I am having so much trouble with wanting sweets. I finally caved in, after days and ate 2 large peanutbutter eggs. I thought they would taste absolutely wonderful,but all I could taste was big gobs of sugar, they did not even taste good. I have read that if you eat 1 bite you are not suppose to it will set you back a whole week. I am sick to death of what I did. I have lost 3 lbs. in 5 days. Today I just seemed really down in the dumps, is that common for a newbie? I want to go on with the diet. I feel like a failure.

carberrier,

I am new to this WOE/WOL, and I can only offer up support, and I think wanting to continue the diet is the 1st step to picking up the pieces after a mishap. So no beating yourself up over this, although a private 5 minute 'pity me party' would be okay (serve some pork rinds or chicken wings).

Eating the sugar might set you back a few days of losing, not a week's worth of already lost weight. Please Don't give up, but do remember how awful the chocolate egg tasted...
& Good Luck,

Now what?

Now you:

1) Admit your mistake. (already done).

2 ) Learn from your mistake. You now know that the peanut butter eggs - and most sweets - simply aren't going to taste as good as you remember them and so that should help you avoid them in the future.

3) Move on. It is unlikely to set you back much at all. The danger is that it may lead into prolonged bad behavior which WILL set you back. And so what if it did set you back a week? What's done is done and cannot be undone. What can be done is to do better as you move forward.

Keep the Faith.

great advice there. forgive self, move on, learn--that's all we can do about any of our mistakes, eating or in other areas.

Make "no sugar, no flour, no potatoes" a rule for yourself, an unbreakable rule, just part of the way you live. If you're in a foul or down mood, don't shop--heck, don't even get in the car if you can avoid it! (Cars have a strange way of steering themselves to convenience stores at stressful times.) Plan ahead--make sure there is always cooked meat in the freezer so that a zap in a microwave will give you a meal and so you aren't grocery shopping or driving to a fast food place hungry. Keep a private journal about emotions and cravings, too--this will help a lot in the long run.

In a way--not that I wish it on you--a re-gain of some weight will be a favor. It'll remind you what put the weight on in the first place and what you should avoid to keep taking the weight off.

IMHO, I believe that this type of behavior is very common among all LC'bers. Now, before I start getting hate mail, not everyone caves into it by 'cheating', but I think we all have had thoughts about eating things we shouldn't... the forbidden food !!! It has to do in a big part with psychological craving as well as what your body had been used to consuming. We still remember the comforting feel of the carb and sugar-laden foods, especially when we were sad or distressed. (How can I forget it... I have ended up lugging that "comfort" around with me!) Sometimes we automatically reach for those same stand-bys, thinking that we can recapture that feeling.

BUT, something goes wrong when we LC... the body has begun to readjust now that the intake doesn't include what is essentially not good for the body [SUGAR for one!] and rejects it faster than a bad credit card! The body is a natural bouncer given the chance to be healthy! Imagine that your body has transformed into club 54 :

"Uh... sugar, no... I'm sorry you're going to have to leave. You aren't on the list."
"Yes, water, please come right in... a pleasure to see you again!"
" Dark leafy greens! We haven't seen you in awhile! Glad you're back!"
"Bread, how many times have I told you not to hang around here. You're wasting time-- both yours and mine!"

Well, you get the point.

The thing about creating a new way of life (WOL) is that it doesn't stop at food choices, but includes chages in activity and perception. Everyone needs comfort, we just need to recognise that fact and develop new ways of making ourselves happy other than putting something in our mouths.

Your body has obviously already begun to make those changes in rejecting what isn't good for it. You don't want to stop already, do you? You feel bad? Here is some penance for you:


Now that THAT is over with, be free-- go on to do wonderful things for your body.

I agree that you can't beat yourself up about one false step; you are only as human as the rest of us. I'm a lover of sweets as well, and no amount of low-carbing has changed that, but I found low-carb solutions to satisfy my sweet tooth while not eating a ton of carbs.

I would beat some whipped cream with Splenda and a little unsweetened cocoa, which translates to chocolate mousse in my book, but has very few carbs. Or I would make chocolate sauce with unsweetened chocolate, butter, splenda, and vanilla, which is very yummy and, again, low in carbs.

Cheesecake, if you leave out the graham cracker crust and sweeten it with Splenda, qualifies as induction food, because cream cheese, eggs, and sour cream are all allowed. I also make pumpkin pie, or un-pie as we call it, but I bake it in ramekins in a water bath. Pumpkin is also induction diet food. I found a recipe in Martha Stewart's pie book that does not use evaporated milk, but has a little heavy cream. I just replace the brown sugar with Splenda, although you could use brown Sugar Twin. If you like that idea you could probably find the book at the library; if not, I can post it for you.

So don't feel bad about yourself, find ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without sabotaging your diet! There is no need to be miserable on this diet.


Karla

Oh you guys, this is what keeps me going. I know I have a problem with loving myself and my self esteem. I have always used food to make myself feel better, especially sweets. What you are telling me makes me feel better instead of the food. I have been back on track since Sunday. I told my husband I could not do this any more, and he said yes you can. I felt alot better when I got up Sunday and got right back on the horse. If you guys could possibly send me some of those sweet recipies, I sure would love it. Thank you so very much for all the love and concern. It made me feel better.

I have no idea if this applies for you, but it may help. Sometimes, self esteem is wrapped up with what we perceive as lack of control over our world and ourselves. For me, sweets represent my weaknesses and my unwillingness to turn away from them my failures. Every time I gave myself permission to eat junk and abuse my body, I felt guilty and out of control and it lowered my self-image another notch. For this reason, I have decided that part of my victory over the past week is that I have stayed away from anything that resembles the sweets and carbs that made me feel out-of-control and weak. I progressively began to feel stronger and better about myself than I had in a long time. Just a suggestion, but maybe replacing the sweets with lots of faux sweets is not such a good idea in the beginning of this WOL. Maybe its better to find out we have the strength to turn away from the patterns that have robbed us of our self-esteem. And maybe, just maybe, next time it will be you saying...I made a mistake, but so what, because I know I can do this.