How bad could a week of cheating be? (Atkins) : Low-Carb War Zone Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#106 ^

Mon, Nov-03-14, 17:04

KDH

Senior Member

Posts: 1,247

Plan: Atkins/Taubes
Stats: 270/168/160 Female 5'7"

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Dallas, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by khrussva

I read through all of these posts again to refresh my memory. I find it sad (but also not unexpected) that one person who seemed to advocate the occasional "cheat" appears to have fallen off the radar well short of goal. Now I don't know what happened, but I suspect it was one cheat too many. The stats for losing the weight and keeping it off are so dismal, IMO paranoia is the wrong choice of words. Thinking big picture, losing weight and keeping it off is not an easy thing to do. I don't consider myself paranoid -- I'd much rather think that what I have is a healthy respect for the measly 2% to 5% success rate that I have read about.

Paranoia is "influenced by fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion" according to the dictionary. I'd say the fear is there, but not due to irrationality or any delusion. Often it is influenced by a very fact-based fear due to previous experience. When I was losing regularly, gains due to going off-plan pissed me off, even if I got it back off quickly. Because I would be looking back a few weeks and thinking to myself "OK, I'm back to where I started, but I COULD have been even lower by now, and just lost all that time for something that didn't taste as good as I imagined, and made me feel like crap." But, everybody's experiences are different. You never know I guess.

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#107 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 11:20

Whitecrane Whitecrane is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 89

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 254/231/175 Male 5' 11"

BF:
Progress: 29%

Location: Long Island

Quote:

Originally Posted by Molly B

Whitecrane, just from reading the first page of this thread, it sounds like you are trying to talk yourself into the notion that it is okay to cheat for a whole week AND drink copious amounts of wine! IT IS NOT!!!!

I mean, REALLY!! You are reading between the lines and sending yourself the wrong message.

IT IS NOT OK to cheat for a week like this and drink a lot of wine! Are you serious?! Why did you even post a question / proposal like this if you are NOT serious about following a LC WOE?!

"The vibe I'm getting here is that this I simply need to be careful and return to Atkins afterwards."

NO. The vibe is that no one here wants to hurt your feelings and be gut wrenching honest with you, BUT I WILL!

I have worked too hard to lose my weight and I've put a lot of effort into creating webpages that can help others learn too, plus a lot of time on this board learning, talking, educating myself, so I can educate others.........and I DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOU FAIL EITHER!

You said you are only asking OUT OF CURIOSITY. Well, then you won't be too angry with me when I tell you the honest truth here, since your question is hypothetical, right? (Or is it really, since you say you will stay on induction UNTIL your holiday, and then...........quit so you can cheat a whole week and drink a ton of wine??)

So get with the program! By cheating a whole week and KNOWINGLY doing so, not are you only going to lose that weight you lost and gain it all back, but you are also going to lose whatever little amount of discipline you've acquired these past 4 weeks, AND you will lose the pride you felt, the advanced self esteem you felt for yourself at doing this for a month, you will lose your willpower, your drive, ambition to continue, all health benefits you've created for your body, and you will lose the desire to get back on the WOE so simply and easily as you seem to think you can! It's NOT that damn easy!

Now I don't even think I want to read pages 2, 3, 4, etc to see how this all ended because I feel I will just be too disappointed in the ending. :sad:

*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(
Well, it looks like I am too late anyways, since Whitecrane is back and only gained 'water weight.'

So... I left my diet for 10 days, gained water weight, most of which is already gone by now... and you're disappointed? I didn't send myself any message. It was an experiment with a completely favorable outcome. I have no regrets whatsoever.

#108 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 12:12

KDH

Senior Member

Posts: 1,247

Plan: Atkins/Taubes
Stats: 270/168/160 Female 5'7"

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Dallas, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitecrane

She didn't want to be disappointed. Because 99% of the people proclaiming their intention to cheat never come back. It really does get sad seeing it over and over. And over. Congratulations on being an outlier, although as I said before, young men are walking an entirely different path than older women. Take that advantage and run with it, why not?

Fact is, you have no idea how much or how little damage you did with 10 days off plan. That's impossible without a time machine and going back to live it a different way to compare both paths.

#109 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 12:20

Whitecrane Whitecrane is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 89

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 254/231/175 Male 5' 11"

BF:
Progress: 29%

Location: Long Island

Right. Well, I just want to remind everyone this was a thread to discuss the physical measurable effects of cheating. Not the perceived psychological impacts cheating is allegedly likely to cause. I reject the notion that dieting or lifestyle changes are to be approached similar to training an animal or conditioning yourself. Humans have cognitive thought. We don't send ourselves messages. We don't learn behaviors in that narrow sense. People form habits.

