No caffeine, no sugar, no white flour - I feel like death!

[SugarBugger]

Has anyone done this before, or currently on a similar diet? It's day three (although been on a diet for about 3 weeks already) and I feel horrendous, constant headache and generally feeling foggy and lousy! Tell me it gets better?

xposts ppeatfruit, didn't see your message. I have never looked at the paul mckenna plan, I spose I just thought it was some silly fad thing because he used to be a stage hypnotist, is it good then? I don't really want to go back to eating the foods I've cut out, though...

SugarBugger rice syrup would be great in porridge. Have you tried yours with salt instead of sugar; that's what we have and the children won't eat it with sugar now (they like sweet things just not sweet porridge or popcorn).

I guess its setting it high as your weight is quite high still.... I get 1200 for even 1lb a week weight loss.

I agree with you, if you aren't hungry eating between 1100 and 1200 then your weight loss will be faster, but you'd probably still loose on the 1570 it suggests.

Wow - 1000 exercise calories a day, you must be really going for it! I never really ate my exercise calories unless I was very hungry.

Forever, I'm not confident that the exercise thingy is correct, like today I did a 20 min bellydance workout, and 4 hours of cleaning, but I logged them as two hours, one intense and one normal cleaning, and it came to 1000 calories... maybe it's because I'm so overweight (approx 21 stone) cos 1000 calories burned sounds a huge amount for hoovering and scrubbing.

snailoon I will definitely get some rice syrup then because I do miss having something sweet. I sometimes have a few raisins with yoghurt but it's not really the same. What do you have for snacks/puddings?

1000 sounds like a lot - I'm not overweight - for me 1000 would be a 5km run (300) plus full on gym workout for an hour (450) - ie 1.5 hours in gym PLUS maybe a swim in evening. Did it a few times when training for my triathlon. I didn't eat the calories though!

Sounds like you're doing brilliantly. As you say yourself, you're a sugar addict (there's a lot of us about!) just to throw another eating plan into the mix, I follow the 'Potatoes not Prozac' method which started as a book of that name, then eventually became an online community with forums etc:
Radiant Recovery.

I'd avoid rice syrup and anything else that purports to be a natural sweetener. When you're addicted you're going for the 'high' that the sweetness gives you, caused by a hike in your blood sugar - so you may set yourself up for more cravings and never quite break the cycle.

As you've discovered yourself, protein does a fab job of reducing cravings and hunger - every meal should include a substantial amount, especially breakfast (porridge/yoghurt/raisins won't cut it, I'm afraid). Add nuts to your porridge or muesli to make it more substantial. Keep all carbs brown (shortgrain brown rice from the healthfood shop is soft and more slow-burning than long grain).
If you do follow this plan, you can have a baked spud every night before bed, which helps stabilise the blood sugar for the morning. Make it a small one and maybe hold the butter/mayonnaise if you're worried about calories!

Best of luck - pm me if you want to ask anything . (Not that I'm an expert, just a fellow recovering addict!)

Thanks whatswrong, I've heard a lot about that book but haven't read it yet. What do you eat from breakfast? I tend to eat no sugar muesli every day, it does have a few nuts in it but not that many. Do you mean have eggs or beans? Or chop some chicken onto my cornflakes :D

Thanks for the info about the rice syrup, I think maybe in someone who wasn't soooo sugar addicted as I am/was then the rice syrup would have been a fab idea but I suspect you may be right about not being able to break the cycle of wanting something sweet. Right now it's broken although I haven't fully stopped having cravings/thoughts about chocolate etc yet. Do they ever stop?

I could do the baked spud before bed thing, does it really work?

Forever, yeah it sounds a bit OTT to me too although I suppose being this weight is a bit like carrying another adult or a huge backpack of weights around all day so at this point I probably don't have to do all that much to get my heart pumping. Can't wait to lose a couple of stone, I bet I'll feel loads better.

Yes eggs/beans/bacon/whatever. I have a sort of muesli which I make up myself and add loads of chopped hazelnuts. It's a bit sweet with the raisins but I'm not that much of a purist. Also peanut butter on brown toast - a dollop rather than a smear.
I'm a bit haphazard with the bedtime spud, tend to forget to put it in the oven on time. It does help with how you feel in the mornings, though.

So I could just add a few nuts to my normal muesli then to bulk it up, and maybe a cooked breakfast when ds isn't in preschool. I never used to eat breakfast or just used to grab biscuits so discovering I have an appetite in the morning now is new.

It's amazing to hear that peanut butter is an "allowed" food never mind a recommended one! I've always been fat and growing up was never allowed more than a tiny scraping.

Do you think it would be ok to microwave the potato if you forgot to switch the oven on in time?

Why do you need the bedtime spud? Not really understanding why you'd want a high GI snack at bedtime? Obviously not good to wake up hungry in the night but surely there are better options?

Peanut butter very healthy but calorific, def allowed but watch portion size.

Sugar sounds like your doing brilliantly, well done. I have either an omelette or natural yoghurt with no sugar muesli for breakfast. Or omelette and natural yoghurt. Sometimes add berries to muesli - they are lower in sugar than other fruits.

The baked spud is explained here.
Can't vouch for the accuracy of the science as I'm no scientist or nutritionist, but I know it makes you feel better and helps keep calm when you're trying to come off something you've come to rely on ie sugar in all its evil forms.