8 months pregnant and losing weight - 8 months big and losing weight

8 months pregnant and losing weight
William Hunter, Anatomia uteri humani gravidi tabulis illustrata, 1774. I know the one meal a day plan does work because i did lose some weight when adhering to it. Actually, I started out first with intermittent fasting to gain the control of when to eat. This is especially true of sugar and carbs. I ate all the time, any kind of food I wanted. I get around this by having a cheat day every Saturday. I have to try and drink at least 2lts of water from 6pm. Most of dieting is mindset, breaking old habits and forming new ones. Hi guys, I really am struggling for over 10 yrs now. Then I eat dinner around five after I come home. Nothing else was working, not eating three healthy meals a day and not running long distance several times a week. I started 1 meal a day 3 days ago with the following aims:-. Make yourself happy first and that happiness has a way of spreading. My Basal Metabolic Rate (from a website) is about 2500 calories. I admit I did not read the entire thing, But I have been eating 1 meal per day for 4 years because I am poor and I have gained 20 kilos from doing so. One of the biggest favours I did for myself with this diet was to ignore all the conventional wisdom about starvation modes and the like and I just got on with it. I am hoping to get under 150 within the next 2 months, and hopefully stay there with the right exercise and diet. Anyhoo, I will drop back during the week and let you know my progress and check up on yours. How I Lost Weight Eating One Meal A Day: I lost 30lbs over 5 months eating 1 meal in the evening. I was thrilled to receive a reply from you. And ill make sure that my One meal a day consist of mostly healthy foods majority of the time. I actually feel healthy while doing this diet, And this one meal i have is lunch not dinner. Granted I have only done 2 days with 1 meal per day as, like you I plan to eat lunch on the weekends. I hope the diet is still working for you. In fact I got it wrong a lot in the beginning. I started drinking spirulina powder with water this morning. Or do i have to follow a strict diet eating only veggies and fruits. Anyway, I got overweight again so I want to use this method. In about 8 months I lost 55 pounds, bringing me down to 125. So far i feel wonderfull and the old Gary is returning. I would also drink green tea with some vinegar and honey in it which helped suppress my appetite after dinner. I even refused a dessert which is highly unusual for me. before 1:00 pm when it gets too hot. On weekends I still eat pizza, pasta, ice cream and chocolate, not as much as I used to but enough to make me happy and ready to start the week again eating one meal a day, this meal is usually very healthy but sometimes not but I still lose weight despite this. I want to start back because eating once a day is liberating for me. Will shorten the window for eating to an hour and then find something to occupy my mind and time. Its more of a mental challenge to stick with this in my opinion, but the further you go, the more encouraged you are. For dinner, I ate whatever I wanted plus dessert. Fifth, if I have to eat something then I go ahead and eat enough to get me to dinner. My target weight is stone 12 stone 10 and i continue to feel amazing. I have an app called myfitnesspal on my iPhone and I use it to track my food and exercise. for five weeks now, I have been eating one evening meal a day and having fruits for breakfast and lunch. It is very motivational and inspirational to read about all the success that others have experienced who are also eating one meal a day like myself. I really would like to be back to 170 or less. Fasting suits me especially on weekdays (working days). Besides who says that eating once a day is less healthier than eating 6 times a day. The results have been shocking, to say the least. Now, this is the interesting part: until 30 of age I was eating (generally speaking) once a day (at dinner). I intend to stick with the one meal a day plan pretty much forever, because it lets me have the body I want without obsessing over calories. I had to have another small snack and cup of tea in the mid afternoon because my stomach was growling so loudly. In the future I will gradually add to treats if I want to, but I need to know what I can eat each day, it works better for me and I dont pick. During this time I met my fiance, and got pregnant with my son. On week one, I was seeing a daily loss result on the scales but annoyingly it seems to have stalled for the last five days. But I knew sticking to not eating at all, for several days was not my cup of tea. Last week, I ate between 6 and 7pm, but this week, I eat between 6 and 9pm. Drinking water seems to cause hunger pangs, whilst not drinking anything, including water, I can go the whole day without feeling hunger. Hiya, I agree completely with all that you say. Gary, overthinking is also an affliction of mine. I failed a lot to begin with, and I fail less often now. Being able to eat the things the family eats makes it all so much easier. On Monday I feel bloated because I eat more on the weekend. Your advice for maintaining the weight makes perfect sense and is much appreciated. With force reductions and the government looking for ways to cut back, Sailors are being let go for not being within body composition standards. Mostly meals based around meat, chicken or fish, with either potatoes or rice, and vegetables. I may do that at some point, but for now, I find that my priority is to lose the weight first, however I can do that, and this kind of diet has allowed me to finally stick to weight loss plan. I am doing 1 meal a day and fruit but recently the last week ive not had any fruit. I do need to work on being more physically active though. Well, that depends on whether you can handle it. AND it will take me at least a week of starving to shed them. So, your body uses the energy that it gets from the food that you eat. At 28 weeks, more than 90% of babies can survive outside of the uterus if provided high-quality medical care. You can adjust as you go along. I think you will eventually see the difference in the mirror but if not maybe taking photos will help you. This is pretty much how I feel about the whole deal. I think half the battle is believing you can do it, seeing your success has motivated and inspired me so much. Sandwiches, chicken burritos, fish tacos, soup, fish and rice, lean hamburgers, etc. Maybe I need to shock my body into letting go of fat as it seems to be holding on for dear life. The last place we tend to lose it is where we most want to see it gone. I was also drinking almost every night back then too. Last time I weighed (a week ago) I was down 16lbs. I too have heard that the older we get the fewer calories we need. Breaking down 1600 between 2 meals though is definitely easier, and I like that I am letting my stomach have a rest. Fantastic read and just want I was looking for. Eating one main meal at dinner time of what you actually WANT to eat rather than what your told is healthy makes this way of eating easier to sustain for life. Its so empowering creating meaning and purpose in my life because i feel in control. I think that is likely something promulgated by people who freak out when they feel one bit of hunger and cannot deal with it. Or perhaps it does work to keep your metabolism going, but the fact is that severe deficits also work, and the one meal a day (without a drastic deficit, works great too. I do excercise 2-3 times a week, 2 hour session, but not Saturday-Sunday. I began eating a small sandwich at a lunch time and a fruit and snack etc. I found your site because I just started this diet and went looking for others trying it. This was not due to a conscious efford, basically I was studying, working and then did my degree etc and I only had time for the evening meal, or my body seemed to be happy, perfectly tuned, I did not put on weight and I did not lose weight, I was in perfect weight. I never felt craving just a healthy hunger before dinner times. Besides, starting