Hiya Rocker!

No one wants to? IMHO, I for one will... I seriously can not think of a food that delicious or enticing that would make me want to go off plan and yes, gain weight, experience the cravings and then have to fight my self-destructive carb-loving alter ego "Fat Jo" back into her cage since I am a morbidly obese carb addict!If we could "balance" our eating, I suppose you mean eat things in moderation, we sure as heck wouldn't all be here trying to learn, support and encourage each other as we journey on this most incredible life and soul changing journey, IMHO

Onward and DOWNWARD!

Jo

Well said!

Many people don't want to be strict through the holidays. Come next year we'll find for some who went off plan it made little difference and for others it caused them to derail and put on significant weight. The OP asked the right question, "How much damage will this do?"

I find that when I follow the Doctors Eades' (Protein Power) advice about picking an occasion and planning to enjoy it, things work well. I was on vacation last month and ate what I wanted--Pittsburgh has some great hole-in-the-wall restaurants. I gained a little water weight, but lost it when I came home and resumed eating like I normally eat. No big deal. I refuse to become an orthorexic and panic in the presence of carbs. Life's too short.

That's the crux of it right there. Some people can do that and others can't. It's absurd to take offense or condescend about heartfelt advice from people who don't want to see anyone fail and who are generous enough to share their personal experiences in the hope it will benefit someone else. Dang!

I'm sorry, but you really don't see anything weird about that?

Congratulations on being able to cheat and go back on plan with no problems. Us mere mortals cannot compare to your mighty metabolism and will power.

However, celebrating reaching your goal weight with with a doughnut is like celebrating a year's sobriety with a cocktail or celebrating paying off your debt with a shopping spree.

Calling someone point that fact out fat shaming is inaccurate. We don't care what you weigh, but you've said yourself that you want to lose weight.
Being thin or losing a lot of weight doesn't earn you the right to eat sugary foods because you don't need to in the first place. Sugar isn't illegal, everyone has a right to eat it whether they weigh 98 pounds or 500 pounds.
What I'm saying is that being in the mindset that you're eating on plan so that you can eat later eat the exact foods that caused you to gain weight in the first place is just so illogical.

This is a sad thread for me.

And why so, infammabl?

Well if you want absolutes, instead of the cumulative value of other's observation and opinion, it's a pointless question. Because NOBODY can answer that for another person. It's absurd to think so, demand to know only what "WILL" happen, and eschew the only answers it is possible for us, as humans, to give.

The OP asked three questions. Not one.

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

Hear hear!

I agree. It turned into a kind of pointless, mean thread.

OP wants to KNOW what we KNOW, but that's kind of like predicting the future. Nobody really KNOWS what will happen in advance. We can only speculate based on experience. Right?

And the replies got pretty judgmental and ugly.

It's far from productive, IMHO, but it's on both sides of the table.

Whitecrane made a distinction between "behaviour" and "habit" that I think I disagree with. Seeing alcohol intake, for instance, as a mere habit, rather than a very strongly conditioned behaviour--which is to say, an addiction--would be disastrous. I could say I'm not an alcoholic because of strong moral fiber--but that would be a lie. I'm not an alcoholic because if I over-drink one night, the very sight of alcohol sickens me for weeks afterward.

For a recovering alcoholic, that one night binge might extend to weeks, months, years, a lifetime.

Showing up here at our ongoing Carbohydrates Anonymous meeting, asking what harm one little doughnut could do--what would you expect as a response?

Very insightful...when phrased that way.

Agreed. This thread is what has really opened my eyes to many people on this board. Really. It's what has started pushing me away. I don't need to be around these types of attitudes. I'm better off without it.