Meal replacement bar diet - meal replacement room fare

Meal replacement bar diet
The scales showed a difference of 3 lbs in two weigh-ins within 10 seconds of each other today. This is my diet, no breakfast, lunch 12. Keep at it and please let us know about your porgress. It looks like a promising forum with some nice people. Hoping to have some summer support for one meal a day. Not particularly scientific, but if nothing else it gives me a nice reward every 7 days. Just wanted to say thank you for writing a very informative and relevant article. I actually enjoy food more and look forward to dinner with my family more as well. Like you say, the type of diet working for every individual probably varies. 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. Two years ago I was 226 pounds and I have this diet to thank for that. So, I was doing some reseach about age and gain weight. They constipate you so badly that you get stomach pains after eating them for two days. Fantastic read and just want I was looking for. Hi guys, I really am struggling for over 10 yrs now. And as you doubtless know, comfort eating often seems like a way to relieve the stress. Unfortunately, I went through some major tough times and and everything went out the window. Snacking at other times in the day is fine, but of course the trick is not to continue eating. 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. 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. Down from 177 several weeks ago to 171 as of today. Do it for how it will make you feel to have achieved a small step towards your goal every single day. Even eating one good meal per day is not as easy a diet as I thought it would be. Anyway, your plan to leave it for two weeks feels like a good one. To be honest, it was tough for me to handle food and NOT indulge. 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. Also, and more telling, I had to buy new jeans this week. 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. Those of us who continue to get up after we fall will surely reach our goals. I started doing this out of a huff with myself because no diets were working and I feel wonderful. It will be interesting to see how this works out now. What is the best way of shifting the final bit of belly flat around my stomach. So this one meal a day diet is the best of both worlds. I was limping badly and hiking was completely out of the question. I once did this kind of diet, but unknowingly. I had to force myself to eat and felt even worse. I wanted to limit the times between which I could eat a meal because it took away any other choice. My husband showed me your blog, he started doing this a few days ago and he said he loves it. What I love the most about this, though, is that I sleep so well when I go to bed with an empty stomach. The one meal a day diet, has been working great for me. I did eat some of the things you mentioned but not all the time. For me, this has been the most successful diet ever. Most of dieting is mindset, breaking old habits and forming new ones. If I work all day and am focused then food becomes secondary. 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. One thing I had to remember to do was to recalculate my maintenance calories for my new weight. My target weight is stone 12 stone 10 and i continue to feel amazing. I am back down to 165 within 2 weeks but struggling to keep it going. But I also found it way too hard to eat rabbit food multiple times a day for six days a week with only one or two cheat meals on the weekend. This type of diet suits my lifestyle perfectly and I wish I had found out a long time ago. I find that business with the weight happens to me too. I choose to eat aroiund 5 or 6pm because it fits in with family life. I like your blog David so thank you for sharing. I do need to ask, is it ok to drink 2-3 cups if coffee with sugar, no milk or cream. EAch time I tried to lose weight I was successful. But if you have any doubts at all you should see a doctor. I do some running although not consistently maybe 4 times a week. I will put on 3 pounds overnight if I had full meal. So, I decided to have my dinner early(despite I generally eat my dinner around 6:30pm-7:00pm). But I want you to know that I fell off the wagon A LOT to begin with and had quite a few false starts. Sometimes, I just go out with Protein-Shake with low fat milk or coffee or simply drink water. Here is a quote which i found the other day which i feel is bang on the money. 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. 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. You are right about others saying that I look slimmer. If I do get hungry, I would pop in a few grapes, or two or three crackers. If I get hungry during the day, I eat some natural almonds or a spoon full of yoghurt or have some coffee and that seems to work. Oh and i forgot to mention my weight today stands at 12 stone 8 a drop of 30 pounds. 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. The thing that keeps discouraging me is my weight on the scale which is still the same at 93kg. That internal clock has now been reset and its great being in control. 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. I drink tea or coffee (both decaf) and fresh juice and 1 smoothie, again anytime during the day. If things get really tough, there are many local food pantries, churches, and charities that can help. 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. I just started doing this about 15 days ago, and came across your site while checking to see how it works for other people. 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. Eating one meal a day got me from 205lbs to 175lbs over a reasonable time. The most important thing is to do something. After I lost the first 20lbs I was pretty much straight into the next 10lbs. I hope this is possible with this diet. And when I did start back eating I over ate every time so what weight I did lose I gained back and more. Unless you want to exercise A LOT, you have to decrease the amount of food you eat. I found the best way for myself by experimenting and I still do experiment. 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. I think that the bottom line is that in order to loose weight, you have to eat less calories than you burn. Today is my first day and I am so ready to do this. 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 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. No matter how long it takes me I will lose this weight. 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. It looks like we do have some similarities. I made sure my evening meal was small to medium size and as I stopped feeling hungry, my meals got smaller. I have not check my weight but I feel very light. Thank you for the affirmation I needed to stick to what my instincts have told me for many years is best for me. I generally get hungry around 11. I started the 1 meal a day a couple weeks ago (with a snack too) and have lost 6 pounds. 