early stretches your stomach out so you eat more to feel full. I think the best way to make the one meal a day diet to work is not to go too low on calorie intake, and to keep the diet as close to balanced as you can. Maybe you feel the same way, but for me it was more important to do something about my weight, see some results and feel good about what I was achieving. My biggest achievements were the result of negative motivations I felt. I have argued to exhaustion with people about this ridiculous concept of eating small meals a day every few hours. All they see is me sitting at the dinner table in the evening eating what they eat, enjoying my food and feeling full and happy afterwards. Unless you want to exercise A LOT, you have to decrease the amount of food you eat. I also found that putting in two good days at the start of the week where I ate a small meal in the evening, would allow me to be less stringent for the rest of the week. I need to catch up on a few things around here, including replying to those of you kind enough to leave comments. I strongly love this one meal a day plan just need to find the best way to make it sustainable for me looooong term. For me I wanted something close enough to my normal diet. I would break down 1600 calories into little chunks thru the day — 250 calories here, 100 there, and then I would be so hungry at dinner I overate every time. I have always found that eating that many times a day to stay full just seemed too tedious. Beyond that, I let experience be my guide. My youngest is now 5, so the baby days are long gone. On this diet can i eat the foods i normally eat. Today was the first full day I tried this approach. That internal clock has now been reset and its great being in control. How can it be natural for people to eat every 3 hours. I pretty much ate anything I wanted, but to be fair I already had a reasonably balanced diet with fruit and vegetables featuring strongly in many of my meals. Its great not to have to think about food all the time, which is what I always did, I was always hungry. Then, I hardly eat any thing after that until dinner as I never enjoy eatting alone during the day, unless I have a lunch appointment with my girl friends. I will explain what Stavia is at the end of this post but now let me go back to the morning. The thing that keeps discouraging me is my weight on the scale which is still the same at 93kg. I chose a 14 oz steak with french fries and salad and alittle alcohol. The Gall Bladder is a one way organ that stores concentrated bile to add to digestion when fats arrive in the gut. To be honest, it was tough for me to handle food and NOT indulge. She keeps munching or eating every hour and keep offering me. Sometimes, I just go out with Protein-Shake with low fat milk or coffee or simply drink water. I tell myself that the hunger is a good signal and that if my body really needs energy it can get it from my fat stores. I must admit that I too am surprised at the number of people trying this diet. I was 150 in high school, and after starting a desk job ballooned up to 226, when I decided it was time for a change. Caused by compression of the inferior vena cava (IVC) and pelvic veins by the uterus leads to increased hydrostatic pressure in lower extremities. Because, naturally when one cannot afford food, there will be a tendency to choose the cheapest food items on offer. And over time, for those who feel inclined to do so, we can make changes to the types of food we eat. I would feel terrible if you tried this and it made you poorly. I want to lose another 58lb by Christmas and I figure I can if I lose around 2. While on this diet i wanted to go jogging or walking everyday to speed up the weight loss process. Instead tap into areas of your mentality where you have a track record of success and power. My weight can fluctuate up to FIVE POUNDS in a given day. I am not necessarily on a strict one meal diet but it is very close, I have two Biscuit and tea(whole milk and sugar) first thing in morning followed by a smoke. Fortunately, because the early stages of my diet were largely trial and error I got a chance to experience the quick way and the slow way. I also have progressed in my exercise and now walk for a bit over an hour, 3 days a week. After some careful shopping and studying, I discovered that for the same amount of money or less than what I was spending on junk food, there were some much more nutritious foods I could eat. You are right about others saying that I look slimmer. And, like you I would prefer people I know, not to know I am on another weight loss kick. GOOD news was that I never gained either. I would love to hear how you get on, so please do come back and let us know. When I tell people what I weigh, no one can believe its that high. I eat an Atkins bar for lunch and drink tons of water through the day. There are some pictures here from my 10,000 push up challenge. Eating one (roughly) balanced meal at the same time every day is about as simple as it can get. Just one thing, what does it mean when you wake up still really full from the night before. Give it another little while and you may discover that your scale weight drops by a pound or two overnight. Its funny that eating less gives you more energy. I plan to weight myself tomorrow and will use that and the benchmark to start. Daily walks with my dog of 3-4 miles have done nothing to help me lose, lifting weights at the gym did zero. Tracking is a good idea because it shows you the trend. Recently, I did gain a few kgs. But these foods are generally very HIGH carbs foods such as breads, sugary cakes, pastas with added preservatives and treatment agents which are all very bad for the digestive system. I knew I was in it for the long haul so it was motivation for me to be strict throughout the week. I have to say Thank you for your honesty and sharing your experience. Anyway, when I started reading about OMAD I thought I would try it. I find that business with the weight happens to me too. When I started out on this I had some very powerful reasons to want to achieve my goal. Please see my disclaimer at the foot of this post. What is the best way of shifting the final bit of belly flat around my stomach. My plan is to get a forum or message board going for those who want to write about their own progress or simply get some encouragement when times get testing. My only guess as to why my weight loss has been so rapid is that I was simply eating far too much food, and had a large surplus of calories. Tell yourself you have what it takes to get the job done. However, I have found a few techniques that seem to help. Obviously, I had to watch the plate size, because I wanted to lose those saddlebags, but now while maintaining, I have my huge dinner, my dessert on weekdays,and indulge profusely on weekends. I am no nutrition expert nor am I a doctor, but in my own personal experience of 4 years of eating 1 meal per day it does more harm than good in the long run. But I sure as heck would like to have it. But now, I really need to lose at least another 15 pounds. On a day to day basis tracking weight can be tough but you just have to have faith that as long as you stick to your eating plan the weight will come off. I can just order normal meals and eat them without drawing attention to myself. Actually, I think the spam is limited to the General Discussion board. Within 3 or 4 days, i lost about 3 pounds. Hence why so many studies contradict each other in dietary research. not very fat but I do have this gut that ive been trying to get rid of since I was About 14 years old. I started this about few days ago — to be on 1-meal a day strictly. I am excited because most of what everyone has said on here, comments about not liking to eat breakfast because you tend to eat more, is simply my experience, so I relate to what everyone has said. When my health started to suffer, I realized it was going to cost me a lot more in the long run to continue my poor eating choices than to find a way to eat healthier. If you get to the end of your meal without really tasting and savoring it, you might not feel