lowcarblosers

Resisting temptation… Once

Staying committed isn’t easy for a Low Carb Loser, especially when temptation rears its ugly head over and over again. Between the temptations of the world and the temptations in your own cupboard, the job of resisting bad food choices can seem overwhelming. The struggle is even harder when your partner, coworkers, or friends indulge and encourage you to do the same.

When the urge to break from our food plan and enjoy treats like a “normal person” (our partner, for example) is intense, it’s time to resort to extreme measures. In this case, STOP THINKING!

Resisting temptation is hard, but even more so when we don’t have the sense to escape our temptation. Often, when faced with a seductive sweet or treat, our problem is not that we can’t make a smart food decision. We say no to high carb temptations with enthusiasm and determination. The problem is that we never stop making the decision.

Once we have made the initial refusal, we too often reconsider. We linger in situations where our health and diet success is in jeopardy. We say “NO!” to indulgence, but then we stick around to think about it some more. Sometimes we congratulate ourselves prematurely. Other times we may sit and stew in our feelings of deprivation, becoming resentful over what we can’t have. No matter why or how we torture ourselves over the decision we have made, prolonging our exposure to temptation is a form of torture that leads to our low carb undoing.

Low Carb weight loss success stories usually have one thing in common: complete certainty that healthy, low carb food choices are not negotiable. Successful low carb dieters understand the decision that has to be made, they make it swiftly, and they move on with their lives. Instead of continuing to gaze into a pantry of peril, they accept their decisions immediately, and focus their time and attention on more productive things.

Once we have refused an offer, resisted a temptation, there is nothing to gain by revisiting our decision. Instead, we must accept our own judgment and invest our minds and bodies in positive actions, like socializing, hobbies, exercise, or self-improvement.

When you’ve made the right food choice, the next temptation to resist is the one to punish yourself for it. Find an activity that brings you joy and distance from the struggle.

Monday Morning Re-Induction

Sometimes it just seems impossible to resist temptation. You work so hard all week to eat clean, drink your water, and lose weight. Then the weekend comes and many find themselves planning a Monday Morning Re-Induction before the cheats even touch their lips.

Falling off the Low Carb wagon is a bad idea, but it’s a human experience. Stop beating yourself up. It happens to most of us now and then. The trick to limiting the damages cause by indulgence is to limit the time you spend off the wagon (seriously) and become a master at induction.

Mastering Induction

Most people have a difficult time with the concept of a Low Carb Lifestyle. For that reason, many still think about Low Carb as a diet rather than a Way of Life or Way of Eating. Unfortunately, the short-term thinking associated with a Low Carb Diet approach traps many in an endless cycle of sacrifice and reward that does nothing but ADD POUNDS.

But what if you changed your idea of a Low Carb Lifestyle?

Clear your mind of any thoughts that a ‘Lifestyle’ means lifetime of eating perfection. That sounds a lot like a prison sentence. Instead, think of your Low Carb Lifestyle as a healthy path you follow. Like any path, you can step off from time to time. The key to reaching your destination is always getting back on the path.

You know yourself better than anyone. If your experience leads you to believe that strict adherence to a Low Carb Diet for the rest of your life just won’t work, throw the whole idea away. Prepare yourself for the inevitable slips by becoming a master at induction.

Use the guidelines provided in your Low Carb program’s reference book along with the Induction Survival Tips on this site. Keep your Low Carb diet journal and refer to it often for personalized tips on how to get yourself back on track. Be reasonable in your expectations of yourself and prepare for your own human flaws.

That said, it is important, particularly for weight loss, that you don’t make a career of jumping on and off the low carb path. Induction can take time before it leads to weight loss. You won’t lose much week if you’re endlessly switching your metabolism from carb burning to fat burning, and back again.

Also, when you do step off the path, don’t stray for too long. It’s easy to get lost in the high-carb jungle. It’s often difficult to find the path again when you’ve completely lost sight of it.

