I find it quite easy not to cheat on Atkins because there are so many great things I can eat that aren't cheating. Jello with whip cream, a big pattie of fresh ground beef with a slice of Havarti cheese melted on top, a small handfull of my favorite nuts and seeds and on and on and on. If I really feel like a chocolate fix I have an Atkins Caramel Chew or some Atkins Peanut Butter Cups. Part of the trick for me is to keep expanding my selection of meal choices so that if I'm hungry I eat and there is always some delicious option to have instead of the "white death" of white flour, sugar and high glycemic index options.
Get the book (Atkins New Diet Revolution), read it, do it. It works Period. You will succeed....

For me the will to not cheat came from "hitting rock bottom." I was just so sick of being a large, chubby version of the real me that I was able to make the "final" decision that I would not cheat. It is like what happens to crack addicts. My "crack" was sugar. I used to eat tons of it in the form of gummy worms, ice cream, candy bars etc. It was the balm I used to soothe myself during any stressful times. I allow myself the luxury to buy any sugar-free/maltitol laced candy, so that I actually feel like I'm cheating when I'm not on strict induction. I used to take a weekend off each month and cheat to high heavens, but I was only left with temporary satisfaction. I can honestly say now that I have almost no desire to cheat at all! I really enjoy this WOE.

For me, I guess it was a couple of things. I saw success on low carb that I did not see doing low fat. Success keeps me motivated. Not all my success was in weight loss/inch loss terms either. I feel better, my blood work looks great....

I also mentally committed to this kind of eating and did not really think of it as a diet-but as a lifestyle change. I have changed my lifestyle a couple of times before (when I became a vegetarian for example), so I think that helped.

I also spent a lot of time here just reading and participating. It really helped me just getting support and being involved with a group of people that were also making the same changes I was.

Don't get discouraged-no one appreciated what they had when they had it. Just think about how much you will appreciate it more when you get there.

I am scared to cheat and what it will do to what I've lost so far LOL. That is motivation enough!

I've been a cheater and a non-cheater, and non-cheater is MUCH better. There is a certain amount of pride in myself for sticking to my plan. I have found that not cheating allowed me to lose weight fairly rapidly. Cheating just a little, and carb creep, stalled me quick-causing frustration and more cheating. I am back on strict induction and have lost 4 pounds in 4 days. I am also keeping my calories at around or under 1500/day and have found it very helpful to jumpstarting my weight loss again.

I had this weird resentful day... went off ate everything in site and felt like crap for days.... took me 3-4 days to get back into ketosis...NEVER doing it again...I dont even think bread looks or sounds appealing anymore...

I Do Not Want To Die!!! I saw my mother have a massive stroke at age 62 and now is totally disable, and legally blind. My 42nd birthday is next month, and I know I have to change my life now!!!

I also realized that over the past about 5 years I have been making myself invisable!! I was keeping to myself not even wanting to go to my kids school functions.

I do not consider myself vain (I do not care about how I look in a bathing suite) - yet I want to have a better selection of clothes to wear (jeans and t-shirts are getting boring).

Until I am below 150 lbs I Can Not Let Myself Cheat!!! I know that I have made mistakes - too much cream or cheese - but I chaulk those up to learning experince.

I want to live for my kids!!!

Hi Tina. I think the more important question is, "what makes peaple cheat?" We all have to figure out why that is, and it's a little different for each of us. It can be as superficial as peer pressure or "the junk food is there," or as complicated as using junk food as an emotion crutch when you're lonely and sad. We each have to figure out what the junk food means to us (if anything) and find better ways to deal.

Then, NOT cheating becomes easy. For me, it's the negative concequences of cheating that keep me from doing it. The sugar hangover is rarely worth the slice of pizza or candy bar. Neither is the unbearable PMS. Note that I said "rarely": every now and then, I go ahead and have a cheat, and deal with it with a little extra exercise and water.

My most important factor that keeps me on the straight and narrow is the fact that I *love* the food I eat. Never eat anything you don't like. There's no need to, on this WOE.

Best of luck to you, Tina, and hang in there!

I think that it may have something to do with getting over the addiction to sugar and carbs. I know after the first few days, I went three months without cheating at all. I allowed myself to go off for a weekend and then went right back to it. That was two months ago, yesterday I went off again for only the second time since April 2, there was a particular item in the house that was calling my name, and my wife was going to make peanut butter cookies. I have decided that if this is truly a wol and not a diet, there are going to be times when I allow myself to eat high carbs. The great thing is that because of my success, 57 pounds, I have no problem getting right back on track. I can't explain it, and believe me, I thought I had lost my will power a long time ago, but this wol just works for me and I am not tempted to cheat 99.999 percent of the time.