inclined to go through it all again tomorrow. If I feel I need a burst of energy then I drink a 5 Hour Energy drink. One thing I had to remember to do was to recalculate my maintenance calories for my new weight. The small intake of food for breakfast and then the small snack later in the day if you feel you need it works really well. I have honestly never been successful with losing weight, never been able to lose more than a few kilos and thanks to you I know I have finally found what works. The most important thing for me is that I eat fewer calories than my body needs each day. One meal a day, plus quality food, organic, farm raised etc. I was all the way back up to 176 when a weight loss contest began at work. I was just surfing the web and found your blog. Then I found a 10 lb. Extended periods of fasting can lead to feeling faint or dizzy. This book gave me the insight I needed to see this thing through and re-train myself. How long did it take you to lose that much weight. The first trimester is from week one through 12 and includes conception. Where I am not successful is keeping it off. The scales showed a difference of 3 lbs in two weigh-ins within 10 seconds of each other today. Sticking to any diet for a long period of time is going to be challenging, so you have to do it in a way that feels least like a diet. I am happy to have lost weight, but I am uneasy about not drinking water because I know I should. I would have many lunch appointment with many new moms around here. i am aware not to be too obsessive so am prepared to have some neutral days. I know it works for me because I did this ten years ago and lost 20 kg in 4 months, from 105 to 85. I posted a few comments on here, last year and started the one meal a day lifestyle with your advice and support and the support of many on here. The last thing you want having waited all day to eat, is to sit at a table with your family and referee fights and arguments between the kids. For example,last night I had salad, oven cooked fresh salmon with soy and ginger, brown rice (a lot) and broccoli and 3 glasses of red wine. Be advised: The effectiveness of diets vary from person to person and I cannot guarantee that taking this approach will work for you. I plan to wean myself off the morning smoothie (perhaps save it for dinner, since I love it so) and replace it with an apple. David, I am excited about doing this, but I have type 2diabetes,can I still do this one meal a day. I then continued drinking tea, but the cravings began hitting me again and again, every damn hour: 1:30pm, then 3:30pm, then 4:30pm. Let me share with you all, my first experience with this diet. I pretty much went into a state of depression. I felt good about myself and had so much energy. Like you say, the type of diet working for every individual probably varies. The food I was eating was homely, traditional, stews with vegetables, a bit of meat and carb and fat. It may be critical for people with diabetes or hypoglycemia and other conditions to eat regularly throughout the day, but for a plain old food addict like myself it just perpetuates the obsession and preoccupation with food by all the shopping, planning and preparing of meals and snacks for each feeding. Thanks so much for all your advice, great post. Does anyone of you have the one meal at lunch. I was so struggled and never lost any grams. You sound very motivated and disciplined which is a great inspiration to us all. If I go out and work on my farm weeding crops, building, moving dirt, etc then I could easily weight 236 by 2:00 pm. Thanks for sharing the important point of being too strict and highlighting that there can be medical implications and complications. And as you doubtless know, comfort eating often seems like a way to relieve the stress. The symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy are those presentations and conditions that result from pregnancy but do not significantly interfere with activities of daily living or pose a threat to the health of the mother or baby. On the other hand, i hate sleeping hungry. Losing 8lbs in 5 weeks is a great result. This allows me more freedom to eat the foods I really enjoy in moderation at the one larger evening meal. If I got it 80% right on a daily or weekly basis I could end the day or the week feeling good about my achievement. You then try to have a piece of fruit as desert. My weigh in days are saturdays so if i want to have a relaxed day and eat a little more when i go out with friends then i can. I drink herbal tea all day with a small amount of maple syrup and lemon throughout the day. So on days where I am REALLY hungry, and decide to make an early big meal, then at night right before bed, I will have a small bowl of fiber cereal (with a little milk) and an apple- so that I go to bed with food in my stomach and can sleep. All that matters is that you get back on and keep trying. It makes sense that I need fewer calories to maintain 175 lbs than 205 lbs. I am 35kg overweight. I think you have the balance exactly right. So instead of just eating from 6-7pm, I eat from 6-9pm. My honest suggestion to you is that you learn to cook healthily. I started doing this out of a huff with myself because no diets were working and I feel wonderful. I know it was only because I stopped caring about taking care of myself during the last six months tho. Today is Sunday and i am down to 14 stone. This was my high estimate of weight loss. Throughout this process I set numbers that would trigger me to do something about my weight if I hit them. What I wanted to say was congratulations on the successful weight loss. For a long time I suspected that it was possible to lose weight eating a normal balanced(ish) diet. Still going strong eating once a day, but having some difficulty establishing a cut off time for not eating. Hey David im 17 years old and i wanted to start this diet. Even eating one good meal per day is not as easy a diet as I thought it would be. We now know today that nothing on the face of the earth gets more complex with time (ie evolution), but rather all things after being Made tend towards the simple or breakdown in complexity. Twins and other multiple births are counted as one pregnancy and birth. Needless to say my clothes have gotten tighter. I particularly like the way you no longer feel like a victim of circumstance. Let me know David how you are getting on with your diet i am very interested in the concept of fasting and mood so would be interested on other folks experiences. I hardly drink and I do not smoke, but still, I am not surprised when I ended up having gastritis and ulcer. I did this before i ever read this and i lost 5lbs in one week i wasnt hungry during the days so i would eat 1 time a day closerto the evening but would eat chips and cakes to snack on and drink water it worked but next week i am going to do this diet really since i realize you did it too and seen your results. I would drink lots of water or coffee with no sugar. Maybe one day you could describe your food to me, I would love to hear about your diet. I eat all the regular foods like pasta, pizza, potatoes, bread, rice, chciken, fish, beef, pork, pies, pastries, cakes, ice cream and lots of fruit and vegetables. I pretty much eat anything and everything that takes my fancy. I also eat a balanced diet so that I get the nutrients I need. The thing is, you have to learn to live with this. I generally do this at least 5 times per week and the weekend 2 meals per day. Last week, I started back on eating one meal a day and I actually lost half a stone ( 7lbs). I am 43 years old. I ended up getting all the way down to 157 before stopping. I had some very specific reasons for choosing this approach and I had tried other methods first. I live in Bavaria, maybe we could share more of our experince about the One meal a day:-). I have been dieting now for a year off and on. My failure to lose weight has bothered me for years and eventually I came to associate it with failures in other areas of my life. Same thing because of work etc no one knew I was on a one meal a day plan. I have fallen off the wagon for