What REALLY constitues CHEATING??

[NoMorePumpkin]

I know this is a silly question. I have read DANDR (a couple of times). But I was wondering what most of you consider cheating.

I stick to plan "most" of the time. I KNOW I cheated yesterday at my Family Reunion Picnic: I had a pinch (and only a pinch) of home-made pound cake (OMG!!) and a half of a filet of deep fried whiting fish. I do consider those cheats, even though I think they are little cheats.

If you have the low-carb candies (like the Nestle's sugar-free Turtles - serving size only) is that cheating? What about the ocassional tbsp of margerine or bacon that isn't nitrite- or nitrate-free? Do you consider eating the top off a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza cheating (since you don't know the sugar content of the sauce)? What about the inside of a steak and cheese sub?

What I THINK I'm getting at is trying to be BETTER in my eating habits. I don't want to beat myself up unnecessarily. I have lost weight doing all of the above, but that doesn't make it right. If I cut it out, maybe my progress will improve (honestly thinking - I'll lose faster).

With all the Challenges going on, I was considering starting one for Cheat-Free days, if there already isn't one.

Let me hear your thoughts, please...

Punkin-kid

[Hinen]

Not wishing to sound harsh, have you thought through what you are asking?
I also wonder why you are eating in such a tortured way, the topping but not the whole, the filling but not the roll. I am sorry if this sounds unkind.

[matawguro]

IMHO, you're cheating if knowingly deviate from what you commited yourself to doing. If you commited yourself to doing Atkins by-the-book, then the book is what you follow. If you decided to modify Atkins to your particular body type, then you've set the rules which you follow. You cheat if you deviate from the rules you choose to follow. You also cheat if you change the rules in the middle of the game without good reason.

Do you consider eating the top off a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza cheating (since you don't know the sugar content of the sauce)?

If there's no way you could have known, or you tried to find out but recived false information, then it's not cheating. However, if you didn't know because of lack of due diligence (not reading nutritional info labels), then ignorance is not an excuse.

[Bren]

I eat subs all the time... steak, etc. Just not the roll. I have taken the top off of many slices of pizza (and yes, I am tacky enough and wipe the sauce off). It works for me! I would consider a cheat different for everyone. To me a cheat is a blatant offense. Something I know for sure is not allowable in the phase I was in. I laerned very early on that sugar alchols WERE in fact a cheat for me as they stalled me right out. But, after being on a WOE for so long, I alone can decide what is a cheat as my body will react differently to different things.

[Finelly]

This reminds me of a conversation I had several years ago with a friend about "sin". In English, there's just one word for it. "Sin". In Hebrew, there are 7 different words for "sin", and they are all in the Jewish scriptures.

The 7 different words MEAN different things, which makes it very confusing for people who read the bible in English. One type of sin literally means "missing the mark", as in target practice terms. Some have to do with negligence or inadvertent breaking of rules, some with missed opportunity, some with deliberate, intentional violations.

I think the same can be said of cheating. There is the kind of cheating where you choose to eat a piece of birthday cake knowing it is not legal on Atkins. There is the kind where you take a bit out of a salad and realize, as I did the other day, that the crunchy bit you just started chewing is a piece of tortilla chip! There is the type of cheating where you just cannot stop eating that fabulous zuchini casserole and so you ate 4 more grams of carbs than you should have today.

So what are we supposed to do? The best we can, of course.

[2big4mysize]

As matawguro said if you knowing break the rules you committed to follow then it is cheating.

When the cheat free logos were first created for this place back in 2003 the challege clearly stated you set your own definition of hat is cheating and then if you broke those standards then you when back to day 1 on your cheat free icon. Everybody posted what there definition of cheating was and nobody agreed on what it was exactly.

[Finelly]

Weeeeellllll........but I'm thinking EVERYONE agreed that taking a detour to Baskin Robbins for a banana split constituted a cheat, right?

[wannabethintoo]

bacon that isn't nitrate-free?

That's considered cheating? Really?

[Finelly]

Whoah. Even Dr. Atkins differentiated between what he recommended and what he prescribed. Avoiding caffeine and nitrates were recommendations. Eating only legal veggies during induction was a prescription.

[NoMorePumpkin]

Thanks, guys. You really got me thinking hard. I'm going to set a challenge for ME!!

More opinions are extremely welcome!!

Thanks again,
Punkin-kid