I'm just finishing up my two weeks of induction. I was doing well. Then there was today.

I went out with a group of friends and had a small piece of chocolate cake. That was bad enough. Then as I was leaving, I saw another friend who invited me to go get ice cream with another group of friends at a make-your-own sundae place. I did.

How badly is this going to screw me up? Can you go hog-wild every two weeks without consequence? I saw something in the Atkins book warning against this and it scared me - said it can screw up your metabolism to swing wildly back-and-forth.

You might experience a blip-up on the scale tomorrow or the next day - it could even be kind of shocking, but the important thing to remember is that this isn't real fat gain, it's just water weight from the added high-carb foods you had, and it may take a few days to get rid of it. The better you are at getting right back on track (and fairly strict about it), the faster you'll see that temporary weight gain go away.

The other issue to be concerned with is if the cake and ice cream were enough sugar to re-awaken really bad carb cravings - thereby putting a bit of a hex on that nice appetite suppression we get from following low-carb. If this is the case, it may be extra tough to get back on plan tomorrow, but you must do it. Only additional advice I can give on this potential cravings-monster being roused is to eat as much on-plan, low-carb food as you need to to get past the cravings once again, and back into your normal LC routine. It could be that you might eat a bit more over the next day or two if you're suffering from carb cravings (similar to what it was like when you first started induction, but not quite as bad).

These are the two main things to contend with after eating off-plan. It's very important to get right back on, especially if you find yourself wanting more and more sweet stuff (if the cravings have started up again).

So a temporary gain on the scale (perhaps alarmingly so) and possibly some bad cravings. How well you repond to it determines how well and quickly you get past it. Get right back on plan and it'll resolve itself faster than if you end up spinning your wheels a bit.

Nothing but on-plan eats starting right now. Do not let today's off plan eats carry on into the rest of this evening and into tomorrow. The buck stops here. You'll get through it and be right back on the losing track again.

I couldn't have said it better. It's a bear dealing with the reawakened cravings. It took about 4-5 days for mine to back down again. Good luck and hang in there!

Better to just forget it and get back on track. If not you could end up like me and gain your lost weight back. Doesn't have to be much in the way of carbs to have the lbs piling back up on my body. Believe me, it is so hard to get back on track when you have piled the weight back on. Also the longer you keep eating those treaty carbs the more addictive they become.
Good luck.

I didn't have dinner last night - the cake and ice cream was all I had. At least there's that.

I got on the scale this morning, and I'm a pound heavier - 147 versus 146 yesterday.

I don't feel any cravings, and I do get cravings in the morning for sugary muffins and bagels, etc. So that's a relief. I need to eat sugar more frequently for the cravings to kick in. I think I'll have some fish with homemade mayo (no sugar), and maybe a cucumber.

I know someone who eats paleo except for "two treats a week" which are the ultimate in hyper-sugar - generally chocolate, the most non-paleo, high-carb thing you can imagine. She manages to maintain her weight and her sanity this way (still gets treats now and then). What I did is not one "treat" - cake and ice cream in one day is two treats, for sure. But I like the principle. There are several diet plans that allow a periodic treat - no??

I don't think I can stay on this for life without ever eating another Lulu's cupcake, or ever going out for ice cream with my friends. Once every two weeks - can't that be okay??

You are lucky! Sometimes when I've eaten something off plan, I don't always end up re-awakening the cravings, and don't always experience a significant weight gain. I think this has to do with being kind of 'chintzy' about having a rare treat once in awhile.

See, what you did was have one or two items. You didn't go off plan for the whole day, whole week or whole vacation.

Just wanted to warn you though, that sometimes you can't always predict just what will trigger off those cravings again.

Anyway, glad to hear the consequences weren't too dire after all.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure what to suggest about your question though, if a treat every week or couple of weeks could be worked in. I'd be too scared to do that, but I do relax a wee bit when on vacation or once in awhile for a special occasion. For me, 'relaxing' a wee bit means I might just go right on ahead and have that baked sweet potato with my meal. I've also had a tiny bit of sherbet a couple of times in the last year, both on vacation.

In the past, I've found myself dealing with awful cravings after an off-plan meal, so I don't like to put myself through that. Nothing worse than struggling to get back on and battling cravings that had been tamed, for the most part.

I think your friend's chocolate treat is better than cake. Even ice cream might be better than cake. Sure, they are definitely off plan, but for a lot of people, the combination of flour and sugar is a known trigger for cravings. Actually, anything sweet can do this, but combine flour and sugar, and the potential is worse for that kind of thing. Sherbet might be "better" (lesser of two evils) than ice cream. Not sure, since I don't really eat dairy anymore.

By the way, in The Primal Blueprint (Mark Sisson) - even chocolate is acceptable once in a rare while, referred to as a "sensible vice." Strange, but true. It's not built into the plan or anything, but really high quality dark chocolate once in awhile is not necessarily a diet destroyer.

