My girlfriend and I have been doing very well for the past month. No cheating and we are both losing weight. More importantly, we are both feeling good, looking good, and more energetic. Even my clothes fit better. Suits that were tight on me a month ago, fit me like when I first bought them.

Both of us love stuff like Nachos, Pizza, french fries, and pasta. However, obviously on the LC plan, we have to do without.

We were tossing around the idea of a planned weekend of eating stuff that is not LC. So, what we were thinking was start out Friday like any other day, eating LC until dinner. After work, we'd head out for some Pizza or something like that. Then, on Saturday, we'd again treat ourselves with something like a burger & fries, or nachos or something like that. Then we plan on Sunday to begin induction again for a week.

We figure that this will be a way for us to still on occasion enjoy some of our favorite foods from before, while still focusing on the LC way. We are looking to do this every 6 to 8 weeks, sort of as a reward for staying with the plan.

What do you kids think about such a plan? Any thoughts?

Go ahead! A lot of people do it:

Bad, bad, I've been soooo bad...

cheater cheater cheater Mexican Food... The Tasty Killer

What I learned after cheating....

I've fallen and I can't get up

You can title your project "living and learning"!

Oh, and you're not a dog. Dogs get rewarded with food.

Karen

Hi there

It sounds like a good idea in theory. My partner and I are both LCing (the support is great) and we decided to take a romantic long weekend trip to St. Augustine over labor day. We rented a romantical place on the beach etc etc. We ate whatever we wanted - I had a baked potato and we even went to dairy queen - TWICE. It was NOT romantic - we both felt sick the second night we were there! It was bad and we couldn't wait to get home. We both felt like crap. And it took us nearly a week to get on the path again and be in ketosis. It wasn't worth it. The stomache ache, the diarhhea, the lethargy.......... We learned a good lesson. And you know, the food didn't taste that good anyway. I never finished the peanut buster parfait that I used to love so much. It was too much! The problem is, with LC you are working with chemical changes not just lower calories. So it is hard on you to bounce in and out of that. I hope if you decide to do this that it works better for you. Ever consider hitting the Red Lobster instead of the pizza? We both love to eat but have learned to eat in restaurants without carbs! Cindi

I've had a couple of planned cheats. I find that it helps me to resist cravings ... I just tell myself to wait until Saturday (or whenever) and then I can have ice cream or whatever I want.

I also have an extra long workout the morning after a planned cheat. It seems to stop any leftover cravings cold.

Hi there-
I have treated myself to a non-low carb meal every now and then when the occasion arises. It doesn't seem to do any major damage or trigger ugly cravings (at least with me). I generally follow Atkins pretty closely but for an hour or two I guess I rationalize it by saying "well, some plans allow you a higher carb meal daily" (and please excuse me if I am misinformed about other plans - I think CAD lets you have a higher carb count?). Anyway, I don't take it as license to eat everything that I have been missing for the last few months but a little indulgence seems to go a long way for me. As others have stated, when I am done eating whatever it is I am treating myself to, I usually think that it wasn't quite as good as I thought it was going to be (those memories of yummy yet bad high carb food still linger). Maybe if you guys try a few hours of usually off limits food, you'd find that it would be enough. I would go right back to plan the next day before you get out of the habit - and I do think a lot of sticking with this WOE is habit...good luck!
Karen

Thanks for offering us some of your experiences regarding going off an LC plan for a planned cheat. After careful consideration, we are going to give it a shot this weekend to see how we make out.

Both today and tomorrow we are both allowed a meal and a snack that is not Low Carb. Sunday, we go back on induction for a week, and then continue from there.

While we may experience some of the symptoms described by others, we feel this is something we have to try for ourselves. While this new way of eating hasn't been overly difficult thus far, we feel we need to treat ourselves every once in a while.

I have read comments about how people don't get rewarded with food, dogs do. I think a reward is anything you choose it to be.

If I am going to stick to this way of eating for the rest of my life, I will need to eat some of the things I used to every once in a while. If that makes me a bad person in the eyes of some of the LCers out there. So be it.

Thanks for your inputs. I will keep you posted on how we make out.

I had a planned cheat last weekend. I had french toast for breakfast. Lo-Carb Lunch. And Olive Garden for dinner. Then just went back to Lo-Carb the next day. I didn't go back to induction or anything. It had no ill effect on me, didn't slow the weight loss (still lost my 2 lbs this week), and tasted GREAT!! I did find the cravings for sweet stuff was especially bad this week, but not so bad that I couldn't control myself. Anyway, that is my 2 cents for you.

Hi! How'd you guys make out? The weather is beautiful today around the lake here in St Catharines. You can go walk off your cheat.

Everyone cheats every now and then. I don't even like the word 'cheat'; I usually type it as (ch/tr)eat.

As a word of caution, Dr Atkins does warn in the book against weekend cheats, then going back to induction on Monday. You might be disappointed in your results (or lack thereof...)

Now, how about this: what if instead of scheduling (ch/tr)eats, why don't you guys wait for when you really want it? Or for when there's a party or get-together? There are plenty of good, rich foods that don't take you off Atkins. Like this: <a href="http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44087"> Deep Dish Pizza Quiche (click here)</a>. I'm starting to like it better than the real thing, since it doesn't give me the sugar-shakes and bloating that real pizza does.

