So I had a cheat day.

[OrigamiFrog]

Well more like a cheat meal, and nothing really bad anyway. Just some chicken wings that had breading. I'm happy to say it didn't kick me out of ketosis and I didn't have any desire to carbo load the next day. So I'm right back to eating induction safe foods. I know some people might rag on me for doing it, but it raises my confidence that I can have a cheat day and not feel pressure to go back. Family is important to me, and food is important to my family. In my family, our rare gatherings are centered around food. Spend all day preparing and cooking the big meal for the evening. I really didn't like the idea of having to miss out on all that. Obviously I still need to make wise choices about what I eat at those events, but it's nice to know going a little overboard won't kill me.

EDIT:
THIS IS BY NO MEANS AN ENDORSEMENT OF HAVING A CHEAT DAY/MEAL. IF YOU ARE IN 2 WEEK INDUCTION IT ISN'T EVEN ALLOWED. I AM ON EXTENDED INDUCTION AND MADE A CONSCIOUS DECSION.

[kibskix]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

my personal belief is you can still prepare food with your family and have a good time, without using it as an excuse to take a step backwards. Do you think that having family gatherings centered around food might be the reason most of us need to lose weight in the first place? You may not like missing out on the food, but I think its a trade off. You can't eat the same stuff you always did, and make yourself healthier at the same time. So which is going to win out? Its nice that you had no cravings after your cheat, but its probably a bad idea for you to post this anywhere other than your journal, because it sounds like you're bragging, and that puts bad ideas into other newbies heads that 'hey maybe i can cheat too'. Everyone has moments of weakness, its human, but that tends to lead to trying less, and cheating more, and falling off the wagon over time. be careful!

[OrigamiFrog]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

Kibskix you make a very good point. Honestly thanks for reading and being nicely critical. I'm still new to all this and occasionally need to be bashed on the head. I know I can't go back to the way I used to eat, and I know those family gatherings are going to be tough. But I want to lose the weight more. My family knows I'm doing the Atkins diet and they're accepting of it, so I won't feel like I need to eat everything made, and hey maybe I can make some atikins friendly dishes to share.

Thanks for being nice about smacking me down!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

You might get away with it in the short term, especially while you are well over 300 pounds, but it won't always be this way. You are just fooling yourself. I see a person that will stay on induction to lose weight in between cheats, never going up the carb ladder and getting to goal, and adding back everything but white flour and sugar, then deciding Atkins doesn't work because it is too restrictive.

I am also anticipating a post from you in which you "say" that you have been doing strict induction for X amount of weeks/months, but you have been in a stall for X amount of weeks with no weight loss or inch loss. You won't want to hear that those cheats will defeat the purpose of induction and are why your weight loss has stalled. At over 300 pounds, under 30, male, the weight should be flying off.

Now is the time to be finding a way to make family gatherings about more than eating in a way that has you at over 350 pounds before you are 30. I would be willing to bet that you are not the only one at these gatherings that is obese. There are plenty of healthy, low carb foods that can be prepared and enjoyed at these gatherings. Especially when you move out of induction and can add back in nuts (nut flours for desserts), fruits and more starchy veggies.

I am in the middle of writing a low carb cookbook, and I have nearly 500 recipes of delicious foods that I feed to my skinny family (I have 10 sisters and brothers and 35 nieces and nephews) and they lap it up like never before. They don't even know that they are eating "low carb" foods that I prepare in a way that allows me to eat, too, at family gatherings.

There are a lot of coatings for chicken or chicken wings that are delicious (crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese) and you won't even miss the ones coated with white flour. They get even more crispy than the way you are used to. I make a coating with equal amounts of crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese, then add what I call "Doritoes seasoning" which consists of chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and fresh ground black pepper. No salt because the pork rinds and Parmesan cheese are really salty. You dip chicken pieces in an egg wash and then in the coating. Fry in butter or olive oil until brown and crispy. This is what I am having for lunch--delicious and not even a cheat.

[imagood1]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

Wings can be perfectly legal if you take a couple extra minutes to make them that way!