a couple of days, but back on today. I feel fuller doing this vs eating six times a day. I think in summary, the trick is to have a new eating plan to take over from the one meal diet and then to monitor your weight periodically. Even if you can afford once a day, you really try hard to have that single meal as nutritious and healthier as possible for your body. Update day 15 and weight down to 13 stone 12 target is 12 stone 10. , gravida number and parity value are increased by one only. After thinking about your reply especially the comments that im in the early stages of my weight loss plan im taking your advice on fine tuning what can work best for me. While I hardly ate chocolate or cream cakes in the past I began eating the food items that I did not used to eat. It would be the worst thing in the world to faint while at the wheel of a car or operating machinery. So I am back to say I have started the diet once again, about 3 weeks ago, and have stuck to it to a tee this time with no issues and thus far have lost 11 pounds. I enjoyed reading the posts here and have just embarked myself on a similar quest. I have been toying with the IF lifestyle and doing loads of research for a while now. I have planned to change this and decided that today would be the day id finally post on here as i think we could all deffinitely spur eachother on to lose weight. I plan on Jogging 7km for two days and Then One day rest. People in the old days used to eat twice a day. Limit your salt intake, because you will retain water on a high salt diet. I lost about two stone over the course of a couple of months doing a low carb diet but have since put it all back on. Hi David, thanks for taking the time to make a comment. At the moment it suits me to have one main meal (slightly smaller than I would usually eat) and then a good sized snack of something awesomely tasty just before I go to bed. So my main goal is to lose the last bit of fat (15lbs). I immediately lost weight by the second day of doing this. The same motivation also got me back on the diet after I fell off the wagon a couple of times. If I do not lose any more weight by end of January, then I know that this meal plan is not for me. Instead of getting on with doing something positive you end up in a perpetual state of inaction and unable to commit. I think you have a good way of looking at it. Keep in mind that this can be a long process and try to get your feelings of success from sticking to your plan rather than the apparent lack of physical results. One meal a day was a means to an end for me. Oh and i forgot to mention my weight today stands at 12 stone 8 a drop of 30 pounds. Hi Sonam, sorry for the delay in replying to you. The beauty of this diet is that it prevents the one mouthful leading to another effect, which was my downfall and the only reason I ever got fat in the first place. I did notice yesterday when I weighed myself in the middle of the day I weighed 235, so I knew it was just a matter of time until I weighed that in the morning. I decided to eat one meal a day with only an apple or piece of fruit during the day. I think its important to realize that not every diet is for everyone. I deal with this by eating only a moderate calorie reduction every day. I came across this site whilst researching calorie restriction and the effect on mood. Did you find eating two meals on Sunday make eating one meal on Monday more difficult. My question is once I get to my goal weight how do I maintain it. Is it because of the low level of sugar in our blood or what. Since I just started yesterday, I have no results to post yet. A human being is far more flexible with eating adaptability than most nutritionists or health experts are willing to admit. I have long suspected that starvation mode (in the context of dieting) was a myth and I also suspected that the metabolism thing was just rubbish too. If two meals a day is shouting out to you as the way to keep it sustainable, it has to be worth experimenting with for a while. Hi Jake, I aim to eat around 1500 to 1800 calories. I choose to eat aroiund 5 or 6pm because it fits in with family life. I just got done with a three day fast Im now Im starting this diet today. I am over 40, no children and I need to lose 30 pounds. And besides, I find it easy to eat one meal a day without getting hungry. I now feeling hopeful that I will be able to loose more weight. You must do your own research and you should consult a medical professional before embarking on a diet. As you know yesterday was my first day of trying this diet. I did a few months of low carb, and a few months of one meal per day and took lots of time off between diets. I decided to try this, after all, like most other overweight people, I had tried absolutely everything over the last 10 or more years with zero success. In that way the body never goes into starvation mode as it never knows from one day to the next how many calories its going to get. All we seem to do when they come to town is go out to eat, constantly. I think this is an ideal diet for me as there is only one rule. A big part of why this works for me is how I feel about it. But I want you to know that I fell off the wagon A LOT to begin with and had quite a few false starts. Just another question, i cant always have my meal at the same time for some reasons but always between 6-8 pm so can i have my meal for ex: the first day at 6 the second at 8 the third and 6:30. I decided on New Years Eve that I didnt want to be fat anymore and if I didnt start the year right I never would. It could be the time of day you weigh yourself. I eat very light breakfast and drink coffee, just to accompany my husband and my kids like most of normal people do. I want to look at this as something I can adapt to for the rest of my life. My big lunch makes me feel satisfied all day. Only working there for 1 month but I gain up to 5 kg. For the past months, after we moved to new neighborhood, I was trying so hard to blend in. In fact, when I eat in the morning, especially heavy breakfast, I get stomach ache. And I guess it depends what you mean by oily food. Of course you can tweak it to suit your needs, but as a general framework, it works quite well. If I like to plan things, then I make detailed plans of what I will eat and when. Mankind was made to eat big meals rather than munch all day like the 6 meals a day has you think. I am done with all that pressure thanks to your website. Not only this i take only home-cooked food and no packet food, no oily food for the last 2 moth. Anyway, your plan to leave it for two weeks feels like a good one. The problem is that even though I am over the moon for losing the weight, i am uneasy with the notion of not drinking water. I started it in January of this year and my progress is a 70 pounds of weight loss. So far i have gone from 11 stone to 10st 4 but i has taken me a couple of months and i dont know whether my metabolism has slowed down or im not drinking enough water but i cant get the rest off. Around the middle of the second trimester, movement of the fetus may be felt. Hi Julie, you sound very upbeat and excited about this. I come back to eat very light during the day. The small snacks are a brilliant idea because they keep you on track. I once did this kind of diet, but unknowingly. Hi Clair, well done on the early progress. You start to make better choices (not always but often enough to make a difference). I am now 38 yrs old and six months ago my sister passed away and a few weeks later my 17 yr old dog passed away too. I could order what I would normally order and get up the next morning and do the same thing. old, 5ft10 220lbs and the goal is 175. It can be hard to fall asleep when hungry, especially in the beginning when I was still adjusting to not grazing from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed. I really really need to lose at a minimum about 60 pounds. Unfortunately, I went through some major tough times and and everything went out the window. So, the scale is always wrong in some way or another. Believe me there is a way of doing this, it will not be costly, you just