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You're not alone on the alcohol thing. It's also my Achilles heel. Once I found out that distilled spirits were low carb, I fell directly off the wagon! Good thing is, liquor is what I like to drink most, so keeping the beer and wine out of my face is easy.

I've continued to lose or at least maintain weight, but I do feel I may have stalled, so starting Monday, its back on the wagon for me (It's always a day in the future to stop drinking for us alcoholics isn't it?). I want to see if its causing the stall or my phase 2 loosening up on the carb count.

Alcohol is seen by the body as a poison that must be eliminated first. So every alcohol calorie we drink must be burned first before the body goes back to burning fat. So in essence, even though there are virtually no carbs in booze, booze is treated like carbs by the body as far as what it burns for energy (and defense) in first priority.

Like you, I got disgusted with myself, and thats what made me start the diet. Other than the alcohol I've been pretty solid with it and not cheating. Not one single regular piece of bread, no sugar except in the occasional condiment or additive in a food product that is otherwise pretty low carb. I've started doing low carb challenges eating out, both fast food and dine in. I just had a meal the other day at a restaurant and they were really accommodating and kept almost every ingredient separate for me, and those were the ingredients I asked for. They eliminated tomato for me for instance because the server listened to me...I wouldn't have eaten it, so it would have been a waste. I do eat tomatoes but its easy to keep it off a burger to drop a couple more carbs off of that specific meal. I felt very satisfied with the specialty burger/no bun I had, and they gave me a small Cesar salad in place of fries...and verified that they do not add sugar to the sauce for the burger or the Cesar dressing and that they use Dukes mayo in their dressings which is sugar free and the company directly reported to me there is .05 grams carbs in a tablespoon.

I used to scoff at those people dissecting a meal like I do now. It's no longer a laughing matter to me. I have changed my lifestyle and I'm one of those weird people!

But, the thing those on this site helped me with right away, was my panic about "what I CANT eat". I've been through something similar before when I had acute pancreatitis. Not a low carb thing, but a super low fat thing. When you have pancreatitis you cant hardly eat anything at first, and have to be super careful about eating any fats and definitely cant drink alcohol. You have no choice but to get creative with what you eat...its our instinct to want to eat, we as humans cannot be happy without eating and feeling like we are enjoying it...its kind of like intimacy, the longer we go without it...we literally change as people.

So, starting low carb, I first went the Soutbeach route. Talk about restrictive. Not only are you giving up all those awesome carby foods and drinks, but you cant have animal fats either...total bummer. But the good folks here suggested maybe leaning Atkins was better for me since I would have to force feed 4-1/2 cups of vegetables down my throat every day unlike others who easily eat that much vegetables. I made that shift and have been very happy. Bacon and steak are very healing to the mind!

Folks here saw me lamenting about the foods I could no longer eat...almost in a depression or anxiety about it; and while I disagree with some who pretty much just give up and accept life without certain things and I like to challenge myself to find low carb ways of having those things...they did help to remind me of all the wonderful things I can have in my new lifestyle. It's really important to focus on those positives for the frame of mind.

I've been doing this since January 1, basically 2 months and I lost about 20 lbs so far of my goal of 50. Granted the first ten came off in the first 8 days and I have fluctuated here and there, but sure enough, even with the booze, my weight slowly keeps dropping...at worst stalling for several days.

The other night, I was almost laughing like a madman because it occurred to me one of my favorite meals of all is totally low carb! Buffalo Chicken Wings with celery and blue cheese dressing! I had perfected wings at home (a deep fryer is essential and I have a good, easy to clean one and use it in my garage so all those vapors and airborne oils stays out of the house) over the last 10 years. I almost never, like steak, order wings out at a restaurant because I cook both to perfection at home. But, for me to take almost 2 months to realize I could have my wings, is almost funny, but I'm actually a little mad at myself for being so...I dont know, maybe dumb is the best word? But especially since I'm in phase 2 and adding small amounts of carbs back in, I can even use a small amount of rice flour or cornstarch shaken on my wings like I do for that special chewy/crispy exterior and remain in low carb zone for the overall meal. Only now, I measure a teaspoon and shake in a bag until its all collected on the wings rather than just dump some in. It's not only a good way to count the carbs...but also less wasteful!

At any rate, we are all in "our stories" here. So you are not alone. You wont find me in the support areas of the site becasue I'm not the type that needs it. But, mentally the good folks here did help me get past that initial sort of depression I had...like losing bread was almost like losing a friend.

You'll see me mostly in the kitchen talk area because I am always trying to beat the diet's restrictions by finding creative ways to have the things I'm not supposed to. And I love to cook, so discussing cooking and products interests me.

Best of fortunes to you!