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 thought this would be a place where I can post my results along the way. I want to stress that I am not paying attention to WHAT I eat or HOW MUCH I eat. I wrote earlier and just thought I would check in. From time to time I have no doubt I will run 2-3 miles, again without eating before doing it. In about 8 months I lost 55 pounds, bringing me down to 125. For me I wanted something close enough to my normal diet. I would love to hear how you get on, so please do come back and let us know. Over the following months, I lost about 20 pounds and am now happily in the maintenance phase. If it takes you a little longer than most, so what. I saw this site last year and started for a while. During the day I do however drink cups of tea (with two sugars) as I find that helps. Cheating is creeping into my day and the small cheats are really starting to add up. I was happy that I knew enough and was willing to adjust along the way. I do have a mid morning snack (boiled egg or celery or apple) and mid afternoon snack (like the mid morning one) then eat my meal after 5 sometime. 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. The one meal a day thing is a bit of a mad idea, but it can be adapted to suit your own needs and modified as you go along. Just know that what you want to do is possible and that you can do it. I think that having the main meal at lunch time is better in several ways. 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. Without a doubt my own progress was slowed down because I refused to count calories. I am over 40, no children and I need to lose 30 pounds. Sorry Jackson as a nurse I just cannot let that one pass. 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. Ordinary, regular food served up in decent portions that fills your belly and keeps you feeling satisfied for hours afterwards. Do you cut out carbs or just eat a regular meat and 2 veg. 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. Taking on exercise as part of your diet may seem like a good idea, but my own experience is that exercise hampers my efforts. 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. Its David from May 2012 in the post up above. I will try to get him to check in with you. and 65 pounds overweight. My initial motivation to get going with the diet came from negative emotions. 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 realised that I was eating more and during the school year, I only had time for 1 or 1. Today I weight 61kg (I m very short) and I will let you guys know how much I loose next weekend. The Gall Bladder is a one way organ that stores concentrated bile to add to digestion when fats arrive in the gut. Hi Jake, I aim to eat around 1500 to 1800 calories. I have argued to exhaustion with people about this ridiculous concept of eating small meals a day every few hours. As my new years resolution i decided to do the one meal a day diet as it worked so well for me before (previously i lost 3 stone doing this a few years back). I will explain what Stavia is at the end of this post but now let me go back to the morning. Hey David im 17 years old and i wanted to start this diet. 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. This is especially true of sugar and carbs. I have lost 9kgs (which is around 20 pounds) in about five months. I go for about 1000 calories on my dinner plate and the other 800 comes from the dessert and any snacks I eat during the day. Well done of dropping the 11 pounds and good luck on getting to your 25lb target. All morning until 11:30am I was perfectly fine but around 11:30am (which is my danger zone. Thanks for sharing the important point of being too strict and highlighting that there can be medical implications and complications. Throughout the day I drink water and tea. 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. It includes three meals and four snacks, providing 3,500 calories from 2 lbs of food per day. Once you get the hang of skipping breakfast then you have that meal out of the day. I am about to start, I only have 4 kilos to lose, nonetheless, i have a couple of questions that maybe you could help me answer. There are a few different mental attitudes that really help. I needed it to be simple and inexpensive. 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. Perhaps what you need to do is give it some more time. 54 pounds in 5 months was an amazing feeling. Its more of a mental challenge to stick with this in my opinion, but the further you go, the more encouraged you are. You mix it with water (you have to, all you will burn your throat), and slug it. 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. 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. It tastes like pond water which I guess it is actually. Seriously though, you should be very proud of yourself. Still no sign of depression coming back and i love being on this journey of self discovery. I am also doing such thing by taking a meal in morning every other day. 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. I can just order normal meals and eat them without drawing attention to myself. Thanks again for all the encouraging and enthusiastic remarks. Being In control of your destiny is a great feeling. I am very glad to come across your article. To me, a calorie is a calorie, and so long as you have a deficit, you will lose. How long did it take you to lose that much weight. On this diet can i eat the foods i normally eat. My biggest achievements were the result of negative motivations I felt. I ate all the time, any kind of food I wanted. I managed to sneak in a bag of chocolate popcorn yesterday and justified it. Of course you can tweak it to suit your needs, but as a general framework, it works quite well. There have been some days when I am really hungry either mid morning or early afternoon. Still going strong eating once a day, but having some difficulty establishing a cut off time for not eating. Until last month, holidays started and I started putting on more. 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. It really helps to pick the positive angle and just get back to it. 5 kg. The problem is that physically there is a big difference. Your story really spoke to me, especially since I am a stay-at-home mom with a preschooler. Besides who says that eating once a day is less healthier than eating 6 times a day. I started this about few days ago — to be on 1-meal a day strictly. ALL the best to you too and all on this thread. 