One week in, caved to the carbs and...
 

Won't do that again. Ugh. I feel awful.

I've been doing "my own version" of low carb, which is essentially the same as South Beach (except I avoid the artificial stuff as much as possible). Today, I just felt funky. I felt hungry and my allergies are killing me and I didn't sleep well last night. I did not feel like cooking or putting together a salad and I sort of missed the window for breakfast so I decided to have some pasta. Not a lot, just some (a loosely packed cup and a half), with a little butter and parm. Something kind of bland just sounded exactly right.

For years, I've noticed that carb heavy meals make me tired and sluggish, that I manage to feel both bloated full of air and still hungry no matter how much bread or how many noodles I have (unless the bread has butter and/or cheese and the pasta has some kind of heavy sauce...at least then I feel full, although still tired and kind of wrung out) but I guess I've never really noticed it in such start contrast to a week of eating on plan.

WOWZA. I felt so full of air, and yet I was still hungry. Very, very hungry. For sweets. So...off I went in search of sweets. And what do you know, there's that cake from Father's Day (you know, the one I have managed not to touch or even really give much thought to at all) and now here I sit, belly full of noodles and cake. Frankly? Still a little hungry, but also trembly like at the tail end of a sugar crash. South Beach is back on, can't wait for my planned snack of nuts and cheese.

So, lesson learned.

I chuckle in support - not in ridicule.

Yes - I had a McDonald's day just like that not too long ago. Just kept eating and eating - not sure I every really felt truly full, but sure was feeling like a beached whale!

I go for on the beach over beached any day . . .

I think it was one of those "failure to plan is planning to fail" moments. I wanted something, I felt bad, I didn't have anything prepared. I was easily able to rationalize eating something I KNEW wasn't good for me. Ok, a bowl of pasta and a piece of cake aren't exactly crack but I knew I'd still be hungry and I knew I couldn't expect to lose anything today if I ate like that. I think I'm going to take all my salad stuff and divide it into serving sized containers so I can just open one up and add dressing. Not that making salad is all that difficult a task but apparently today it was.

You know its odd because I find I like being on the diet anymore than off the diet. I HATE that sugar/carb crash that I get when I am Off Plan.
I have had my Mother In Law here all weekend and even though I have been 95% On Plan I have still felt just OFF. So happy to be completely ON PLAN now that she left this morning.......

I did the same kind of thing a few days ago.

To me it sounds like a "failure to plan", but also that you let yourself get hungry by skipping breakfast--then your blood sugar dipped and you were more vulnerable to refined carbs--which caused you to crave more carbs.

That is the story of my last day or so. Falling off the wagon is such a learning experience! Congratulations for staying on track so much of the time. It's nice to be on a diet that actually makes you feel better when you're on it, than when you fall off.

Failure to plan is always what gets me! Sometimes I just really don't feel like going to the grocery store! It really helps me to stay stocked up on hardboiled eggs, cheese sticks, V8, refried beans, and (cut) veggies for those days when I have no plan. I try to plan my meals three days in advance but at least once a week it seems I planned on having chicken for dinner and just didn't have the chance to get to the store so I'll have salad instead (for example). I think that the best plan is- DON'T KEEP IT IN THE HOUSE! I have no plan on eating bread or pasta or ice cream or cookies, so I don't buy it. That way, I can't eat it! And why is it that when we don't feel like cooking, we turn to bread and pasta and sweets? Why not turn to beans or canned tuna or something? It definitely gets easier the longer you do it, you just gotta keep with it and jump back on when you fall off!

That blood sugar crash is a mean monster! It will make you eat things you don't even really want. At least you are back in charge and moving on!

Sub mcdonalds for bread and cheese at a party followed up with chicken wings and there's my Friday last week!

Love your line about "on the beach"

I have this happen regularly - about once a month. It never fails, either the carbs do it to me or the "all or none" mentality of going off plan, but once I eat a little junk, I can really fall into a carb frenzy if I'm not careful. That's why I avoid bread even now after 3 years of SB.

I have the same thing. Both the thinking and the craving. I haven't had bread in the house in months and months! Actually, what I have learned about myself over time is that I do best with few grains and some foods I just can't eat in moderation at all.