The Priceless Low Carb Journal

No matter what major life change you are working towards, a journal is a great tool to help you along your journey. Weight loss is no exception. In the curious, and often confusing, world of low carbohydrate eating, your personal weight loss journal serves as a personalized road map to weight loss success.

A detailed journal will teach you things you won’t find in any book or on any website. No other Low Carb Loser can offer you this valuable insight. You will find you are able to draw connections between emotions, people, physical health, and food you are eating. You may find that every time you talk to a certain person, you feel bad and want to cheat. Or, you may find that every time you eat a certain food, legal or not, you feel tired or depressed.

Your journal should be a daily record of food, water, and other aspects of your low carb lifestyle. You can make it as detailed or narrow as you wish. At a minimum, include the foods you ate that day, the quantity, the amount of water you drank, and any exercise. Women may also find it helpful to make a note of menstrual cycles. Also include your weight.

When you’re struggling to make the scale move, refer to your journal. Revisit your most successful low carb days. What were you doing? What were you eating? How were you feeling? These details can help you identify changes that may be stalling your weight loss.

To make your journal even more useful, make a note each day of how you feel. What are you experiencing emotionally and physically? Record major and minor events in your life. Also, include who you visited with and any conversations of importance.

Give a journal a chance. It can be the most valuable weight loss tool you ever didn’t buy.

Get the Water Your Low Carb Lifestyle NEEDS!!!

Drinking water is more than an important part of weight loss. It’s essential to maintaining general health for all individuals. However, in a low carb weight loss lifestyle, it can also help prevent the misery of kidney stones.

If you need help getting more water into your life, here are some tips and tricks that can increase your water consumption. Drink water. Lose weight. Live happy and healthy!

THE JUG

Consider it your personal challenge. Fill a container with the quantity of water you wish to consume over the course of the day. If you’re not currently drinking ANY water, you may wish to start small. Rather than setting a goal of 64 oz of water right off the bat, try starting with 32 oz and work your way up. Any increase is an improvement.

ICE

Let your compulsion to chew work for you. Whenever you can, make sure whatever you’re drinking is filled with lots of ice. Chew the ice as you watch TV or read a book. Chewing ice is addictive and you’ll be surprised how quickly those cubes add up to big water consumption increases.

ASK FOR WATER WITH YOUR DRINK

You may be dying for a diet soda at your favorite restaurant. If that’s legal on your food plan, go for it, but ASK FOR A GLASS OF WATER TOO!!! Water will come in handy when you’re thirsty and waiting for a refill on your soft drink.

BAN SOFT DRINKS

If you’re consuming a large quantity of sugar-free drinks over the course of your day, those drinks are likely getting in the way of water consumption. Consider limiting soft drinks or banning them from your food plan all-together. This may initially be a shock to your taste buds, but you’ll quickly adapt. In no time, you’ll find yourself wishing more people offered water at parties.

If you’re not ready to give up diet drinks completely, try limiting them in number or by the time of day you allow yourself to drink them.

FREEZE A SMALL JUG

If you find water just tastes better cold, make sure you have cold water on hand all the time. You can do this by freezing one or several small plastic jugs or bottles of water. Take a bottle of frozen water with you wherever your day takes you. As it thaws, you’ll have a constant source of cool, clean water inviting you to take a drink.

WATER ROUTINE

From hygiene to exercise, most of us find building a routine helps us accomplish the less glamourous essentials of daily living. Water is no different. Make a habit of drinking one 8 oz glass of water first thing in the morning. Drink another one last thing before bedtime. That’s 16oz of water you’ve just made a part of your daily routine. Build your routine up to include an 8 oz glass of water with pills, before each meal, or before a walk. Your routine will help you achieve your water intake goals.

The Secret Magic of the Short Stall

Panic sets in quickly for a Low Carb Loser. It only takes a day or two without movement on the bathroom scale to make us question our low carb lifestyle. By day 3, most of us are ready to throw in the towel. Still others will search desperately for modifications that will get the scale moving again.

