Hello fellow OA members. I went to my first amazing meeting last Saturday and I'm really hoping this will help me get out of this nightmare that has been my eating disorder, which has been getting increasingly worse over the last 27 years. Yikes, I never really thought about it but that's a long time.

My sponsor has been incredibly supportive and he's a fundamentalist when it comes to following the steps and using the tools. When it comes to food plan, he wants me to plan in advance what I will have that day. Only 3 meals and life in between, meaning no snacks. I don't recall ever being able to eat this way. I would rather eat smaller meals and small snacks over the course of the day, which could be the addict me speaking.

For breakfast, he wants me to eat 1 cup of oats mixed with water, 1 banana and some cinnamon. That is almost 500 calories. He doesn't want me to count calories and I think that's great if I"m going to maintain but trying to lose makes it really tough.

For lunch and dinner, 6 oz. of protein with some sides of my choice. I don't eat anything with sugar or flour and that has been incredibly helpful so far.

So....I don't want to binge as long as I can have my snacks which I plan and they're healthy...but eating 3 meals a day makes me crazy with cravings and obsessed.

Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Would you be willing to try it for 3 days? No new thing is ever comfortable and food, to confessed over eater like me, is the drug of choice. And share with your sponsor. Could be part of a breakthrough for you. Best of luck!

Only you know your body. Your sponsor is telling you what works for him, it may not work for you. May doctors would say that a snack is always good as long as you pick a fruit or vegetable. Some of the fruits have the natural sugar so be careful. Most vegetables are around 10 to 20 calories for an entire serving! I use celery, carrots, peppers and cucumbers. How can you go wrong with those?!?!?! Your sponsor is right about planning your food, at least have something in mind about the basic meal for the day.

Some other good advice... track your food so you know the calorie count. There are lots of on line free helpful websites. (This one is my favorite for reading some great posts.) It is easy to see if you are over your daily count or under. If you are under, then by all means have a snack!

Figure out what is best for you! Good luck!

My experience has been asking for guidance on what to do. I am doing the big book recovery and there is no food plan involved.
I know from experience what foods I can't stop eating and try to avoid them.
the rest of it, I intuitively know what foods are nourishment for my body and try to eat that. if I feel hungry, I'll have a healthy snack, usually after dinner before bed.

Thanks so much for all your thoughtful responses. I have been doing this for 3 1/2 weeks now and I'm learning so much about myself. I don't eat any snacks and while it's very difficult, I'm learning more about hunger. I"ve also come to realize that snacks are a triggor for me, so that has been an incredible breakthrough. I'm going to continue this till I've done it for one month and then, perhaps I'll add in planned snacks. I actually think all I need is a snack between lunch and dinner and veggies are a great idea! I love celery so I think that's very reasonable.

Overall, I"m incredibly excited that I have found something that works at last. With all the support I'm getting, I feel like I can truly do this my entire life. It requires work but nothing compared to the amount of energy I was expanding on my addiction.

Thanks again! I only wish this group was more active.

I have a hard time remembering that I want to lose weight. It is like it becomes unimportant as the diet progresses. I think the last time I dieted was for a full two days. Then I feel like why? again. I'm so addicted that I go blind. I've been trying to lose weight for 30 years. I WANT THIS!