Alexis' 5-bite Journey

I hope this is how I start a journal lol.
Anyway, this is my second day on 5-bite and I think i am doing well. Like many on here, I come with a long history of dieting, weight gain, weight loss, and stalls. I was fat during childhood and didn't know what it felt like to be under 200lbs until I tried Zero Carb in 2010. I lost 75 pounds and went from the high 200's to the low 160's. I maintained the diet for 1 year and then cam crashing down into a big bowl of pasta and that was the end. I have tried unsuccessfully to get back into Zero carb but it's very hard. I tried low carb as a way to ease back but for someone reason I just don't want to eliminate entire food groups anymore. My life is busy and I am on a budget. Zero Carb and Low Carb can get pretty expensive in the city.

I don't even know how I found this diet. In the past, I have failed horribly at counting calories and I am the worst at tolerating any kind of hunger pains, but somehow yesterday I did pretty well.

Yesterday (Day1):
B: Nothing
L: 4 bites of Egg sandwich, 1 bite of snickers bar (around 12PM)
D: 4 bites of the rest of my Egg sandwich, 1 bite of snickers bar (around 6:30 PM
I was pretty hungry around 10 PM, but that just forced me to head to sleep earlier than I would have in the past.
Starting weight yesterday 253lbs
Current weight today 251lbs
Total lost: 2lbs.

I know I can lose A TON of weight rapidly on zero carb, but to be honest I am so tired of thinking about WHAT I am eating. The thought of having months on end without any sweets, bread, cakes, etc is just too sad for me. it makes me feel deprived and after a while I rebel and just give up. At this point, I thinking counting my bites might be the simplest thing yet and cheap too. What Zero Carb and low carb have taught me is what fills me up. I plan to have tons of sandwiches and burritos filled with protein and follow those with a nice bite of snickers or milky way. YUM.

I read a lot of journals here and I think people have really found great ways at sticking to this plan. I started eating slower and registering that YES I am full after 3 bites and it's a bonus that I get the second 2 lol. Ultimately, I hope to gain the ability to eat carbs (i.e. pastas, sweets, ice cream etc) with self-control. I would hate to have to eliminate entire food groups just because they induce huge binges. I think true freedom would be knowing that I can trust myself at a restaurant, a BBQ, at a dinner party, in my own kitchen, to eat sensibly and with some self-control. I was becoming "skinny" on Zero carb, but deep down I know it wasn't the kind of "skinny girl" I've always wanted to be. I want to be the "Skinny" girl that can eat whatever she wants but in reasonable portions. I want to be the kind of "Skinny" girl that knows that food is fuel and it isn't my friend, therapist, or mood stabilizer lol. I think 5-bite can get me there.

Today's meal:
B: cup of coffee with 2 packets of stevia (I know it should be black, but I'm working towards that.) I did the coffee so that I can push my lunch later than 12 PM. I want to eat lunch at like 2:30/3Pm today so that dinner can be around 8/9PM.
L: haven't had it yet, but it will be another egg sandwich
D: Pizza burrito

I also bought Popsicle as some have suggested for nights when I have to stay up to complete work for my job. I'll try to go solo, but I figure it is better to have safe foods around just in case.

Ok, what a long post.

Wow, day 2 is all over. I seriously cannot believe that I am really eating this little. I never would have thought it was even possible. In the ZC world, it is pretty much FACT that carbs are the source of our binges. They spike our blood sugar and cause weight gain. Honestly, for the past three years or so I have felt huge guilt every time I so much as put one slice of bread in my mouth. Now, here I am not binging and not even wanting to binge.

I had dinner at 8PM tonight. It was a delicious burrito STUFFED with chicken, salsa, creole rice, beans, and melted cheese. Boy, oh boy were my 5 bites amazing. I must say that the best part of the whole thing was that I STOPPED!!! Around 10 PM, I went to clean-up the kitchen and when I found the left over burrito sitting neatly in tuberware, I actually thought "what is this in here?" and then I realized "oh, I DIDN'T finish a meal" LOL. Not finishing a meal rarely happens around here lol.