need to search a bit more. I needed to the time to arrange my return and I wanted to make sure I rememebered my summer for something other than my diet. I caught this on your blog and it made me laugh. So the more I feel it, the more progress I am making. I work out twice a day and eat one substantial meal for lunch. A piece of fruit here and there is a great way to get through the day. Your diet is actually is THE MOST HEALTHY DIET FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME. I was doing this for some time and as you said, it is working good for me. Some of my progress pictures from earlier in the year. Sort of need a bit of encouragement here. Anyways on the one meal a day diet: I used to do that in High School along with running every day and dropped from 203 lbs to about 158 to get in shape for AROTC (although I was really skinny runner type, and after a couple months of PT was up to about 170 from putting on muscle). So this one meal a day diet is the best of both worlds. Eating one meal a day is WAAAYYYYY easier for me than eating many small meals. Sorry Jackson as a nurse I just cannot let that one pass. I started drinking water this week, and things are not going well. I am currently at 116kg and mt goals are small my first being to get to 110kg and so on. About 213 million pregnancies occurred in 2012, of which, 190 million were in the developing world and 23 million were in the developed world. The meal will be big enough to fill my stomach and even make me feel slightly too full. Not particularly scientific, but if nothing else it gives me a nice reward every 7 days. Thank you, I have some similarities with you. I realised i had lost that signal which said Gary your eating far too much. There are a few different mental attitudes that really help. I have lost 9kgs (which is around 20 pounds) in about five months. I think you are nicely placed for anotheer good month (one day at a time, of course). I like doing this diet as i enjoy socialising and i do not want it to affect my life going out for meals with friends etc. As of tomorrow I am going to do it and keep my own little blog. I guess if you could classify it as snacking. I must admit I ate normal hearty meals, the only thing I scrapped was bread. For me, the tea with whole milk and one sugar got me through the day. I started the 1 meal a day a couple weeks ago (with a snack too) and have lost 6 pounds. Things still going well and I am finding it easier to stick to this and the hunger pangs are becoming more easier to manage and ignore. So much of your success on a diet comes from what you tell yourself. For dinner, I take buckets of vitamins as well as my cholesterol medicine, then I feast. Judging by the pictures I saw, the man looks in great shape and clearly manages to find enough energy to go running every day AND command the day to day operations of the military in a war zone. I would say that I need to lose a GoOd 15-20 pounds. Will keep you guys updated with my weekly weigh ins xx. I am a lady aged 32 and I have been having trouble losing weight. I have over 3 stone to lose and normal diets dont work as they all revolve round food too much, so you are constantly handling food throughout the day, fatal. Once you get the hang of skipping breakfast then you have that meal out of the day. It gave me something to look forward to and kept me from raiding the larder. Having said this, I honestly think that your issue is due to WHAT YOU EAT, RATHER THAN HOW SELDOM YOU EAT. I did do one meal a day at the age of 19 and I lost 50 pounds. But I intend to start walking more once I get under 200 lbs. I admire your resolve to stick to the plan 7 days a week. Im also doing 30 minutes on a step machine with free weights every 2 or 3 days just to feel strong in my body but i realise that its not central to my weight loss as you rightly said, its more a bonus or add on. I can imagine you feel very happy, and so you should, because you did all the hard work, you made the sacrifices and you showed the discipline to stick to the plan. The first thing I did was substitute Diet Mountain Dew for my normal Mountain Dew. Eventually, by shopping and planning carefully and taking advantage of coupons, sales, and free items offered with a minimum purchase, I found it was actually costing less than eating out or loading up on junk. I usually give up on traditional diets very quickly but this approach seems very easy to conform to. I have not check my weight but I feel very light. A little will power during the day goes a long way. There are many companies sell Stavia but I prefer this label because it is organic and the others seem to taste bitter. So basically I will be fasting till dinner time, but I will be drinking water through out the day. I work from home while my husband works in the city. No matter how long it takes me I will lose this weight. 5 this was a great weight for me. I looked better but more importantly i felt great at that weight. This suited me at the time as I could eat at a restaurant next to my workplace and as I then lived alone I could have soup in the evening. My very light is to feel a little hungry but not until gassy. Then I met my husband (I know it sounds tragic, we started going out more, one thing lead after another and my diet habits began to change. In a short period of time I went from 140 to 176. During the day I do however drink cups of tea (with two sugars) as I find that helps. I thought it was going to be easy for me to stick to the diet, but I deviated from it when family came to town. Anyway the reason I am posting is this is currently day one of the diet for me. I am way thinner but not food obsessed and actually find organising only one meal a day quite liberating. I have been trying to drink more water to fill up. I wanted to do push ups and sit ups every day. Things are still tough, but I want control of my life again, so I decided to start with my weight. Now in my 40s i dont want to be a 6 or an 8 but i want to be a darn lot smaller then i am, so tomorrow will be my first day trying it out, how much i weigh isnt the issue so i am not going to weigh myself i am going to go off my clothes size. I keep a case of water in a small fridge in my workshop on the farm. Melasma pigment changes to the face due to pregnancy. I definitely liked two meals a day and I did lose some weight doing that. Instead of dividing up my calorie intake between a breakfast that I never really wanted in the first place, and a so-so diet lunch and then making do with the few calories I have left to eat a weird meal different to everyone else in the household or at at the restaurant. Thankyou so much for this amazing insight into your Journey, and a double thankyou for confirming to me and reminding me what I have to do. Right now, I am planning to make sure that my body gets adjusted to this meal plan, I will not worry about weight lost and then, I will worry about losing weight. Also if I get bored I can have an apple as a treat. I eat eggs, rice (1 -2 times a week ) and one meal. A lot of people would think that if you only eat once a day that you would be lethargic, tired or unproductive. I really want to Take Part in the race, and i want to lose weight too. I have been asked most by women how to stay slim while I still eat dinner as most of them skip dinner just to stay in shape. I generally find that I do enjoy eating a small breakfast within an hour of waking after having fasted since 7PM or so the previous evening. Yesterday i went for a run, only about 2 or three miles, no food, and it was a piece of cake. They constipate you so badly that you get stomach pains after eating them for two days. David if you know of any or if you can start one please post it here on your blog ( I check your blog regularly:). I needed it to be simple and inexpensive. This is not about starving myself this is about controlling when I eat so that I can be assured of creating a moderate caloric deficit every day. When I feel hungry it reminds me that there are others much worse off and if they can go without food for days, then I can certainly manage it for a few hours. This is about