SYount2020

YES!!–Great realization!:  The flavors of what you do eat, when you are just eating five bites and nothing else, are dramatically enhanced.  We all should eat this way just if only for this one benefit!  

Hi Brenda.  Welcome back!  

Thank you for your post.  Yes–there are times when the easy thing to do is just give in an eat.  But those “what the hell” moments are ALWAYS temporary, and we all go through them.  Being skinny is permanent and of real, invaluable significance.  So during those “I don’t care” moments you need to: 1. First…[Read more]

Indeed.  Be careful with artificial sweeteners.  They do contain less “usable carbon” than straight sugar, but there IS carbon in artificial sweeteners, so the calorie content is not “zero.”  Moreover, artificial sweeteners, in some people, cause chronic diarrhea (artificial sweetener-induced colitis).

Right: staying true to the process trumps everything else.  

Honestly, Christine, it is more fun–more exciting–to NOT weigh yourself frequently.  What happens happens, but the anticipation is fun and exciting.  So hold off weighing yourself but once a week.  You’ll FEEL whether you are up or down–but don’t confirm your suspicions until the week is up!  Trust me: it’s much more fun this way.  

Yes.  It is all about commitment.  If this is something you truly want, make the commitment, and I will commit to helping you get there.  

Fine.  Then do bars.  The key is to keep experimenting until you find a regimen of food that you can make work with the five bite diet.  Maybe, when you finally do try again with eating “real food” you will try less interesting food at first, like boring fast food items.  Then build from there.  But good luck with 6 days of bars!  Just imagi…[Read more]

Shelly–I know how you feel.  I was in an accident years ago and even with crutches I struggled to get around.  When the physical therapist had me walk, I dreaded it–not because of pain, but out of shear exhaustion.  But I knew the only way to improve was to put in the hard work.  You’ve just got to do it.  It’ hard, but the future is brig…[Read more]

Shelly, You will ultimately be your own motivator.  You don’t need anyone else.  Finding that motivation may take time, but one day you will wake up and say, “I’ve got it!  THAT is why I need to lose weight and I will lose weight.”  From then on out it’s just time and practicing the techniques we’ve discussed to help you adhere to the diet unt…[Read more]

Wonderful, Shelly!  YES!  PLEASE!!  Come to me with all of your doubts.  Together we will do the “impossible” and put the naysayers to rest!  

1.  Don’t afford yourself 6 meals a day.  If you go back in human history, up until about the 18th century people NEVER ate more than two meals a day.  6 meals is a horrible pattern that is not sustain…[Read more]

I love that attitude.  This is truly a privileged community.  When you guys are done, you will truly be exceptional in the most important aspect of your life–your health.  Others will hate that you found the secret they’ve been looking for their whole lives, and that you seemed to have effortlessly cruised to your goal.  I don’t know what wil…[Read more]

Firstly, Laura, don’t worry!  Your body is going to starve!  That’s what we want.  We WANT your body to have to use all of the fat that you have already stored within your body.  Will you be hungry?  Yes, of course, but only for a few days if you stay consistent with your bite count.  The the fun really begins.  And remember, only by fastin…[Read more]

Right.  First, welcome back, Ashleen!  Second, (as I stated in my book), RA is directly related to weight.  You will only achieve maximum control (or a cure!) by getting skinny.  Honestly, if you have RA, you really want to push for about 110 – 115.  At that weight you should be symptom free, or really close to it.  So, I give you Thank…[Read more]

Great.  When you take a step back and look down on your life–what you’ve accomplished and where you want to go–sticking to 5 bites for a mere 2 weeks seems ridiculously obvious.  “Just do it!”  But when mealtime comes you’ve got a lot a factors working against what seems so easy and obvious right now: hunger, the amazing smell of food that ge…[Read more]

Hi Inna.  I’ll let Gayle answer when she gets to this, but my input is this:

If you go back in time just 50 years, when people (hundreds of millions of us) where MUCH thinner, they all were very content eating what they ate.  When you get to your ideal weight you will feel so good that you will not want to eat extra just for the sake of eating.  …[Read more]

What do you mean you are not sure how your bites will go?  … Just because you are on vacation … who cares?  This is YOUR life.  In fact, I contend, eating JUST five bites will make your entire vacation experience truly outstanding.  Trust me: no one else really care how much you eat or don’t eat.  You may hear comments, but SO WHAT?  And…[Read more]

You could do it in a few months, but you shouldn’t look that far ahead at this point.  Just focus on the next meal.  5 bites.  That’s it.  Then focus on not tasting a thing until the subsequent meal.  For me, socials are a blast when you are doing the diet.  They’re exciting!  They’re challenging.  You have to scout out the entire food layout,…[Read more]

The key is to make the ultimate commitment to crossing the finish line, then just settle into a [boring] routine of 5 bites twice a day.  The first few day you are hungry, but then that goes away and you are flying.  Stay strong!  You’ve got this!  

Yes.  If a bar is truly 8 bites for you, then I would allow you to eat 8 bites, and EXACTLY 8 bites, at every meal.  But, a couple of things:

1. If your weight starts to stall, your bites are getting too big.  And when you are eating more than 5 bites, the difference in volume become magnified.

2. Our objective is to taste the food and to fi…[Read more]

Oops.  Stay strong.  If the hunger becomes intense and drives you toward the kitchen, remind yourself how uncomfortable the pain of stomach cancer is.  That should help to turn you around.