When I reach my goal weight, I fully intend to celebrate with a doughnut and no amount of fat-shaming is going to make the pounds come back

To each his own.

#110 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 13:05

Luckyk26

Senior Member

Posts: 738

Plan: Keto
Stats: 227.7/211.8/160 Female 5 ft 4 in

BF:
Progress: 23%

Location: New Jersey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitecrane

When I reach my goal weight, I fully intend to celebrate with a doughnut and no amount of fat-shaming is going to make the pounds come back

To each his own.

Haha!! I just wanted to chime in and say good for you!! I would totally do it with a cream donut from the local bakery here, but I'm too PARANOID!! Yes - I said it - its total paranoia on my part lol.

Also - don't let other people get you down. Some people think that their way is the best and that no other way will work for anyone else. Whatever plan works for you - just make sure you work it!! There have been many times people have made me want to run from this WOL because 'Oh my God - is this really the people I'm surrounding myself with? Is this what I'm going to turn into?". As with any group - most of us are awesome and you just have to leave the rest of them lol

#111 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 13:28

khrussva

Say NO to Diabetes!

Posts: 8,671

Plan: My own - < 30 net carbs
Stats: 440/228/210 Male 5' 11"

BF:Energy Unleashed
Progress: 92%

Location: Central Virginia - USA

The short term physical effects of cheating obviously vary widely from person to person and I suppose it also depends on exactly what the cheating entailed. Looking only at this specific "event" - you appear to have done just fine. It worked for you.

I could get away with cheating much easier when I was younger. When I was in my 20's I lost from 240 down to 169 and did return to eating pizza, donuts, and everything else. I kept it off, more or less, for four years by weight lifting, jogging, and not keeping junk food in my apartment. Still, that was not enough and I did have to return to a low carb diet every once in a while to take off 5 or 10 pounds I'd put back on. At that time in my life, you couldn't have convinced me that I needed to give up carby junk forever. I was living proof that this was simply not true.

But years of excess sugar and carbs took its toll on me and my body slowly started to change. I married a woman who kept the house well stocked with carby junk food and well, my stats tell the story of where I ended up. In the end, I became a type 2 diabetic.

I've read various articles on the subject -- and I'm not sure how accurate any of them are - but somewhere between 2% and 5% of people who have lost a significant amount of weight actually manage to keep it off long term. Most of them maintain their weight because they changed how they eat and continue doing what got them to goal in the first place.

You have actually received a lot of good advice in this thead - albeit some of it a bit brash. It took me a long time to learn my lessons. It looks like you just need to live your own life and find out what happens. But the stats are not in your favor. And to be honest, they are not in my favor either. Who am I kidding? Nevertheless, I like my chances a whole lot more now that I can honestly tell you that I don't believe that I will ever be eating donuts again.

Last edited by khrussva : Tue, Nov-04-14 at 14:10.

#112 ^

Tue, Nov-04-14, 16:47

KDH

Senior Member

Posts: 1,247

Plan: Atkins/Taubes
Stats: 270/168/160 Female 5'7"

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Dallas, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitecrane

When I reach my goal weight, I fully intend to celebrate with a doughnut and no amount of fat-shaming is going to make the pounds come back

To each his own.

Fat-shaming may not make the pounds come back on, but I can guarantee that thinking "I'm done dieting!" will. Been there, done that. Won't discuss the size range of the tshirt collection from that trip. Will one doughnut hurt? Probably not. Will not breaking free of the mindset that you 'deserve' food as a treat hurt? Absolutely.

#113 ^

Sat, Nov-08-14, 08:48

WereBear

Senior Member

Posts: 14,684

Plan: EpiPaleo/Primal/LowOx
Stats: 220/130/150 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 129%

Location: USA

Quote:

Originally Posted by KDH

Will one doughnut hurt? Probably not. Will not breaking free of the mindset that you 'deserve' food as a treat hurt? Absolutely.

Exactly!

OP wanted to know what we thought and we told him.

#114 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 09:49

Whitecrane Whitecrane is offline

Registered Member

Posts: 89

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 254/231/175 Male 5' 11"

BF:
Progress: 29%

Location: Long Island

Quote:

Originally Posted by WereBear

Exactly!

