Hi JK - I am experiencing the exact same problem right now, lots of progress for over a year, but now i find myself sneaking bites of dessert, sweets candy, which more often than not turns into binges of sweet things; I am now in a vicious cycle of not being on the bandwagon, or 30on 70 off because I have lost motivation? Have you hacked this issue of yours yet, i would love to hear about your experience since January...

One "easy" fix that doesn't address the underlying motivation but could help the "sneaking" is to not have those foods in your household. Of course, this doesn't work if you have a non-paleo spouce / roommates. But you could try setting up more strict boundaries of "my food" / "your food" After all, everyone has moments of weakness and boundaries like having to pay money or having to actually ask - "can I have some of your gummy bears?" could help you take a step back and realize that you don't actually want to give in to this particular moment of weakness. Or maybe it's time to go to 100%? Some people do best with no absolute rules, but others need the absolute rules to stick with whatever program they want to commit to.

Those of us who eat this way all the time and plan to eat this way as long as we are alive, tend to have the following in common:

1) A sound food plan that fits our needs, health parameters, and preferences.

2) An honesty with ourselves about why we eat the way we do, which we are at peace with.

Many find that helping others, by answering questions on forums, or writing blog articles, or other ways of contributing, gives a sustenance to one's own way of eating and thinking.

Also:

When you know, in your insides, that you are worth taking good care of, you will do it.

If you haven't had a chance to read Dr. Kurt Harris' website, PaleoNu, it is well worth reading. His recommendations are based on sound science. He offers his website out of kindness, to help others heal from illnesses and to prevent the ailments that can befall folks.

Here is his, "Get Started" page:

http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/

I wish you much joy in making steps that you can live with, and which you find fulfilling.

Am sending you lots of good thoughts. :)

You must have had a good reason to start down the Paleo road. You need to examine why you have lost that drive. You have made good progress but most of us here don't see Paleo as a short trip but a journey for a lifetime. Even if you are totally happy with your results I can't imagine why anyone would then want to reverse the results and return to where you've come from. As someone above has said, you need to man up and do what has to be done. Gummy bears, pleease!

Thanks everyone. I'm trying hard to relocate my motivation. I'm starting out by doing a 24 hour IF to (hopefully) cleanse my system.

I had these days.... found my calories were not meeting my newfound love for activity.

2 methods.

for maintenance, simply up your calories...if you're craving food, you're not getting enough.

for continued weight loss... do a refeed once a week... absolutely PIG OUT. keep it gluten free, try to keep to non inflammatory foods, just eat as much as you can stand in 1 meal and 1 meal only. Toss some tubers in there. Ill even condone, non paleo but not damaging foods during this refeed. My personal preference is the Sushi Refeed. (gluten free tamari of course)

If you're on the Refeed method, youll find your willpower stronger, because you're holding out for that "reward" at the end of the week(or middle whenever you choose), and the cravings less because your body will learn that its going to be fed.

If you have a high activity day (for me its 2-4hours of Ultimate), try to time your refeed to after the activity. (and do the activity fasted).

Younger people than I seem to have the most trouble in controling their consumption of the nasty counterproductive foods.

I am 67 years old and have done things to my body over the previous 40 years that made me look like the Pillsbury Doughboy, now it is easy to ignore the nastys...because I like how I feel and how I look.

The wheat and soda belly I used to carry is almost gone...used to be a belt size 38...now 32. And so is 50 pounds gone.

Just look around the obese mall and ask yourself, did I look like that?...or could I look like that? If I just munch a few of these death crackers...what could it hurt?

Man up and don't cheat!

I wasn't Paleo at the time, but when I started losing weight I had issues like this crop up occasionally.

I had a really hard time with weekends, for years. I did great on my routine work days, because I could plan things out. I am a gal that likes a plan, so I wouldn't want to mess it up. Weekends were plan-less, so I would eat things I shouldn't. That was really a 100% mental battle. I had to want it enough to get through weekends without "cheating". I did that with setting mini goals for myself and rewarding myself. It could be as easy as a pedicure if I made it the whole weekend or a new bottle of nail polish or whatever, just something little. Quantitative goals instead of just being "good" were key.

Another common weight loss problem is feeling that you "deserve" a reward for being so good and sadly, many of us reward ourselves with comfort foods. You have to learn to use different rewards.

Or feeling like you've got this, you've been doing so well, just this little bit won't really hurt... well, it does hurt. It only took setting myself back 293839284023 times to realize it. Every single time I've stopped tracking my food over the last 6 years, I gained weight. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

When people ask how much weight I've lost, sometimes I'll say if you counted all the ups and downs over the years, I've probably lost at least 500lbs. This time, I've lost it for good.

Try not to let your cheat items RUIN your day and roll into more cheats. Make your next meal, your next snack a healthy one and move on.

Check out these motivational posts:

• Dear Mark: Low on Willpower
• The 80/20 Principle: When 20 Inches to 40
• It's Time To Get Real

And these PaleoHacks questions:

• Paleo Breakthrough Moments
• Advice on Getting Back on the Bandwagon