Have not done it yet... but my son's birthday is this weekend... not that I plan to, I am getting all paranoid already about licking the frosting off my finger or the ice cream when doing the cake and ice cream... old habits

I do the same on Fitday too... great site. cheers

Quote from the beginning of this thread:

It's not "not following the diet". The "plan" makes allowances. Here's a direct quote:

Almost 7 months low-carbing now. No cheats at all. My birthday was easy, easter was tempting, but not too bad.

Christmas has me a little worried, but I am sure I'll get through it.

Personally I think cheating would be my downfall. If I cheated just once, it would be so easy to do it again and again. Hopefully I'll be cheat free for the rest of my life, and I don't have any plans of ever planning a cheat... food has finally taken its rightful place in my life... fuel. I can get enjoyment out of so many things now, food is way down that list.

Of course this is my feelings only... if you can have your cake and eat it too then go to it!

If you can cheat without cravings and other problems, more power to you. The closest I've come to cheating is overdoing it a bit on the LC cheesecake on my birthday.

I worked with a girl who did atkins for 5 months and lost almost 60lbs. (where I got the idea to start) Now she eats a low calorie diet 6 days a week, on the 7th eats what she wants and exercises 6 days a week for an hour. She's lost 7 more pounds and has been off atkins for almost 6 months. It seems like most people are afriad to try to stop LC because they think they gain all the weight back. She didn't though. I guess it's just personal, if you want to be hungry more often but have a wider food selection than go low cal after you lose the weight. It's not like once you stop atkins you have to go out and have a large pizza, 3 sodas and half a cake. Just like everything else, you have to let your body adjust. Like my poor body, my stomach feels like it's full of rocks covered in slime from nothing but eggs, chicken, fish, pork, turkey, and 3 tiny cups of lettuce. BUT 5 POUNDS IN ONE WEEK IS ALL THE MOTIVATION I NEED.

I've always taken the approach that this is something I will do forever, and though I've given up many things, there are some things that I would just feel TOO deprived if I thought "I will never be able to eat this again". Most of it I find that over time "I've lost that lovin' feeling" for. For example, every summer we visit my family in Vermont, and I would usually allow myself a couple of servings of Ben and Jerry's. But this year, I didn't really even want it.

OTOH, every other month or so, I have either sushi or dim sum. I love them, and I'm not going to say "no sushi, ever again". Also, we have Thai food maybe once or twice a month and I'm sure there's sugar in the sauces, but I'm not going to obsess over it. I wouldn't eat the rice, though. And when I cook Asian food at home, of course, I make it without sugar.

For a very special occasion (my 50th birthday, our 15th wedding anniversary), I will have a small dessert when we go out, like creme brule'.

That's about it. I do cook low-carb treats, though.

i messed up, LARGE. while diligently following my atkins OWL plan (30 carbs per day) i was checking me ketosis and the thing wasn't turning pink. i cut out my 'extras' (atkins muffins, some of the cheese and such), still no pink. i was hungry all the time. no matter how much i ate. it didn't make sense.

this morning i got up and wondered if diet coke had more carbs in it than i thought. i consider them 'free' foods and drink 4-5 cans a day. we order from an online grocery service and got our delivery which included 4 cases of diet caffeine free coke. i pulled out a can from the fridge and for the first time really looked at the can. it was not caffeine free diet coke. it was caffiene free coke. fully sugared. 4-5 cans a day. since last thursday. god help me.

i am back on track. remarkably i did not gain any weight. just didn't lose any. 4-5 cans a day. 30 carbs per can. 150 extra carbs a day. since thursday. i feel like such a doofus.

it is a brand new week. moving right along.

My birthday was September 14th. I planned my first cheat day since I started my low carb diet. I went to Pizza Hut and got a medium pan pizza with extra cheese, half mushrooms, half chicken. I thought that it would be so good eating it after 9 months of having no pizza at all. It was good, but not so good that I miss it a lot. I think I missed it more before, but now that I had it I don't really miss it that much anymore.

My wife made a Jewish apple cake for me and I had a piece of it too. Now that was really good and I will continue to miss it, but the low carb ice cream really helps with sweet cravings. I figure that I probably had about 300 carbs that day. I usually only have about 30-50 a day. I thought that I might gain some weight from that day and was prepared for it, but I didn't gain anything. It did slow my loss down a little though.

This is very true Chairface, I like how you made that observation. We should all, no matter what diet, learn that we eat to live and not live to eat. Food is fuel, not a toy or a way to pass time. By eating to live, we can enjoy life to its fullest. By eating to live, we can engage in events that would otherwise be hindered if we were to stay home and stuff our faces. Nice.

I tend to cheat once every 2-3 weeks- but usually only for one meal. The first time I cheated after losing 10 lbs and took a week to get back on track. Now I am much more in control and don't have a problem going back to eating lc. Last Sat. had cake, ice cream and long john silvers- my daughter's bday. But- I recovered pretty quickly and lost the weight I had gained- I just give myself a weight goal- not a time frame- before indulging again. My next goal is the new double crust/cheese pizza from dominos- when I hit 160- 12.5 lbs away!

I just had to say that I very much disagree with the previous reply about how you should only eat to live. Maybe yes, to some people who can't control the way they eat. I agree for the most part dieting, and denying yourself food to lose weight is great. Once you've kept your weight where you want it then why should you live a life where you can't enjoy wonderful confections, treats and dinners in nice resturants once in awhile. Self control and exercise can make a lifelong wonderful figure. Why should we think of food as the bad guy? Or as just a way to keep us alive when there are so many incredable dishes (low cal, low carb, low fat) and some full carb and full fat that we can share with people we love. I don't know about you, but come thanksgiving dinner I would love to sit down with my family and friends, share a beautiful meal prepared by people I love. It's worth it to me to run a few extra laps that week. I think if you view food as the enemy than you are letting food control your life. To say you will never think about it and just eat it as a means to live, you must be kidding yourself. Chocolate covered strawberries in bed with your spouse, pizza at your kids birthday party, christmas dinner with the awesome sweet potatos no one but your mom can make are just a few examples. What kind of life is it to miss out? Low-carb, low-cal, low-fat 98.5% of the time but live your life, enjoy your life. You can lose weight without being a food nazi. Don't call it cheating. Call it enjoying your life with the understanding that you'll have to put out a little more (for putting in a little more ) P.S.- I've lost 23lbs in 5 weeks Work-out! Work-out! Work-out! If you don't have the time, make the time. You'll have more energy (I swear you will, give it a week)

At this point...never. The thought of cheating makes me ill so right now, I don't.

I don't consider it cheating because I have made it part of my life to have an occaisional high carb meal. I am vegetarian and the only low carber in the family so when occaisions arrive(few and far between) when we go out for a meal to celebrate I usually have no option but to eat high carb. I will not go out to pay for a meal and order only salad which I could have had at home.So instead I have an enjoyable meal with my family and the next day it is back to normal with no guilt.