So, I've been under a lot of stress lately. I also started my TOM yesterday and I've been craving pizza like you wouldn't imagine...thinking about going off plan for one pizza meal which would probably throw me out of ketosis (I'm on a low carb plan) and screw things up. My losses have been incredible at 4lbs this week and I've been eating lots of vegetables and feeling great about my plan.

Tonight my family had pizza. I'm this close to having an emotional breakdown, but mostly I was just hungry. I had turkey burgers planned but didn't feel like cooking them so I decided to have the topping off of one slice of pizza. Not exactly a nutritious meal, but also not exactly off-plan because all of the foods are allowed (sausage, cheese, pepperoni). The only thing I was worried about was the sauce which may contain sugar. A bit later I went and got in the shower.

When I got out of the shower I said something rude to my grandma because I'm not in a good mood and I really upset her which I feel bad about. My mom has a migraine and is brushing off things that I need to ask her, and when I went into the kitchen the pizza was staring at me. I ripped the toppings off of another slice, and then starting picking the pieces of pepperoni off of a bunch of them. I ended up eating the toppings off of a third slice. I thought briefly about going and throwing it up...which I know is a horrible thing to consider but I just felt so guilty for eating it and now I'm afraid the scales might be up tomorrow because of it.

Right now I'm having a small salad with ranch because I felt like I needed to get some more veggies in today after eating all of that cheese. I was doing so well with almost completely eliminating cheese, too.

It is ok to do it just once.
When hitting platoe (spelling) I sometimes eat my junk food to shake my body up. Then i notice i still lose weight.

We've all been there. Don't let it happen again, and you'll be great! Today is just one day -- you've done 1/2 a pound of damage max -- and you will (you WILL) work out an extra half-hour tomorrow to start taking off the damage.

Today is Lunar New Year so I'm letting myself gorge on traditional treats, including a truly decadent coffee-cream-cupcake. Thick layer of cream frosting, condensed milk filling, amazing coffee cake... OMG. I know it's crap for my body, but the important thing is that I'm holding myself accountable to it, just as you're going to hold yourself accountable in your calorie-counting for that pizza... and tomorrow will be a better day.

Isolated incidents will happen. I don't think anyone has successfully lost weight and kept it off while never, ever making a mistake or eating a little over budget or having a Coke. Like others said, the important part is that you forgive yourself and move on. Don't get stuck in the "well now I REALLY blew it, I'm going to eat a whole cheesecake" rut where you sabotage yourself for an extended period of time!

It so hard to know what your trigger really was. If you were hungry, then you are not eating enough fat and protein. If you were feeling a hormonal surge or depletion, then doing something self nurturing may have helped calm things down. There are many low carb substitutions for pizza and of course, eating the toppings give a wonderful dose of the flavour. I would have made the turkey burgers and put some pizza topping on it and had a great low carb meal! Being rude sounds to me like you are struggling with an emotion and lashing out. Is there something you could be doing to help relieve the pent up emotions?

I have no idea what carb range you are aiming for, but remember that fat is your friend and really helps reduce hunger. Coconut and olive oil is easy to add to a meal until the hunger goes away. Work to get the hunger in check with fats and then everything will balance out and you will have a better feel for how much your intake should be for your weight loss goals.

Successful strategies for low carbing include figuring out new ways of eating that you enjoy. Embrace pizza night by having a meat and salad meal ready to add pizza topping to!

Go and do some investigating on websites that have low-carb recipes. I am sure there are several for making low-carb pizza.

There used to be a cooking show on the Food Channel where this guy (who did all the cooking) had himself and his entire family on low-carb.....and I know he made a pizza on one of the shows. And it looked just like a real pizza. I don't remember exactly what he used but it looked delicious.

Low-carbing, IMO, is fantastic.....and just not worth cheating. Throwing yourself out of ketosis for a while is just too demoralizing. The big thing that kept me going was knowing I was in ketosis.....because ho matter what the scale said on any given day, as long as I was in ketosis, I knew I was burning fat. With low-carbing you do not need to be hungry. You can't have the pizza sauce...that's true....but there are a whole lot of things you CAN have.

Also....do you post on the Atkins forum here? The folks over there can tell you all sorts of secrets about how to make low-carb versions of all sorts of things.

deena

I personally think you would have been better off mentally and physically if you would have just had a couple of slices of pizza with the rest of the family.

I do...as a matter of fact...FRIDAY IS take-out JAMAICAN FOOD!!! YUM!! The more we deny...the more stress we induce...stress raises cortisol...cortisol aids in fat storage! Additionally, allowing yourself an "off-plan/cheat meal" once a week/bi-weekly increases your chances of LONG-TERM success! It also helps to keep the body guessing so as your weight reduces...you don't have to keep reducing your calories! I haven't reduced my calories (in fact, I've raised them up 100 cals to 1600/day avg) since day 1 and I've been reducing fat at a rate of about 2 lbs/week.

Hope this helps...next time try DiGiorno 3 meat pizza...it's DEVINE!!!! (3 slices = 525 cals.)