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. Maybe one day you could describe your food to me, I would love to hear about your diet. Why better than any refined or unrefined sugar. I did not weigh myself, but I knew I was losing weight because my clothes were getting much looser. 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 am sleeping much better with my empty stomach than with full one. How I Lost Weight Eating One Meal A Day: I lost 30lbs over 5 months eating 1 meal in the evening. There are certain things I avoid like sodas, but from time to time I still enjoy a glass of cola. , as much as I want. Since I just started yesterday, I have no results to post yet. I finally got into it after quite a few false starts and managed to lose 2olbs. Actually, I started out first with intermittent fasting to gain the control of when to eat. I turn 40 in September and I want to be on my way to my ideal weight then. Tell yourself you have what it takes to get the job done. I think you have the balance exactly right. It sounds like you have a good thing going on there. AND it will take me at least a week of starving to shed them. You then try to have a piece of fruit as desert. Thanks for leaving a comment (and a compliment). The one trick that was working for me was that i would make sure that 1-meal was really tasty or something i really looked fowrard to eating (for example) a nice cut of steak w a baked potato and veggies and a nice dessert like a slice of chocalate cake. Eventually I was able to transition to one meal. I plan on taking a Cup of tea with milk and sugar, If i feel weak. At 5 foot 7. Most importantly our significant others, for the most part, tolerate our passion. Same thing because of work etc no one knew I was on a one meal a day plan. It took me far too long to lose the weight and I could have done it much quicker had I created a tighter structure. Does anyone of you have the one meal at lunch. My question is once I get to my goal weight how do I maintain it. However, I have found a few techniques that seem to help. So David thank you for your advice and tips on this method of weight loss and for sharing your heart. as my gym friends said the older we are, the less calories burnt. I was 18, and had gone from being a skinny child to weighing 180lbs by the time I finished college. 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. 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 am 35kg overweight. When i first got depression i scored myself a one. I think you have a good way of looking at it. The evening meal is not an open ended thing. I think half the battle is believing you can do it, seeing your success has motivated and inspired me so much. For a long time I suspected that it was possible to lose weight eating a normal balanced(ish) diet. I have decided to stop drinking water and and do a complete dry fast till 6pm. Needless to say my clothes have gotten tighter. People in the old days used to eat twice a day. 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). 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. I still eat really well, and lose weight and build (a little muscle) all at the same time. The first twenty took me five months and the last ten took me just one month. Now, this is the interesting part: until 30 of age I was eating (generally speaking) once a day (at dinner). Though things are still tough, I am taking back control of my life, starting with my weight. With a wife (who cooks good meals) and a baby and a lack of time to exercise, I gained a LOT of weight. 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. Then I found a 10 lb. During the First Gulf War they apparently had to airlift a couple soldiers to Germany because of critical digestion issues caused by them. 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. I am totally amazed at how little food I really need. Will shorten the window for eating to an hour and then find something to occupy my mind and time. I never want to go anywhere or do anything anymore because o this weight. I want to lose another 58lb by Christmas and I figure I can if I lose around 2. I have been doing this for 2 months with great success (32 lbs lost). I got to a point where I started to doubt almost everything I read and wanted to see for myself. I think this is something I can stick to long term. So its a case of experimentation and finding out what works for me. 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. 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. One of our more dedicated guys, 73, has an artificial hip. I must admit I ate normal hearty meals, the only thing I scrapped was bread. What I would like to know is whether you ever drink alcohol and if so beer, wine or spirits. That is a fantastic summary and reflects my own experience and thinking. See it as a long term thing but also something where you get to win or succeed every day. Yes, around my waist, clothes are looser, but my stomach looks arwful, much more bloated looking. This is pretty much how I feel about the whole deal. A human being is far more flexible with eating adaptability than most nutritionists or health experts are willing to admit. You can lose several pounds and see no real difference in the way you look. So maybe 2 meals a day would work well for you. I think that is likely something promulgated by people who freak out when they feel one bit of hunger and cannot deal with it. 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. Last week, I started back on eating one meal a day and I actually lost half a stone ( 7lbs). So wait ten or fifteen minutes and then eat your dinner in peace. So the more I feel it, the more progress I am making. I was so struggled and never lost any grams. I never felt craving just a healthy hunger before dinner times. You can eat whatever you want since its once a day. 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. At first I was worried that it would hurt the weight loss, but not at all- I continue to lose steadily. I admire your resolve to stick to the plan 7 days a week. My own experience has taught me to master the mindset of the diet first and then progress to the strenuous. Extended periods of fasting can lead to feeling faint or dizzy. I was just surfing the web and found your blog. 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. First weigh in is this friday so its exciting the fact that every friday im going to post my weight loss for the week. Sorry about the kg and cm, German influence. 