Shit - Does anyone have the recipe for the CI spice cake? I want to make it for NYE, but of course the original link has expired.

[eta: nevermind, I found it. Apparently I emailed it to ita a few months ago when she asked the same question.]

She tells me the whole thing about how you stop craving things and you feel full with less food and you have more energy, but I think it's a myth

The only time I stop craving things is when I'm horribly ill. I'd rather not associate mealtimes with deathtimes!

I think "smaller portions" + "more exercise" - "snacking" = "slightly more feasible for me".

Jessica - is this it? [link]

Well, it's there for anyone else, even ifmy awesomeness was thwarted by Jessica's smartness.

I think "smaller portions" + "more exercise" - "snacking" = "slightly more feasible for me".

ditto.

That's it too! Thanks Aims.

I have actually experienced the mythic endorphin rush. But it's a rare thing.

I will never stop craving sugar or potatoes. Never.

We had a split lip incident. It's amazing what an ice cream snow man will do to alleviate the pain and tears.

Cool sterling silver dog tags: [link]

They have a secret compartment that can hold a tiny 2GB USB drive....

I think "smaller portions" + "more exercise" - "snacking" = "slightly more feasible for me".

I lost 30 lbs a couple of years ago on a severe version of this. Tiny meals. I could eat what I wanted to, but the each meal had to be limited to five bites. It was basically fasting with snacks--and it was given to me by my crazy doctor. It worked, though, and once I got to my goal weight, keeping portions small (since I had been used to eating basically nothing for a couple of months) was simple. I gained back 20 lbs since my surgery, so I am going on a modified version of the diet. Very small breakfast and lunch (like a cup of fruit salad), and a normal but healthy dinner. I wants to be back into my size eight jeans by Spring.

She tells me the whole thing about how you stop craving things and you feel full with less food and you have more energy, but I think it's a myth, like those endorphins you supposedly get from exercising.

Cravings sort of go away. Or maybe you just learn to manage them.

Week Two (?) of my diet I was craving pizza. It was the craving that would not stop. I dreamed of pizza. I went online to figure out the least caloric way I could indulge my pizza craving. (A single pizza roll would have been 35 calories. Of course, I would have to have bought a box, taken out the single pizza roll and then thrown the rest of the box away before I even got into my car.)

It took at least a week for the craving to pass as Monique can attest. Since then, I still think, "Oh, pizza sounds good," but I'm not consumed with thoughts of cheesy, saucy goodness anymore.

In fact, my first day on K-Ville, as I was leaving the office, one of the assistants was unpacking dinner (pizza) and he held up a slice -- INCHES AWAY FROM MY FACE -- and offered it to me. Somehow, I managed to back away from it and leave. Perhaps, flee would be more accurate.

This is not to say I'm always good. I've seriously cheated half a dozen times now and unseriously cheated a lot more than that. The serious ones came when I was out in the real world.

I dream of a life in Maintenance.

As for the exercise thing, I think it varies from person to person. Personally, I do have more energy and feel better now that I'm working out. But it's not a "high." In fact, I read a thing the other day that talked about the myth of the high and that most people will never experience that.

ETA:

Very small breakfast and lunch (like a cup of fruit salad), and a normal but healthy dinner.

HA! See, you illustrate the differences between people! I've learned that I need the opposite. I need to front load my calories to have more in the morning and early afternoon and then taper off as the day progresses.

Happy New Year to everyone! I am off soon for my "country home." (Okay, my friend's home.)

I have had the endorphin high, but only after hours of hiking at a fairly brisk pace. But I am always inevitably in the endorphin high place when I am also in the so tired that you can twist your ankle by tripping on a blade of grass place. So it sort of balances out.