I have been doing this 3 months and have had good and bad weeks but reading this forum and i have some random thoughts

This is a WOE not a diet.
Do vegetarians ever eat meat?
maybe but if they do they dont call it a cheat and they move on.
Do they plan a meat day to say they are successful at not eating meat?


Most of us have spent a lifetime getting to the weight we are and by alot of the posts people are depressed or upset because in a week or two or month or two they have not lost the weight they wanted to..

I dont think any of us looked at teh scale daily on our way up the weight charts and went crap i didnt gain any weight today or this diet of eating hi carb just isnt gaining me the weight i want so i will look for another way to gain weight. or i have been eating this hi carb hi fat diet for 3 months now and have not gained enuf weight so i am going to try something else did we? I know i never looked at teh scale when i was reaching for the sky at 300.

Until we (me included) stop thinking of this as a diet but truly a way of eating (no(limited)sugar no flour etc...) and get your expectations out of the miracle cure and fast loss and into do i really want to eat LC the rest of my life.
IF all we can think about is when can i cheat next then you are setting ourselves up to to cheat.
Cheat another thing is we all call it a cheat but it really isnt a cheat if you think of lcing as a woe and a lifestyle. You have just made the decision to not eat in a lc way of eating but a semi-LC way of eating when i feel like it.
If all you can think about is why am i 2 lbs heavier this evening then i was at noon then you are setting yourself up for failure.

Eating out is a piece of cake (oops bad terminalogy) dont eat anything with sugar or flour.
Now maybe they will throw something on your meat and you might get a little sugar but it will not kill you and you move on with your LC. the same as when i have to go out with my boss a vegetarian and he can tell right away they used chickenbroth. He does not make them return it he realizes he is still a vegetarian and the minut amt of meat he may have digested will not kill him.
Do not order desert, this is not a hard thing to do unless you think it is.
I was a big time ice cream and blizzard fantic but i made the decision that i want to eat in a LC lifestyle and that is not part of the life i want to live (thinner and feeling better).


Everything is a choice and no one here can tell you what to eat or watch you every day and say...oops come on now you know you cant eat that.

Everyone has to make the decision to eat a LC WOE if they want this to work in the long run. IT is hard because we have been fed in ads, tv, magazines etc of all the miracle weight loss programs, pills, drinks etc and we all think of diets as short term goals.
LCin is a lifetime goal and no one is 100% perfect and you will make bad decisions but planning a bad (not bad but non lc) choice i believe is a big mistake.

There is so much you can eat on a LC way of eating i cant believe you would want to risk falling back into the getting fat wagon.

I know i am rambling so i apologize.
Iff anyone can fail at a woe it is me as I travel all the time (eat out 5-7 meals a week) . Have vendors taking us out after work etc.. , and I have tried just about all the miracle pills including excersizing (3 miles a day) and eating HC,LF and still worked my way up to 300lbs. I have a picture of a 6k run i did at 280lbs at the finish line of about 30 people weighing less then me combined and me smiling .
LCing is the easiest way of eating out there today, I have yet to go to a restaurant across the US and not be able to eat LC.

I just want people to succeed at this and if we get the Quick fix mentality out of our systems and go into the Long term mentality the little weight ups and downs will not cause total collapse of how we eat and jump on the fat wagon saying oh well i tried and it dont work for me mentality we all (or most of us have).

And if you slip up dont beat yourself up just dont plan a slip up(cheat) as we all know the accidental slip ups are hard enough to avoid.

GL and sorry for babbling...

You are absolutely correct!

Amen!!Amen!!

I feel the same way if I have more carbs than normal I don't freak out I just try to compensate for the rest of the week by being really good. I think a planned cheat or the cheat mentality just makes it harder to stay on this WOE because you tend to eat way more carbs and then start to crave them again.

Thank you for your logic and a great reminder to all of us about this being a Way Of Life not a quick fix.

I am with you. I am in this for the long haul.

What does WOE mean?

Yeah!! I agree with you, Hatman. This is a way of life, not a quick fix. So called "planned cheats" and "days off" should not be part of our planning. We are supposed to be in charge of ourselves, not let the food be in charge. When I started Atkins, I made a commitment for a lifestyle and lifetime change - not a just when it feels good or is easy change. No one is perfect, but we can all try to stick to plan as best we can. Thanks for the great comments
Marie

WOE = Way of eating - you will also see WOL - way of life.

I am totally with you, Hatman! I find this WOE so easy because the rules are clear and don't feel a need to make exceptions. I turned down a lot sugar filled foods offered by family members. They didn't push, they just don't realize that sugar is a part of my past. I always just explain that I am sugar-free now. And they all compliment me on being thinner, so they can see that it is working.

thankyou hatman, you are right on!!
i just printed out your post and put it on my fridge
a great reminder of what this is all about

hatman- i agree. i think thats why this WOE works for me, because i have accepted it as my long term WOE not as a diet.

Yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

C'mon Hatman...don't hold back...tell us how you REALLY feel! LOL!

Great post! Thank you!
Best wishes;
Happy Jake

I completely agree with you. I started this plan to see what would happen because a good friend of mine lost a lot of weight with Atkins. I quickly have found that this is something I can live with. I decided not to do induction past the first two weeks and I also decided that I didn't want to count my carbs everyday. So I stay completely away from sugar, flour, potatoes, rice, starchy veggies--anything high in carbs. I eat what I want when I want. Then when I have the time for it, I count my carbs for a few days and stay under 20. It is easy and it is working.

This is not a diet, it has broken my carb addiction and I feel about carbs the way any addict should feel about the substance they are addicted to. I want my life--not an addiction. I don't ever intend to put carbs back in my life and I don't plan on any cheats.