a 1250 calorie deficit per day. My own experience has taught me to master the mindset of the diet first and then progress to the strenuous. I find a small sugar free Greek yogurt or hard bolied egg with a fresh fruit is fine, then maybe a handful of almonds and another fruit mid afternoon if I need it. Again this weight fluctuates even throughout the day. The simple idea behind one meal a day is that your task is simply to eat fewer calories than your body needs. For me that time is 6pm which gives me an hour to eat and limits my opportunity to damage my diet. The opinions stated here are my own, I am not medically trained nor am I a qualified nutritionist. Here is a quote which i found the other day which i feel is bang on the money. I found the best way for myself by experimenting and I still do experiment. Well done of dropping the 11 pounds and good luck on getting to your 25lb target. You really try to get more vegetables, protein (any meat and eggs) with fat (olive oil) and a little bit of carbs (rice, potatoes, beans, pasta) in to your plate each day. I did only one 24 hour day to challenge myself. This got me down to 172 in less than 5 months. I ended up having a few bites of chicken kebab (a handful) which ended the cravings. The idea of adopting a one meal a day diet first came to me when I read an article about an American General, Stanley McChrystal. I would like to start this as well. There were some days I got greedy and that slowed my progress. Regarding the second issue, I will be the first to admit that I am mentally addicted to the idea of lunch. It needs to be simple because as a work at home parent with full time responsibility for the childcare, my life is already complicated enough. I do need to ask, is it ok to drink 2-3 cups if coffee with sugar, no milk or cream. I do some running although not consistently maybe 4 times a week. Being adaptable is an amazing characteristic to have, it will serve you well. I just reasoned that most of what we see regarding diet and weight loss is either wrong or designed to get us to part with our money. The way I always saw it, one meal a day is more natural from an evolutionary standpoint. Also i was thinking that i am the only guy doing this way, but really got impressed and motivated seeing that there are many people in the world who are thinking in similar lines. For pregnancy in fish, see Pregnancy in fish. I agree with you on trying to make this diet not feel like its a diet,and to m ake it as close to my normal and still giving me results. But instead of stuffing myself with any food that I can put my hands on, this time I decided to stuff myself healthily. When I get it badly wrong, I start over again the next day. Also, what type of snacks were you eating. I hope this is possible with this diet. Snacking at other times in the day is fine, but of course the trick is not to continue eating. What I would like to know is whether you ever drink alcohol and if so beer, wine or spirits. I also enjoy the fact that I feel satisfied during the evening so I get the psychological boost from spending a few hours with food in my belly. Like you im not counting calories and all foods are allowed when having my one meal usually i have it in the evening. I keep seeing stories about people who change what they eat radically in order to lose weight only to go back to their old diet and put the weight back on. Had I done so I think I would have lost the weight a lot quicker. I am a mom of four, age 48, 175 pounds, looking to get to about 125. I lie to eat big meals, my husband is a fantastic cook. This is a routine I follow during the weekday and I have my cheat days on the weekend as well. While I work out now twice a week( intense 2 on 2 basketball for an hour and a half), I am having problems not snacking at work again. During the First Gulf War they apparently had to airlift a couple soldiers to Germany because of critical digestion issues caused by them. I see opportunities every were before there was sadness and despair. Somewhere along the line I think we have to learn to make better choices about our nutrition and this diet has been a great way for me to do that. Hello my name is Gary i am 51 years of age single and have just had the worst 18 months of my life following a loss of job and a relationship beak up. I have a question for you: After you lost the first 20 pounds and waited a while to lose the last 10 pounds, how long did you wait and did you continue with the 1 meal a day. There have been some days when I am really hungry either mid morning or early afternoon. So, I was doing some reseach about age and gain weight. 5 meals a day. I started this diet exactly a month ago now simply bcos I was tried from carrying excess weight around. If I do get hungry, I would pop in a few grapes, or two or three crackers. Soon I realised I was losing weight, and decided to stick with it. The diets sometimes claim that the timing of meals is crucial for optimum fat loss. I eat my one meal around 6:30 and 7:30 everyday. I was happy that I knew enough and was willing to adjust along the way. A woman who has never been pregnant is referred to as a nulligravida. My husband showed me your blog, he started doing this a few days ago and he said he loves it. Perhaps what you need to do is give it some more time. I hope it continues to work well for you, and thanks for taking the time to leave a message. With a wife (who cooks good meals) and a baby and a lack of time to exercise, I gained a LOT of weight. i monitor my mood using a scale of 1 to 10 were 1 is practically suicidal and 10 is elation. I wrote earlier and just thought I would check in. Ive been at the same weight for a while now. Now my mind which previously craved sugars and carbohydrate seems to know what is good and what isnt. I wanted to say thank you for this article I have two children under two and Im a stay at home mom. I read your reply very carefully and i reread your original post on the one meal a day plan that worked for you. I think that the bottom line is that in order to loose weight, you have to eat less calories than you burn. I am at the moment, fantasising being down by 80lbs. bag of chicken quarters at Walmart for about 6 dollars (American), lots of frozen veggies on sale for pennies a serving, and some fresh fruit that comes in large bags much cheaper than buying loose fruits by the pound.


If any readers of your blog also can share tips,ideas or light snack suggestions that get them thru the day that would be appreciated big time on my part. I know this is once a day, but I decided to do breakfast and then dinner. What I do now is drink coffee (with Equal) for breakfast and another for lunch. There are millions of people in the world who survive on a lot less food than I do. Until, I guess, I got used to eatting the real lunch. Hi Gary, I love the honesty in your writing. If things get really tough, there are many local food pantries, churches, and charities that can help. I am back down to 165 within 2 weeks but struggling to keep it going. Add to that the fact that a heavy lunch made me sluggish at work, and then I decided I had to go to extreme measures. A meal is the food I want plus the dessert I want. If I sat down at the table to liver and bacon casserole I would not be a happy bunny. The problem is that physically there is a big difference. My logic was that I could save the calories I was drinking (and not enjoying) from the shakes and add them to my evening meal so I could enjoy a good sized meal with my family. After 41 weeks, it is known as post term. I have been doing this for 2 months with great success (32 lbs lost). Why better than any refined or unrefined sugar. I finally got into it after quite a few false starts and managed to lose 2olbs. Excersing was not for me and eating salads put me into a bad temper. I would described my dinner but am African, our food is different. There are lots of great comments and perspective from others who are trying to make this diet work. I just found this but wanted to share that I followed a similar regimine about 3 years ago and lost 110 lbs. And in Theravada