How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

[changing]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

I had to reply again because another thing just occurred to me.

Why did you say negative things about exercise and vacations as a reward?


The way I see it, regardless of what some others may say, you are entitled to treat yourself how you like as a way to reward yourself. I would never attack your person decision to eat whatever foods that you are craving as a form of reward if that's really what you want to do. I do find it odd, however, that you would be peeved when others don't approve of your reward plans but then show a same intolerance to some other reward plans.

A reward is a very personal gift and one that means a lot to me and I guess I just don't appreciate your disparaging of mine... you were wondering if anyone else had rewarded themselves, or plan to, in the way that you plan to reward yourself upon reaching goal, but you never said not to post if your plans differed... so I don't understand the attack on non-food rewards.

[boonie stomper]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

Does anyone remember back in the 50's and 60's when steak and eggs and sausage and pancakes and chicken fried steak and all sorts of other non-Atkins friendly foods were eaten on a regular basis? And how they weren't experiencing anything even remotely close to the national obesity crisis that we are now? Sometimes I wonder if they were on to something that we aren't...
... when millions of others eat whatever they want and do just fine. ...To me, the real reward would be allowing your body to have what it craves....

Steak and eggs and sausage and pancakes and chicken fried steak are all atkins friendly albeit the pancakes only later on. Of course, even if there was a magic weight loss bullet there would still be plenty of people out there who can eat Biggy-size meals full of unhealthy food and not gain weight. But if you were in those 50-60's, you are about 50 years older. Your metabolism slows as you age. Exercise helps work against the effects ofageing. There is no magic weight loss bullet or age-reverser either. Of course, if you choose to stubbornly ignore the testimonies of a lot of us here who have already learned the hard way about weight regain after any kind of quick-fix diet, including Atkins, and the effects of yo-yo dieting on your metabolism, I won't hesitate to say "told you so" when you huff yourself back here heavier than you are now.

[dotsamantha]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

I do agree that this is not the ONLY way to eat/live, there are many ways to do either or both. However, it is a successful way for many, and it can't surprise you that you encounter so much dissent here.

What will i do when I reach goal? Smile at the scale and make a new goal. I try to celebrate a little every day. Excess and going overboard have never done me any good. I don't like making food into a reward. I love food- preparing, eating, sharing. And I also don't feel as though I'm restricting myself at this point. I can eat whatever i want, I just choose not to eat things that don't support my health and well-being. i do hope whatever you're doing works for you.

[n0matter]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

I wouldn't consider it an "attack". And "attack" would be something like "Exercise as a reward? You fool! You moron! That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard!" I was just questioning how something that we're all supposed to be doing in conjunction with the consumption aspect of the Atkins diet could be considered a reward. I mean, aren't we all supposed to be out exercising regularly anyway? As I recall, the book encourages if not demands that we do so. If that's how you wish to reward yourself then that's fine. I just don't consider something that I've been doing all along to be any more rewarding on my goal reaching day than it was in the months beforehand. Then again, you stipulated that your Karate classes will cost money and therefore be something of a treat, so I suppose that makes sense. What doesn't make sense are replies submitted that pertain to activities that can be done any old time. It just doesn't seem very motivating to me.

[not2late]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

Does anyone remember back in the 50's and 60's when steak and eggs and sausage and pancakes and chicken fried steak and all sorts of other non-Atkins friendly foods were eaten on a regular basis? And how they weren't experiencing anything even remotely close to the national obesity crisis that we are now? Sometimes I wonder if they were on to something that we aren't...

The shift in the standard American diet was due to the "lipid hypothesis" by Ancel Keyes. Before that, there was a shift to a heavy reliance on grains at the beginning of the 20th century. The problem with that was as the century progressed grains became more and more refined. Also the "taste" of the people changed with that grain refinement. 19th century recipes for baked goods yield heavier textured products than the recipes from the last 50 years. The 19th century recipes tended to use whole grains, eggs (lots), butter (lots), and sugar (not that much).

During the food rationing of the World Wars, also influenced our current eating habits. The "meatless" Wednesdays (or Tuesdays) meant that you ate grain based or legume and grain based meals. Many of our noodle casseroles are a result from that, so was the use of margarine. Margarine was a butter substitute.

