Someone on this board posted:

You never fail until you quit! And that is what I go by - it's true I've fallen off the wagon but as long as I get back on I have a chance at success

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why someone feels they may succeed where they have failed before. In fact it's a question people probably should be asking themselves before putting themselves in a position to make the same mistakes.

People do need to ask themselves how important it is for them to succeed. It's just not something easily accomplished casually, without spending time thinking about it, at least not before one finds a routine for them that works.

I equate losing weight with quitting smoking. Both involve addiction. It took me about 15 years before I could say that I had finally and irrevocably quit smoking. Now I don't even crave the bloody things.

Now I'm concentrating on the weight loss success. I have regained a lot of my health but the weight loss eludes me. However, I will NEVER give up.

One addiction down, one left to go.

Never give up on a way that works for you. I did give up for the most stupid reasons ... to fit in with other people and because someone said it made my face look scrawny. The main reason was to fit in with others and I can tell you now that it was the daftest thing I did. My heartburn returned, my weight returned and I did not feel as good. My excess weight did not come back in one fell swoop, it came back a bit at a time. Suddenly, I was almost back where I started .... much too fat. It has taken me over a year just messing about trying to get slim by cutting calories etc. I didn't eat much in the way of carbs, but my weight went down a couple of pounds then up a couple of pounds. It is so difficult to eat the way you know is better for you when other people in the household eat whatever they want and remain slim. Nearly everyone I know is slim and they eat what they want. They almost bragg about it saying they can eat whatever they want and remain thin. I wanted to be like that and I tried and tried, but did I get thin? Not a chance, even on a very low calorie diet. I have now come to my senses and there is no way that I will ever be influenced by what anyone else eats or says. Guess what? At last my weight is now coming down. It is not my weight that is the most important thing, but my health. Of course, health and weight are tied together. I totally agree that carbs are addictive and that is one reason why it is very difficult to stop eating them. I had to work very hard on myself to make the change to low carb again. Observation of what was happening to my body and putting in the right messages finally pushed me in the right direction for me. If it works for you keep trying until you succeed.

It took me at least 25 times to finally quit smoking. Now it has been 21 years and I am still smoke free because I did not quit trying to quit.

Wow... feeling kind of sad right now. I just came back to the forums.

Back in 2001 I lowcarbed and went from 180 to 130. I maintained that for a long long time. I did maintenance in a way... as in I knew to stay away from processed carbs. I didn't count carb grams. Ate potatoes and fruits and all that. Just stayed away from any pastas, breads and sugar. Until I moved to Manitoba in 2005. When I first came here I think I was very depressed. I binged... and binged bad. I went back up to 150. Got single again and went back to cutting out the processed carbs and stayed at 150 for the longest time. Then cut out all carbs and went back to 130...

Fast-forward to the end of 2005 when I met my husband. I got comfortable and was no longer single which means being surrounded by other people's food. All his family lives within a two mile radius which means suppers, lots of suppers. Then I got pregnant... but heck even after the baby I maintained 150! Then came some unhappiness with my life again (mostly to do with work) and I binged. Specifically you know those bags of Reese Bites? I could eat one of those in a day... I was not in a good place.

As you see from my stats I'm at 177. I JUST posted in the introduction 'back yet again' so am feeling a little sensative about this thread. I do believe you didn't mean to judge.... but inadvertantly have.

I'm back because I want support in my efforts. I know carbs make me feel crappy. On the rare occassions I have indulged in a spagetti supper I feel AWEFUL after. I think I may even have a gluten sensetivity because when I cut out the carbs I feel so much better. Like a different person. But avoiding carbs is HARD. Probably harder than quitting smoking or alcohol or crack... why? (Please don't take that badly... just trying to make a point) Because it's EVERYWHERE. Smoking, alcohol and drugs are frowned upon... in many circles quitting carbs is frowned upon. People support you quitting addictive substances. Only here do we find support to quit carbs.

Even other ways of eating find much more support than low carbing; such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten free...

I know a carb-free lifestyle makes me feel so much healthier... but dammit it's hard, but I just have to keep on trying!

Linnea

Well, the OP hasn't posted in a month... wonder if she did the unthinkable and fell off the diet?

No schadenfreude... nope. None... must not give in!

I wonder if she got mad at the comments because they weren't what she wanted to hear.

Nancy LC , you and I both know how hard it is to stay on plan. We both have different reasons, but its so hard to recall that reason sometimes when that craving hits or the junk is just there. I am very emotionallly tied to food, boredom is my worest enemy.

I got a Tubal Reversal 7 weeks ago, I went off the pill 2 days ago and I started eating LC again 4 days ago. I want to be healthier for myself and my 4th child. Its tough, I've done this over and over 1000's of times, but some day I want it to work. I know it can, I've lost weight and am very healhy for it. Its really hard and for people that havn't fallen off the wagon "and got run over by it" really wouldn't know till they've tried it.