So the weekend wasn't so bad. Tomorrow will be Day 3 and I am ready for the fight of my life. My job is extremely stressful and I just want to stuff my face full of cookies ALL DAY lol. I usually eat something-anything on my walk to work. I think it's a coping mechanism. I am deciding whether I should eat my first 5 bites during that walk or just tough it out until Noon. Hmmm, I think I will attempt to tough it and if it gets hard I will make myself some nasty black coffee with 2 stevias (YUCK lol).

I am really liking this diet so far and it has already saved me tons of money. When I went grocery shopping today I just kept thinking I don't need to buy that much. It's 10 bites a day. I just shopped for my family and figured whatever I cook for them can go in a wrap for my bites for dinner.

I really need to lose this weight because I have kinda been hiding from the world since regaining all this weight back. I feel embarrassed to see people who knew of my past weight loss only to see me bigger than I started last time. That will make for one awful summer if I am declining invites, avoiding girls night outs, and just ducking behind poles when I think I see someone I know lol.

It's pretty quiet on this forum, but I think maintaining this journal will be helpful to my success. I had a journal during Zero carb and the support really got me through it.

Man, I am not hungry but I am already looking forward to my next 5 bites lol. That 1 bite of snickers after my 4 bites is HEAVEN. Ahhhh, no guilt.

Ok, off to bed. I might have dinner earlier tomorrow night because being hungry will force me to go to bed earlier. I am a total night owl. I hope everyone is doing well.

Welcome to the journals! I enjoyed hearing about your experiences wth Zero Carb. And I am also amazed at times that I'm eating so little, and still functioning great, including some intense workouts. I also tend to stress-eat at work, particularly when I have a deadline I'm trying to meet. After sticking to 5-bite for awhile, I've mostly gotten out of that habit, but I have to maintain my focus because it's still easy to slip.

Great job so far!

Hi Insanity:

Thanks so much for the welcome. I am very excited at what 5n5 will help me accomplish. I have seen so many great success stories including yours. I really want to fundamentally change my relationship to food and most diets haven’t helped me with that. Zero Carb encaged and suppressed my binge monster but ultimately when I fell off plan I realized that I hadn’t really learned much or made any lasting changes. It also didn’t help me get a handle on portion size since you can pretty much eat till your blue in the face. The more fat the better. I don’t want to bash ZC at all because I know first-hand what wonderful health benefits a lot of people have and continue to gain from it. Right now I want to be an example for my children regarding food. I just want to TAME my binge monster. I want it to shrink in size and intensity and reach a “normal” hungerstat like the doc mentions. I actually envy people that can eat JUST 3 cookies, pass up a slice a cake, only have a few bites of their pizza and they aren’t even dieting. It’s just their hungerstat is most likely lower than mine and their relationship to food is probably healthier too. I mean some people have a pint of ice cream in the fridge for MONTHS. WOW, I think I start eating my pint of ice cream before my shoes are even off my feet. I eat it until the pint is empty and in the garbage. If I don’t finish it (Rare), I go back a few hours later to get the job done lol.

For 5n5 I am not keeping trigger foods around though. Other than the snickers bars, I am going to keep my sweets at a minimum until my body really adjusts to these portion sizes and I feel I have gained a sense of control. I can’t wait till I have a pint of ice cream in my fridge for longer than 1 day lol.

The stats:
Starting weight – 253
Today – 250
Lost – 3lbs (hardest 3lbs I ever lost lol)

Day 3
B: nothing (maybe coffee if hungry)
L: Egg sandwich wrap
D: The rest of my burrito from last night

This morning I haven’t had breakfast yet. I was feeling a little anxious about work so just to make myself feel better I bought some half-n-half just in case I need to have a cup of coffee to hold me over. My coffee with Stevia yesterday didn’t seem to cause a stall. I know weight lost would be faster without the coffee, but I am starting reasonably until I get the hang of this. I am already noticeably less hungry than yesterday. Whoohoo.

