This is my third go about with Atkins. The first two times I feel off the wagon and couldn't bring myself to get back on. Maybe it's the instant craving for carbs you get after cheating. I am not sure.

I have had a few cheats this time, but losing weight it more important than my desire to eat sweets and starches. Or atleast it is this time!

Gypsynukes.....I couldnt do that favor either....I'm a sugar junkie...I had to pick up canollis for a friends BD at the most incredible Italian bakery...I was shaking as i left.....

Now unfortunately, I know that there is this incredible bakery...and exactly where it is...Ive not returned....but
it doesnt mean I couldnt if I dont take care of myself...

I am such a sugar junkie that its all or nothing for me. When I eat carbs, even if I try to control it, within a week I am pigging out. Last time I quit low carbing, I kind of went crazy, I kept eating things that I had been "deprived" of for the previous year and a half. As much as the logical part of my brain says that it is all bad for me, will make me fat, make me crazy (for more), I just kept eating it.
I know now that this time around I will not stray until I hit my goal. Only then will I start to change my diet, because maintenance scares me. Losing the weight really is the easy part, keeping it off takes a whole different mental strategy that I haven't figured out yet. When I get close to my goal I will be doing some serious research on other peoples experiences.

And some of us don't go "off" Atkins, we "evolve." I went form Atkins where I wasn't having a lot of success to South Beach. That just seemed like a knock off of Atkins, and I found it more confusing. I moved from that to eating low on the Glycemic scale, and most of the time I am pretty happy with how I am eating.

I see in other people's profiles that they have often moved through a series of plans before they landed on the one they were happy with for whatever reason too.

A bit OT for this thread but I hear you on the maintaining being scary.

When I hit goal, I was terrified that I'd blow it all and gain it all back...yet again!! But I have done a few things before hitting goal that helped me to learn what I can and cannot eat.

So when you are 10 lbs from your goal, start trying new foods and see how you do...OK? Also, check out our weighin thread in the Maintenance forum. We talk about all this stuff and you are not alone!!

for me, I use Atkins- Low carb- no carb "diets" Not as a life change but just to get back into my jeans after a fun summer or eating too much hot cocoa w/ mellows winter.

I'm not saying I wouldn't love to be a size 8, BUT, At this point in my life- married- 2kids happy most of the time, Being a 12 doesn't REALLY bother me enough to make me cry be unhappy and want to lose more.

I put my stats as 150lb to get to ..if I do GREAT! if not- it's ok.
life for me- is too short to miss out on the things that I REALLY enjoy- IE italian bread w/ EVOoil- Big ice cream cones at Disney

I think some people see low carbing as strictly a weight loss method and don't understand or care about the long term health benefits enough to make it a permanent lifestyle change.

Wyv

sabotagers, my mother inlaw, err she said last weekend were going to Lucky wishbone! Fried breaded shrimp fries and soggy garlic bread. I said where r the veggies in this meal! Thats it! eat or go hungry! I was 100 miles from home an the mean lady can be real mean to me. As we left that night after me cheating, she handed me a gift. a cucumber she said she wouldn't use, lol crazy lady! So what are we to do sometimes?

I feel this is the most important thread on this board, or any board.

The failure of successful loser needs to be explored and talked about everyday, so That we can become stronger with knowledge, and be able to kill this carb demon.

I have learnt so much from reading people's responses, that I've decided to stop kidding myself, and understand that this will be the way I eat for ever.

I eat fairly low carb around 30 grams a day. This is what I should eat for the rest of my life.

I love the fact that people mentioned 'Patience'. This I feel is the number one quality we should actively practice.

If someone dismisses this and goes "I'm patient enough" they are simply missing the point. Patience is like a muscle, if you don't exercise it reguarly, it's power will leave you!

