My post is probably going to be very controversial but its just my opinion and experience.

My husband lost over 130 lbs on Atkins, Phase 1, cheating one meal per week for 8 months. The one meal a week kept him on the diet the rest of the week. He always had it to look forward too each week when he had cravings. And when he did cheat he was eating way less than he did before the diet. Sure he could have lost more faster if he hadn't cheated but I believe allowing himself to cheat once a week is what kept him on it. I realize this might trigger some people to binge or they wouldn't be able to stop at one meal but he had no issues sticking to his once per week cheat.

He did go the first 2 weeks without cheating so he did the 'induction' and then stayed on phase 1 because he was over 400 lbs and had no issues sticking to the diet. He has always been a big meat eater. He also had one Atkins bar per day the entire time (expensive lil buggers but those helped him too).

So I guess it all depends on how strict you want to be with yourself. Will you lose faster if you stick to the diet exactly, yes. But will you forever be able to go without holiday meals or ice cream? Probably not and when you slip up you may hate yourself and quit and go back to old eating habits undoing all of your hard work. So planning a treat meal makes it part of your 'lifestyle diet' that you will be able to follow the rest of your life. I am very impressed you were able to not cheat during the holidays. That must have been very difficult. I'm impressed! Congrats!

Right now I'm trying to cut carbs and then when my husband gets back from Mayo clinic we will do induction together and then I will probably move to phase 2 and he will again stay at phase 1 and we will continue to have our one meal a week cheat. I weigh much less than him so I guess we'll see if I can still lose weight and stick with it with the one meal a week cheat.

Keep up the great work. you are doing great!

I don't knock what works for individual dieters; if it's working for you and it won't kill you, it's all good.

I'm an all or nothing person. I'm either on Induction or OWL or I'm eating whatever. It's too hard for me to go back on Induction once a week. My head and body don't work that way. I have about a month of stall to prove it. I don't really have strong cravings when I'm on Atkins, so I don't have a big motivation to have "cheat meals." I just get lazy about counting carbs and start eating "maintenance" foods and too much cheese / dairy. And I stop losing. I'm not sure I can ever eat more than 20-30 carbs daily and maintain a healthy weight, and that's okay. I just have to get there!

Congratulations to you and your DH on your weight loss!

I appreciate the encouragement, JerseyGyrl. It gets hard for me to plan, shop, cook, clean up...just for me. But then I think, "I'm worth it; I want to do what's good for me, and I'm in the perfect position to do it."

So, I just had sausage and an egg for breakfast; I'm finishing cleaning my little house. Then I'm going out to rake some leaves and pick up sticks in the yard. I'll have a salad for lunch and walk myself and my fat dog. I'm going to clean up my porch, go to the grocery so I'll have what I should eat this week and just GET ON WITH IT!

Have a great week, everyone.

Amen to this bolded part! I am in charge of the grocery shopping -- I am the one in the position to buy the right foods to keep me on plan. AND: I AM WORTH IT!

My family is not big on sweet eating, so there just isn't junk in my house. We have "M&M Friday" at our house and that's as junkie as it gets. My problem is more on the breads, rice, pasta -- with all kinds of sauces -- area of food. Breaded fish, breaded chicken, that kind of stuff.

To the OP: keep hanging in there, it will pass. But I agree with others that said that this may be more of an emotional clinging than a physical clinging to the foods.

I also would not reward with food; for most, it means a downward spiral. Not knocking it for those who can handle it, just saying that for MOST, its not a good idea.

GL to you on your path to health. We are all in the same boat, and we are here to help.

:coffee2:

One of my most favorite rewards is a manicure. I love a manicure, and I have a wonderful nail technician I've known since she was 13. It's a treat I indulge in when I've had a particularly stressful day or my nails just look ratty. I see her about twice a month. I used to go every week, but finances don't allow it. I absolutely refuse to give it up...it's just for me and has zero carbs.