I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Ask yourself this question: Do I want to loose this weight and feel better?

If the answer is YES (it had better be if you are here in this forum), then you MUST stop the cheating. The old adage of "Just a little bit won't hurt" is a bald faced lie! It will hurt, epescially if you are having that little bit everyday!

Hang in there!!! I am down to 194 - There is NOTHING like the feeling of getting rid of that "2".

Take it 1 day at a time - be sure to drink your water.

And remember to not protein load in the evening.

IT WILL HAPPEN!!!

I've never heard of "protein loading" - does that mean eating too much proten?

Thanks!

Read the Atkins chapter on plateaus. It means don't eat more protein than you need close to bedtime (4 hours) so that your body can burn the fat while you sleep.....

Make lunch your larger meal - and cut back on dinner a little!!! IT WORKS!!!

Protein is negative calories (meaning it uses more calories to burn it off than it has in it) so you are burning the calories - which is good, but most fat loss occurs at night.

So by not protein loading at night you are making your body rely more on your fat stores than it does during the day.

At - lease this is what I have been taught - all I can say is that it works for me.....

I have been LC'ing since the end of Novemeber. The Monday after Thanksgiving to be exact. That day I jumped on the scale and said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. When I saw 275 staring back at me I darn near cried. Not like I didn't know I was gaining but 275 holy cow an all time high for me. I was finally sick & tired of being sick & tired. Well I am happy to say I am down 37 pounds but holding steady. Have been at this weight for WAY to long. I am aiming to hit that 199 mark too! I can't remember the last time I was under 200. Overall I want to be in a 14 again. I was there once with phen phen. At 5' 10" I felt I looked good at a 14. I can't remember who wrote it earlier but the kind of 14 where you can walk in to any store and have it fit that's the 14 I'm aiming for too!

Here's to our health! Take care and together we can tackle anything!

Messy

Hi everyone. I think this is a wonderful thread. I like being with you all.
My daughter and I went to an outlet mall today, did't buy much but by the end of the day, we had to eat something. There was NOTHING to choose from, so we ended at denny's. A nice remodeled Denny's but denny's none the less. I had a garlic, swiss, mushroom burger (yes, no bread) It was wonderful. I had had five pieces of bacon for breakfast.
There all that talk of cheating in this thread. I have been very good the past two weeks, but I am sorry to admit that I ate two chocolate covered pretzels today (ok dammit, I also ate two of my daughters fries at Denny's!!!) These things happen. I just keep on going. I suppose I wll have some kind of cream cheese rollups this evening. Who would have ever thought pork rinds would be in our vocabulary?
I have not weighed again, I can become addicted to the scale, as I have found out in the past. I feel good though. and surely that is what this is all about

I made it through today cheat free! yay! It was really hard because one of my major problems that got me needing to lose weight is picking at things, just a little nibble here and there. So I'm battling against that learned action, but today I did it! yay for me!

JKRohn, I totally know that feeling, I stepped on a scale this past year and saw 251.5 and it scared me, that meant I could round up to 300lbs and I had a scary Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes moment, where she says "I wish I just had the courage to go ahead and get really fat". So I decided that I either had to lose weight or give up and get bigger, and I decided then that I would rather be a size 10 than die in my 30's from obesity.

Corrie, I will definetly make sure not to have protein at night anymore. I'm on CAD so I get a reward meal which I have at dinner, but I'm usually up for several hours after that and often have an evening snack, so I'll just make sure its mostly veggies at night from now on!

I have to say that this thread has been SOOO inspirational to me and I'm so glad that we all are here to support each other!

Good Luck - and think of it this way.....

Every time you cheat, you send your blood sugar back up, and you body will immediately stop burning fat and go back to burning glucose for fuel - it will always burn the easiest - most readily available fuel first...Ketosis stops.

If you eat more carbs than you need, they will go to your storage areas, if the storage areas are full, they turn right back to fat. Your body already knows how to do this really easily.

So think about this process....You have to break back out of the process of your body using glucose for fuel....which can take 3 or 4 days depending on the individual...So every time you cheat it can take almost a week to get back to burning your fat for fuel....

Do you see where I am going? Even if you only cheat once a week, you can cause your weight loss to come to a screeching halt.

Don't think that the one bite of cake, french fry or piece of bread won't hurt you - it will.

I personally also have trouble losing if I don't stay away from diet soda and coffee.....

Drink your water and take your vitamins!!!

Corrie

Ivory I am so proud of you!

It is hard to stay cheat free when you have those things that traditionally send you off on a "Eating this will make me feel better" moment. I've had those many a time!

Right now I am trying to make a deal with myself, if I am hungry - I eat. If I am aggravated/mad/depressed etc - I do not eat just because "I deserve it", or "I need it". Its been hard, but so far it has worked. Hopefully one day it will become second nature and I don't have to keep arguing with myself about it.

I am so happy! I didn't cheat yesterday and my scale hit 220 this morning!

Cheating is one of those things I KNOW is wrong and that its throwing me off, but I just don't always listen,but now I'm going to.

Its so nice to losing weight and to refer to the scale 'hitting' a certain weight on the way DOWN!

Anyway I am going to find some food(lo carb of course!)

Ivory!!

Congratulations!!

Way to go!

See hard work and NO CHEATING pays off! Keep up the good work. We are all here rootin' for ya!

Messy

Hi

I am trying to hit 200. Istarted at 235 and now I am 223. It has taken me 4 weeks so far and I hope to keep dropping.

I don't know how to change my weight on here, I hate that it looks like I have not lost anything yet. Anyone want to help me with this please