I had wings yesterday for lunch -- they were perfectly legal and I honestly couldn't tell they weren't breaded.....I use to have a dozen wings at the bar every Friday night and would take another dozen home for lunch the next day -----so I know what wings should taste like! What I did was I fried chicken drummies (the larger section of the wing) in 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance 0mega3 oil until they were brown on all sides. Then I took 1/4 cup of Franks Wing Sauce (0 carbs - 460 mg sodium in 1Tbsp) and 1 tbsp butter mix & microwave until butter is melted (30 seconds) - I had this mixture in a soup bowl so I had plenty of room to toss the drummies in the mixture. Let the chicken sit in the mixture a few minutes and put on a greased (I sprayed Pam on the pan) pan - put under the broiler until the sauce is set. You can re-toss and re-broil if you want to. You could also add splenda if you wanted it sweeter (I don't like mine sweet) I served my wings with celery sticks, sliced radishes and ranch dip...didn't miss a thing! Here is a picture of what I had. I want to add -- I had more than half of the wing sauce left over after I had tossed the chicken in them -- I put 1/2 of the wing sauce in my FitDay but I know it wasn't near that amount




I saw a buffalo wing video on YouTube YouTube - Atkins Diet Recipes: Buffalo Wings but I didn't like the diet coke recipe.

Tell your family you are trying new recipes and give them one of these meals instead of breading your wings....or if you HAVE to bread them - use pork rinds crushed.... don't use wings as an excuse to cheat.

[imagood1]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

You might get away with it in the short term, especially while you are well over 300 pounds, but it won't always be this way. You are just fooling yourself. I see a person that will stay on induction to lose weight in between cheats, never going up the carb ladder and getting to goal, and adding back everything but white flour and sugar, then deciding Atkins doesn't work because it is too restrictive.

I am also anticipating a post from you in which you "say" that you have been doing strict induction for X amount of weeks/months, but you have been in a stall for X amount of weeks with no weight loss or inch loss. You won't want to hear that those cheats will defeat the purpose of induction and are why your weight loss has stalled. At over 300 pounds, under 30, male, the weight should be flying off.

Now is the time to be finding a way to make family gatherings about more than eating in a way that has you at over 350 pounds before you are 30. I would be willing to bet that you are not the only one at these gatherings that is obese. There are plenty of healthy, low carb foods that can be prepared and enjoyed at these gatherings. Especially when you move out of induction and can add back in nuts (nut flours for desserts), fruits and more starchy veggies.

I am in the middle of writing a low carb cookbook, and I have nearly 500 recipes of delicious foods that I feed to my skinny family (I have 10 sisters and brothers and 35 nieces and nephews) and they lap it up like never before. They don't even know that they are eating "low carb" foods that I prepare in a way that allows me to eat, too, at family gatherings.

There are a lot of coatings for chicken or chicken wings that are delicious (crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese) and you won't even miss the ones coated with white flour. They get even more crispy than the way you are used to. I make a coating with equal amounts of crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese, then add what I call "Doritoes seasoning" which consists of chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and fresh ground black pepper. No salt because the pork rinds and Parmesan cheese are really salty. You dip chicken pieces in an egg wash and then in the coating. Fry in butter or olive oil until brown and crispy. This is what I am having for lunch--delicious and not even a cheat.

Sunny - I hope you offer your cookbook for sale here because I, for one, am standing in line to get one!!

[SunnySmile501]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

Kibskix you make a very good point. Honestly thanks for reading and being nicely critical. I'm still new to all this and occasionally need to be bashed on the head. I know I can't go back to the way I used to eat, and I know those family gatherings are going to be tough. But I want to lose the weight more. My family knows I'm doing the Atkins diet and they're accepting of it, so I won't feel like I need to eat everything made, and hey maybe I can make some atikins friendly dishes to share.

Thanks for being nice about smacking me down!

I obviously wrote my post before reading this response. This is an excellent attitude to adopt. We all have a long way to go and we will be a work in progress for the rest of our lives. None of us "get it right" from the first day of induction all the way to goal. You are heading in the right direction again.