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping up the momentum.

Hi all:

I am eating my first set of 5 bites now and I have to admit that sometimes I chew so slowly I forget what number bite I am on lol. I read somewhere here that otehrs have reported the same experience. I really didn't know chewing could even be this long lol. The other thing that has been helpful that read here was to take a bite and spend some time waiting before the next bite even if the food was chewed very slowly. It's kind of like mindless eating but somehow being present enough to stop at 5 bites. I also get thirsty between bites and want to drink some water. What are people's experiences with drinking while eating? As a child I was always encouraged to drink after my meals and not during. That is probably why I always want to drink during meals lol.

Around Noon I realized that I wouldn't have a break to eat until 2 PM so I quickly made myself half a cup of coffee and added a drop of heavy cream and two stevias. I had a sip of it with only the cream (no sugar) and it actually wasn't that bad. Tomorrow I will drop to 1 Stevia packet because my coffee actually felt too sweet. I never THINK coffee is too sweet even when I finish drinking it and there is a ton of it left on the bottom. Maybe some changes are happening already. Coffee really surpresses my appetite too so I am happy about that.

Alright off to finish my bites. I just wanted to log my thoughts on this so far. I hope everyone is staying encouraged even though some days are harder than others.

Well it's almost the end of Day 3. I am saving so much $$ and that is just awesome right now. So I survived work, but around 6 PM I was a bit crabby and had a slight headache. I didn't get much sleep last night so that might have been the reason. I just ate my dinner. I aimed for 8 PM. So my entire dinner was the leftover cheesy egg wrap from this morning and the leftover burrito wrap from last night. I still have left overs from the two sandwiches lol. I am realizing that I over cooked on Sunday in preparation.
I still had my bite of snickers bar with each 5-bite. I am tested every time I face that snickers bars. I get a little nervous that I will just jam the whole thing into my mouth lol.

My goal for tomorrow will be to take smaller bites lol. I read here that someone took mouthfuls in the beginning and I think that is what I am doing lol. Now that the rough days are behind me, I will try to work more on monitoring the volume of my bites. My second goal tomorrow will be to prolong my morning fast until my 2PM coffee.

I really hope the scale has some good news or me tomorrow. I hope the scale or the measurement tape has some good news for you too.

I know what you mean about feeling crabby! I felt that way this evening, but felt much better after yoga tonight.

I also take big bites. I'm not too worried about it, but I think smaller bites = losing faster.

Alright, Day 4 numbers:

Starting: 253
current: 248
Lost: 5lbs

Last night I lost 2lbs eventhough I had half a cup of coffee with creamer and 2 stevias. I am pretty thrilled about that since it was a nice treat. When I woke up this morning I was STARVING. I started to wonder if I would be able to make it, but after getting on the scale and seeing the loss, the hunger disappeared . I've noticed that the hunger is at its highest before my morning routine (shower, teeth, make-up, etc). After I've done those things the hunger quiets down and I am able to prepare my cheesy egg sandwich without feeling like I am going to cave and just take a bite.

I am really saving money too and that is a huge bonus for me. It's 11:00 AM and I don't feel hungry. Mentally, I want to have a cup of coffee just to do SOMETHING, but physically, my body isn't asking for anything at the moment. I'll wait until there is a war in my stomach to eat lol.

Well I hope everyone is well. Insanity, its been so nice having you around leaving messages. I find it very supportive and encouraging. Thank you so much

ok, it's 3:00 PM and I am not hungry. I decided to just have a cup of coffee instead lunch. Where is my apeptite? weird (and great lol).

I probably look a lil obsessive with so many posts, but it's helping me remain accountable. With ZC I had journal on a site and it was a big part of my weight loss.

Ok, so I lasted until 4 PM for lunch. It wasn't forced at all. I just wasn't very hungry.

