I agree with you that the secret is to make sure you get right back on
track.
I am lucky in that I can get right back into ketosis in a day or two.
Cheating is not a problem.  I do come off of the diet for a  weekend or a
day
every now and then but while on I dont cheat.
Right now I am about to restart and try to eep it off this time.  I did what
you did and gained back.  I think I gained back more size as well.
This time I am going to exercise more and try to gain a little lean muscle.

I dont know about you but even if I plan to come off for something and do
I feel like crap afterwards for not staying on it through what ever function
I came off for.  I dont follow Atkins or any other set plan.  I watch my
carb
intake first and then calories.  I also really watched for items that seemed
to stall me or slow me down.  Nuts kill me. Damn near knock me out of
Ketosis
instantly.
Good luck
alabama

Kevin,

You misinterpret my comments as being judgmental of you, they were not so
intended.  For you, personally, I stated, or tried to state, that whatever
works for you, and can keep you on track, is a behavior and attitude to be
encouraged.  Having had to find my own equilibrium with losing weight, I
know how difficult it can be to find the path that would be right for me, I
see no reason that it would be any less difficult for you.

My comments about your not following Atkins I will stick with.  I have no
problem with whether you follow Atkins or not, just don't present your
philosophies of when it is okay to cheat or not as part of his program as,
in my opinion, this is misleading.  That you are low-carbing it I don't
challenge.

In your recent posts you stated your intent to eat the occasional couple of
slices of pizza, or some treat from TCBY.  This is setting up a plan, not
having a lapse.  There are individuals here who will agree and encourage
such eating as a way to reset the clock so to speak.  I have no problem or
concern with that, if it works for you, great.  There are diets that
explicitly spell out this type of eating as part of the program.  Atkins is
not one of these.

I agree that, should one fall off and feel the need to cheat, just put it
behind and move on with today.  This is certainly good advice for any weight
loss regimen, is consistent with what Atkins recommends, and is an
acknowledgement of reality...people are human and will have lapses and make
mistakes. (A lapse and a mistake are not necessarily the same thing, BTW.)

Okay, now the philosophical view of the world starts below:

Finally, and the only real reason I am responding to your reply, is your
question of why do I "care so much?"

To answer this you might reflect on what I care about, at least with regard
to losing and then, hopefully, maintaining a healthy weight.  Having chosen
to, once and for all, get my weight under control and keep it there, I have
taken a keen interest in the trials and tribulations of those struggling as
I have.  Fundamentally, what I care about is not just losing the weight but
keeping it off.  Will I be successful?  I intend to be, because I cannot
live with the alternative.

When I read something here that resonates with me, something that I identify
with, something which describes a pattern painfully similar to mine, I
naturally care, because it is my personal story.  It might even be selfish,
but forgive me, I care.  I care because I want to learn, as I want to be
successful.  The why for me is not "Why do people lose weight?" so much as
it is "Why do people re-gain weight?"  No, it is more selfish than that, it
is "Why have I always re-gained the weight?"  Of course, the simplistic
answer is generally that we eat too much of course.  This answer is, to be
quite frank, useless.  This is much more than just being a problem of
willpower, it is more than just missing pizza and ice cream an it is a damn
site more than emotional cravings.

Kevin, you and I unfortunately share much in common so far as weight battles
go.  We have both been to severely high weights, successfully lost, then
regained those same massive amounts of weight too.  I have personally, too
often, had great success losing weight only to have something (pick it) set
me off and start me down a path that ends with me right back where I
started, plus a few bonus pounds.  One of my biggest fears is that something
will set me off again, start the cravings that will not only start me
over-eating today, but cause me to continue tomorrow, and the next day.
You've been down this path too Kevin, by your own admission.

I don't let this fear, rational or otherwise, stifle me.  Rather, this is
one of my prime motivations to not go down the path that has brought me to
failure in the past.  In the case of foods I simply avoid those which have
in the past been those which I cannot get enough of, those that when I start
eating I won't consider finished until all is gone.  I hate that path.  I
hate that path more than I can ever like a bowl of ice cream, or a loaf of
bread.  Situational temptations (dinner out, dinner parties, trips) I just
do my best to make good choices.  Other stressors (family health issues, bad
day at work, whatever), I find more difficult to deal with.  But I know that
when such unavoidable issues, whatever they might be, are finally worked
out, I can have chosen to eat correctly and be left with feeling good about
myself physically (whatever the emotional wreck), or be back on the path
which will, inevitably, lead to gross weight gain.  Again, choices.

Why do I care so much?  In my case I am participating in a this support
group for, well, support and I presume that you are here for the same thing.
To that end, allow me to lend you some encouragement, and some advice.
First, and please don't take this as negatively as it might at first sound;
stop making excuses.  You attribute your lapses to lack of willpower.
Perhaps lack of willpower is a problem, but you certainly don't lack it.
How do I know this?  Because the amount of willpower necessary to stay on
ANY weight loss regimen as long has you have in the past is huge, at least
in my opinion.  So, in my opinion, you have ample willpower to achieve your
goals, and stay on track.

Do I think that make the right choices are easy.  No, not in the least.
But, what helps me is my list of motivations.  I won't put down my list, but
I will put down the questions from which my list of personal motivations
derives:

1) What can I do at a healthy weight that I cannot do at an obese weight?

2) How much better, both physically and emotionally, do I feel at a healthy
weight compared to being obese?

3) Am I better received by other people at a healthy weight or when I am
obese?

Question one is just that, I list of things I used to love to do that I can
now do again.  I've lost them once, I won't lose them again.

Question two, for me, becomes a list of things that to think about:  Simple
things like buying clothes, fitting in an airplane seat without feeling life
threatened.

Question three is not a rhetorical question, nor is it a yes or no answer.
It is also one that I would not have added before I began losing weight.  I
can come up with a laundry list of ways which losing weight has improved my
relationships with other people, and my treatment when with people I don't
necessarily know.

Kevin, if you are still reading at this point, please again accept that my
intent is not to judge you, just try to give you something to think about
that might, in even the smallest way, help you, and others, to be more
successful in weight control efforts.  I'm right in thick of this problem
too so I too have a vested interest in getting it right.  I again wish you
the very best success in your weight lost.