"cheating" or "cellebrating" or whatever you want to call it - it's still cheating!

Speak for yourself.

ditto

The way I see it is this, it's only cheating if you're on a diet.

My sentiments exactly. I have ten months under my belt, so to speak, on
this way of eating. To me, it's not a diet anymore. It's just how I eat
now. This is one of my pet peeves and I've stated this numerous times.
Sorry to those who have read it over and over, but here I go again.

Once you take charge of your eating habits you will find that it's all about
choices. One of the reasons I got fat in the first place is because I
didn't realize, or maybe just didn't care, that I am the one responsible for
putting food into my mouth. I am the one that has to suffer the
consequences of going off plan. But I've also learned that those little off
plan goodies keep me on plan in the long run. For instance. Sunday night
hubby and I went to the Texas Steakhouse for dinner. A real treat for us
because it's pretty expensive and I've been dying to go there since they
opened six months ago. We ordered the blooming onion. I ate about a third
of the blooming onion, which is pretty much "off plan". It was delicious, I
enjoyed it immensely. I ordered the Texas Sizzler, beef tips, shrimp and
unbreaded chicken strips with mushrooms, green peppers, onions and red
potatoes. Actually other than the potatoes, everything fit into my "diet".
I CHOSE to eat a few of the potatoes, I made the conscience decision to eat
those potatoes just as I did the blooming onion. It didn't throw me into a
binge, it didn't make me feel like I had thrown away the past ten months and
well, it was damned good! I just got right back on plan and drank a bit
more water that evening.

If you "choose" to eat off plan then you are the only one that has to deal
with the consequences. The whole idea of changing your eating habits is
that you consciencely recognize every morsel of food that you put in your
mouth. I use to graze throughout the day, it didn't matter to me what I was
eating, it filled the void and I went on with life. Subsequently I got
fatter and fatter. The day that I said enough is enough is the day that I
realized that I had to take control of my eating. Not only do I have the
choice to put something down and walk away from it, I have the option to eat
it and deal with those consequences. It's my choice and that's something
that I enjoy about this way of eating.

Another thing, if you don't take charge of your eating by acknowledging
every morsel that goes into your mouth, you are on a diet. You haven't
changed your mindset, and when you do go "off" the diet, I bet you a dollar
to a donut you'll put the weight back on and then some. So if you are just
dieting, you go for it. But unless you change your eating habits and
mindset, in the end you are going to end up right back where you were in the
beginning. For me, I've taken charge and this way of eating is going to be
a life long commitment. I've taken control and not one morsel of food goes
in my mouth that I don't think about the consequences first. It keeps me on
track and I don't ever feel deprived.

If you go off plan for a meal, for a day, or even a few days, all you have
to do is get back on plan. You didn't get fat overnight and you aren't
going to get thin overnight. And the 44 inches I've lost and almost 60
pounds I've lost tells me that I'm doing something right. )


--
Kelly
270/213.5/3.5 lbs for March/Goal Weight 140
44 inches
Start Date: April 21, 2003
March Challenge Weight: 210

(Cluelesstraveler) wrote:

I'm not sure that I understand or agree with the concept of cheating. Even if
it is a special night out, or big event or something similar. This just
doesn't make sense. Even if it is one night, even if it is only once, it is
still cheating.
Then you will feel bad and guilty everytime you do somethign that
isn't low carb and obsess over everything in food. Congratulations,
you are creating a new food obsession for yourself.

Others simply realize that there is a great diversity out there and
enjoyment to be had in all of it. If food is simply a fuel for you
then you won't mind going on a tasteless, liquid diet for the rest of
your life and pop pills to get appropriate nutrients.

I'd rather eat a diversity of food and be able to go anywhere and eat
healthy and well without obsessively asking "do they put sugar in
that, can they not bread that, do you have sugar free deserts?"

You aren't in a monogamous relation ship with protein and fat. You are
allowed to cavort with carbs on a daily basis. Food is not evil. Just
how you use/abuse it.

I went on the low-carb diet specifically to change lifestyles
and improve the quality of my life. My high-carb, low fat diet and lifestyle
(the one I am leaving behind), has left me 70 pounds overweight, diabetic and
depressed. The low-carb diet has helped me drop 10 pounds in three weeks
(which is a major milestone for me), and stabilized my blood sugar. I feel
great and finally have hope. So what would cheating do for me? Tempt me to
back to an old lifestyle that has done NOTHING for me! Just isn't worth it.

If you cheat on your low-carb lifestyle, then is it OK to sleep with someone
other than your significant other?

Bill Clinton wasn't cheating since he and Monica Lewinski were not having
"sexual relations?" (just oral, not intercourse)?

Cheating just isn't worth it.




DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)
350/325/Mar-315/200
Atkins since 1/12/2004

I definitely don't agree that "cheating" by eating something high carb and being unfaithful to your spouse are the same. One is a moral issue and one isn't. But then, I tend to be a believer in rights and wrongs.

The fundamental difference, of course, being that in marriage, you made a promise of fidelity (at least don't most people?) to that spouse. When beginning a diet, all you've done is say, "I'm going to try to do some things differently..." whether that means what you eat, how much you exercise, etc...It is not a "moral issue". Certainly it won't give you any life threatening diseases if you choose to eat a piece of apple pie with ice cream. That may not be true with immorality.

I suppose if you made a pledge in front of a bunch of people saying, "I promise to never eat anything that isn't listed in Atkins' book as good", then someone could fault you for "cheating" on the same level as breaking a promise of fidelity. I doubt anyone would ever do that, however. They hardly have the same lasting consequences. Let's get things in perspective! Wow. I hope you were just joking with us.

Becky P.
www.family.solidrockpl.org

(Cluelesstraveler) wrote in message ...
So what would cheating do for me? Tempt me to
back to an old lifestyle that has done NOTHING for me! Just isn't worth it.

