MissScruff, your story was exhausting, and quite enlightening. You are doing so well. I liked your comments on cheating. I think that if this is to be a way of life we should treat it as such. I think vegetarians set a good example. They continue being vegetarians regardless of what the holidays dictate for us to do. I enjoyed my low carb Thanksgiving as much,if not more, as any other Thanksgiving. BTW, I lost a couple of pounds over the past 4 days.

Way to go! I think I may have lost a few but won't know until I weigh in at Mom's on Tuesday! To loose 4 pounds now and still eat great for Thanksgiving is the best!!!!!!!! And thanks for the support.

BLEW IT...TOTALLY!! Back on induction tomorrow. No excuses.

I blew it big time!!! But getting back on track with a quickness! Congrats to those of you who weathered it with success. Good for you! Boo for me. lol Nobody's fault but my own!

Cissie

Thanks, MissScruff, for sharing your journey with us!
akbear

I agree that it is an individual's decision whether or not to eat foods that primarily comprise flour or sugar (e.g., a non-LC way of eating). And some of us want to be thin/fit very badly. However, don't assume that jumping back on the diet after a "splurge" is only a matter of willpower.

I firmly believe a fair amount of us on this board are addicted/allergic to a high-carb diet. In my experience, just letting that crap into my body causes a spike in insulin and then the awful cravings start. Like nowonder and scruffy, I would rather avoid it completely than spend one moment in the discomfort that non-nutritious or high carb foods bring.

I hope not to insult anyone, but I do not believe a person, a woman for example, lets her weight get all the way up past 250 pounds if she doesn't have a problem with food (probably carbs). And, yes, I include myself. By your reasoning, if she had a stronger will, if she wanted it badly enough, surely she would have arrested the upward gain -- certainly long before the scale read 200 (unless she was enormously tall!).

One size does NOT fit all. Wanting it badly enough for me means not taking that first bite. Others are able to eat such things occasionally and keep their weight off. This is only my personal opinion, but I think those who achieve long-term success are those who accept a permanent change in eating habits. How long before the day-long Thanksgiving splurge turns into a week-long Christmas fest or an entire summer eating fried chicken and ice cream?

Obviously there are people with medical conditions that contributed to the weight gain and made losing nearly impossible. Prednisone comes to mind, as well as some thyroid medications. There are also those who dieted themselves up the scale by eating high carb/lowfat but, again, one would have to notice eventually that the diet was not working. Did we not want to lose the weight badly enough, or had we become caught in a horrible cycle of blood sugar spike/plummet? Had we finally become addicted to carbs?.

I am not disbelieving or discrediting those who get right back on their WOE after a mini-splurge. What I reject is the outright proselytizing.

Do what you want with your own body; nobody lifts the fork to my mouth but me. And, by all means, do share your successes and failures so we can learn from them, but save the proselytizing for the fanatics.

Oh yeah, did I mention? I BLEW it! And I am struggling struggling struggling to get back.

So maybe I was a little harsh in my response to dancewitme.

I think we all are binge eaters...how else would our weight end up so high? Some of us had help from medical conditions as well as the binge eating. Low carbing is the first way of eating that has actually taught me portion control as well as a better way of eating...forever.

Oh dear...are you ok from the effects of eating that stuff? Share how it made you feel so others can understand. I think that is one of the great things about this forum...it gives us the opportunity to share our struggles with each other so we can help each other as well as learn for ourselves how to achieve a healthy lifestyle through low carbing! It has just broken my heart to see the posts on here where folks have gotten sick from eating regular foods and have also gained back several pounds. I pigged out on low carb foods and lost more weight! And was and still am satisfied with my low carb foods, or at least I will once I get off of Re-Induction! I am on Day Three of Fourteen! I don't know why I am so intent on getting down to 167 pounds by New Year's Eve! Once I get there then I will get the rest off at a slower pace and head toward pre-maintenance! Anyhow, dancewitme, share your experience so we can learn from it! Please?

I Don't Consider It Cheating But I Ate Quite A Bit Of Pumpkin Lc Cheesecake And Lc Pumpkin Pie -no Crust Of Course The Rest Of The Day And Weekend Was Ham With Lc Glaze, Turkey Green Beans With Bacon Bit Hormel Kind Lc Cranberry Sauce--this Sauce Was Wonderful!! And That's About It. Until I Needed A Big Spinach Salad On Sunday To Level Me Out Lol!!! It Worked Out Ok Still Working Out At Gym To Offset The Carbs!!

I don't even want to talk about it...

Oh oh. Was it that bad? I hear confession is good for the soul.

I was not sure if I was going to cook. It was just me and my sister. But, I had already bought the turkey and it was ready to go. So, I cooked Turkey, LC Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Couliflower, Cranberry sauce (w/splenda), LC pumpkin cheesecake. I ate like it was going out of style. So, I guess I behaved..lol

I love this idea! Too bad I gave away most of my too-big clothes before I saw this. I have kept 1 pair of my old size 26 jeans that I could barely squeeze into 3 1/2 years ago. When I feel like I'm not making progress, I pull them out and put them on to remind myself of just how far I've come. I think a quilt would be a wonderful momento of the journey we are taking, especially once we reach goal.



Lipid, I've also seen a great number of posts from people on this topic who argued strenously that they could "handle it" only to see them disappear for a while and then return nearly back at the weight at which they started sheepishly admitting that the little cheats led to returning gradually (or for some rapidly) to a high carb WOE again. For those who think it can't or won't happen to them, I sincerely hope they are right.
It can really sneak up on you, the thinking of "hey...it's a holiday/birthday/anniversary/promotion, etc...doing this a few days a year can't hurt and I just know I can get right back on plan again tomorrow. It's a celebration and I deserve to eat what I please today." The problem is, once you start allowing yourself to think that it's okay to celebrate by allowing yourself the carby foods you've been craving or fondly associate with such an event, the more reasons you suddenly seem to find to allow yourself to do it again, and again, and again.....I know myself well enough at this point to know that I can come up with a million and one reasons to justify straying, but I've come to the conclusion that no matter how many times I tell myself that it's okay or how good the reason is that I come up with for straying, it never changes how my body responds to it afterwards.
If you are one of those (it seems) very rare people who can handle a splurge and then get back on track, good for you! However, I would encourage you to read what Dr. Atkins has to say about the metabolic effects of splurging and then going back to low carb repeatedly (specifically number 7 and 8): http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-535293.html and also give this study a read: http://atkins.com/Archive/2003/12/19-309397.html

Whew! Two days back on track and almost 3 lbs. down so far. Ouch that gain sure hurt! 7 more to go to get back to my lowest weight. Lots of good posts above. Think I'll pass on the "cheating" Christmas Day!!!

Cissie