Fallen off the wagon, run over and lying in a gutter covered in candy wrappers

[Lou52]

Thanks everyone for all the terrific advice and support! I have learned, and I have laughed. You are a funny and wise bunch. And so I shall begin again, throw the candy and crap out (sorry kids), scowl fiercely at the rest of the food I’m not to have (I just might swear at the spaghetti) and read about the evils of sugar to confirm what I know to be true. It’s good to read that getting back on track is doable and it happens to others. I’ll do my best. It’s worth it. Long haul goals here.
Thanks y’all!

[Daisytoad]

Fall from Grease

I’m not sure if this is a common saying, but I love it!!

[ava_ad0re]

Ah hey, sometimes you just have to live a little.
When I have a carb blow out, I eat the same thing for 5 days in a row.
It’s a carefully balanced macros meal of 3 boiled eggs, 5 rashers of bacon, a whole avocado and two tins of tuna.
I don’t think of anything else but that food and tell myself it’s all I can eat until I get back to precarb scale weight.

[PaulL]

Just as not every drinker is an alcoholic or every cocaine user an addict, so too, not everyone who eats sugar gets addicted to it. If you are not a sugar/carb addict, ignore this post. On the other hand, if you are a sugar addict (only you can make that diagnosis), here are some techniques to put into practice:

1. You will see a lot of advice on these forums about “planning your cheats.” This advice will just about as useful to a sugar/carb addict as the advice to “plan your drinks” is to an alcoholic. Every alcoholic knows that it’s far easier to abstain completely than to try to drink in moderation. “One is too many, and a thousand aren’t enough.”

2. If it is at all possible, remove all carby temptation from the house, and stock up on safe keto alternatives. If other occupants of the house will not permit this, then have a frank talk with them about not leaving stuff out where you can trip over it.

3. Don’t swear off sugar and other carbs for ever; it only makes your inner addict feel deprived. Instead, just postpone your next binge one day at a time. “Yes, I’ll definitely have those three dozen Krispy Kremes tomorrow; but just not right now,” is a very useful approach. Even the worst sugar addict in the world can go 24 hours without a hit.

4. If you have a religious practice, prayer and meditation can be extremely helpful. Sugar and carbs are a power greater than you are, so getting help from an even greater power makes a lot of sense.

5. Getting support from others in the same boat can also be extremely helpful.

6. Be careful with non-sugar sweeteners. In fact, leave them to the non-sugar addicts.

7. Think it all the way through. For example, we advise alcoholics not to think about how good a drink will taste going down, but rather how it will taste coming back up. So instead of thinking how wonderful the frosting on that cake will taste, concentrate instead on that achy feeling of the next few days, and the damage high insulin levels will be doing to your blood vessels, cardiac muscle, neurons, hemoglobin, liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Sure you have another binge in you, but will you ever be able to get back to eating keto again?

8. If offered something lethal at a gathering, simply reply, “Oh, not just yet, thanks.” Halfway through you can switch to “Oh, no more, thanks.”

[islandlight]

Thanks, everyone, for all the terrible thoughts about sugar. I’ll try to keep those in mind!

Extra hearts for all of you!

[Tmwf]

I really like the way you write. You have a gift.

[juice]

If we look at processed sugar as if it were cocaine, maybe it’s easier to say no thanks?

This is precisely how I personally frame the whole matter.

Same.

[Lou52]

Great points. Thanks PailL. Definitely I fall into the addict category and could attend a “hello my name is” 12 step sugar anonymous support group if such a thing exists. Once I decided to stop trying to reinvent keto desserts, I had a lot more success by changing my taste for sweets. I will allow myself a taste of something special and worthy now and then and then I don’t fall off or feel deprived. That’s a new accomplishment over the old me with the “well you may as well eat the whole thing now!” mentality.
Department of Waist Management

[Lou52]

Thanks so much TMWF

[Lou52]

Good tip, thanks ava_adOre I can do a version of that and just not think about it

[Lou52]

Fall from Grease may be out there already who knows, but it was just what came out. Maybe it was the chocolate talking

[VirginiaEdie]

I would suggest as you get back on the wagon to definitely avoid artificial sweeteners. They may cause you to still crave the sweet things.

[decreebass]

That night I slept fitfully, waking up sweating and miserable. I felt sick the next day, my head was throbbing and my stomach was queasy. After another restless night I went zero carb in order to get back on track and start feeling better again.

See, if this is the result of eating keto, then it can’t be healthy. It’s like someone who’s been a vegan for several months or years and gets sick when they have a piece of meat; the whole point is to make your body resilient and powerful, not to get it to a state of becoming crippled from noshing on some carbs once in a while. Sounds more like food poisoning than having anything to do with carbs.

Here’s what works for me.

You and I are two of a kind! You basically wrote how I do it

With all respect to those who say it isn’t about perfection, I think the straight and narrow is just simpler and easier. If I know I only eat meat, eggs, etc., I’m not saying “maybe” every time I see a pie or a chocolate bar. I can devote my mental energy to other things, because the decision has already been made.

I don’t think anyone who’s suggesting that it isn’t about “perfection” is in any way suggesting that it’s okay to go over on carbs on a daily basis; just that if you’re going to cheat, then do it, but do it infrequently and then jump right back into keto. But I agree - if anyone is even thinking “maybe” to chocolate when it’s not their cheat day, then they still have some work to do and are probably not following any sort of ketogenic diet. As you say; the decision is already made.

You will see a lot of advice on these forums about “planning your cheats.” This advice will just about as useful to a sugar/carb addict as the advice to “plan your drinks” is to an alcoholic. Every alcoholic knows that it’s far easier to abstain completely than to try to drink in moderation. “One is too many, and a thousand aren’t enough.”

