I'm at a loss as to what the message is here if it is not a message to other people.

The message is that *everyone* has to work at it. Not just people who are struggling with a lot of weight.

SF ice cream has been a nice treat. Funny thing though, I didn't particularly like ice cream before LCing. I guess whipping out a Splenda recipe happens once in a blue moon, but my family won't touch anything with AS with a 25 ft pole. So I don't bother just for myself.

The odd time I do partake of something containing sugar I'm always amazed at how over-sweet it really is, which I never thought would happen to me...

I'm still avoiding sugar, but did have some here and there while away. didn't do a thing to me.

Didn't care for it, but didn't make me want more either. I have NO idea why it's like this now for me.

In the past, one piece of chocolate would have me devouring the entire family sized bar and then looking for more.
While on Atkins an accidental encounter with non-diet green iced tea had me starving. but that was a year ago.

I am not into desserts anymore, and a bowl of berries is doing it for me right now (or, yes, an apple or an orange).

I'm rambling... just still confused why nothing is effecting me like it used to.

I see. My apologies for wherever I said that thin people don't have to work at it.

In fact, I apologize for starting the whole damn thread.

Yeah, you started the thread, but a lot of people read them - people who are coming to the forums thinking that low carb is going to facilitate their weight loss and then everything will be fine when they are skinny. It is not the case; it is always work for everyone in this culture to lose and maintain weight loss. A lot of people on these forums are addicted to sugar too. I wasn't even thinking about anyone in particular when I wrote my initial post. I've expressed in numerous threads my feelings about sugar and HFCS.

Susan, I always appreciate your posts and your perspective as someone who is obviously knowledgeable on what and how foods affect blood sugar. I'm one of those sugar addicts. There's something special about that substance; nothing affects me the same way.

My understanding is that sugar is molecularly very similar to alcohol. Alcoholics have been shown to have a heightened taste sense to sweet. My two siblings and many other members of my extended family on both sides are alcoholics. I was an alcohol abuser when I was younger, but had no problem quitting.

My sister and I were getting to know each other as adults when she started in recovery, and I told her that. She said incredulously, "You just quit?" It was no big deal. I feel the same way when I see her favorite homemake cookies left from Christmas -- in May. How does she do that? She used to give me a little bag of those when I had dinner there and I would eat all or most of them that same night.

I read Sugar Blues by William Duffy back in the 70s (when I was a hundred pounds lighter). Oh, if I'd only listened!

Hmm...hope I don't get blasted for this, but I think having 'the real thing' once in a *rare* while is actually a better strategy overall than having substitutes all the time.

Reminds me of the time when my husband got diagnosed with 'high cholesterol' and was told to avoid cheese, eggs and red meat. So, we bought the fat-free cheeses and the egg-beater thingies. Horrid stuff, really. I kept telling him there wasn't much point, if these things tasted awful. New strategy? (well, before he went on low carb and fixed up his cholesterol entirely through diet and vitamin supplements) - eat less (way less) of the real thing.

Now, granted this isn't going to work if you have a blood sugar issue, or if there's a food intolerance involved. It's not like I can just go and have some ice cream or anything.

Having said that though - I think a person would be far, far better off going to a really nice dessert place or good restaurant and just having a dessert. Not buying something to have at home - because then there's the issue of eating way too much. Also, since you said cookies were a bit of an issue (me too!)..it's not like you're going to be able to eat a bunch of cookies in a restaurant or coffee shop somewhere.

I've made a few low-carb desserts here and there - but the trouble was, I still ate too much of those things. I've made three low-carb cheesecakes in about three years, and one time I made those fabulous LC Pumpkin bars with maple walnut cream cheese icing. Every single time, I had some for 'dessert', but then would eat up the rest over the next day or so. So, scratch that idea for me.

By the way, the LC Cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory is quite good, and a nice 'treat' if you were too freaked out about real dessert.

I noticed your 'Grandma's Sunday Dinner' idea listed in your 'plan' right now, and this is another thing to think about. My grandparents only ever had cake for birthdays. There weren't cookies or whatever in the house.

This isn't to say they never ate these things, but that they were rare (and I do mean rare) treats. Cookies only at Christmas.

You get the idea.

In terms of 'at home' treats - I'm following pretty much the same strategy. I'll eat a few squares of Green & Blacks Maya Gold chocolate (real sugar) or a few pieces of their Ginger dark chocolate. The real thing.

In terms of a LC 'treat' that seriously quashes cravings for me in the winter time (usually around that TOM) is a homemade LC hot chocolate - made with dark cocoa powder, either heavy cream or coconut milk, some SF Da Vinci syrup and hot boiling water all whisked up in the mug. It's not like a cheesecake that I'd be tempted to eat up until it was gone. This is a good craving buster for me, and doesn't trigger any sort of overeating behaviour or cravings.

My two 'safe' at home treats don't have that 'cookie factor' that you describe. And yes, even some of the low-carb desserts DO have that cookie factor for me.

Only thing you have to worry about if you decided that it was just fine to have a bit of the 'real thing' once in a very rare while is that the next day you might find yourself a bit more crave-y than usual. That'll be gone in one day back 'on' plan.

I actually think this is a *good* strategy.

Maybe I'm a but nutso?



Sara

I don't think you're nutso.

I think we all know our limits and hopefully we've learned enough from this weight loss journey to squash out of control behaviour before it starts.

I pray I've "got" it this time.

I totally agree. My boss's wife is a wonderful cook who regularly sends baked goods into work with him. I resist the vast majority of the time, but occasionally I indulge. I think it makes me saner, and it doesn't seem to hurt the weight loss much. It may cause a brief slowdown, but I figure the slower the better in the long run.

I've been thinking about this change you seem to have had after two years on Atkins. Recently I've been reading a lot about the ketogenic diet for epilepsy. It seems that for the children whose seizures are controlled by the diet, many of them only have to stay on the diet for two years. After that time they can resume a "normal" diet, and the seizures don't return. They're cured. I wonder if you're the lucky beneficiary of something similar.

Interesting theory!

Being that I did not do a ketogenic diet and have seen the way I eat evolve over time.....for me it seems to be more about my willingness to have this be a new way of eating for life for me. For me this has been a very mental adjustment!

The way my food looked when I first began over 4 yrs ago, does not nearly resemble the way I eat today. I screwed up a lot. But I did and still do, keep trying new foods to add to my food plan....I like a lot of variety!!

I know that in my past, I'd never seen any diet as a way to eat after I'd lost the weight. It was totally a change in my attitude that has caused my change.

Very interesting.
Doctor seems to think that since my blood sugar issues are no longer there (was borderline t2, boils, pcos, the works) and I'm now 'normal' ranges for everything, she simply said: you're no longer insulin resistant.

Something's changed. i couldn't have introduced even a smidgen of the carbs I'm eating now while on Atkins without crazy hunger, mood swings, and bloating.

If I get an inkling that I might want a bag of cookies, though, I'll go back to Atkins.