I agree with some of the other posts, if it's planned and not totally nuts you'll be OK.

A couple of weekends ago was my wedding anniversary. My husband and I had t-bone steaks, Caesar Salad (no croutons) and a bottle of cabernet. We then shared a tiny, single-serving size chocolate mud cake. It was the first of anything like that I had had since the end of January. I thoroughly enjoyed every bite. The whole dinner was delicious, rich and wonderful, AND LOW CARB except for the cake. A planned cheat can be done and not mess you up at all!

Good luck!

If you are ok with the idea that the scale might not budge in a counterclockwise motion for a few days, then go ahead! Reward yourself.

And it's only really a cheat if it leads to an uncontrollable carb-binge that lasts a few days, IMO.

My birthday isn't til November, and I know I'll be treating myself on that day.

I know that whatever you decide, it will be the right choice for you. I just wanted to share my experience over last weekend. I partied too much Friday night so there was the alcohol stall and then since I felt like crap on Saturday I had a carb fest. By Sunday I was up 3.5 lbs and even though I jumped back on plan Sunday, I had gained another .5 lbs by Monday. It took me until today to get those lbs back off so that I am back to where I was before the fiasco. I also had to go through withdrawal all over again with the headaches, dizziness, etc. So as someone else posted above, just be prepared for whatever happens and know that you can get back on plan afterward. Also, your situation is different since you are planning for the indulgence where mine was definitely not planned. You are definitely worth whatever way of celebrating you choose. Good luck and have a very Happy Birthday!!!!

Tarena
174.5/166/135

I am going to be the party pooper, but having that many carbs all of a sudden could make you spend your birthday with sever stomach aches and bathroom problems. That doesn't sound like a reward to me.

Instead why not make most of the day even lower LC then you would normally have with plenty of veggies and protiens. Then at dinner have a treat, but see where you can lower the carbs slightly. Maybe make yourself an LC cake. There are tonsof LC cheesecakes and carb sense minicarb has a chocoalte cake mix that is amazing. It also has no sugar alcohols. Top it with a cream cheese cocoa frosting and you'd never know it was low carb.

Also stick to a serving and not gorge just because you are giving yourself permission to have a treat.

My birthday is on Cinco de Mayo! I am going out and eating some good food...BUT, I am not eating illegal foods, Iam getting a taco salad without the beans, and leaving the taco bowl thingie. And eating the celery and blue cheese they bring you along with chicken wings (I could eat the chicken wings, but I don't like them). OH yeah..and having a glass of wine.

Good luck!

More than one person has tried this in the past, and never returned.

--nw

You know, if Atkins is going to be a way of life.. I would now lay out the ground rules for yourself that you can follow for life. For me personally, I would rather have celebration meals for my birthday and anniversaries than on actual holidays. I find Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and other holidays like that aren't so hard to stay on plan with. There are so many legal foods on the table it just isn't a temptation for me. I think everyone should have at least a day or two a year that they can look forward to having something special on. I'm not suggesting going and eating so much that you make yourself sick trying to make up for lost time. But to have a meal you enjoy is NOT a crime. But now that you are in the early stages of Atkins, it's a perfect time to decide that yes.. you will have celebration meals on _____, _____, _______ dates. You can then look forward to those times and knowing that you have future plans for that special meal might help you to stay on track in the meantime. I know on my birthdays I have cream puffs. I dont have them any other time of year but sometimes I pass by the freezer section and think.. nah, I only have a couple months to go before that treat. Anyways whatever you do, don't feel guilty for your decision. Just make sure you have fully considered it before going ahead with it. Once you make your choice enjoy it!

Jenn

<in best internet singing voice>

"It's my party and I'll carb if I want to,
Carb if I want to, Carb if I want to,
You would carb to, if it happened toooo yooouuuuu"

Do what you wish my friend...I have planned cheat days...but you have to be ready for...
1) a few pound weight gain, that will NOT come off in 1 day
2) a slowing in your rate of loss for a period of time.
3) you "may" reawaken the cravings

What I usually do if I cheat is:
1) increase my exercise...call it guilt...it helps
2) move my diet closer to induction for about a week.