So my day's meals for today

B: Nothing
L: cheesy egg wrap (4), snickers (1)
Dinner: 4 spoonfuls of rice, chicken, and beans. Snickers (1)

I was scared to switch to non wrap/sandwich items for fear that I would lose control or not feel as full. After my dinner, I realize now that 1: 5 spoonfuls of a meal is still satisfying and 2: I won't lose control just because I am sitting in front of a plate of food. Seriously guys, was it this simple to decrease our appetites all these years? I am still shocked at how little I am eating. I ate my 5 bites and I put the plate behind me (just in case lol). As I was putting it in a container to save for tomorrow, I realized just how FULL I felt with only 5 bites. The other thing I am scared to try is eating only a snickers bar. I am afraid that I won't feel as if I just "ate" something and I'll be left feeling cheated out of my 5 bites and then I might fall off plan. However, my curiosity about actually eating a snickers bars and being full is greater than my fear. Tomorrow, I will leave the house with only my snickers bar and see what happens.

Oh, I had my first "wow, you look great. Your skin looks fabulous" comment today. I doubt the person could tell I have lost 5lbs and the don't know I am dieting, but I think I have been so excited and fired up about finding this new diet, eating less, losing weight that my happiness and joie de vivre is pouring out of my pores lol. Boy am I looking forward to those comments a few weeks from now.

Ok, that's all for now. I am very sleepy so maybe I'll head off to bed. I ate around 9:45PM so I won't be going to bed hungry tonight, which is nice. OK, 5-biters, stay encouraged. Another day gone. Be happy whether it was a "learning day" (words of Renu, I think) or a "triumphant day and stay strong.

Ok, Day 5

I woke up this morning and I lost 1lb. Whohooo

There are moments when the hunger is a little intense, but if I continue with whatever I am doing, it usually goes away and I forget it. It's nice that it isn't rumbling all the time. Before this diet I thought that whenever you are hungry your stomach just rumbles and grumbles until it is fed. I get so embarrased if my stomach growls or rumbles in public.

Well it's already 12 and I think it's time for my coffee treat before I see a client at 1:30 PM.

If you haven't already, check out the doctor's tweets. They are very motivating. Oh I had another "great skin" comment today. NICE!! I hope everyone is doing well today and staying strong till the finish.

Yes, you guessed it, there's an iphone app for counting bites lol. If you aren't familiar, it's called the 80 bites app.

For those on maintenance, this could be really useful. It's part of the 80-bite diet. Geez 80 bites sounds like a lot after you have been on this diet.

I just had my snickers bar for lunch. I am pretty stuffed and also filled with guilt. I didn't feel the guilt when I only had 1 bite of it after my regular meals, but eating an ENTIRE snickers as part of a diet just seems so strange. I am like programmed to feel crappy when I eat chocolate, cake, pies, chips etc.

I know I will get use to eating a snickers bar as my lunch so I look forward to that. It sure was an easy breezy lunch. I just ate as I took a nice stroll around the block. I only had 15 minutes for lunch anyway so that worked out perfectly. I may have to switch my lunches to just snickers bars. I started to worry about the amount of sugar I was consuming in one sitting, but I realized that before I was dieting I might have eaten 10X that amount by the time bedtime came around. Entire pints of ice cream - HELLO lol. That helps to put it all in perspective.

Alright, back to work I go. Tonight is Pizza night with my family. We will be making our own pizza so I am looking foward to a yummy (guilt free) 5 awesome bites of PIZZA!!.

I'm the same way. I feel guilty eating sweets as well. I'm having a hard time getting over that as well. I think I will start making on bite dessert. Maybe then I will not feel as guilty.

Day 5 is just about done. phew. Having snickers for lunch left me full at first but three hours later around 6 PM I was pretty hungry. I just ate dinner, which also isn't going to last very long.

B: coffee, cream, stevia
L: snickers bar - so yummy and simple.
D: 5 bites of pita pizza. I ran out of snickers -AHHHHH lol. I didn't really feel that full after my pizza though. I think it's because I forgot to add some protein to it. I'll be sure to make a much more loaded pizza next time.