The next insult to our foods was the post WW II era. Lots of "modern" processed/packaged convenience foods like "tv dinners", Betty crocker mixes, etc.

Whole minimally processed foods weren't modern or convenient. Instant, pre-packaged faux-foods were. And processed fats were "better" than the natural fats like animal fats or natural oils.

So you cannot eat like they did 100 years ago, unless you use the same products they did. Substituting Wheaties for boiled oat groats or Mazola for chicken fat or Wonderbread for the stone-ground whole meal bread doesn't work.

Some members talk as though this diet is the ONLY real and truly healthy way to eat, when millions of others eat whatever they want and do just fine. Except they exercise regularly(and I mean REAL exercise, not walking around the block once) and don't binge when they eat. That would explain a lot to me, if most Atkineers were guilty of uncontrollable binge eating and generally lazy habits. Personally, I gained MOST of my weight over the coarse of just two years...right after I stopped exercising.

Yes, many of us did neither exercise nor moderate our eating or both. Changing our eating and lifestyle habits is what will keep our weight off.

The mere fact that we can easily gain weight shows that we are forever in danger of regaining that weight if we slack off. Atkins helps us because it helps us to learn food moderation and if we were couch potatoes, it makes us exercise. The nice thing about Atkins is that Dr. A. was realistic: he didn't expect us to learn proper eating habits by drinking shakes twice a day or by swallowing weight loss pills. His diet is structured so that if you go through all the phases of Atkins, you will learn about yourself---your mentality about food and lifestyle and your physical reactions to food. So it will help you maintain your goal.

Many of the successful goalies are successful because they took the time to learn about their bodies and themselves. If you go to the STAC forum, you'll find a number of people who made goal by staying on Induction throughout, then eventually regaining their weight because they didn't learn how to keep it off.

To me, the real reward would be allowing your body to have what it craves. And if people can do this without packing on the pounds, keeping their cholesterol, blood pressure and other important numbers low, I say power to them. I'd like to be one of said people again without having to say "Well, I can only eat 50 carbs/day for the rest of my life and that's how god made me!" It just doesn't seem logical. I see a lot of people planning to reward themselves with trips to the spa or cruises or travel to exotic locales. All of which, when you get there, you'll still be on the same diet and still have to nitpick at the local foods and count carbs and be mindful of little distractions during a trip that's supposed to focus on relaxation.

The maintenance diet is much different than the Induction diet. Likewise the OWL and Pre-Maintenance diets are much different than the Induction diet. I can eat potatoes, grains, legumes, fruit, etc. on OWL. And again, after going through OWL and Pre-Maintenance phases, Maintenance isn't that much different: you know what foods your body can tolerate and you know how much food your body can tolerate without gaining weight. Plus you know the strategies to prevent binge eating.

Exercise as a reward? Why wouldn't exercise be part of the diet and then a REFRAIN from exercise be the real reward? I support the Atkins diet because I know it works in the short-term. I'm using it, like a greedy little man wanting to lose fast weight and see fast results(who doesn't want that?) and thus allow myself to start exercising again without worrying about knee or ankle or other such injuries. I often have trouble determining who the optimists really are here, those who take the diet with a grain of salt, realize it's limitations and keep an open mind about how everyone uses it or the nay sayers who condemn anyone who doesn't wish to accept is as a way of life, strictly by the book, forever and ever and ever and til death do they part.

One of my goal rewards is exercise related: hiking the Appalachian Trail. The exercise part is walking. The enjoyment part is seeing the mountains.

[dotsamantha]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

We do find all different things that motivate us of course. Me wanting to look presentable in a bikini will most likely not be a motivator to you. Just as you looking forward to eating white bread is not appetizing to me at all.

[boonie stomper]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

I'm adding to my reward now: if I reach goal before next spring, (which I should, at the rate I'm losing), I think a Ski Weekend would be nice. I know I could not ski now, not yet gotten back into good enough shape; but am well on the way to being able to do things I haven't tried since the 60's. I know skiing is exercise, but then so are scooba diving, hang-gliding, sailing, boogie-boarding, S3X, horseback riding, golfing (with no cart), hiking, swimming, playing volleyball & tennis...on and on and on...