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. How I look at it, you have to break down a wall. I have been toying with the IF lifestyle and doing loads of research for a while now. There are just some days when I have to snack. For dinner, I take buckets of vitamins as well as my cholesterol medicine, then I feast. Hi Julie, you sound very upbeat and excited about this. I know it was only because I stopped caring about taking care of myself during the last six months tho. Maybe I need to shock my body into letting go of fat as it seems to be holding on for dear life. It took me a while before I was able to where you are. i am aware not to be too obsessive so am prepared to have some neutral days. I want to start back because eating once a day is liberating for me. When I started out on this I had some very powerful reasons to want to achieve my goal. I used to be on a prescription drug a few years back that seriously suppressed my appetite and it just occurred to me that this was exactly how I ate. I am 74 kilos and need to get down to 57 by end June 2014. I know the one meal a day plan does work because i did lose some weight when adhering to it. I looked better but more importantly i felt great at that weight. Do you know of any one that has had a successful hip replacement and is back on the trail hiking. According to myfitnesspal log I have had a calorie deficit of 150-200 calories below my 1600-calorie limit every day. The small snacks are a brilliant idea because they keep you on track. There are some pictures here from my 10,000 push up challenge. I really believe everyone is different so everyone will respond differently to diets, something you have clearly shown and I am grateful to you for sharing. No doubt you feel great for having made such progress. At least for me I have found that the more I eat, the more I want to eat. I am a lady aged 32 and I have been having trouble losing weight. In fact I got it wrong a lot in the beginning. I am a mom of four, age 48, 175 pounds, looking to get to about 125. 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 to weight myself tomorrow and will use that and the benchmark to start. The food is all over the place in my office. When I stepped on the scale a week ago and saw my weight, I was mortified. I also have progressed in my exercise and now walk for a bit over an hour, 3 days a week. You need to apply common sense to this diet. You can adjust as you go along. I have been doing one meal a day for 6 weeks and it is working well. The great thing about this is I eat what the familiy eats. I do need to work on being more physically active though. My problem is that I suffer from acid n reflux syndrome, so when my stomach is empty I get these awful burps. Some days I over eat, some days I under eat. I now feeling hopeful that I will be able to loose more weight. 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. If you mean deep-fried food, I guess that would make sense. 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. On Thursday I started the 1 meal a day approach and you know what, I lived. I realised i had lost that signal which said Gary your eating far too much. I have always found that eating that many times a day to stay full just seemed too tedious. Let me share with you all, my first experience with this diet. 6 months after the surgery I hiked up to the top of Freel Peak (Tahoe area) at age 55. Things are still tough, but I want control of my life again, so I decided to start with my weight. Its mental torture to watch this and a diet killer. I will only be eating 1 meal a day, nothing crazy. I generally do this at least 5 times per week and the weekend 2 meals per day. I want to look at this as something I can adapt to for the rest of my life. 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. 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. A plate full of lard is obviously different to a plate full of lettuce. 2. The easiest way to add an extra 1,000 calories to this plan is to double up on the snacks. If I sat down at the table to liver and bacon casserole I would not be a happy bunny. Alright so ill take it into consideration that certain foods have to be eatin in moderation. I think this is an ideal diet for me as there is only one rule. Instead I take my reward from having stuck to the eating plan. Because I know that this is the only way I can maintain a healthy weight. I definitely liked two meals a day and I did lose some weight doing that. That will fill up my stomach and I can get on with my day and not worry about food until dinnertime. 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. No need to get the supposed optimal balance between protein, carbohydrate and fat. I keep a case of water in a small fridge in my workshop on the farm. Mostly meals based around meat, chicken or fish, with either potatoes or rice, and vegetables. but yes, if I really wanted to eat something I would. If I was going out to dinner, I just had a bowl of soup at lunch. I wanted to do push-ups and sit-ups every day. I used to be under 115 pounds all my life. 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. And, like you I would prefer people I know, not to know I am on another weight loss kick. Anyway, I got overweight again so I want to use this method. While I hardly ate chocolate or cream cakes in the past I began eating the food items that I did not used to eat. I used to do Judo (when I was younger and less broken) and the weight categories were in Kgs. Not great but just keeping my head above water. 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. I think that counting calories is the better way to go with this diet. I have gastritis and ulcer and also suffering from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) so I know how terrible it can be having gastrological issues. This caused my weight to go up to 148 after the birth. I live in Bavaria, maybe we could share more of our experince about the One meal a day:-). 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. I would feel terrible if you tried this and it made you poorly. Because, naturally when one cannot afford food, there will be a tendency to choose the cheapest food items on offer. I wish I had thought of doing this sooner. Sort of need a bit of encouragement here. Instead of getting on with doing something positive you end up in a perpetual state of inaction and unable to commit. And whilst I do eat one meal a day, quite often I eat more than once a day, I just try to eat one main meal. I had to have another small snack and cup of tea in the mid afternoon because my stomach was growling so loudly. Only working there for 1 month but I gain up to 5 kg. My weight can fluctuate up to FIVE POUNDS in a given day. I just got done with a three day fast Im now Im starting this diet today. The biggest benefit I get from eating once is that I can prepare a healthier, more rounded meal. I wished I had done it sooner. This week, I decided to start drinkin g water and things have not been going