Once you realize you can’t freely feed on a low carb diet and lose weight, the second most important thing you have to get in order to lose weight – is that you can’t cheat and lose weight. Cheating on a low carb diet defeats the purpose of restricting carbohydrates. Low carb diets limit fat storage, by decreasing your insulin and ghrelin levels, and increasing your leptin and GLP1 levels. These are the 4 major hormones that control body weight. When you don’t eat carbohydrates, because of a biochemical shift, your body does not store fat as efficiently. Decreased fat storage is why you lose weight on low carb, so by cheating (eating carbs) you are shooting yourself in the foot, by causing fat storage. A handful of popcorn or a bite of a candy bar can start your body storing fat. You can’t cheat at all, and expect to lose weight.