free number people's sigs and that's great. I was just wondering how you define cheating?

i'm pretty new, but for me it is anything outside my stage. i know what it is because i fight eating it and it usually makes me feel like crap. so, clear as mud, there's my two cents!

I see your doing Atkins too. ...so a cheat would be bread, flour, sugar, if your on induction you should not be eating nuts yet, but enjoy this WOE you will find you will not want to go off because this WORKS!

I think for the first two weeks of induction it is important to stick to the allowed food list. Losing control of yourself, shoving somethingin fast, then feeling guilt after qualifies as a cheat.

After induction you start reintroducing foods. At this stage I don't think there are cheats, just good choices and bad choices. Not only in number of carbs, but the quality. Eatins something full of sugar only won't give you the same nutrients as a ton of veggies, fruits, fresh dairy and so on. If you feel bad after a food choice, then you know not to do it again. Continually making bad food choices and sabatoging yourself may be a sign of a larger problem and is a symptom more then a cheat.

I think that's how it is on any diet. If you follow WW you can choose to blow all your points on a dessert, or you can have a ton of veggies and fruit without reaching your point limit. On Atkins you can have a high carb treat, or you can have a ton of moderate carb food and still stay with in your carb tolerence level.

The closer you are to goal and moving through the stages, the more good choices you have. A cookie or fudge may never be a good choice, but a small bite once in a blue moon isn't bad. Adding whole grains may of been a bad choice in early OWL as it slowes weight loss, but on maintanance they can be enjoyed in moderation.

WELL SAID

You should never think of it as a "cheat" just a "bad choice" I'm going to remember that....Thanks...

Someone on another post said something to the effect that "Vegetarians don't say I think I'll have some meat today"

I find this site very enlightning

Cheating to me is eating sugar or consuming white flour products. It is eating a meal over 400 calories because I eat 4, 350 calorie meals a day. It is having more than 6 carbs at any one meal.

Cheating is eating something not LC in a large Qty. For example I tasted some regular Ice Cream the other day but that's not a cheat, if I had eaten a bowl or more then yes that's a cheat. I had french fries 9 days ago (hence the 8day cheat free) that was a cheat.

so why are nuts so bad during induction. Me being a weight lifter, the protein will be great. Only thing I can see being bad is the sugar 2g, and salt 270mg ~ 2 OZ serving. But wont I burn the 2g of sugar during my run today?

If you are in induction, it is anything that is not on the plan. The whole point of induction is to get you off all the bad stuff you've been eating (and a confession here is that I chose to "cheat" on induction by drinking caffienated drinks and diet coke). I didn't consider these to stall my progress, but they are technically cheats.

As far as being in the other stages goes, it is anything that sends you over your carb limit for the day or the meal, or throws you out of ketosis. Bingeing on anything with sugar/flour/potatoes/rice/pasta/ice cream/chocolate is a cheat. You can also binge on LC stuff (nuts, cheese, LC candy, pork skins, etc.), which I think is a cheat, albeit a more "legal" one, and probably less damaging. I consider that to be different from having a bite or two (sometimes that is a sanity saver) of something that is high carb and then stopping. That's a taste (of course if your whole meal is tasting other people's HC stuff, that's a cheat too!). Anything that starts out with the thought - just this once/one, it can't hurt.....is probably a cheat.

I'm not sure where to put "cheats" that happen because you are eating at someone's house and all they put in front of you is high carb food. It is still a cheat, but an unavoidable one. Sometimes these things happen, and you just have to make the best of it and go back to induction for a few days to compensate. I think that to truly cheat, you have to choose to or allow yourself to be out of control.

this is all in my humble opinion...

Can you tell I went to law school?

I agree with this one. For example, I was visiting my parents a while back...and my Mom ordered a Float for desert. She thought the float tasted a bit off and wondered if they'd mistakingly made it with Diet Soda or such. I tasted a spoonfull and quickly ascertained that it was made with the regular stuff.

I did not consider that a cheat, because the amount consumed was rather small and there were almost no carbs in that tiny amount. Of course, the amount needed to qualify as a cheat varies by the food. Even a spoon's worth of pixie stick dust [pure desxtrose (powdered glucose)] would be a cheat.

I don't look at it as cheating either. It is a choice. You make a "mistake Choice" which is something that you do without intentions. You have the "planned Choice" such as eating carbs for a birthday, anniversary, etc. Then, you also have the "bad choice" which is one that isn't planned and you give into a craving.

Juan - I ate nuts during induction, and still lost weight. If I had them coated in chocolate, I would have felt like I had cheated. If you decided to add nuts, be very careful of your quantities. One ounce (4-5 carbs) is a pretty small amount. I am still eating at induction level after 4 months, and cut down on nuts to an ounce once or twice a week.

thanks everyone for your input. i was just curious. i guess cheating does mean different things to different people.. what is cheating to one person may not be considered cheating to another.

Diving little finger first into the hazelnut chocolate spread that my son left open on the kitchen table, while nobody is looking and going "mmmmmmm" while sucking on it... Sounds familiar, anybody?

Agnès

Funny the mental gyrations we go through regarding what's "cheating" and what's not. A "taste" isn't, but a serving is...for some, ANYTHING off-plan is, and others have "planned cheats" in hopes of speeding up their loss. Personally, I've wasted enought time in my life giving food power over me.

When I first started Atkins, I was the Food Police. I was obsessed with every gram of carbs that passed my lips, for fear of being "bad" or doing it "wrong"... I was muscling through with grim determination, and any lapse from the plan, or "cheat" was cause to feel so guilty!!!!

Now, if I make a poor choice, I let it go. Guilt turns a momentary slip into a "throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater binge. One poor choice that doesn't drive you to a state of collapse is a blip on the radar in the scheme of things.

<hopping off soapbox>