I certainly hope I don't get flamed for contributing this post.  This
is not to judge what anyone else is doing, this is to only tell you
what seems to work for me:

First, let me say that I fully believe in the Low Carb WOL. I know
that it is probably the best WOE for me and my body. But all this talk
about "cheating" in this newsgroup (and outside in the world too for
that matter) has got me thinking....

I hate this word "cheat". One of the problems that many "dieters" have
is beating themselves up so much over everything. Many of us have low
self esteem to begin with. So, what do we do? We act like our own
worst enemy. We don't think that we should treat ourselves with any
respect--which is farthest from the truth! Many of us seem to have
this constant dialogue in our heads with ourselves: chastising
ourselves, berating ourselves for being "bad", obsessing over every
last bit of carbs that we just ate, or shouldn't have eaten. For some
people, being hard on themselves may work. But not for me. I have been
hard on myself for almost every minute of my 29-year old life. And I
have come to the realization that it is no way for me to live. I
deserve to love myself, and forgive myself and take care of myself to
the best of my ability. I am worth it, damnit!

I have come to the realization that my WOL is not about being "good"
or being "bad", or "cheating" and "not cheating". I am not on a diet.
Sure, I could stand to lose about 60 or so pounds. But I have stopped
weighing myself. That scale messes with my head and self worth. I hate
getting on the scale in the morning and letting that stupid damn
number dictate who I am for the rest of the day. Invaribly, it upsets
me.  And I am alive now, damnit.  I am tired of waiting for myself to
be thin to begin my life.  Some people die waiting for their lives to
begin.  Isn't that sad?  I want to/should enjoy it all in the
*present*, 60 pounds overweight or not.  But as I go along with my
"healing" process, those 60 pounds or so should naturally come off.
Without being awful and nasty to myself.

When I say I am not on a diet, I don't mean that I have given myself
permission to go hog-wild and eat anything and everything I see. (As a
binge eater for many years of my life, this has been the norm for me,
and it sucks!) I am just trying to change my relationship with food. I
refuse to believe that there are "good" or "bad" foods. What I do
believe is that when I lower my carb intake, I feel a hell of a lot
better. My blood sugar doesn't fluctuate. When I eat more protein
during a meal, I feel more satisfied, and stay satiated longer. For
me, my food plan is about making the right choices for me, and my
body.

One thing this has taught me is to be more discriminating about the
foods I put in my body. If I am going to eat sugar or junk food (some
of you would call it cheating), I won't do it with Little Debbie Snack
Cakes anymore. (Hell, I used to be able to finish off a whole box of
fudge rounds in one sitting, plus a pint or two of ice cream!) I will
do it for something that is worth it [to me]. I also learn to pay
attention to the food, the texture, the smell. I make myself aware of
what I am eating. The problem with binge eaters is that they often are
not even aware of what they are eating. How many times have I eaten
(pretty much unaware) in front of the televsion, or while spending
time on the computer...I find, that when I make that small change, and
force myself to be aware of what I put in my mouth (and actually let
myself enjoy it--something I never have allowed myself to do before),
I won't eat as much, and I come away more satisfied from a smaller
amount than when I inhale a whole box of Twinkies or whatever. Because
you know what? I really don't like Twinkies too much. And I especially
don't like how eating a truckload of them makes me feel (physically
and emotionally).  I really have only been "medicating" myself with
food.

Anyways, I am sorry for rambling. Everyone has their own "plan" with
food. Mine is to not diet. In my life, when I restrict myself and diet
and beat myself up when I "cheat", it has always led me to a binge. In
one way or another. (Any kind of diet has done this for me, low fat,
low carb, low cal, fasting, etc.  Hell, even though I haven't tried
the "Two-Pound Diet and have no plans to ever EVER do it, I know for a
fact that that diet would be the worst offender of them all.  What
a**holes Dr. Chung and Michael Loser are--they don't take into
consideration the emotional issues that overweight people need to deal
with. They don't believe that people's bodies are cabable of telling
them how to eat??  Notice I said ___bodies_____, not minds.  Go out
and buy yourself a two pound scale because you body must be broken.
It has no way of telling you if it is hungry or full!!!!  How, then,
do they explain how babies and children know when to stop? What a
joke!!!!!  Things aren't always so black and white as those morons
want to believe)

Ahem....anyways, I did follow Atkins very strictly for some time, and
had great success with it. Two or three times. But then, I would have
a binge, then two, then three....ah, you get the picture. First I felt
that I was such a failure because I couldn't stay on the Atkins diet.
I mean, how stupid was I? It was easy to follow, it made me feel
better, I was losing weight, people were complimenting me left and
right, etc. etc. etc. But, I still binged after awhile and pissed all
that hard work away. This made me realize that there were other
reasons I was eating myself to death. Emotional reasons. Reasons that
I had to confront and deal with. Reasons that were and are probably
going to be painful. But you know what, no one ever died from allowing
themselves to feel pain and work through uncomfortable feelings. That
is the process I am trying to undertake right now.

So....the moral of my story for me? As I said before, I stopped
dieting. For me, restricting myself = binge.  I threw out my scale. I
am going to hide all my thin clothes that upset me and make me feel
like a failure everytime I open the closet. And I am going to take one
day at a time. I am going to be aware of every morsel that goes in my
mouth, and get enjoyment out of eating for the first time in my life.
(As much food I have eaten/and/or inhaled in my life, food has always
scared the crap out of me....) And lowering my carb intake should
automatically fall into place as my new relationship with food takes
hold.  I am also hoping that being satisfied with smaller amounts will
happen for me too.  That is the hardest part for me, knowing when I am
satisfied.  And I don't need some damn two-pound scale to tell me how
much to eat.  As I grow to understand and actually listen to my body,
and its needs, I believe that I will automatically be able to eat the
right amount.  It worked fine when I was a child, and didn't have so
many emotional things mudding the waters.  This of course will take
time.  It is probably something I will be working on for the rest of
my life.

The journey is the goal.  The goal is the journey.

That's my story and I am sticking with it!  

Take care all! And thanks for listening!

Sharon aka Happycat