[OrigamiFrog]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

^^^^^
Thank you SunnySmile, although your post doesn't seem like it's encouraging, it is to me. I suppose my sub-conscious reason for posting is that I needed people to tell me I was stupid. I have no one else to keep me acountable and on track. That's why I came here in the first place.

To be honest it wasn't even worth it. I had a headache afterward and didn't feel right yesterday. I can't lie to myself anymore (been doing that too long.) I told myself it wouldn't be a problem and thankfully it wasn't, but it could have been. Then I would be right back where I started and feeling more crappy than ever. I do want to lose the weight, so i'll use this experience the next time I think about cheating even a little bit.

You guys are so great.

[SunnySmile501]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

Sunny - I hope you offer your cookbook for sale here because I, for one, am standing in line to get one!!

I plan to! I need to hurry up and get it finished. It is taking much longer than anticipated, because I am the only taste-tester and I was gaining too much weight from eating all the recipes. THat and the fact that my stove is on the blink and not baking right at all.

[kibskix]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

i'm glad you see it as nicely critical and not mean lol
i'm sure we all understand that it can feel like you're left out when you're family gets together and cooks, and you're sitting there with something different to eat. or when holidays or birthdays come around, and deeply traditional foods are everywhere. everyone slips up, and honestly sometimes i think it -is- ok, for instance if you're getting married, go eat your wedding cake if thats important to you, etc. i caution you simply because its soooo easy to make a habit of it. thats what i did the first time i did atkins. i cheated every week or two, like an entire bag of nestle treasures cheated. i still lost weight, but I nurtured a bad habit because i thought i could get away with it. i went from about 212 to 180 in under 3 months. But that cheating habit caught up with me, and I went up to 250 once I fell off the wagon, and now almost 5 yrs later i'm back again starting at 226 with more work ahead of me that before. So I suppose it makes me nervous because your post reminds me of myself when I was 19 and cocky lol

[imagood1]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

^^^^^
I suppose my sub-conscious reason for posting is that I needed people to tell me I was stupid. I have no one else to keep me acountable and on track. That's why I came here in the first place.

I would be more than willing to tell you.....but you don't need anyone - you know it or you wouldn't have posted it (you said you feel terrible today - good for you -- remember that next time).....next time be smart! Give your family the benefit of the doubt - I bet they won't notice the difference!

[Desertthorn]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

Be careful of cheat days, once you give yourself permission to cheat, it comes easier the second time.

[SunnySmile501]

Re: So I had a cheat day.

^^^^^
Thank you SunnySmile, although your post doesn't seem like it's encouraging, it is to me. I suppose my sub-conscious reason for posting is that I needed people to tell me I was stupid. I have no one else to keep me acountable and on track. That's why I came here in the first place.

To be honest it wasn't even worth it. I had a headache afterward and didn't feel right yesterday. I can't lie to myself anymore (been doing that too long.) I told myself it wouldn't be a problem and thankfully it wasn't, but it could have been. Then I would be right back where I started and feeling more crappy than ever. I do want to lose the weight, so i'll use this experience the next time I think about cheating even a little bit.

You guys are so great.

I read your post several times before deciding you were up for some "get real" advice. I flipped a coin as to how to approach you. A lot of people are so far into denial, they only want people that want to cheat, themselves, to reply. I don't bother with these kinds of "dieters." I'm not into enabling and co-dependancy.

I was happy to see that you took it for encouragement as I intended it. I grew up with seven older brothers and two much older sisters, and the best thing they could do was tell me I was not capable of doing something I had set my mind on doing. You appeared to me to be someone that was not looking for a pat on the head, and sympathy. You seemed more like a gentle kick in the backside would do more good.

We could all tell you that it isn't worth it, that it never tastes as good as you think, but it is better to learn it first hand--you will remember the lesson longer.

I will be expecting to see you reach all of your mini-goals and teach your family what good food you can eat while doing Atkins.

I just finished my "Doritos Shake-and-Bake chicken tenders" lunch, and am getting a seafood supper ready for later. I'm having steamed spiced shrimp and bay scallops broiled in butter. Yum!