So tomorrow, my co-workers want to order out. I think I will get something from the appetizer menu and take very sloooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww bites and hope no one really notices that I am not eating much. What bugs me the most is when everyone wants you to have a taste of their meal. I feel so impolite refusing all the their offers. If anyone ask, I plan on saying that I already ate lunch and just ordered so I could join them for a bit.

Alright. I am exhausted and I am sure the hungries are going to strike any minute now so I am off to bed. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope the scale has some good news for me tomorrow. I wish I could just fast forward a few weeks to the much SLIMMER me already.

I hope everyone had some good days today.

RN smiles, I am so looking forward to another snickers meal though. It was pretty delicious. Note to self, keep more dessert foods in the house for my 5th bite.

I just had a small (tiny tiny) bite of a Popsicle. Not having a sweet to finish off my bites just left me unsatisfied. I knew I should have had 4 bites of pizza and 1 bite of Popsicle, but I thought I wouldn't crave a sweet so bad since my snickers are done. I hope that bite doesn't affect my scale morning meeting tomorrow. I feel like doing some jumping jacks just in case lol.

Hello there. Good job on making it through day 5. Its funny what you wrote about feeling guilty for eating the Snickers and pizza. I can't bring myself to eat a Snickers either, but not so much guilt, I am just worried I won't be full enough, but sounds like you were fine. I may just give it a shot. Yes...I don't have too much desire for pizza cause it just doesn't sound filling enough to me, yet. Anyway, keep up the great work!

Ok so Da6 is starting with a bang. Another 1lb loss.
Starting weight: 253
Current weight: 246
Total of 7lbs in 5 days. Not bad at all given that I can easily gain 9 pounds a day with the old way I was eating lol.

Nothing for breakfast today.
Lunch: ordering out with co-workers. I'll order from appetizer menu and have 1 bite of snickers.
Dinner: not sure yet. I think I have a craving for pita wrap with nutella and banna (I think I read that somewhere on the forum and it just stuck.

I plan to do snickers all day Friday to see if it brings a 2lbs loss. I am thrilled about my loss so far, but I REALLY want to lose 2lbs a day to get to goal even faster.

I hope everyone is having a great day. I am really tired today and really hungry too because my bites yesterday weren't that filling. I am going to have a cup of coffee to get me a little energized. I am not losing my resolve for 5-bites. I plan to do this until goal. THe $$ this saves me is one of my biggest incentives cuz I am not eating out as much. I also realized yesterday how HUGE my children's portion sizes have been. Geez. Last night I split the pita pizza with my daughter and she was just fine. Before the diet I would have made 1 (or 2) for me and 1 for her alone. She can really pack food away and then her lil belly looks like it's going to burst LOL.

Ok, I hope everyone is doing amazing!! Stay encouraged!!

So I am having my coffee with just a little cream. I actually forgot to add sugar in it and it tastes just fine. I actually like it much better without the stevia since that just tastes so manufactured and yucky. Generally I don't like sweetners -natural or otherwise. I only like real sugar so looks like it's better to just go without it. That is major for me. I think my sugar monster is slowly dying lol.

Wow, I just had lunch with my co-workers and it was no nerve wracking. First, I took my 4 bites too fast lol. I was just so nervous that I would lose my resove and finish the meal that I ordered. I started rationalizing in my mind about eating 5 bites and still having an extra bite of snickers as dessert. I then started thinking that I would eat all 10 bites now or eat 7 and save 3. All sorts of things were running through my mind. Of course the weirdest one was that they would think that at 246lbs I was anorexic LMAO. I just kept feeling as if they all KNOW I only eat 5 bties a day and they would question me about it and say I am eating too little LOL. So I thought I better eat all of my food so that I fit in and no one starts worry that I am eating too little LOL. That is when I just packed up the rest of my food and RAN out of there saying I had to run to a meeting LOL.