Good luck working through these things. You're right to be thinking of the longer term view.

Oh, and one last tip - if you've had a 'treat' - plan on some extra exercise, as it'll help burn off the carbs. Lots of water is known to help too.

I know you're right that I should exercise after eating a lot of carbs, but I don't like exercising. Bleh. Except for walking - I walk a lot. And I take stairs. And sometimes I like dancing.

My experience with carbs is that I have to eat them with frequency to reawaken the craving monster. If I have something carby rarely, I'm okay, but if I start to eat carby treats too frequently, something shifts and then BOOM - the cravings kick in. The cravings are horrible - then all I think about is when I'm going to have my next muffin. It's so uncomfortable. I stop wanting any kind of nutritious food - all I want to eat is carbs.

I know what you mean about how hard it is to get back to eating low carb once you are back in carb-craving mode - not fun.

As for potato-type treats... I already eat potatoes very moderately if I'm out and they're on my plate. I'll just have a taste - makes me happy and hasn't hurt my weight loss so far. Hmm... I suppose I could approach sweets the same way - a taste?

The other day I was on a date at the movies and the guy bought popcorn. I had a little of his popcorn and actually felt satisfied after a small amount (was that me??). I think this is because of my usually eating very low carb - must be, because it never happened to me before. I had no compulsion about the popcorn. I had a little, enjoyed it, and didn't want more.

As for "better" treats... Me, when I want a treat, I want a TREAT. If I want ice cream, sorbet won't do. I'm somewhat lactose intolerant so in general I eat no dairy, and wheat gives me terrible heartburn so in general I eat no grain. Just once in a while...

I think if I'm eating from a base of low-carb I can reach out rarely for higher carb treats as long as it's rarely, but I have to keep it rare to not awaken the craving monster - and EXTREMELY rarely if I expect to lose any weight (versus maintain). I am trying to lose weight right now.

I just had fish with homemade mayo for breakfast, with a few slices of raw red bell pepper and raw cuke, and some seltzer. Back on the straight-and-narrow...

I was pretty good again yesterday - moderately low carb (not induction levels, but low), and my weight was 146 again this morning (lost the pound again). So apparently I can get away with this if I'm trying to maintain my weight, but not if I'm trying to lose.

Let's try another approach...you are a sugar addict. You have withdrawal and cravings when you eat it regularly. When you obstain from eating sugar, your body is cravings free and you don't feel out of control. Now compare your eating sugar to an alcoholic and alcohol consumption. An alcoholic cannot drink one drop without having the addiction monster rear its ugly head. Do you want to constantly fighting your inner demons or do you want to live in freedom from them? Abstinance is the only true path to freedom. I have found from personal experience that I cannot have one bite without falling off the wagon. I used to rationalize that I could to the "once ever two weeks" thing. Didn't work. I fell off the wagon and rolled under the wheels and found myself facedown in a bowl of M&Ms.

Hoho! You do have a way with words! "Face down in a bowl of M&Ms" - ha! You may be right. I may have to learn the lesson the hard way, though.

I did not have a low-carb day today. I did something deliberately on purpose. Well... here's what I did. I'm doing work I detest today - bookkeeping. I have months of backlog. I have a meeting with my accountant next week and I must catch up to file my 2010 tax returns (I filed an extension). Every time I do four more hours of this torment, I reward myself with a food treat. I know that's an iffy practice, but I just did it for today. I had a burger and fries for lunch, and then after four hours of business accounting I had some chocolate. I guess that was dinner because it's nearly 10pm and I didn't have any dinner except for the chocolate. It wasn't a huge chocolate binge - I bought some very fancy chocolate at a specialty shop near me. I didn't count calories or carbs, but I can imagine...

Just as a suggestion, you might want to work out rewards that fit in with your diet plan. In general, we probably all need to figure out ways to comfort, reward, incentivize ourselves that don't lead to weight gain. It's part of how we ended up here in the first place.

Things that would work for me: low sugar chocolate (like 70-85% chocolate). A bowl of fresh raspberries and LC Lemon custard with whipped cream. A plate of noodled zucchini with basil pesto and sun dried tomatoes. A couple of ounces of salted nuts.

Those are good ideas, Nancy, thanks. What is "LC lemon custard"?

It's like lemon curd, with out the butter. I use splenda or stevia or Truvia instead of sugar. There's a few different recipes in the Sweet Treats forum.

The technique I use is here: http://mostlypaleo.blogspot.com/search/label/custard (At the bottom I tell you how to do it without sous vide equipment).

EXACTLY.
Thats what I did today.
Since I "blew it" and ate the 2 cups of brown rice that came with the shrimp and some of my husbands french fries, I had a SUPER work out tonight, hoping to burn off some of the extra carbs. It is true the gain will be water.
I find after a carb binge if you get right back to task the next day, the damage is minimal.
Its true sugar cravings will not return too badly after one day but if you carb up the next too much it could really get them revving again.