Lowcarbfriend

I do not post often but read the posts almost every day. I am celebrating today 2 years with no cheats. All I can say to those who are struggling is to not give up, there have been so many times I didn’t see a loss, in fact I had a 6 month stall. But the rewards are so much better than any piece of food. I now wear size 10 jeans ( I am big boned), I don’t need anything plus size, I dress the way I want now, not worrying about if I look fat because I am not. My loss has not been quick, it took a lot of years to put it on, and throught this I have learned patience. My goal for the years to come is more exercise to tone. I have learned to not get on the scale every day. I did do this for a year and a half. I go by the way my clothes feel, this last 20 lbs. will be tough to lose, I get below the 170’s and go back and forth. I make wonderful food that tastes good to just me, I have a family who loves sweets and made cookies and desserts for them for Christmas with no urge to have any. You really have to give up the sugar to not crave it, I have dieted most of my life and finally figured it out. I just want to let all of you know you can be the best you want to be if you don’t give up, it doesn’t have to mean a size 2 to be happy either, when I tell people I have lost 60 lbs., they tell me they don’t remember me that big. We worry too much about what other people think. God bless all of you and good luck in the coming year.

Any one care to join? I am going on vacation in 2 weeks. My goal is to stay on plan (mainly M/E). Come and join me and you choose your plan.

This is the challenge started by a thread written by Nani (gentylwind) yesterday in the main low carb lobby.

Thanks for joining us!!!!!

Hi everybody.. first of all I want to give a little history. me and my mom are both low carbing for about a month now. I have done very well since coming back to the diet and have lost all of my baby weight (have a 5 month old little girl (: ) NEWAYS!!! last night i went out with some girlfriends and had a few margaritas that turned into a few margaritas with chips and salsa and spinach and artichoke dip.. followed by boneless buffalo wings.. and more sugary drinks!!

needless to say it turned out to be a huge cheat when i actually planned on sticking to my diet!
but this morning when i got up i still registered trace on the ketostick ?!
(btw i always register in the top 3 darker colors) BUT tonight after not even 24 hours since the end of my binge…. I am back to registering moderate!!
whats up with that??
Also when i started back on the diet i was using these sticks for the first time and started registering positive after only 1 day on induction!
SOOO my question is.. is it possible that my body goes into ketosis so fast?? does this happen to anyone else…
and also… is it possible that even after all the sugar Im SURE was in my drinks last night. that i still managed to stay in ketosis???

if any of you have slipped up and cheated.. how long did it take you to get back into ketosis?

I get so confused with this.. my mom eats the same diet as me or even less carbs and always barily registers a trace… Whats the deal u guys?

Telling myself NO doesn’t work. I’m stubborn. To avoid getting way off track, I’ve learned to talk myself out of a cheat. Willpower just isnt enough for some people – I am that person!

I figured out that I wasnt experiencing any kind of "re-addiction" to carbs after a cheat. If I continued to go carb crazy, it’s because I was trying to hurry up and stuff as many in as I could before I HAD to get back on LC. But wait a second… who’s making me do this? Absolutely no one. I do it because I believe in what I’m doing for myself.

"Failure guilt" spirals out of control if left unchecked. I had to "get it" – no one is placing a restriction on me. I’m not fighting/pleasing anyone but myself. No one is watching to see how fast I loose – I don’t have to answer to anyone but myself and I’m NOT going to be a harsh critic. No one (including me) is going to berate me if I gain a couple of pounds before I loose the next 10.

We go through phases of energy & focus in every part of our lives – some weeks we really feel it, others we don’t – weight loss is no different. Just motivate yourself out of the lazy periods as soon as you can. Just understand that your weight will stall or go up a couple of pounds duing the downtime – dont beat yourself up about it. Look how far you’ve come already! Motivation can be trying a couple of new recipes, picking a different exercise or buying a new outfit as incentive. Whatever gives your pony a kick in the rump.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use praise instead of criticism. You’d do it with other people you love to spare their feelings – be just as gentle with your own.

The phrase that works for me when I have talk myself down from the carb ledge is: "Yes, I can have that, but I know from experience that it won’t taste as fabulous as I imagine it does right now."

Every since the post on how we will always have temptations the other day – I have been thinking about this a lot.

In the past, I tried various diets and failed. One thing I was successful at was journaling…so….I went back and read some of those journals to see if I could figure out where I failed.

I found it….occassionally I would think it was ok to have a hamburger with a bun or a piece of cake for a birthday party or have a couple of beers/drinks with friends. Oh…It started off to be once in awhile – but as I read on is seemed that these cheats became more frequent. It makes me furious that I actually thought I could be successful and give into that mindset….now I can actually say "Live and Learn".

So, I have determined that I cannot give into temptation or plan a cheat even once! EVER! No cheats/No drinks/No Nothing!

I bake cakes as a side job – talk about temptation!!! I actually have one for my daughter this weekend (which is really tempting because I will be there when it is cut!) – I will not have even the tiniest little piece of the cake….not even a crumb. (And, if I may say so myself – I make excellent cakes – all homemade any flavor you want!)

DH wanted to go and have a hamburger and a beer last night for dinner. We always used to go to this one little place that only serves that….I said can we go somewhere else – so I can eat too! And we went to another place and had a great dinner – even me!

Now that I have been rambling on and on and on…I think if you are having difficulty staying on plan – go back and think about what your attitude has been and if you need to change it – I know I DID!

I pray everyday that God will see me through this and give me the courage to not give into temptation

BTW – I bought myself some very cute little earings for my 20lb loss. Nothing expensive – but just a little reminder to myself. At one time, someone suggested a charm bracelet – I may do that and buy a charm for every small goal I hit.