Also, before you do this ask yourself if you're the type of person that can hop right back on the diet...If so, maybe it's ok.

Anyway...feel free to check my journal for what I've done. Look in the beginning though and it will be easier to see. I've found so many friends here now that my later posts are separted by many friends posts (and I love them all).

GL whatever you do!!...after all...it's your party!!

just as an example- tonight my friends and i went to a place where you pick out your food then they cook it in front of you on one of those big grills. i could have indulged in all the sweet sauces, and the higher carb choices, but instead, as a treat for being SO good, i allowed myself to just eat a lot of the allowed foods! this was very satisfying for me.

when it comes down to it, do you really WANT those foods anymore? i know at least for me, when i think about "cheating," its not really the foods themselves i miss, but what the foods represented: comfort and stress release. i have a feeling that if i were to eat them, i would not enjoy them NEARLY as much as i think i would. do you not like the food you eat on this WOL? i suspect that you do... if you do, indulge in a new recipe! indulge in some low carb cheesecake.

if you don't relate, by all means, go for it and happy birthday but as everyone has already said, think about it carefully before you do it!

Don't do it, that was my excuse and a month later I am still trying to strictly go back to it - no cheats!

I posted in the other thread earlier, and I'll post along the same lines again.

We shouldn't look as food as a reward. I know I do it too often. Instead, though, we need to see food as a survival mechanism. Eat to live, don't live to eat. When we reward ourselves with food we're only reinforcing our bad behavior.

I see no problem with someone occasionally having a treat of something they really enjoy. I do it once in a great while myself, and it's perfectly fine. I have found, though, that if I over-indulge (like more than two or three bites) I'll get so sick to my stomach it's not worth it.

One thing I see a lot of here is 'it's only once a year.' Sure, it's once a year. I have a birthday once a year, my husband once a year, my children once a year each, then Easter comes once a year, Independence Day once a year......and can you see where I'm going with this? Pretty soon Sunday only comes once a week, so on and so forth.

The best thing, I think, to do is to realize there are many foods we may never eat again, even though we really love them. Or if we do eat them it may only be once in a couple of years, if that. But again, this goes with eating to live. If we do that we tend to detach ourselves from food and it's no longer such a big issue.

I'm not saying we can't occasionally celebrate with food (the entire world would have to be brainwashed to get away from that one, LOL).

On my last birthday, I bought a new outfit to wear for Christmas. That was so much better than splurging on some food, because it was the first time I could shop the regular women's clothing without going 2X! Oh, what a feeling!

And I really like the advice here on finding legal foods that fit within your idea of holidays. We do LC birthday cheesecakes now. The 6-year-old is the only one who misses the cake, and we have a bagful of cupcakes in the deep freeze so he can have one once in a while.

Even Dr. Atkins said that his diet was never meant for you to give up occasional treats forever. However, he did indicate that those treats for special occasions should be reasonable and not to go overboard.

I've been on maintenance for the school year (3.5 weeks left, yeeaahh!) and I have indulged on special occasions with no permanent weight gain.

One thing I have noticed though, and you should be prepared for, is that when I do have >150 g of carbs or so (I usually eat 50-70 g) I get bad leg cramps a few hours later. I take K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ routinely and take extra if I do eat a carb meal. Also drink plenty of water.

Good luck, and happy birthday.

Joan

Im far from a pro at this way of life but I cn tell you my DH's exsperience.. Ok here goes. He started off that day eatin breakfast at a resteraunt and ate fine/felt fine. THEN he went out o lunch with friends at some mexican place, came home and went straight to the bathroom. Too put it mildly he was in and out of that bathroom all day and air freshner was of no help IMO. lol, also he did what he hadn't in forever, took a LONG nap. Then the rest of the night he was in and out of the kitchen. Munchies, ice cream etc.. He has never gone back fully on this woe. He has allways had more willpower than me, so if it hit him like this I know that I can NOT do what he did.
Just our exsperience.
Angel

I love to cheat on Indian food - nan and butter chicken. Always, puts on a pound or two that is gone soon enough.

Yes, in that case I'd say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"