Don’t!

Instead of giving in to frustration, take a moment to explore the priceless insight provided by a brief stall. You can learn a lot about your attitude from a short stall. Your response to these natural pauses can serve as a great indicator of long-term low-carb success. You may not have lost a pound TODAY, but that stall can be the key to reaching your greater goals.

THE DANGER OF PREMATURE MODIFICATION

Adhering to a highly restrictive diet and failing to see consistent daily results can be maddening. We want RESULTS for our hard work and we want them NOW!

Relax. Altering your food plan in an effort to bypass the occasional (and natural) pauses in weight loss can spell diet disaster. Though the exact nature of these short stalls is arguable, it is undeniable that short stalls happen to the vast majority of dieters, regardless of their food plan. Even after weight loss surgery, most patients won’t see the scale move every day until they reach their goal.

If you’ve been successful losing weight with your food plan and a short stall sets in without any eating or lifestyle changes on your part, it’s okay. Don’t throw away a great food plan because you’re too impatient to let nature take its course.

When you modify your weight loss plan, you expose yourself to unnecessary risks. You could be introducing foods that come with unexpected cravings. You might be dropping your calories to a level too low to lose weight at. Worse, you might cause such chaos in your food plan, it becomes difficult to assess what is and what is not working.

It is for this reason experienced Low Cab Losers often get snarky when new losers ask for advice on breaking a short stall. They have the experience to know that short interruptions in weight loss are natural. They also know that it’s not time to take a risk on serious diet modification unless the scale has been idle for as much as 6 weeks.

THE MAGIC OF THE SHORT STALL

The way we respond to a short stall can tell us a lot about our attitude and potential for long-term weight loss success. In this way, the short stall is priceless.

If two or three days without progress has you ready to quit, it’s safe to assume you are still stuck in the diet mentality. You’re viewing your low carb food plan as a temporary solution to a major health crisis. This approach to low carb eating is strongly discouraged my most low carb plans, including Atkins.

Unfortunately, no matter how successful you are losing weight with low carb eating, there will never be a time when abandoning your low carb lifestyle won’t put you at risk. Even those who have reached goal, and maintained for an extended period of time, risk regaining the weight if they revert back to a high carb eating plan. In fact, online forums are packed with folks who are desperate to recapture the low carb magic they lost hold of when they abandoned their low carb lifestyle.

If you short pause is leading to emotional turmoil and thoughts of surrender, you need a change of perspective more than a change of diet. Remember that this is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. That doesn’t mean you can never enjoy your old favorites again. It just means that you need a better understanding of the effects of low carb eating and the occasional indulgence.

SAFE CHANGES

There are some safe changes you can attempt that may get the scale moving in the right direction more quickly. These modifications pose little or no risk to your food plan.

1. Increase Water Consumption ~ This is commonly a problem for Low Carb Losers. We are often able to lose weight in the beginning without strict adherence to the water rule. However, many of us eventually hit a wall where water is essential to weight loss. If you can’t stand to drink water, try chewing ice instead. Chewing ice can be addictive and you’d be amazed how much ice you can eat happily over the course of a day.

2. Eliminate Franken-foods ~ Some low carb foods are just not natural. Worse, they often contain nitrates or other ingredients that are both unhealthy and unsound for weight loss. If you’re a fan of sausages, hot dogs, or other pre-cooked low carb foods, try reverting back to whole foods like home cooked chicken, turkey, and vegetables.

3. Support Immersion ~ This is EXACTLY the time when you need your support system most. Get online and chat with other Low Carb Losers. Talk to your mentor. Surround yourself with encouragement from people who KNOW that short stalls come and go. If you haven’t yet set up your own Low Cab Support System, learn how by reading visiting the LOW CARB SUPPORT section linked in the navigation bar at the top of this page.