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No matter what type of low carb diet you embark on, there are always times when you feel like dropping it for something else.

That would be a shame if you did, because as you probably realize, low carb diets are do flexible and varied that they are just too good to pass up. You get the benefit of improving your health, whilst losing weight...and STILL have tons of recipe options at your disposal.

Therefore, here's the 3 key things you should avoid when starting or continuing your low carb diet, so that hopefully you don't drop out from your diet any time soon!

1) Problem Ingredients in "Low Carb" Packaged Foods

Be wary of meal replacement bars, ice cream, and other "treats" labeled low carb or sugar-free. They often contain ingredients such as maltitol (the worst offender) which are just as bad as sugar in a lot of bodies. In general, products that talk about their "net carbs" or "impact carbs" deserve close scrutiny of the ingredients, and careful experimentation.

2) Carb Creep

You're eating low carb. You're feeling great, and the weight dropping off as if by magic. You're not hungry between meals! You have energy! You can concentrate better! Wheee! You think you'll have a piece of toast! It doesn't matter! You still feel great! You think you'll have some ice cream! Hey! You're still losing weight! A little sugar in the coffee can't hurt, can it? Maybe not, but...uh oh. Something has sent you over your own personal limit. Suddenly, you're having carb cravings, you're gaining weight, and you're in a vicious circle that's hard to break of eating carbs, being hungrier, eating more carbs...ugh.

Sometimes it happens more subtly, but it's common to let more and more carbs creep in, sometimes unawares. If that happens, it's time to take stock and probably start over, at least for a few days, to break that cycle.

3) No Exercise

There is a temptation to leave exercise out when talking about low carb diets, because often people can be successful at first while staying sedentary. However, there are several reasons for talking about exercise in any diet discussion (Atkins called it "non-negotiable"). One is that exercise lowers insulin resistance - this is probably partly why exercise alone will tend to help many people lose a few pounds.

The second is that exercise is good for our bodies in so many ways. And the third is that while we can lose weight by diet alone, at least to some extent, we are very unlikely to be able to maintain a significant weight loss without exercise.

As you can see, maintaining the right low carb diet is not exactly rocket science, but these mistakes are often too easy to fall prey to.

There are other things you should be wary of, but for the purposes of this article, that should be enough to give you a clear head start over everyone else.

If you've been on my 7 day course over at http://lowcarbdietformula.com you'll know what I am talking about when I say that it's surprising how many hidden pitfalls there are associated with a low carb diet.

That doesn't mean you'll necessarily fall into them like everyone else, but believe me, when you're 2 months into your low carb diet, the last thing you want to do is let just ONE of these "traps" hinder your previous hard work.