I wasn't going to post at first because I was kind of ashamed, but reading your posts and seeing how determined and reasonable you are helped me to want to get back on track before I've gone too far. Well too farther Now I had "planned" to go off for two days but I went too far off. I had some of everything in site on Christmas day. And I didn't go back to locarb today as I had planned. My profile states that I planned to start locarbing on 1/1/04, but I actually started on 12/18/03. I'm a fast looser during the first stages of induction and by 12/24/03 I'd already lost about 7 lbs. my point is just that looking at your progress has inspired me to get right back on induction tomorrow. It's kind of hard for me because I cook for my two young teenaged daughters. Well, here I go again and I send love to you for yourself and for inspiring me

You know it works already, so if you aren't planning to start until then, Keep that thought and do it again. I think the forum is filled with on again off again people, I know I have a few customers doing this also. I just started in September but have no plans of go off track and possibly giving up the little progress I made.

dave

I already mentioned this in the "did you cheat" poll but maybe this will be some encouragement to you. I started LC in oct. and was doing fine on it. Then my in-laws took me and my wife to a nice restaurant where I cut loose and put down about 4 rolls and mashed potatoes etc.

I went home and walked that night and went right back to LC the next day and walked again the following night. The second morning after the meal my ketones were back up to moderate and I lost 4 lbs that week.

So don't get discouraged. At least for me after I stuck with it for a few months it has become a routine that I cant imagine stopping.

The definition of success is getting up one more time than you fall.

James

Just plan to start right now.

I was like that in the begining. Every day I would wake up and be like "tommorrow is the day I diet". Of course tomorrow never came. One day I just woke up and realized "if I don't do it today, I'll never do it". Jumped in, didnt look back.

I have been on the LC wagon since march, and never had a cheat. When you see how wonderful it is to be like everyone else around and with food you won't want to stop doing it. Having a normal appetite and normal energy balance feels so wonderful.

A few weeks, months, or whenever it happens for you into your LC plan... something else wonderful will happen. You will find that you don't have the tastes for many of the high carb junk food you used to enjoy. We don't even realize it, but the reason pasta bread and rice was so attractive to us is because we were hopelessly addicted to sugar, not because the foods actually taste good. It took about 3 months for this revelation to happen to me, prior to that moment I craved rice incessantly. There is very little which I badly crave that I must abstain from (and for most of them, I could have them if I was a creative cook: example, "chinese" ribs in that wonderful sugar cloves fennel seed and ginger sauce).

Cheesecake, brownies, potatoes, rice (fried), spaghetti, all these things I can enjoy with the implementation of some creative kitchen work.

hmmm..Dont know if I agree with Woo....I dont CRAVE most of those foods but every few months I take a small taste and they still taste just as good as I remember...rice in particular. I have not tasted bread I just smell it... lolol I was a bread addict and 2 times in 4 months I've eaten bread but 1 times was pumkin bread given to me as a gift and...oy was that worth it! I was 1 day and didnt have any effect on me that I recall... the other was PIZZA and that was a mistake not worth it, it threw me off plan for weeks! plus I was sick for 2 days afterwards I think from carb overload, never doing that again!!!

good luck to you...I know you can do this with this site for support...

The trick seems to be to plan your "cheats" and work your plan. A funny thing about this low carb stuff. It always works if you work it. I give myself 2 weeks of "cheats" (upping my carbs to 60 a day which is "legal" but still about double my daily dose and it promotes weight gain for me in the short term!)...out of the year. I can handle the rest as long as I have these "free periods" where I can do the upper end of LC and feel guilt-free!

But everyone has their own plan which works for them and their health. Mine is modified from some of the successful people on these boards. I took their success and their failures and put it in a big pot and stirred til the right mix came out.

It would be damned hard for me to say that those who have lost 100+ pounds SAFELY are not in the know of what works for them. I take some of their wisom and some of their grit and determination and some of my own need for health and come up with what works for me. I have read the books (plural) several times. I do take my supplements. I do drink my water. I do force my exercise.

Secret number 678, learned along the way: I am the only person who can work my program. Nobody else can do it for me.

Here is wishing you a healthy New Year filled with all the good things in life!

Hi Lindazkewl, welcome. I believe you have the desire and motivation to start this plan because you are taking the time to post here. I agree with ItsTheWooo that starting now would be the best thing.