OP wanted to know what we thought and we told him.

Respectfully, no. I wanted to know what you know, not what you thought. There's a difference. I was curious as to the physical effects of cheating. What is actually going to happen. Not whether cheating is a good idea (as if it would ever be a wise decision?!) in your estimation.

Quote:

How much damage will this do? Will I gain water weight that will shed quickly in 1-2 weeks? Or will I gain back everything I lost from now till then?

#115 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 10:29

inflammabl inflammabl is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 2,371

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 296/220/205 Male 71 inches

BF:25%?
Progress: 84%

Location: Upstate SC

Do you think you got at least some helpful replies?

#116 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 11:01

rocker

Registered Member

Posts: 30

Plan: New Atkins
Stats: 225.4/218.0/120.0 Female 64 inches

BF:
Progress: 7%

Location: Tennessee

We will all have times when cheating is almost inevitable...

So why make such a huge deal out of it? And there's nothing wrong with using the word "cheat". It's nothing but a term used for going off a plan. We all know what we eat is our choice - we don't need to state that. If you aim for perfection 100% of the time, you're going to fail. It's not human.

No one wants to go through vacation or a holiday dinner on a specific meal plan. I say let yourself have the week to eat what you want. See how it affects your weight, and if it's bad, you at least learned what you can or can't get away with. You will have also learned exactly what degree it would affect you, so you can make the decision in the future whether to cheat on other vacations/holidays.

I think it's balance just like everything else. Try to stick to your eating plan MOST of the time and allow yourself a reasonably low percentage of the time to indulge, like vacations and holidays.

Do what works for you personally, not what other people say should work for you! Please let me know how this goes and what the effects are for you. I had the same question myself.

I see how no one answered your questions and just gave you their opinion of why you shouldn't cheat in the first place. I'll continue to look for an answer to this question and let you know if I find something.

Last edited by rocker : Thu, Nov-13-14 at 11:13.

#117 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 11:11

inflammabl inflammabl is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 2,371

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 296/220/205 Male 71 inches

BF:25%?
Progress: 84%

Location: Upstate SC

But then why have a discussion forum? I think it's wise to ask what other people's thoughts might be. They might have information I don't have.

#118 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 11:30

rocker

Registered Member

Posts: 30

Plan: New Atkins
Stats: 225.4/218.0/120.0 Female 64 inches

BF:
Progress: 7%

Location: Tennessee

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitecrane

To each his own.

Awesome! At least one or two people actually get what was the point of the question was!

#119 ^

Thu, Nov-13-14, 13:52

KDH

Senior Member

Posts: 1,247

Plan: Atkins/Taubes
Stats: 270/168/160 Female 5'7"

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Dallas, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocker

No one wants to go through vacation or a holiday dinner on a specific meal plan. I say let yourself have the week to eat what you want. See how it affects your weight, and if it's bad, you at least learned what you can or can't get away with. You will have also learned exactly what degree it would affect you, so you can make the decision in the future whether to cheat on other vacations/holidays.

I think it's balance just like everything else. Try to stick to your eating plan MOST of the time and allow yourself a reasonably low percentage of the time to indulge, like vacations and holidays.

That's great. Let me know how it's working for you five or ten years down the line. "No one"? For somebody so extrodinairley offended by others opinions (that have actually been formulated by time, expierence and observation) you don't mind passing out major generalizations. Newsflash, our opinions are all ANY of us have. Being offended when they are given in response to a question is rather churlish at best.

#120 ^

Fri, Nov-14-14, 04:48

Elizellen

Senior Member

Posts: 10,733

Plan: Atkins (DANDR)
Stats: 290/141/130 Female 65.5 inches

BF:
Progress: 93%

Location: Bournemouth (UK)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocker

No one wants to go through vacation or a holiday dinner on a specific meal plan.

Well I for one do and have gone through 11 years of going through holidays, celebrations and the rest of my day-to-day life eating to my chosen plan!
Having climbed the Atkins OWL carb ladder I know that I can allow myself to choose to eat a few potatoes, a few grapes or some starchy veggies now and again without experiencing cravings or weight gain as well as knowing that eating grains will make me add several pounds in weight which will take a week or so to drop!

From seeing posts around the Atkins and low carb support boards I visit I know that many others are in the same position too, so your generalisation maybe should have read

Quote:

I don't want to go through vacation or a holiday dinner on a specific meal plan

Last edited by Elizellen : Fri, Nov-14-14 at 05:06.