well. Also, your website is very interesting to say the least. Its funny that eating less gives you more energy. In fact for me that has been the toughest part but ultimately very rewarding. I was unhappy about something in my life and this was my way of pushing back. 6 today. Feeling lethargic mid afternoon is a productivity killer for me. Hi Clair, well done on the early progress. This is a routine I follow during the weekday and I have my cheat days on the weekend as well. I felt good about myself and had so much energy. But I knew sticking to not eating at all, for several days was not my cup of tea. I was doing this for some time and as you said, it is working good for me. Just keep trying different approaches until you find what suits you. This got me down to 172 in less than 5 months. I could order what I would normally order and get up the next morning and do the same thing. If I do not lose any more weight by end of January, then I know that this meal plan is not for me. I needed a diet that limited my choices and left me to make only good decisions. I was so impressed by it, I decided to investigate it more. It requires practice and practice often brings failure. I appreciate your sharing your experience on this blog. 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 must admit that I too am surprised at the number of people trying this diet. 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. I write this as if a friend had asked me to describe the diet. When I began having the cravings around 10pm I finished of the rest of the food in the pan. Thanks so much for all your advice, great post. Hi Sonam, sorry for the delay in replying to you. I hope this gives you some ideas for designing your own backpacking meal plan. Tracking is a good idea because it shows you the trend. I have tried so many things and I had honestly forgotten the one meal a day diet. 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 would have many lunch appointment with many new moms around here. I plan on Jogging 7km for two days and Then One day rest. For dinner, I ate whatever I wanted plus dessert. 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. 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. Or do i have to follow a strict diet eating only veggies and fruits. Being able to eat a full meal in the evening without counting calories feels amazing. I have been dieting now for a year off and on. In addition the temptation is to replace carbs with fat which is double the calorie density of carbs or protein. I spent more time researching the best way to lose weight than I invested in actually doing something about it. Recently, I did gain a few kgs. At that point i was frustrated at my efforts at weight loss. I went from my normal weight of 140 lbs to 176 lbs within 3 months. It gave me something to look forward to and kept me from raiding the larder. I saw you drank tea alot during the day but i am not a tea or coffee drinker. 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. 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. Also if I get bored I can have an apple as a treat. Snacking a few times a day is no bad thing. 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. I eat very light breakfast and drink coffee, just to accompany my husband and my kids like most of normal people do. I vowed right then and there that I would not let myself hit 170. I look at your pictures and I can see such a difference in your body. I find that I often learn more from my failures than my successes. You must do your own research and you should consult a medical professional before embarking on a diet. I drink herbal tea all day with a small amount of maple syrup and lemon throughout the day. So, your body uses the energy that it gets from the food that you eat. The relaxed approach worked very well for me for the first 30lbs. 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. I need to catch up on a few things around here, including replying to those of you kind enough to leave comments. A piece of fruit here and there is a great way to get through the day. Your weight loss is stready and not too extreme. The key to mental strength is to tap into areas of your life where you are ALREADY STRONG. All we seem to do when they come to town is go out to eat, constantly. I needed a diet that suited me and my existing lifestyle. I started following a similar eating plan about a year ago. Just out of curiosity i am 57kg and want to drop down to 50kg in preferably a month or two maximum. 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. So far i feel wonderfull and the old Gary is returning. 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. I too only eat dinner, with no snacks to speak of during the day, MAYBE a piece of fruit if I stumble across some. Such is the beauty of this diet, fasting during the day means my stomach feels fuller quicker at meal times and stops me over eating. My blood sugar, cholesterol level etc were all optimum. Hi David, thanks for taking the time to make a comment. For me that time is 6pm which gives me an hour to eat and limits my opportunity to damage my diet. (I was 165cm, 57 kgs. The Dude, thanks for dropping by and sharing your success. The key thing here is that you started again and have lost another totally amazing 38 lbs. After a while everything I ate turns to runny bowel movement. I work in adverstising industry and my co-wokers graze all days. My honest suggestion to you is that you learn to cook healthily. I work from home while my husband works in the city. It then becomes much more of a lifestyle than a diet which helps to keep the weight off. A little will power during the day goes a long way. Is it because of the low level of sugar in our blood or what. 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. Fasting suits me especially on weekdays (working days). I wanted to do push ups and sit ups every day. Build up fitness and exercise regimes slowly and deliberately to get the most enjoyment and benefit. I did do one meal a day at the age of 19 and I lost 50 pounds. I decided to eat one meal a day with only an apple or piece of fruit during the day. One meal a day was a means to an end for me. 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. Throughout this process I set numbers that would trigger me to do something about my weight if I hit them. I pretty much went into a state of depression. My beverage of choice is plain old tap water. Soon I realised I was losing weight, and decided to stick with it. I am hoping to get under 150 within the next 2 months, and hopefully stay there with the right exercise and diet. I have been doing one meal a day for about 2. The most important thing for me is that I eat fewer calories than my body needs each day. Its now day 8 and i continue to feel wonderful. 