Having said that, if you can honestly treat yourself, *not* feel like crap afterward, and *not* binge, there's little problem. More power to you. But you would be very, very unique and I'd want to know your secret.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend!

Well, we tried our "planned cheat" this weekend. Friday, we ate LC until dinner and then ordered up a couple of pizzas. What I found is that while I enjoyed it, it wasn't quite like I remembered it. It was good, but not something I am really sacrificing by eatihg this way. It certainly isn't something I am going to be ordering a couple times a week like before.

Another thing I found was that I couldn't eat nearly as much as I used to. I don't know whether it was just that I was paying attention more to when I was getting full or what. But back in the olden days, I could easily eat 5 or 6 pieces of pizza. I could barely finish two, and tried hard to finish a third (I figured what the hell, we paid for it, right?). I suffered no bloating, no cramping, no diaherra or however it is you spell that, and I had no cravings whatsoever.

Saturday, we went for Burgers & Fries for lunch. Again, where I used to be able to eat all my fries and the whole burger and still want more, half way through the burger, I had to stop eating the bun because it was filling me up so much. I even left a bunch of fries on my plate which used to be a no no. For dinner, we tried Carribean Food and I did end up eating pretty much Low Carb since I didn't eat any rice or potatoes and just stuck to the Chicken & Ribs.

We thought we would really treat ourselves afterwards and headed up to the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Of all of the stuff we ate, I have to admit that this was the biggest disappointment of all. I really didn't enjoy it. It was too sweet and just didn't do it for me like in the old days. I ate about a third of a small and pitched the rest. I can honestly say, I can't see myself heading out for another one of those anytime soon.

So, this morning (Sunday) we woke up and started right back into the LC stuff. We started right with some bacon & eggs and are planning some chicken for dinner. We will now return to eating LC.

Overall, while we understand that this may slow our weight loss, we feel it's good to do every once in a while. If the weight continues to come off, I am not too worried about the speed with which it comes off. Just as long as it does.

Neither one of us suffered any headaches, bloating, diarahera (SP??), vomiting, cramping, extreme guilt or any of the other symptoms described by many here.

We are not planning to try anything off the LC way again until Mid November. Both of us do not have any cravings for anything and so far, so good.

I am glad to hear that you did not have any side effects due to eating all that non-LC food. The other night, I was giving our son a candy bar,(he needs the high cal/high carb goodies) and I thought what the hell, a nibble would not hurt me, besides I was curious as to how it would be after eating LC everything...was still on Induction,even after the first 2 wks. required period was over. So I took a bite, heck, it was not even as big as the first joint of my little finger! First, it was WAYYY TOOOOO sweet. It didn't even taste good, and then I got this instant headache from hell, just like I was having my first few days of induction, and then was queasy and felt like I was going to be sick. Yes, all that from that little nibble... so will I be planning any of these "planned-off-the-LC-wagon-eating-excursions"? No way on this earth!
I don't consider what I done a cheat, and I think cheat is something that should be defined by the individual. In the same respect, if you KNOW ahead of time, what that "cheat per se" can do, then don't come on here whining about how I didn't lose this week, and/or I gained weight, and/or how come I am not in ketosis anymore. I ain't picking on anyone here, nor trying to offend anyone who may have "cheated" or is considering it.
If you don't have any side effects, then that is great... however I think for some it might lead to more eating off the LC plan down the road. There are other LC plans that allow for more carbs than Atkins does, and perhaps you might want to check out some of them for more carb allowances.

Because I have SAD, I transfer from Atkins to CAD in the winter. CAD allows a reward meal once a day. When you have the reward meal, however, the meal must be over within 60 minutes. Otherwise your body chemistry starts reacting to the increased carbs in your system. Too, the carb meal does throw you out of ketosis so after coming out of CAD in the spring I have to go back to induction.

You might want to think of keeping your "cheat" to one meal a day for one hour only when you take the time off. That way you'll do the least damage to your metabolism.

I treat myself and I don't binge, feel remorse, feel crappy or anything else except a bit of unavoidable bloat. I don't think I'm unique. Maybe it's a factor of carb addiction ? I registered pretty low on the Eades test.

The only bad thing about treating myself is it's like skipping class. Once you get over that psychological block of the first "cheat", then it becomes too easy to do and rationalize away.

Friday I had already decided I was going to cheat, since it was a night out with the girls. Since I knew I was going to cheat that evening, when confronted with a menu choice for lunch, I decided to choose a steak and fries. I rationalized to myself, well I'm cheating tonight so might as well cheat now too. Then 2 days later I was at a store where they sell hot cinnamon buns. The smell has always made it hard for me to resist and that day I barely even tried. I gave in and ate one. Then today, a co-worker was passing around some home made cake and who can say no to that ? So I had a piece.

So one planned cheat turned into another and another and another. So whereas I didn't binge, that treat opened up a crack in my resolve and now the whole thing seems to be weakening.

I think that's the danger of treating yourself.

Indeed, that's pretty much what I meant but didn't phrase correctly. I can do it once in a blue moon, too, but that's why I 'bank' my cheats. I 'cash them in' at opportunities like you mentioned: someone brings something special into work, b/f takes me out to dinner, or something like that. For me, scheduling it for Fridays and Saturdays would cause what happened to you - 'carbage creep.' I think that's why most people agree that it's best to not schedule cheating for any time but special occasions.