We’ll have to agree to disagree. I give people far more credit than that and respect their self-control; it’s one of those things that you NEED to practice to get good at it. You’re not even tempted or in any way resisting or fighting addiction if you simply plan a time to let loose knowing that the next day, you’re gonna be back in the keto saddle again. I think you and I are never going to 100% agree on this, and that’s cool - it gives everyone a variety of experience to draw on. FWIW, I completely agree with every single one of your other points - and to be honest, I think a part of my reluctance to side with even the AA metaphor is that at one point I had to accompany a fellow soldier to an AA meeting; there was a guy there that said that he’d been going to three AA meetings a day for the last 27 years. That blew my mind, and not in a good way. I feel like a person can waste their life in any number of different ways and devoting all your time to NOT drinking shows that you are quite literally still a slave to the addiction still, just in a slightly different way. Just my opinion, I know, but it shocked me to hear that.

[cw2001]

Hubby tried to join me in keto for 24 hrs. LOL We went food shopping last night and as we’re walking down aisles, he’s waving to food and saying “Good bye ice cream, good bye bread, good bye fish sticks…” The fish sticks cracked me up because he doesn’t even eat those.

I mention this because I kept asking him WHY he wanted to do keto (beyond supporting me). Intellectually, he believes it’s a healthier way to eat, but he’s been so structured all of his life that he can’t really get past his routines. His motivators just aren’t that strong (support me, maybe feel better). He’s not currently overweight, doesn’t have any illnesses, etc.

I, on the other hand, have some very strong motivators. So every time I’m tempted by something, I remind myself of why it’s so important to continue this. Eventually, it’ll be more of a habit, the sweet cravings will go away, and I’ll start seeing concrete results…so until then, I just KCKO.

I also do several of the things that @PaulL mentioned. Hubby doesn’t keep any of my “difficult” foods in the house. I tell myself that, one day, if I want, I’ll drink sweet tea again…but in the meantime, I don’t sweeten it at all. I know my “thing” with sweet tea probably seems silly to some people, but it was a very big part of my day. First thing in the morning, I’d brew it, sip on it all day. Restaurant choices were based upon the best tea places. If I felt happy, I’d drink more tea. If I felt sad about something, I’d drink tea. For whatever reason, it hit all the triggers for me. So I don’t do any sweet subs…I don’t bake keto desserts, etc.

So in the short-term, do what you need to do to make it easier to get back on track. Keep your reasons for it clear and foremost in your mind.

[Alex99]

It’s no only “know thy thyself”, but also “know thy enemy”.

Know sugar and carbs are destroying hundreds of millions, actually billions of lives. It is killing you. When some people see “cake” I know I’m seeing toxin. When they see candy bars, I know it’s poison. Much easier to say no when you know it’s so bad.

Besides you have the power of “F” on yourside.

When they removed fat from food they removed the F)at and therefore F)lavour - so put it back and eat real food once again. Don’t be hungry.

If your family and friends (like most of mine) are still sucking on sugar then never face them hungry.

We’ve got an “international food day” coming up at work and that butter chicken with rice is brilliant - but I’m just going to sneak out of my office before they bring all that out and feast on my avocado and chicken or fish, maybe some almonds - “eat until full”. I seriously doubt I’ll even be slightly tempted.

In future, I might try to save that recipe, substitute cauliflower for rice etcetera … but really I just can’t be bothered. Knowing I’m avoiding toxin and eating real food until satiated is good enough for me.

Hope that helps.
Meantime, don’t look back over the past, move forward. Simply find nice food until 20g carbs and you’ll be good again.

[tdean]

Any advice on getting back on my Keto horse would be appreciated. I’m sure a lot of us new to this lifestyle fear the upcoming holidays and could use a pep talk.

I’m not about to give you advice on how to get back on the wagon, there are plenty of others who have given great advice. Just wanted to say well done on the title of your post, “…run over and lying in a gutter covered in candy wrappers”.

We really need an emoji for falling off the wagon, don’t ya think?

[Ketodaisy]

If offered something lethal at a gathering, simply reply, “Oh, not just yet, thanks.” Halfway through you can switch to “Oh, no more, thanks.”

I applaud your entire reply times a thousand. And this reply I have read you say a dozen times and each time it puts it fresh in my head. I have been practicing it for weeks now to say tomorrow at my super fancy work holiday party. It’s in Fairfax VA and very few people actually know me there. They don’t know I don’t drink and they don’t know I’m keto. So instead of going into it all, this has been my plan since I first read you say it. Thank you!

[PaulL]

We’ll have to agree to disagree. I give people far more credit than that and respect their self-control; it’s one of those things that you NEED to practice to get good at it. You’re not even tempted or in any way resisting or fighting addiction if you simply plan a time to let loose knowing that the next day, you’re gonna be back in the keto saddle again.

Yeah, addiction is very hard for non-addicts to understand. The definition of an addict, in fact, is someone for whom self-control does not work. I know that makes no sense to you; just let it go.

A lot of people think that A.A. is a crutch that alcholocs ought to be able to do without, but if your leg is broken, using a crutch makes a lot of sense, no matter what the able-bodied tell you.

[Lou52]

@cw2001 good advice. I don’t bake keto desserts either, maybe one day but not yet. And I absolutely get what you mean about choosing restaurants for the tea! I just gave it up completely. But on a hot hot southern day… sigh. Oh well. Water is just as good… said no one ever (or a person in the north lol)
This week I’m just focused on no sugar, no sweet, not hyper focused on carbs but not going crazy either. Next week I’ll tackle both and go all in again. I’m actually doing ok. A lot of good tips and support here to help get back on track. It’s been much easier than I thought surprisingly!

[Lou52]

Haha you made me laugh at that. We definitely need that one. I want to be an emoji designer in my next life!