Now that I have a cool head and I am safely back in my office after only eating my 4 (HUGE) bites of lunch, I can see things a little clearer. I don't think anyone is going to worry about me being anorexic for maybe another 70lbs LOL. I clearly look like I can "skip a few" lol. The food was good in my mouth and I was looking for reasons to keep on eating lol. If I were a thinner version of myself, I wouldn't even worry about others thinking I don't eat enough. I would openly admit that I am "full" or "don't have much of an appetite" and people would probably applaud or even envy me and think that is why I am slim.

After another week on the diet I feel much more at ease eating with friends and can trust that I will stick to plan. For now, I will just eat my 4 bites with them and RUNNNNNNN!!!!!!! LOL

Oh, I am so happy that I have been reading the doc's tweets about 5 bite. I felt like I could hear him in my head saying, "don't DO IT. Being skinny will TASTE far BETTER than these delicious, scrumptous, amazing spring rolls. Every extra bite you take DELAYS your goals" LOL.

Ok, I'm off to have my 1 bite of snickers, which is like my reward to for sticking to the bites.

Starting weight: 253
Current weight: 245
Total lost: 8lbs
Lost 1 lbs this morning.

It's funny how the farther I get away from my starting weight of 253, the more comfortable I am typing the number number lol. Now I can't want to be in the 30's.

This morning was a bit chilly so I decided to have my cup of coffee earlier in the day. I really needed a pick me up. I added 3 packets of real sugar instead of stevia. I can't bare that taste of Stevia anymore.

I am about to have lunch now because I am want to eat dinner by 6-ish and not eat anything after that.

Alexis, it sounds like you are doing great! Keep up the good work! I totally understand what you are saying about trying to rationalize eating more food...it just doesn't work. I need to commit myself totally and not allow myself to listen and buy into the ridiculous excuses for why I should eat more!

Another pound lost. I am so happy. I went shopping at costco last night and I LOVED LOVED LOVED knowing that there was NO FOOD off limits to me. NONE. It was truly a liberating feeling. I bought a box of snickers for quick lunches, 1 bite of dessert, and for emergency moments where I am starving and might eat a million bites. Otherwise, I just shopped like I normally do with my family and I didn't have to count carbs or calories. I mean with just 5 bites it's like most foods become pretty harmless too. I love knowing that most of what I bought will last a century since I will only be eating 5 bites of it at a time.

So my new stats:
Starting: 253lbs -4/21/12
Current: 244 - OMGGGGG
Goal: To keep losing and losing and losing and losing some more.

I feel amazing guys. Just amazing. It's so unbelievable to me that I am losing weight this steadily without eliminating ALL CARBS. At work, one of the kids made chocolate pudding and was passing it around. I took my bowl and gave him a big thank you and just saved it for my bites. I still wanted 1 bite of snickers AND I wanted to the pudding BUT I didn't want to give up two bites of food lol. Ahh, the dilemma of 5 bites. I decided to have 4 bites of my lunch (a rice & beef burrito) and just dip my snickers in the pudding for my 5th bite lol. It was pretty comical but I made it work with 5 bites right? lol

So today, I've already had my coffee with regular milk and a little bit of sugar. This diet is already helping me to make BIG changes. For one thing, I finally measured out my instant coffee. Usually I just eye ball it and if it sucks I fix it with a ton of sugar and milk. Today I actually realized that it only asked for 6oz of water, which is less than my huge mug lol. I also didn't make it syrupy sweet either. Now I can drink my coffee with just enough sugar/milk to eliminate the bitter taste.

Today's lunch will only be a snickers. I am having a lazy Saturday. Alright, I will catch up with everyone later. I hope you all are doing great and sticking to our 5 bites.

Snow White wrote:Alexis, it sounds like you are doing great! Keep up the good work! I totally understand what you are saying about trying to rationalize eating more food...it just doesn't work. I need to commit myself totally and not allow myself to listen and buy into the ridiculous excuses for why I should eat more!

Thanks so much, Snow White. I can't tell you enough how valuable your support in my journal has been.