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. Some of my progress pictures from earlier in the year. Eating one (roughly) balanced meal at the same time every day is about as simple as it can get. 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. Eating one meal a day is WAAAYYYYY easier for me than eating many small meals. only difference is that i was drinking milk all over the day and full meal in the evening. I have an app called myfitnesspal on my iPhone and I use it to track my food and exercise. Again this weight fluctuates even throughout the day. Snacking is dangerous for me, I have to be so careful or the flood gates open. I wish you all the best in reaching your goal. I last did this way of eating in my 20s and it worked fabulously for me. 5 meals a day. I am done with all that pressure thanks to your website. EVEN if I get to 115, I will feel healthy and fit into all of my clothes. 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 have been trying to drink more water to fill up. Give it another little while and you may discover that your scale weight drops by a pound or two overnight. David, just like you, I do not have breakfast. 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. 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 used to be so skinny and then my 30s hit and my weight has crept up and up. 5 months now and have gone from 220 pounds to 199. In fact, when I eat in the morning, especially heavy breakfast, I get stomach ache. I had some very specific reasons for choosing this approach and I had tried other methods first. And over time, for those who feel inclined to do so, we can make changes to the types of food we eat. Hey, i wanted to start this diet and i had a question. I had more energy, slept better and felt good in myself. You can read conflicting arguments both of which seem very credible and you become paralyzed by confusion and uncertainty. Last time I weighed (a week ago) I was down 16lbs. Actually I have been losing weight with the 6meal plan but all of a suden I just stoped losing for the past 2 months. I have been reading your blog for a while now and was so inspired by your weight loss success with one meal a day. 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. 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. Which I almost never did but I could if I wanted to. So glad to read your story and know there are others out there who are experiencing the benefits of this lifestyle. Update day 15 and weight down to 13 stone 12 target is 12 stone 10.


Thank you David your comments are very kind and positive. Then I eat dinner around five after I come home. GOOD news was that I never gained either. Besides, starting early stretches your stomach out so you eat more to feel full. I began eating a small sandwich at a lunch time and a fruit and snack etc. I am very proud of my achievement but its all thanks to you. My Basal Metabolic Rate (from a website) is about 2500 calories. Eat two meals a day and gradually work back to having one when you feel like it. My youngest is now 5, so the baby days are long gone. It was difficult to tell because for me it was mostly guesswork. So basically I will be fasting till dinner time, but I will be drinking water through out the day. I see opportunities every were before there was sadness and despair. Good stuff Renier I downloaded and read last night. I even refused a dessert which is highly unusual for me. For the past months, after we moved to new neighborhood, I was trying so hard to blend in. I should add that this was not visible to me in the mirror, am just glad I was not discourage. 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. I read more of your blogs the other day and you write very intuitively. 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. Hi Krystal, I think you summed it up very nicely. Anyway thats the negative stuff out of the way. 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. 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. I am sure the health benefits realized by losing several pounds will be good. 00am 1 apple. I know from my own experience that it takes persistence and it takes time. Hence why so many studies contradict each other in dietary research. Jennifer, it was good to see an update from you. Regarding the coffee, I think one of the best things about this diet is that you can adapt it to suit yourelf. I used to exercise hours and hours a day just to maintain my weight. I keep a pitcher of splenda sweetened tea in the fridge in the house. Drinking water seems to cause hunger pangs, whilst not drinking anything, including water, I can go the whole day without feeling hunger. The exact weight is less important than the trend. 25 more lbs to go. I am not greedy to get back to 110 pounds. I started drinking water this week, and things are not going well. I am happy to have lost weight, but I am uneasy about not drinking water because I know I should. Hi Shannon, it sounds like this might suit you quite well. 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. I so often feel this and giddy too when I am dieting especially when I tried the one meal a day diet the first time like a year ago and did quit for that reason back in the days. The way I always saw it, one meal a day is more natural from an evolutionary standpoint. I wake up around 5:30 am M to F, and I would go through the motions of eating breakfast because I thought it was the right thing to do. Yesterday i went for a run, only about 2 or three miles, no food, and it was a piece of cake. This really seems do able for me and I want to be sure to give it a decent try. I have not weighed under 200 for many years so its very encouraging. And besides, I find it easy to eat one meal a day without getting hungry. I really want to Take Part in the race, and i want to lose weight too. It could be the time of day you weigh yourself. Will keep you guys updated with my weekly weigh ins xx. It would have killed me to wait a whole day just to tuck into a bowl of salad and mung beans. David, I am excited about doing this, but I have type 2diabetes,can I still do this one meal a day. 