We need to understand the following:-

1. There is no such thing as 'everything in moderation'
2. It is not a calorie issue, it's a metabolic issue
3. A thin 'carb sensitive' person is not very different to a fat 'carb sensitive' person
4. The way you eat to lose weight, should be very close to what you eat to maintain
5. You want to count calories whilst losing, then be prepared to count whilst maintaining (ie every day for the rest of your life)

I'm not even sure patience is the right word anymore. I used to think it was important, and that one of the things that led to people failing was being impatient to "get it over with," but now I think if it requires patience to do this you are probably in trouble, because all the virtues people tout as necessary for weight loss are transient. "Patience," "Willpower," "Sticking it out," these things eventually fail, I don't care who or how strong you are, and if that's what you rely on, where will you be when they fail? You will probably fail with them. Moreover, if you are being patient, it implies you are waiting for something, while enduring something you would rather not, ie, you are waiting to get thinner, and enduring "going without" certain foods, and once you "get there" you can stop enduring this unpleasant deprivation.

For me, I had to change the way I thought about myself and food, realize how much control it had exercised over the entirety of my life, and decide, on a level deeper than I knew existed, I no longer wanted it to have that control. It has put me in a place where I seldom need willpower or patience or any of that. I know what my life used to be like, I know what my life is like now, and I know how much better it is now. I don't feel I'm enduring anything, besides the extra weight I still carry and am slowly getting rid of. It takes far more patience to deal with that than anything else I've ever done in my life, especially this foodplan, which is actually easy and a pleasure to do.

I'm one of those people....

I commited myself for the long haul, lost 40 lbs. and felt better that I'd ever felt in my adult life, a years worth. I did it the slow way, with a weekly loss of 1/2 lb most weeks, many weeks no losses, then an occasional wonderful whoosh. Then holy stress came, a parent lost, a marraige in shambles and absolutely no support system to turn to..so I turned to what I knew, food...the past proven comfort food. It didnt work, I turned to my doctor who put me on anti-depressant..first Celexa (after trying it for 2 months, I told him it stole my sex drive (completely! ..that sucks!) and the weight was piling on, so he switched me to Effexor (its been a nonstop nightmare with that since). So here I am, 40 pounds gained in probably 6 or 7 months, stuck on a stupid anti-depressant I dont want to be on because if I do go without it, by day two my brain zaps and twitches, I get nauseaus and can't ride in a vehicle and I want to die. (well..not that bad, but you get the gist). Every single day I'm telling myself that tomorrow, or the very next thing I put in my mouth will be strict LC...and somehow the connection gets lost.
(sorry..I try not to sound bitter, but I'm mad as hell. ). I miss feeling good the way I used to. I miss my body. I miss knowing that I was doing everything possible the RIGHT way to insure a healthy life for myself. So I stand in front of my closet every morning hating myself, and dreading going ANYWHERE because everything hanging in it doesnt fit, and what does..looks matronly. Knowing that family and friends "notice" the difference, but are too kind to say anything, so I feel the need to "notice" it for them, to justify I guess. And wearing this unremovable snowsuit of fat this summer is really going to suck.

LC Dave wrote:
We need to understand the following:-

1. There is no such thing as 'everything in moderation'
2. It is not a calorie issue, it's a metabolic issue
3. A thin 'carb sensitive' person is not very different to a fat 'carb sensitive' person
4. The way you eat to lose weight, should be very close to what you eat to maintain
5. You want to count calories whilst losing, then be prepared to count whilst maintaining (ie every day for the rest of your life)

well said

((Jigger)))

Aaaaaaaaaw Jigger. I am a long term anti depressant user myself and have tried a few before I found one right for me. Can you not try another SSRI?

Hang in there, I too gained back 30lbs of the weight I lost and kept off for years with this WOL due to comfort eating when my life basically went to hell! But now here I am back on the wagon. If I can do it you can too.

Perhaps you need a less stringent plan to help. Have you ever read Dr. Schwarzbein's books or Kathleen De Maisons ones?

Hugs to you ((((Jiggerz)))) !!!

I've been where you are now and I fought my way back out....it gets better!! hang in there!!!