Might not do anything for you... but I still _like_ some carby foods.
Low-carb for me is an improvement - I feel healthier, I've lost some
weight, and I've got more energy - but sometimes I just want a taste
(or a bowl, to be honest) of real, full-fat, full-sugar
peanut-butter-and-chocolate ice cream. I know if I have it I'll wind
up with a migraine from the peanuts and dizziness from the blood sugar
rollercoaster - but sometimes the taste is worth it.

In my opinion, it's only 'cheating' if you KEEP eating off-plan and
give up on the low-carb forever. I can have a bowl of ice cream on
Monday the 1st of March... and be back on-plan Tuesday morning for the
next month, no problems. Before I started low-carb, I sure couldn't
have done that - it's helped me realize that a lot of the physical
effects I was having were BECAUSE of what I was eating. Cause and
effect, peanuts=migraine. I didn't know that before. I didn't know
that the 'digestive upsets' were because of wheat. Now I do. And if I
'cheat' it's because it's a special occasion and I've decided to live
with the effects.

If you cheat on your low-carb lifestyle, then is it OK to sleep with someone
other than your significant other?

Well, that's really comparing apples to sausages - if I 'cheat' on my
diet, it only affects me and only in the short term... but if I were
ABLE to 'cheat' on my SO* that affects more than just me and in a lot
of ways for an extended time period. Kinda kerosene-soaked to phrase
cheating on diet as equivalent to cheating on partner.

- Ssthisto

* - Given that I'm polyamorous, this is a logistic nightmare - by some
people's definition, I'm ALREADY cheating, but by my own and my
partners' definitions, I'm not - and in my relationship with 'my
guys', it's our opinion that counts, nobody else's.

In article ,
Ignoramus29721 wrote:

In article , Ssthisto wrote:
(Cluelesstraveler) wrote in message ...
So what would cheating do for me? Tempt me to
back to an old lifestyle that has done NOTHING for me! Just isn't worth
it.

Might not do anything for you... but I still _like_ some carby foods.
Low-carb for me is an improvement - I feel healthier, I've lost some
weight, and I've got more energy - but sometimes I just want a taste
(or a bowl, to be honest) of real, full-fat, full-sugar
peanut-butter-and-chocolate ice cream. I know if I have it I'll wind
up with a migraine from the peanuts and dizziness from the blood sugar
rollercoaster - but sometimes the taste is worth it.

Wow, sounds as bad as food poisoning and you still want it because if
the taste. Amazing.

i

OMG that reminded me of that episode of "Will and Grace", where Grace kept
eating the bad shrimp that made her sick with food poisoning. I only
occasionally watch that show, but that was funny.

--
Michelle Levin
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick

I have only 3 flaws. My first flaw is thinking that I only have 3 flaws.

(Cluelesstraveler) wrote:

I'm not sure that I understand or agree with the concept of cheating. Even if
it is a special night out, or big event or something similar. This just
doesn't make sense. Even if it is one night, even if it is only once, it is
still cheating. I went on the low-carb diet specifically to change lifestyles
and improve the quality of my life. My high-carb, low fat diet and lifestyle
(the one I am leaving behind), has left me 70 pounds overweight, diabetic and
depressed. The low-carb diet has helped me drop 10 pounds in three weeks
(which is a major milestone for me), and stabilized my blood sugar. I feel
great and finally have hope. So what would cheating do for me? Tempt me to
back to an old lifestyle that has done NOTHING for me! Just isn't worth it.

If you cheat on your low-carb lifestyle, then is it OK to sleep with someone
other than your significant other?

Bill Clinton wasn't cheating since he and Monica Lewinski were not having
"sexual relations?" (just oral, not intercourse)?

Cheating just isn't worth it.

How many people vote that "CluelessTraveller" is a troll?
Raise your hand...



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)
350/325/Mar-315/200
Atkins since 1/12/2004

Hi,
On 2-Mar-2004, DigitalVinyl wrote:
Snip of CluelessTraveller's diatribe on cheating

How many people vote that "CluelessTraveller" is a troll?
Raise your hand...

Naw, just a newbie. Be it three weeks or seven, newbies just haven't
bumped up against all the possibilities yet is all. Patience. ;-)

Take care,
Carmen

TavliGal wrote:

The way I see it is this, it's only cheating if you're on a diet.

Exactly. My low-carb lifestyle is not "a diet". I use low carbing to
be able to enforce moderation in my overall lifestyle. That means,
that foods I used to gorge out on every day are now shoved to the
back of the line in the "once in a while" category. Foods I am
sensitive to (glutenous grains, soy, fillers and additives) are on
the "unfood" category.

Eating foods I am not in the habit of including in my everyday diet
is not tantamount to cheating on my husband... sheesh. I'm not
married to low-carb. I prescribed low-carb to myself as the baseline
way of eating.

CM

On 02 Mar 2004 03:58:42 GMT,
(Cluelesstraveler) announced in front of God and everybody:

I'm not sure that I understand or agree with the concept of cheating. Even if
it is a special night out, or big event or something similar. This just
doesn't make sense. Even if it is one night, even if it is only once, it is
still cheating.

It's only cheating if you believe that you're on a strict diet and any
deviation is an illegal act. Many of us see this as a lifelong process
and acknowledge that, occasionally, we'll eat something -- a bite, a
plate, a meal -- that's not on the plan.

For myself, I don't believe in "cheating" any more than I believe in
the concept of sin. I believe in taking responsibility for my actions
and knowing that some behaviors have consequences. It's up to me to
weigh whether the consequence of eating off-plan (a temporary weight
gain or plateau) is worth it. Sometimes, to me, it is.

Dawn