Happy belated birthday wishes. There is a theory that we all need basic things like air, food and water, and if we do not get those we do not survive. If you let yourself get hungry, you then tend to worry and obsess about that, as you cannot concentrate on anything else. I have found that by eating three small meals a day I do not get hungry and it seems to work for me. On a fast day I typically have an Oats So Simple sachet of porridge made with water for breakfast (128 cals) which fills me up til lunch, then a low calorie soup such as WeightWatchers Tomatoe & Basil (77 cals),followed mid afternoon by an apple (47cals) and then have a huge salad and a quorn and cheese escalope at about 290cals for my main meal, and I am never hungry. This comes to about 542 cals and sometimes I go to 600 and 650, but it does not really seem to matter as the 5:2 diet still seems to work for me. I just don't stress over it. My main fear is getting hungry as I used to suffer for many years with a stomach ulcer, and if I got hungry I ended up in agony with terrible pains in my stomach, so I am a little obsessive about not allowing myself to get hungry. When I first saw the 5:2 diet I thought it would not work for me, but then after reading the bit where Mimi said one could have three small meals I decided to go for it and have not looked back. I have perhaps not lost as much weight as I could as I have had a few trips away from home, where I could not control what I ate, but then that is just life getting in the way which it does. As I only have about half a stone to lose it is quite hard anyway, but I shall get there in the end, as we all will if we stick to this great way of eating. I used to belong to WeightWatchers for many years, and this is so much more enjoyable. Hope some of this ramble helps you. Keep at it.
P.S. The cold water treatment and Nivea seem to be showing some good results on my arms!!! Thank you.