WOW! Talk about tough love. I needed to hear that message too. Thanks.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having these struggles! I can't imagine going through this whole program without a slip-up or two. You are on the right track and just made a slight detour! The important part is getting right back on with a fresh start. I know you can do it! You are soooo close to your goal, closer than a lot of us.

If you know you are going out (and MAN the fair is HARD!!) Take your favorite IP food with you. Pack a fun picnic! Even switch dinner for lunch if you have to. Have a yummy steak salad while you are at the fair, then have a big veggie omelet for dinner. Anything you need to do to stay on track.

I helped my daughter prepare the food for church yesterday (cream cheese danishes, chocolate cupcakes arrrghh!!) and it was hard! As soon as church was over I ran out to the car and grabbed my favorite restricted southwestern puffs and enjoyed every bite. I knew I had those waiting so it helped get through that. Hope that helps, and glad you posted here to get some encouragement instead of giving up! That shows a lot of courage already. :-)

I've been reading this forum for a couple weeks now. I'm not one to normally post comments, I just read what others have to say, but Sherah, I was in the same situation last week, and figured I'd give you my input/let you know what's happened since.
I started this diet May 29. I followed it with next to no cheats for close to a month. I slowly started allowing myself granola bars here and there, or little bags of salted almonds. It wasn't enough to make me gain weight, but I also stopped losing weight. This went on for most of July. Finally two weekends ago I binged. I binged for about 4 days straight (these cheats included cookie dough, bun and crackers with cheese, and wine gums), come Wednesday I felt like a beached whale. I called my coach and scheduled an emergency meeting. She weighed me and I was up 5 lbs from my WI the previous Friday. She talked me through it. Told me I was back to square one as far as having to go through the headaches and cravings again, but I was still down 10 of the 20 lbs I wanted to lose. I got back on track and by Friday (only 2 days later) I lost 2.8 of those lbs, and by Saturday I was down another 2.6.
My point is, I know the number looks scary on the scale, and the next couple days will probably be hard, but you've done it before and you can do it again. I took twice as many of those "poop pills" (sorry, I can't remember the correct name) as I normally do for three days straight to get my body working again, and drank a couple extra glasses of water each day. Chances are your probably not going to the bathroom quiet as regularly as you did before your cheats, and you're retaining water because of all that salt.
You can get back on track, you just need to stick it out for a couple days.
I always just say to myself, "Food can only satisfy you for so long, once you get to your goal weight your happiness will last much longer."

Thank you Wuv for posting your "tough love" and thanks to everyone on this thread in sharing you're struggles.

Thank you to everyone for your stories, advice and TOUGH LUV

Wow, It's amazing how a different perspective can change everything. Thank you for giving it to me straight! I got my "Big Girl Pants" on now No more pity party for me!

What helps me when others are having their drinks is to have my chocolate shake. The milk component of the taste seems to take the urge to drink alcohol away. Put it over ice, as if Baily's Irish Cream. Hope that helps you.

Wuv - I LOVED what you wrote! I'm sure you know what an inspiration you are to all of us but lately I was wondering if it's ever still a challenge for you to stay OP. After 25 weeks, there are days I really just want to move to phase 2 and then I think about how long you have been doing this and I know I can make it too. It IS about choices and if you want it badly enough - you do what needs to be done to stay 100% OP. thanks for keeping us all honest with that!

The support here is truly amazing. Today is a brand new day!

New Orleans Girl here - well live here now, originally from Lafayette, LA! And yes I HEAR your southern voice - and I imagine you took off your earrings before you said it, and hand gestures were involved haha.

GO STRONG SOUTHERN WOMEN!

Its amazing to me how much we beat the heck out of ourselves. We are human beings with emotions and we ALL have our faults. We "meet" here, in a common goal, to fight the good battle against our weight and as we are not "perfect" (thank God) we falter and have mis-steps and trip along the way. We are on the "dance-floor" that is life and even professional "dancers" trip-up and fall sometimes.

So what's the big deal?!
3.5 pounds...and its like the world just ended!? Nah...no one got terminally ill here, thank goodness! Its only water weight anyway from knocking yourself out of ketosis. Get back on plan, and it will gone within 3-4 days....

This "diet" is no different from any other diet in that you have to have conviction, and you have to really want to succeed. You should expect set-backs, but yet you should be dedicated to the concept of "winning"...of achieving and reaching your goal, of forging ahead at all costs regardless of mis-steps.

This is the LAST time you will "Diet"...you WILL achieve your goal, and once there, you WILL maintain it for the rest of your life.

For me, I look at it like a person who is in prison. I was "sentenced" to do time...but there will be a time when I am FREE and then I will be on good behavior so I never have to do "time" again!

Learn to want what you can have. Instead of thinking of pizza (which I do often)...think of new ways to make your dinner meat...experiment with new herbs and spices. New combinations of veggies and new sauces.

I used walden farms apple butter (zero calories, carbs, fat etc) to make an awesome sauce for my grilled pork for example. OMG it was like I won the lottery or something! It felt more like fine dining rather then oppressive dieting!

We have options. It is up to us to use them and push that envelope to get the most out of "what we CAN have"...and by doing this, we are all learning how to make better choices so we have a better chance to never being overweight again.

This is the LAST dieting I ever plan to do.
And YES, I am hungry ALL the time...so what? I am "doing my time". I did not put my weight on "overnight" and it is OK if I have to "suffer" some now to get it off me. Pretty soon that "suffering" will transpose into simply my new way of eating all the time and be "natural"!

Keep forging ahead! You CAN do this!
Cheers
Jake

Wuv2bloved (and I ALSO so hope no one takes offense at this) I totally understand what you mean.

I'm baffled when people are complaining after being on plan for just a few days or couple of weeks! I don't get it. A few weeks is NOTHING if you compare it to the goal you're trying to reach.

I'm not saying the plan is easy - but if you're looking for easy, then this might not be the best route. Nothing, and I do mean nothing - nothing that we want in life and have to work for, is going to be easy.

I also find that sometimes, people waaaaaay over think the program too much and over analyze it too much.