Buddhism, monks may only have one meal a day before noon, and that was considered the middle path (half way between 2 and 0). The vacation may be an interesting challenge for you but you can definitely come out the other side better off. Basically, on the farm I get up at 7:00 am and do all the hot sweaty work like hand harvesting food, hand weeding, moving dirt (with a shovel), construction, etc. Life is already complicated enough, so make it simple. And when I did start back eating I over ate every time so what weight I did lose I gained back and more. I last did this way of eating in my 20s and it worked fabulously for me. The article was about his capability as a leader, not about dieting or weight loss, but as an aside it was mentioned that he ate only one meal a day. I enjoyed eating once because I could have small meals and still have my favourite biscuits or even some chocolate after my meals. At 5 foot 7. I often observe in the fasting participants that by four days of fasting, concentration seems to improve, creative thinking expands, depression lifts, insomnia stops, anxieties fade, the mind becomes more tranquil and a natural joy begins to appear. Its David from May 2012 in the post up above. The great thing about this is I eat what the familiy eats. Adopting this as mid to long term lifestyle change helps. I do drink a cup of coffee and then another one or tea three hours later, with a light snack, maybe a piece of bread or fruit. Which is largely why I stopped weighing myself and trusted the feel of my waistband and the view in the mirror (and later, the tape measure). 5 months now and have gone from 220 pounds to 199. Hello David i have got a question for you and anyone else who is interested. I started eating only meal last week and lost half a stone, but i did it by not eating or drinking anything at all until 6pm. That will fill up my stomach and I can get on with my day and not worry about food until dinnertime. It really helps to pick the positive angle and just get back to it. When I started preparing the bulk of my meals at home, I realized that I could have scrambled eggs and toast or a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast instead of donuts or cold cereals loaded with sugar. All morning until 11:30am I was perfectly fine but around 11:30am (which is my danger zone. I then began going throughout the day without eating, and in the evenings when I got off would actually go through a drive thru such as Taco Bell or whatever I wanted. There are certain things I avoid like sodas, but from time to time I still enjoy a glass of cola. Best of all you feel good about the whole thing. Do it for how it will make you feel to have achieved a small step towards your goal every single day. I did eat some of the things you mentioned but not all the time. I should probably also mention I lost about 100 pounds doing so. Mixing the two approaches helped me (albeit unwittingly) to keep my interest and helped me to accommodate whatever was going on in my life at the time. My initial motivation to get going with the diet came from negative emotions. But if you have any doubts at all you should see a doctor. I made sure my evening meal was small to medium size and as I stopped feeling hungry, my meals got smaller. Im going to check out your new site and see how can I adapt it for me. There have been times when I felt tired too, but they were short lived and as with your own experience I found that over time I became less tired and infact I had more energy throughout the day. HI evryone today i intend to share this good news to those who have been discouraged in anyway. Bile is not returned to the gallbladder if unused in digestion. No need to get the supposed optimal balance between protein, carbohydrate and fat. When I had a similar problem I started measuring myself with a tape measure and it showed that I was losing fat whilst not losing weight. I can have a normal dinner at tea time, healthy eating, meat,fish with veg. I do love coffee, and I can buy a whole pound of coffee and make it myself at home for less money than a single cup of one of those fancy coffee shop concoctions i use to buy several times a day. Gone were my days as a single guy who ate a light lunch, ran 4-5 miles at night, and then gorged on a pound of beef (with no carbs) at around 11 pm with a beer, resulting in a reasonably fit physique for me. Thank you for the affirmation I needed to stick to what my instincts have told me for many years is best for me. I appreciate your sharing your experience on this blog. I have been eating one meal a day for years like my father has done his whole life. Thanks for leaving a comment (and a compliment). Also is it OK to exercise to speed up the weight loss. Snacking is dangerous for me, I have to be so careful or the flood gates open. I have not weighed under 200 for many years so its very encouraging. Over the years I have associated my failure in dieting with failure in other areas of my life. The idea to treat lunch as a small snack instead of a meal is a good one. I had to force myself to eat and felt even worse. I do plan to drink at least 2-3 lts of water. Throughout the day I drink water and tea. Very yummy indeed and when having hunger pangs during the day from not eating knowing what my evening meal would be sustained me. Down from 177 several weeks ago to 171 as of today. So wait ten or fifteen minutes and then eat your dinner in peace. I am going to now track weight loss and see if I cant get a little slimmer with one meal a day and some excersize. I go to the gym and workout but i dont do enough weights to bulk up. Sorry for the delay in approving some of the comments, and apologies for appearing to ignore you. I have to thank you and everyone who has kept me motivated. The most important thing is to do something. Eating one meal a day got me from 205lbs to 175lbs over a reasonable time. All the while I am also tending to chickens, goats, dogs, meat rabbits, and my daughter. I wish you all the best in reaching your goal. Want to have my dinner between 6pm and 8pm and never let anything pass my lips after that. I was 18, and had gone from being a skinny child to weighing 180lbs by the time I finished college. This worked so well because I promised myself I could have three courses everyday if I wanted: Soup, main course and dessert. Because I know that this is the only way I can maintain a healthy weight. My problem is that I suffer from acid n reflux syndrome, so when my stomach is empty I get these awful burps. I wish I had thought of doing this sooner. If anyone has some snack ideas, I too would love to hear them. This caused my weight to go up to 148 after the birth. Being at home with the little ones is tough. I needed it to be something I could sustain over a long period of time and something I could adapt to a permanent lifestyle when I lost the weight. I do not mind keeping this lifestyle at all. Ive been reading this website for quite a few days as i googled One Meal a Day diet as this is the only type of diet that has ever worked. Today I weight 61kg (I m very short) and I will let you guys know how much I loose next weekend. Actually I have been losing weight with the 6meal plan but all of a suden I just stoped losing for the past 2 months. It took me a while before I was able to where you are. Just wanted to share that i slipped off plan by eating leftovers and snacking over the last few days. Yes i can have a tendency to overthink so good advice. Recent medical literature prefers the terminology preterm and postterm to premature and postmature. However, as I decide to follow this life style, I believe I will stick it it. I know I do have a lot of body fat around my middle, but I thought with eating once a day, cutting down on carbs and killing myself at the gym would show good results. What I love the most about this, though, is that I sleep so well when I go to bed with an empty stomach. Understand that the real result is not what the scale says but whether you stuck to your eating plan. The thought of doing that keeps me going all day, and means that I can put up with small bland snacks for