An amazing discovery!!

[Jabak]

Greetings All!

I am fairly new to the boards. I have been doing the Atkins diet on and off for 18 months now with some great success. I managed to go from 287 to currently 214 and am still going strong. The past two months I have been very serious about it after deciding that it was time to get serious and push thru the last 40lbs and hit that goal weight. One of the things I have been doing is keeping a journal of what I eat, how much I exercise, and if I cheated what and why.

Previously while following the diet plan I had the mindset that if I staid with it for X amount of time it would be ok for me to cheat if Y came up or Z happend. Just the other day I had a small slip up due to drinking (my resovle goes bye bye when I do) and while trying to explain to myself why this happend it occured to me that my "reasons" for cheating were terrible. I know that whenever I do cheat its a small set back, and previously I just thought that i'd work out a little bit more and it would all be good. This is where my amazing dicovery took place. If you actually sit down and think to yourself " Yea that brownie would taste reallllly good, but by eating it, it's going to interefere with my loosing weight, go against my new WOL, and make me feel like a failure emotionally, that brownie doesn't look so good afterall." So the next time you are tempted to cheat, really think about wether or not the instant gratifaction is worth the regret and keeping you from reaching your goals.

I highly reccomend keeping a journal that you write in regularly to help keep you on the right track. It's also fun to look back at what your feelings and lifestyle were when you first started your new WOL. I know that it has helped me immensly and hopefully if your having a hard time staying with the new WOE/WOL that it could help you also.

[ttdriver]

So the next time you are tempted to cheat, really think about wether or not the instant gratifaction is worth the regret and keeping you from reaching your goals.

Betty

[Laurenfra]

Great post

[2big4mysize]

yep journalling is great for helping you down the road see patterens likeyour drinking that trigger you to cheat and taking steps to avoid them. Without a food log we'd be lost in trying to figure out those stalling and craving triggereng foods and events.

Glad you are doing so well. Hope you will be joining the CCEC on Monday in the Century Club forum for that serios exercise part of your Atkins program.

Happy low carbing.

[sallyseachange]

Terrific advice! Thank you for a good post! Congrats on your weight loss too!

Sal

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by Jabak

If you actually sit down and think to yourself " Yea that brownie would taste reallllly good, but by eating it, it's going to interefere with my loosing weight, go against my new WOL, and make me feel like a failure emotionally, that brownie doesn't look so good afterall.

Well said Jabak.
That is one reason that although I have passed the Alcohol rung of OWL I still order sparkling water with ice and lemon whenever I am somewhere other people are drinking alcohol!! I'd far rather continue to lose weight slowly (painfully slowly at present ) than drink a glass of wine or spirits and stop my weightloss. Anyway I can drink it if I want once I am in maintnance mode at goal

[Isabeau]

I agree, well said!