Susan, I think maybe I worded something wrong. I've only cheated a couple of times in 11 months, and the things I recently ate were chocolate and ice cream. (If I'm not mistaken, Ray Audette has said himself that he's eaten ice cream on rare occasions, so I figure I'm in good company; nobody's perfect!) I'm discouraged by not only not losing, but gaining weight, and that's not a function of the couple of cheats, but something that's been happening over the past few months. I'm not concerned about falling off the wagon; it's not an out of control thing, it's more like once in awhile I decide to have something. Then it's over. I don't go on binges or anything, even though I may have incorrectly used that word. I know now that my system cannot handle foods containing gluten. I also could not handle diary products at all, until I incidentally gave up gluten when I first started Atkins last January. I then learned that my "lactose intolerance" was actually a symptom of my newly-discovered (but still-unofficial) gluten intolerance. I most likely will never intentionally eat anything containing gluten again. But whether I ever lose weight again or not, I'm not perfect and I'll probably slip once in awhile and then it will be something that does not contain gluten. I'm not, nor have I ever been, unaccepting of Neanderthin. I have been one of it's most vocal proponents, especially when I was back on the old lowcarb list (I've quieted down lately to let others speak). I'm not saying that anything is wrong with Neanderthin. What I'm saying is that it is not actively reparative; it will not necessarily "fix what ails ya". It will prevent further damage by removing the factors that are causing damage. But I'm coming to see that there are people such as myself who are just too damaged for the simple removal of aggravating factors to cause a complete turnaround. I can stop beating on my car, but that won't undo that damage I've already done to it. I see it that way. If we could survey the people who've used lowcarb diets all the way to success (in weight loss), I bet the following things would be uncovered, that they were: 1. Young (mid-twenties or younger) or... 2. Thirty or less pounds overweight For people such as these who haven't beaten their bodies into the ground metabolically, lowcarb, and especially Neanderthin, is a panacea. I'm guess that not too many people over thirty with over 75 pounds to lose have lost it all without resorting to extreme measures such as heavy aerobic exercise, etc. And I'm sure that there are also exceptions to these guesses; there always are when you're talking about the human body. But do you see what I'm saying? I know how to remove the causative factors, now I want to know how to effect repair without having to become a fitness fanatic. I don't really believe it's possible, and what's got me down is that I'm coming to believe that it means that the future will be very high maintenance for me. Take care, John Pavao ---------- Hi John Regarding your discouragement about not losing weight and falling off the wagon: perhaps you should be checked for allergies to dairy products and gluten and all the foods you are cheating with. You might be more accepting of Neanderthin when you find out you will die if you eat certain foods. I have celiac disease/lactose intolerance etc. I wouldn't cheat if you paid me.