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. All that matters is that you get back on and keep trying. My readings in the am are around 120, I am not on any insulin. Sorry for the delay in approving some of the comments, and apologies for appearing to ignore you. I enjoyed eating once because I could have small meals and still have my favourite biscuits or even some chocolate after my meals. I think the biggest issue with making a change like this is when people try to change their basic nature. The law of diminishing returns certainly seems to kick in. My stomach is smaller and my thighs are getting smaller. I even felt embarrased by month small portions when eating with friends. I hardly drink and I do not smoke, but still, I am not surprised when I ended up having gastritis and ulcer. I caught this on your blog and it made me laugh. Anyway the reason I am posting is this is currently day one of the diet for me. What has amazed me the most is that it is like my hunger has been switched off, I used to be starving hungry an hour after breakfast each morning, then hungry again after lunch and in the evening I could easily put away another big meal and desert and was ALWAYS craving things. I have been discussing this with my friends and you know the same old age formulas are there every where. I guess if you could classify it as snacking. I usually give up on traditional diets very quickly but this approach seems very easy to conform to. Then, I moved to a new city, live alone and changed everything. A meal is the food I want plus the dessert I want. 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. 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. lb) since yesterday. Gary, overthinking is also an affliction of mine. I need to cut out around 30-35 lbs too, so I hope to have the same experience you had within 5-6 months from now. I hear lectures all the time how bad it is for me. I found your site because I just started this diet and went looking for others trying it. I started this diet exactly a month ago now simply bcos I was tried from carrying excess weight around. I was all the way back up to 176 when a weight loss contest began at work. Of course, if we drop calories too much or increase the energy output too much, the body will adapt to slow the rate of fat loss and preserve energy thinking that food is obviously in short supply. Good luck and thanks for leaving a message. And that is frankly IMO a sad way to live given the social emphasis placed on food, the environment we live in which encourages eating, and all the temptations out there. I would also drink green tea with some vinegar and honey in it which helped suppress my appetite after dinner. Following a balanced diet as outlined by the NHS is good enough. Im going to check out your new site and see how can I adapt it for me. Hi Gary, I love the honesty in your writing. I ended up getting all the way down to 157 before stopping. I failed a lot to begin with, and I fail less often now. Where I am not successful is keeping it off. I just discover I need to stick to my one hour window by reading some of the comment. With force reductions and the government looking for ways to cut back, Sailors are being let go for not being within body composition standards. One problem with the weight loss industry is that there seems to be a counter argument for almost everything. There are lots of great comments and perspective from others who are trying to make this diet work. I work out twice a day and eat one substantial meal for lunch. Friends and I plan to start section hiking the PCT. Sandwiches, chicken burritos, fish tacos, soup, fish and rice, lean hamburgers, etc. Want to have my dinner between 6pm and 8pm and never let anything pass my lips after that. Not only this i take only home-cooked food and no packet food, no oily food for the last 2 moth. Here is a complete 5-day backpacking meal plan similar to what I eat on my hikes. I deal with this by eating only a moderate calorie reduction every day. After alot of false starts, I managed to stick to it and lost 20lbs. Instead tap into areas of your mentality where you have a track record of success and power. Unfortunately your weight is not an accurate indicator of fat loss. 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 strongly love this one meal a day plan just need to find the best way to make it sustainable for me looooong term. I would have done some exercise last week but I got a wicked sunburn on my lower back and then I got sick. I eat my one meal around 6:30 and 7:30 everyday. On the other hand, i hate sleeping hungry. I particularly like the way you no longer feel like a victim of circumstance. I mean dinner on a two-meal-a-day diet will still be big like it is now. I re-read your blog and have only just seen that you had two meals on the weekend. 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. 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 started drinking spirulina powder with water this morning. So, I have decided not to weigh me every day. 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. She keeps munching or eating every hour and keep offering me. However. The opinions stated here are my own, I am not medically trained nor am I a qualified nutritionist. Its great not to have to think about food all the time, which is what I always did, I was always hungry. Make yourself happy first and that happiness has a way of spreading. 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). I do plan to drink at least 2-3 lts of water. I could have done it quicker but the price for the quick result was more than I was willing to pay. Ive been at the same weight for a while now. I am currently at 116kg and mt goals are small my first being to get to 110kg and so on. I also eat a balanced diet so that I get the nutrients I need. 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. But found myself struggling a bit of late and would gladly appreciate any advice or tips on how to get back on track and succeed like you did. 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. You sound very motivated and disciplined which is a great inspiration to us all. Today, I tried drinking a liter of water an hour before noon. I think you will eventually see the difference in the mirror but if not maybe taking photos will help you. 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. 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. This was my high estimate of weight loss. The first time I started eating one meal a day, it was totally accidental. In the evening i went out for a meal with some friends and i went to a steakhouse. 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. Over the years I have associated my failure in dieting with failure in other areas of my life. I really really need to lose at a minimum about 60 pounds. As I continue my own fat loss journey I may well decide to experiment to discover for myself whether the conventional fat loss wisdom holds true. Eating during the day just makes me tired and bloated. Then in office will pick up a sub (6 inch) and veggi preferably(I am not vegeterian). Like you, on weekends I will eat twice, with snacks. He was on his last day of hiking the entire Oregon section of the trail. 5pm per week. 