the rest of the day. Its mental torture to watch this and a diet killer. I gave the wretched thing to my wife and she ate it. I plan on taking a Cup of tea with milk and sugar, If i feel weak. From listening to David, losing slowly is definitely the best option. I hear lectures all the time how bad it is for me. Project your eating plan through that powerful part of your psyche. I thought this would be a place where I can post my results along the way. I also have lots of meat and little carb. Any how i lost another one pound today so weight is now 13 stone 13. Eat two meals a day and gradually work back to having one when you feel like it. 5 lbs. The results can be seen pretty quickly certainly within a week. Dave,thanks for the encouraging words that I truly need right now. only difference is that i was drinking milk all over the day and full meal in the evening. Working through lunch and into the early afternoon is a bonus. The tape measure is a great way to monitor your progress and an inch is a fantastic achievement. I would have done some exercise last week but I got a wicked sunburn on my lower back and then I got sick. By the way, I once lived on nothing but MREs for 2 months and lost 20 pounds as a result. I made a conscious decison not to take on any additional exercise other than walking once or twice a day with the dogs. This is my diet, no breakfast, lunch 12. It pays to have a rough idea of how many calories your food has but if you start to micro manage your food intake it starts to get tedious and adds an extra pressure. I took part in the fasting period of Lent earlier this year and gave up eating two meals, so just had the one in the evening. After alot of false starts, I managed to stick to it and lost 20lbs. Today, I tried drinking a liter of water an hour before noon. But I feel so much better already, not to mention how much better I look. I love your attitude to falling off the wagon. Being able to eat a full meal in the evening without counting calories feels amazing. This resulted in me making a slight gain in weight. No counting, remembering when to eat next etc. When it is the only one of the day i wanted to take my time tasting the textures were normally i would just gulp without hardly chewing. , as much as I want. Conception is when the sperm fertilizes the egg. Instead I take my reward from having stuck to the eating plan. I have not been exercising but have promised myself that once I got under 200 I would start. If two meals works best for you, you should definitely stick with that. I keep on sipping iced tea through out the afternoon. My expectation was to lose 1. However. In fact for me that has been the toughest part but ultimately very rewarding. Hey, i wanted to start this diet and i had a question. I typically will go to sleep at about 11:00 pm after I have put all the dogs to bed. 5 kg. It looks like we do have some similarities. I started work and found that as I was so busy, I was only eating dinner with my family (I lived at home with my parents at the time). I found I was able to make up for it by making slight alterations to the quantities of food I ate. I seriously hope to remain on it for many more months, and may then ease up on it only slightly and maybe have two meals a day. One problem with the weight loss industry is that there seems to be a counter argument for almost everything. Jennifer, it was good to see an update from you. Your story really spoke to me, especially since I am a stay-at-home mom with a preschooler. I am so tired of counting calories and points and watching what I eat. Midmorning(around 11:00) I eat fruit with low fat plain yogurt. Feeling lethargic mid afternoon is a productivity killer for me. If you get to within 80% of sticking to your eating plan then you will do just fine over time. I am constantly hungry and I have increased my window of eating from one hour to three hours. The key to mental strength is to tap into areas of your life where you are ALREADY STRONG. You need to apply common sense to this diet. When i first got depression i scored myself a one. If i am eating one meal a day which i am will that do it on its own or do i need to refine my strategy. I had more energy, slept better and felt good in myself. Thank you David your comments are very kind and positive. Just a quick update my 1st weeks weightloss is 2 lbs but hey im still pleased because if i lose 2 lbs a week for 10 weeks thats a 20lbs loss. Two years ago I was 226 pounds and I have this diet to thank for that. I do go to bed early, as suggested, though. When you start eating like this, you will see that there is hardly any difference in terms of cost but it will be better for you even if you can eat only once a day. For one week I did not eat or drink anything, even water, until 6pm. I used to go to class at 8am, with back to back classes, I did not any time for lunch. So far i have had some improvement but until monday this week was still struggling. I have tried so many things and I had honestly forgotten the one meal a day diet. The Dude, thanks for dropping by and sharing your success. I love to exercise, first thing in the morning, for about 1 hour a day 6 days a week in addition to eating only one meal a day. David, just like you, I do not have breakfast. I hate every kind of apple, but they are very nutritious and have lots of fiber. This diet is making me feel wonderful, walked into work today with a spring in my step. I wanted to do push-ups and sit-ups every day. I had a cup of tea when I got to the office, and I was fine until mid morning when I started to get hungry. I run because I like to run a couple of times a week, but I go for higher intensity over shorter distances which also seems to help. There were times when the reasons and the feelings associated with them faded, but I always found I was able to tap back into them. Good stuff Renier I downloaded and read last night. I should tell you how am following this diet, I drink a cup of coffee in the morning before going to work and another cup around midday with lot of water throughout the day. I find that I often learn more from my failures than my successes. This really seems do able for me and I want to be sure to give it a decent try. (I was 165cm, 57 kgs. I am confident i will hit my target as i am at least half way there. After I have my mind set to loose some weight. I can really relate to you wanting to keep it to yourself. I am now on a journey which i hope will be a positive and life encompassing one. I am so pleased for you and delighted that you shared your success with us. I think that if the beer is ice cold it has fewer calories. I turn 40 in September and I want to be on my way to my ideal weight then. I am actually at DAY 1 of this diet since having stumbled upon your blog yesterday. Hi Shannon, it sounds like this might suit you quite well. You are rewarded by eating your favorite meals every single evening, and because of that, unlike other diets, this diet is sustainable. By the way: STAVIA is a natural plant that looks a bit like sage or mint. First weigh in is this friday so its exciting the fact that every friday im going to post my weight loss for the week. My blood sugar, cholesterol level etc were all optimum. Thanks again for all the encouraging and enthusiastic remarks. From time to time I have no doubt I will run 2-3 miles, again without eating before doing it. My beverage of choice is plain old tap water. ) They suggested to skip dinner. I generally get hungry around 11. The diet has improved my sense of mastery so that i feel that i can shape my life rather than be a victim of circumstances. Which I almost never did but I could if I wanted to. I am sleeping much better with my empty stomach than with full one. And exercise seems to make me hungry, I am going to start this one whole meal a day, mashed potatoes, pasta salad and yes something sweet but small. I think you added a great point to the discussion in that you touched upon the impact of budgetary restraints on your eating habits. The law of diminishing returns certainly seems to kick in. So glad to read your story and know there are others o