Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

[slimbyapril2005]

Better yet..How LONG does one cheat stall you?

I have been doing atkins really consistently for the last two weeks. I have lost 12 pounds. I started on 12-29-07 but I didn't really get serious until two weeks ago. Today I ate two bowls of fruity pebbles, because I was going through an emotional moment. I immediatly went out to exercise and ate correctly afterwards. But I wonder if I am now going to stall for a few days and get out of ketosis all together because of the cereal. I am sooooooooo mad at myself.

My goal is to lose 3 more pounds by the 31st for a total of 15 pounds lost. It would have been possible had I not cheated. DID I MESS THAT UP?

[DigitalMocking]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Most of the weight you lose during induction is going to be water weight as you get rid of the extra water stores your body holds to help process carbs. When you "cheat" often your body can, and sometimes does, horde a bunch of water again.

This is a long term process, you really should focus on that and not day to day issues.

[serendipity]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

I only know from personal experience but when I cheated once, I didn't register for being in ketosis for about 2 days but one cheat is not going to ruin you! Keep eating like it never happened. I cheated on January 8 and had a huge dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with breaded chicken and mashed potatoes topped off with a gigantic piece of some kind of eanut butter chocolate cheesecake. The miserable feeling that accompanied it set me right back into gear the following day. I started on Jan. 2 and as of Sunday, I have lost 16 lbs. Please don't let your cheat discourage you. Just get right back into the swing of things and you'll keep up the great work and the pounds and inches will continue to melt away. Congrats on what you have accomplished so far! You're doing wonderful!

[blue996]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Just get right back on track. In the long term, however, you will need to find a better way to deal with your emotions rather than eating non-legal food. We are all human and have messed up a time (or two) so just focus on moving forward.

[Mirya]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

it can depending on the cheat. I was so close to cheating today when my car broke down that I literally went out and bought a bar of Unsweetened baking chocolate. I melted 1 square and added 2 packs of splenda. It was very dark in flavor at first but afterit went down i could taste the sweet after taste. I only had a tiny bit of this maybe half a teaspoon. That little bit DID the trick, didn't make me crave and was very much what i needed to relax on top of that deep muscle theraputic massage i had today.

(NOTE : True theraputic deep muscle massages HURT afterwards if you were REALLY knotted up.)

[brandywine1241]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Today I ate two bowls of fruity pebbles, because I was going through an emotional moment. I immediatly went out to exercise and ate correctly afterwards. But I wonder if I am now going to stall for a few days and get out of ketosis all together because of the cereal. I am sooooooooo mad at myself.

My goal is to lose 3 more pounds by the 31st for a total of 15 pounds lost. It would have been possible had I not cheated. DID I MESS THAT UP?

Why don't you learn what you can from this glitch? Record what you ate on what date, that you exercised afterwards, and what happens in the next few days. Later you can look back and see how you react when you "fall off the wagon".

[Elizellen]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Well done for not deciding that once you ate off-plan you 'might as well eat xxx '(insert favourite nonAtkins carby food) and getting back on the Atkins 'wagon'

As well as what brandywine suggested to learn from the experience it might be an idea to plan what to do the next time something happens to upset your emotional balance, so you have a strategy in place to cope while staying on Atkins.

[BeautyBox]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

I personally dont think it will affect you in the long run. You seem really eager to carry on. Like others have mentioned on here before dont beat yourslef up about it, you have gone back on to atkins. Have to agree with elizellen about the emotional eating...........................that happened to me last week! and I felt really rotten (and had stomach ache)but I have stayed "true" for 4 days or so now..

[cgdat136]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

it depends what level of exercise you have been getting most likely. i am keeping my finers crossed that that is the answer. because yesterday i did 110 minutes of cardio in a morning and evening workout.....but last night i did cheat too and i cheat in a big way ........i just couldnt help myself, i should have gone straight to bed (thats one way to keep yourself from cheating late at (night) but i didnt. there is no way i am getting on a scale now....for, until at least this weekend.

[kate58]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

There is nothing you can do now to uneat the cereal - you've done the best thing you can by getting right back on board. It may kick you out of ketosis and stop you losing for a couple of day, you may even gain a little weight, which would be mainly water retained - so drink, drink, drink. In the great scheme of things it's a blip, not a disaster, so just get on with it from here and only look back to learn from your experience.

But, and it's a big BUT, this does NOT mean that it's ok, and that you can carry on cheating now and then and it'll be just fine cos you just get on board again afterwards. That's a very slippery slope that, which leads to justifying cheats and that leads to big problems.

because I was going through an emotional moment

When we put the word 'because' in front of something, its usually an attempt, however subconscious, to justify it. But justifying a bad decision is, well, a bad decision!

Think of what happened another way:

Would you advise someone you care for who was having a problem or an emotional moment to just go ahead and do something harmful to themselves to distract their attention? Something that was unhealthy, damaged them both physically and mentally and would with absolute certainty make them feel awful later?

I really don't think you would.

Your life, my life, everyone's life is full of emotional moments, difficult times, problems. And full of holidays, vacations, special occasions and countless other things that we can put the word 'because' in front of and use to justify bad decisions. It's very, very easy to do.

But that is exactly the kind of thinking that got many of us into the state we are in, and the kind of thing that has to end if we are to get to a better place for our health and our general sense of wellbeing.

I don't mean to be hard on you, or anyone who has a cheat, it happens. But if we attempt to justify it, it's only storing up more problems for the future.

[kate58]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Chris, sorry, but I have to jump in on this:

i just couldnt help myself

Nonsense! You just didn't, you chose not to, but you certainly could have.

Admittedly I wasn't there, but I am willing to bet that nobody stood there, prised your mouth open and force fed you bad food. You made a decision to cheat - take responsibility for that.

[cgdat136]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

kate thank you for calling me on this. i say that in retrospect...what happened happened, and there is nothing i can do to change it now. i am in the middle of sets of pushups now......so i am continuing on with the exercise, and i am watching the news now and its supposed to warm up later today.....so i will walk during lunch. i know i shouldnt have, but i did i take full responsibility!!

[BeautyBox]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

kate 58 I whole heartly agree with you about the justify bit, from a mind/health point of view We have indeed have to change our outlook on justifing it to ourselves.

Speaking for myself I have had to rewire my thinking..by doing that I am creating a positive habit "I can, it will work". it is estimated it takes around 21 days to create a Postive new habit and allow the a new brain pathway to develop to allow my way of eating to become familiar (oops heavy I know)

But your right..we cant make excuse after excuse because that has got us in the past absolutly nowhere!

[Bettestress]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

I think the worst thing you can do after the fact is panic! Just adds more stress, and who needs that! I think the average person gets back in ketosis in about three days. And Dr A himself said get back on track as fast as possible and move on. Just like any mistake, forgive yourself.

Carbs seem to be like an addiction, and Atkins is kind of like AA. Sometimes you need someone to "talk ya down." One day at a time!

[slimbyapril2005]

Re: Help!!!! Does one cheat stop all your progress?

Wow,

Thank you all so much! I do take responsibility that I had a choice to do right or wrong and I chose to eat wrong. However, I will stop beating myself up, and will acknowledge that I did not do what I have always done in the past, which is say to myself that "since I messed up today,I might as well order some pizza and start fresh tomorrow." And I also will look at what happens and see how I will be affected by this action over the next few days. Thank you all sooooo much.