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 was told the reason for this was because I was eating too seldom, the body and brain assume food is scarce so it will store more. The first thing I did was substitute Diet Mountain Dew for my normal Mountain Dew. 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. 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. Having a wider window during which to eat sounds like a great way to do it. 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. Within 3 or 4 days, i lost about 3 pounds. I should probably also mention I lost about 100 pounds doing so. 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. I typically will go to sleep at about 11:00 pm after I have put all the dogs to bed. 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. Two meal with one of them eaten late evening, like suppertime, also works very well for me and I sometimes slip into that routine when I get bored with just one meal. 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. Just wanted to share that i slipped off plan by eating leftovers and snacking over the last few days. Adopting this as mid to long term lifestyle change helps. The results can be seen pretty quickly certainly within a week. Actually, I think the spam is limited to the General Discussion board. 30am) I began heaving terrible cravings. Your diet is actually is THE MOST HEALTHY DIET FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME. 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. I think its important to realize that not every diet is for everyone. 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. I feel fuller doing this vs eating six times a day. I chose a 14 oz steak with french fries and salad and alittle alcohol. I am so pleased for you and delighted that you shared your success with us. 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. Anyway, when I started reading about OMAD I thought I would try it. This diet is making me feel wonderful, walked into work today with a spring in my step. Ron, I backpack with a group of guys that are retired, range in age from late 50s to 74. I was thrilled to receive a reply from you. 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. Could you tell me what you eat on your cheat days. I wanted to say thank you for this article I have two children under two and Im a stay at home mom. Rather than give up and quit, tread water for a while. I actually feel healthy while doing this diet, And this one meal i have is lunch not dinner. You will be back on the trail happy again in no time. If I want fish and chips occasionally I dont feel guilty, but I prefer to eat proper food. I do go to bed early, as suggested, though. Had I done so I think I would have lost the weight a lot quicker. I have not been exercising but have promised myself that once I got under 200 I would start. If I like to plan things, then I make detailed plans of what I will eat and when. Today was the first full day I tried this approach. The tape measure is a great way to monitor your progress and an inch is a fantastic achievement. Working through lunch and into the early afternoon is a bonus. There were some days I got greedy and that slowed my progress. I am 19 years old going on 20 soon. Maybe some of it is water weight, and maybe some of it is fat. I am just wondering though, did you ever have trembles at some stages. The food I was eating was homely, traditional, stews with vegetables, a bit of meat and carb and fat. Not too fast and not too slow but still allows you some room to manoeuvre. Superfoods are super but they are also expensive and they are not the miraculous missing link in a successful diet. I went from 238 to 244 and back in 7 days. I also want to shift emphasis from always reading about cures for depression to something more positive like health. I can have a normal dinner at tea time, healthy eating, meat,fish with veg. I have fallen off the wagon for a couple of days, but back on today. The same motivation also got me back on the diet after I fell off the wagon a couple of times. I used to go to class at 8am, with back to back classes, I did not any time for lunch. I typically aimed for between 1500-1800 calories a day. This worked so well because I promised myself I could have three courses everyday if I wanted: Soup, main course and dessert. If I feel I need a burst of energy then I drink a 5 Hour Energy drink. I enjoyed reading the posts here and have just embarked myself on a similar quest. It feels good to cut free of the trivialities and see the future for what it could be if we make just a few small changes in the present moment. My big lunch makes me feel satisfied all day. 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. I do not mind keeping this lifestyle at all. you can clean up your diet a little at a time. I am 43 years old. before 1:00 pm when it gets too hot. However, as I decide to follow this life style, I believe I will stick it it. I wish you well, and I look forward to hearing about your progress. Well, that depends on whether you can handle it. I know this is once a day, but I decided to do breakfast and then dinner. There are millions of people in the world who survive on a lot less food than I do. 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. 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. I like how you say the snack is to fight off hunger pangs and not to have a pleasurable experience. Anyhoo, I will drop back during the week and let you know my progress and check up on yours. It is generally used in Japanese and Latin American cooking. My husband is so happy now that I eat a normal adult portion size, because with the 6 small meals. 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. My expectation was to lose 1. Thanks to all that have responded as it has given me encouragement to go through with my hip replacement knowing that I should be able to hike again. Its so empowering creating meaning and purpose in my life because i feel in control. Like you im not counting calories and all foods are allowed when having my one meal usually i have it in the evening. The sorts of things an army officer, like the General, might get served up in the mess tent. 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. I am overweight by 25 kgs (55lbs) and have been struggling with for the last ten years. HI evryone today i intend to share this good news to those who have been discouraged in anyway. I read your reply very carefully and i reread your original post on the one meal a day plan that worked for you. 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. 5 lbs. There are many companies sell Stavia but I prefer this label because it is organic and the others seem to taste bitter. Being able to eat the things the family eats makes it all so much easi