And I havn't even gotten to pregnancy cravings yet and there bad today!

After 11 months of being a low carb zealot, lately I've been feeling less invincible. I'm very scared of falling off this particular wagon. It's the only weight loss method that's worked long term and has a chance of being sustainable for me. I have no cravings, but I'm still tempted to have little nibbles of other people's carby food (like right now there are croissants and scones left over from breakfast in our lunchroom). The temptation is caused by curiosity to "just see if I can have a little and then no more". If I give in to the temptation then of course there will be more. If not immediately then eventually, and who knows when it will end: when I'm back to my original fat weight?....when I'm even heavier? So I have great sympathy for anyone who has tried and failed and tried again and failed again at this w.o.e. because it is indeed HARD. We are surrounded by carbage. On our best days we look at it and see poison. On an average day we don't even notice it any more because that stuff just doesn't apply to us. But on our worst days we look at it and remember that it did used to taste good and it did used to make us feel good, momentarily, and we forget the heavy price we had to pay for that. Whether you never fall off the wagon or constantly do, we all need each other's support and encouragement. Good luck to us all!

Good grief, I can't count the number of times I've started and re-started since 2003. But I keep trying, and finally I've largely (not entirely) got it down. But it was a long road, and with all my failures I learned a lot of things that did NOT work. I doubt if many people go on a diet, Atkins or any other, and are totally successful the first time. It's a process....one of casting off bad habits, adopting new habits, and realizing that you must settle into a way of eating and exercising that not only allows you to lose the excess weight, but then STAY with a very similar way of eating that allows you to stay there without backsliding. It's a hard thing to let go of what is often decades of bad eating.

One important thing I now realize AND accept is that I will never ever again be able to eat like I did when I was a teen and in my young adulthood, when I never gained weight despite a diet full of sweets. I've finally learned that to get to my goal it requires very very few carbs and a heck of a lot of consistency over whatever time it takes without dropping any of it for even an occasional treat. No treats right now, because I've also learned that treats are dangerous triggers and definitely the gateway to gradually slipping and sliding off the program. This has happened too many times to count, and finally, I'm determined not to go there again.

This is perhaps the biggest and best lesson I've learned and accepted: occasional treats don't work for me. I know my pathetically weak limits of resistance when goodies are within reach, so I bring NOTHING home that I shouldn't eat right now. My kitchen is now devoid of all carbage. Nothing, so there's no temptation to call my name. And luckily, I've finally evolved enough over these years that I will no longer make a store run to get some junk. Not having temptation in the house is finally a good enough barrier for me. But it took me awhile and more than a few failtures to get even to this point, let me tell you! But it feels good to be even at this point, although it has been a slow process getting here.

So ultimately, I guess I'm saying I couldn't have even reached where I am right now without a boatload of sad failures behind me. I'm often mad at myself that I had to learn the hard way through all my repeated efforts, but that's the way it is for me. The point is, I finally know what I want to do, exactly how to do it, and I also know that if I truly want to lose the weight and reach my goal MORE than I want to indulge in a momentary taste treat, then the fact is....I will do it and I will reach my goal. It's all quite simple, but never easy. However, over time it does get easier!

My motto: CONSISTENCY OVER TIME

I wonder if we don't truly learn till we fail? I screwed up this morning and am right back on the wagon, it must not have been to tall or the horse was just going slow enough for me

We are to learn by our mistakes, life is a learning process. If all goes well, we learn, not fail over and over again. I'm a blond, its taking me a few more times but I feel better for it.

Yes....getting right back on the wagon is SOOOO important. Back when I first started low carb in 2003, I would fall off the wagon for weeks, months, even a year or more. The time gradually tightened up for me, and now I'm usually back on the wagon after ONE incident of bad eating, the very next day. My longest time off lately was a week, which did a lot of damage and definitely got my attention.

Failure leads to success...eventually!

I've failed a lot! My success will be gradual but if I keep at it, then I've won. I have found, over time of doing this over and over, I don't binge near as much as I used to. I can still do it daily, but I can't eat very much at a time otherwise I'm sick. I think my body like my LC way

There is nothing else; but trying again. For me, at least, this is the only way that works.

I've only had one backslide in almost 8 years... and that was only about 1/3 of the weight I'd lost. Still, it was enough. Enough to scare me back to these forums; enough to make me get strict and lose the weight again; enough to make me realize it was wheat that messed me up; and delete it from my life.

On the doctor's scale (the only one I use) it has not resulted in much weight loss; less than ten pounds. But to the people I have encountered in the interim, it has been literally HUGE. People rush over to me in public to exclaim, "What have I done!?! I look fantastic."

This is incredible incentive.

Only 100 restarts? Sigh. Lucky dogs.