You can do it! The people here are fighting the same battle as you and understand how you feel.

Guilt and shame sucks! Unless of course you have murdered someone and buried them under the floorboards..but I digress.

The thing to do now is not to wallow in it once you have fallen. The trick is to get up and keep going. It looks like you are ready to do that and I congratulate you realizing that you need to put on the breaks and get started. Its nothing but a small thing. In the new year my ultimate goal is to start getting a real handle on this weight loss thing. Its not a sprint..its more like an adventure trek. I know there will be some small detours along the way but hopefully if we can keep our eyes toward the horizon..we will make it to the finish. We may not all get there at the same time but we will get there.

No Problem - Just jump back on the band wagon and start again!! Perhaps this setback will make you more determined than ever to stick to your plan and LOSE that weight!!! Good Luck to ya!

Dust yourself off and jump back up on the Atkins low carb wagon. Plenty of room cause we are all getting smaller. Learn from this and think very hard before you plan a cheat again. Remember how hard it was to stop the cheating and restart low carbing. That is the lesson you should take from this.
MrE just did 3 weeks of a very clean induction and arrived in the 300s. read his journal about how difficult it was for him the first week. Now he is doing a 2 week cheat and then a return to induction? He is a glutton for pain that guy.I'm very interested in seeing where his scales end up after that 2 week cheat he mentioned.
Me I'll take the 4 days I endured of my awful caffeine and carb addiction withdrawals remember it well and never put myself in a situation where I will on purpose have to go through that again. If you follow the Atkins plan and progress through the stages you will never feel the need to cheat once you get control of your cravings during the 14 days of induction because you know you can have whatever it is changed to low carb just as soon as you get to the rung of OWL the ingredients are on. Rice, fruit whatever they are all there. And I'm with WOOO you will be surprised at how your tastebuds when not bombarded with a sugar overload will taste the sweetness of veggies. Yep thats right after a few weeks on Atkins you with find that many veggies have a sweet taste to them. I had to dilute the low carb syrups because when i finally switched to OWL and started baking they were way to sweet for my tastes.
The sooner you start the sooner you will reach your goal. make breakfast your first low carb meal and run with it. By your start date you will be enjoying the deep ketosis appetite and craving suppression and well on your way.

Atkins4...this is not an arguement...just a statement of facts: let's DO have everyone check my journal for how EASY it has been for me to do low carbing. I can't say I ever did induction except for the 3 weeks I did at Christmas because even when I was at 20 carbs or less for more than 90 percent of the days I have been on LC I always (except those Xmas 3 weeks) drank coffee. Why was it "hard" on me? The coffee was part...but read deeper. If I was not coming off 30 years of pain killers and would have taken aspirin I could have gotten rid of a withdrawal headache in a heartbeat. BUT my biggest gift to myself was putting up with a little pain to free my body from all the medications that had been ingested over the years.

The medicine has been taken to ease 30+ year old wounds. So...I got rid of more than just caffine during the 3 weeks. I further assure you that it was a breeze compared to most things I have tried.

Getting back on track cannot be hard as the train was always pointed in the same direction. As far as weight gain...I am up 4.5 pounds this morning...which I take happily. Let's see...over the past month I lost 19.5 and gained 4.5 (which will be gone in a day or so) for a net of 15 pounds? Lord, let me be so"unsuccessful" the rest of my life!

Hi Lindazkewl! I've always been the kind of person who would say I will start my diet on Monday. Unfortunately, years of Mondays came and went without me ever losing a single pound. If you're motivated now, just jump back on the wagon and take off down the LC road. Don't dwell on yesterday's cheat or let it get you down. Good luck to you!

Thanks, everyone! I finally found my way back to this original post I'd made and saw how many of you responded. I had tears in my eyes (yeh I'm a mushy, sensitive Pisces) when I read these words of encouragement for me! I was off LC for 3 days, and I'm right back on as of yesterday. I'm really excited and motivated again and I can't wait to see my little progress percentage thingy start moving. Thanks again and all of you keep up the great work (gift to yourselves and family) also!!!

It takes years to lose 100+ lbs, so there will be days you are off the plan, if nothing else just to keep you sane........It's how you get back on the horse the next day that seperates the successful dieter from the rest. You don't fail by missing one day, its when one day turns into a week turns into a month etc.

Thanks again everyone!!