Okay. Saturday I had finished the 2 first intial weeks of induction. Because of that, I wanted to celebrate with a "cheat" day. A day where I could eat whatever I wanted, and start back on induction today. I have read how some of you "more experienced" Atkineeres, do this, and thought well... good. I wlll try that just to break up the monotony of it all.

Let me tell you ~ it turned into WANTING to cheat, to making myself cheat! I didn't like it, and because of that I didn't over do! Yes of course I went over the alloted carbs on induction ~ and at the end of th day was out of Ketosis ~ but was back in Ketosis this morning.

I didn't like it! It isn't something that I wanted to do, which is odd from me. I have anorexic tendancies that I have had for years, but even on times when I ws restricting ... I would constantly cheat. This time, I am not restricting and had to make myself cheat.

Amazing this WOE! I am here.. I am hooked! This is who I am now! And that is a good feeling to not think about the battle!

Sheila, I am so so happy for your learning experience but I wanted to put in my two cents here. I don't mean to be a downer and I hope nobody flames me.

*Expect* a rebound where you are craving like mad. Okay, a few people don't get this. From what I've read, and from my own experiences, many or most do. No matter how you feel about the cheat, no matter how you really didn't "want" the extra carbs after a while, or even how you may have a "food hangover" in the morning, the cravings tend to come back and slam you right in the gut. It is just a sugar reaction. It just is.

Again...you may be one of the lucky few who do not get this. But anticipate it by having plenty of protein around. I find hard boiled eggs help tremendously with cravings. So maybe go ahead and boil a bunch of eggs. I hope you don't rebound, I truly do, but I wanted to warn you, just in case.

Also beware rewarding yourself with food. I know you probably know this because of your eating disorder...I had one for years too. (The lowest I got was 95 lbs., feeling that with just 5 more lbs., I'd be "perfect". Ugh.) Then it switched to binge eating, a different ED but still an ED.

What you do when you reward yourself with food is you set up a psychological mindset where you're just hanging on until the next "reward". Basically you're drawing a big line between your "good" and "bad" foods and are actually making the "bad" ones that much more desirable by comparison. If I were to put a red balloon and a green balloon into a room and told my toddler, "You can only have the red balloon," he'd want the green one. But if I told him he could only have the green one he'd assume the red one must be awesome in some mysterious way and want that one instead. It's human nature. It's the same with food. If you were doing low-fat, high carbs and sugar, the high-fat foods would be the desirable ones if you chose them as your reward. With this WOE it's the opposite. So you see, it's not the foods themselves that are so great, but the fact that you're telling yourself you just can't have one of them.

I am not trying to be a downer, I've just been there and done that so many times. I think I know how you feel. I know it's tough.

Good analogy Glendora. You're right - we always want what we can't have......

I've had this same experience. I'm wary of it now because it reminds me too much of quitting smoking. After you've quit for a while, and you relapse with "just one" cigarette, you're so surprised to find that after all your fantasizing, the cigarette tastes disgusting and makes you feel even worse. Ugh! How did you ever do this on a regular basis? So you finish the cigarette feeling quite triumphant: obviously, you'll never go back to the filthy habit!

Except... having smoked (cheated on carbs) once, it becomes somehow easier to slip up and smoke (eat carbs) again. And after a few cigs (or a few carby snacks), it suddenly doesn't feel so crappy anymore. Your body adjusts to the toxin (or carbs). And stopping becomes a lot more difficult. Worst case scenario, you slip right back to where you were before you quit.

If you can't tell, I think the learning process of quitting smoking actually stands low-carbers in good stead, because both processes feel very similar. (Minus the main difference, of course -- cigarette smoking is infinitely worse for you! Then again... some people would argue that processed carbs might be just as harmful! I'm not quite that extreme but I do think both are injurious to one's health.)

That said, I definitely don't think you've screwed up, by any means. I think you triumphed, and I want to congratulate you on passing a big test by getting back on track so quickly! Just so long as you're aware of the slippery slope I've described above -- that blissful "Eeew!" which you experienced after your single slip is too easily eroded if you decide to rely on it to get you through another cheat.