Most of these were things I did for fun years ago, but am too out of shape and fat to do now, (because I dieted on and off, didn't exercise much, and did a whole lot off pigging out over the last 30-some years); the rest I've always wanted to.

[Atkid]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

When & if my goal weight is ever reached, I will treat myself to a pedicure, a doo, a Glamour Shot, and (hopefully) a date!

Crossing my fingers for you that the date comes sooner!

[ErinRachel1021]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

I really really want to go shopping and buy some beautiful clothes that just don't look good on the body that I've got now. I want to completely revamp myself. Have my hair done, makeup and just to feel like I am sexy.

[BellaCarol]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

Clothes, clothes and more clothes and get my hair done!!! Big time! Maybe a woonderful dinner (atkisn of course!)

[G-Mom]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

This is heated!

I plan to do a happy dance in all the clothes I have hauled around for the past 12 years, then put them away since most are out of style (ie. high-waisted, tapered jeans--eek!). After that, go shopping, of course!!

[n0matter]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

not2late, that's actually all very interesting, insightful information. So what you're saying is that American is actually killing itself? Makes me want to grow wheat in my backyard(if I had one) and grind my own grains. Perhaps this is why Europeans do so well in this respect. I visited France, Italy and Germany about 7 years ago and just about everything there was freshly produced. Tasted better than it's American counterpart also.

[boonie stomper]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

Not2late is only posting down fact. Several grim health and weight trends over the past decade are clearly linked to coinciding dietary trends, and much is being added to the statistics, as other developed countries' traditional diets are being more and more replaced with a diet similar to the typical American diet today.You can also see easily what happens quickly to lots of immigrants - a shift to a highly refined/processed diet low in nutrient and high in both carbs and fat in massive quantities puts weight on them really fast.

[not2late]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

not2late, that's actually all very interesting, insightful information. So what you're saying is that American is actually killing itself? Makes me want to grow wheat in my backyard(if I had one) and grind my own grains. Perhaps this is why Europeans do so well in this respect. I visited France, Italy and Germany about 7 years ago and just about everything there was freshly produced. Tasted better than it's American counterpart also.

Look around you: obesity is at an all-time high in America; diabetes and high blood pressure are common among the young and old; obese children are a common sight. America has been killing itself ever since it adopted a "low fat, high carb" dietary guideline. The obesity rate skyrocketed in the last 10 years. The Food Pyramid debuted in 1992. So, yeah, America is killing itself.

If you look at the "country" style cooking of many European, Asian, African countries and even in parts of North and South America, they use animal fats (butter, lard, smaltz, etc.) or naturally oily vegetable/fruits (olives, coconut, etc.). They also eat a higher percentage of leafy green or non-starchy vegetables, than they do meat or grains. And of course, their grains are whole grains or very minimally processed grains (no Wheaties, no Special K, no Wonderbread). Sugars are natural sugars, primarily from fruit. And of course, dairy products are full fat cheeses. Plus they get exercise. Sure they don't have gyms or health clubs, but they walk, they garden, they carry their purchases home from the market---that's exercise!

Like I said earlier, the mere fact we are on a weight loss diet means we are very efficient at storing fat. Personally, I think losing weight is a big hassle and I don't want to go through it again. So I go through my Atkins slowly and learn about me as much as possible, because I don't want to go through this nonsense again. That would be my ultimate reward---never having to go on a diet to lose weight again.

If you want to "celebrate" your goal with an eating binge, more power to you.

[angelstar]

Re: How do you plan to celebrate when you reach your goal weight?

Really interesting thread here!! Its a shame how the eating habits of people have changed and caused them to gain weight and have diabettes and heart disease. But we are ALL here to change our bodies and are on the correct road to do so!

I'm definately getting a new wardrobe, chucking out all the stuff that doesnt fit on me anymore and getting lots of sexy little skirts!! (Sorry I love tiny skirts!)
I'd like to have a glamour (maybe alittle bit naughty) photo taken of me too.