Missed you too Deb! How is it going?

HungerisPower: Welcome! Might I say, I've had a *kitten* few weeks and henceforth it's been a struggle to stay on Omad- don't give up! You can get back on that horse if you fall.
Sure, what would you like to know?

Start weight: circa 60
Start measurements:
waist 30.75, "gut" 33.5

about 3 weeks in:
waist 29.75, "gut" 32.75

saturday morning(christmas eve)
weight 58 kgs. (I am discounting .5 off that to make it 57.5, for my vanity but also because the night before was a massive feast, hadn't been to the loo for several days, and had just drunk a pile of water. Probably more than .5 off, but let's not get too cheeky:) )
waist 29.5, "gut" 33 (but again, above factors may have ballooned it a bit.)

First two weeks of OMAD I was eating between 1200-1600 cals a day in the meal. Vegetables and some kind of protein and fat, then maybe like a fruit and yoghurt type bonanza for dessert. Yes I was like a whale after the meal.

Didn't see changes (the changes may have been happening but I was impatient) until i went down to 5-800 calories a day. I do NOT recommend this to anyone, it isn't a long term thing, it's just what I had to do.I do not recommend this unless you have worn a well trodden path of food triggers and eating disorders, and are aware that this might f you up psychologically. I have walked that line in the past, and I know the dangers of it.

Then everything kind of slid downhill, about 3 weeks ago. Was seeing the man too much and hence being fed(kind of hard to have evening dates without dinner, couldn't wait until Italian dinnertime (9/10 pm, had to eat something in the afternoon to top up energy ), I couldn't coordinate my days to have a meal and be social due to energy levels, my schedule went out of whack, had friends here from another country, had to wage a very big war with depression, dropping serotonin, along wth stress of sorting my life out after a big move to a new country, work crises, and severely low iron, shaky household situation, amongst other things.

I don't want to wail and gnash my teeth here. Everyone has their problems in life, least of all me. I stuffed up, I couldn't keep up Omad through all this, it's on me, it's my fault. But I'm determined to keep trying. I know I DO feel good on Omad, and those days where I ate more than one meal, I was astonished at how much food it was, I knew I didn't need it. I can't believe I use to eat three (or more) times day, so much food.

After the big blowout, I will keep going. I will post a weigh in on saturday morning and measurements to see what is left of the damage after a week back on Omad.

I've put the man on the back burner (he has things he needs to sort out too, so it's kindly done) while I attend to myself for a few weeks, get my own personal power back in life.
I've spend the last few days writing a schedule of the things i need, and want, to do to get the life I want.

Don't give up. Don't.
If there was anything else you wanted to know, let me know.
Oh! P.s. My goal weight is 55 kilos. (revised from 52. I looked great at 56 last year, I don't need to be skinny skinny. I still wanna eat cake and live a bit too, without being totally food disordered.)
Oh! and ps- Omad helped me kick the remnants of my years long alcohol dependency. (ex-severe-alcoholic)
I now longer drink unless it's a social event, like once a week, and then I kind of have one or two and don't want anymore. Yes!

p.p.s apologies for the essay!

Thanks Blambo! Sending hugs, and joy for a new year!

Yes Deb you are absolutely right. I've bumped back up again, while I get back into the swing of things. And our goals are still there! we'll get there, you watch.
Thanks a million to all

MADGIRL, yes, miles better, thank you so much! Brain is a lot healthier, I know when that is happening because I begin to have compassion for myself again rather than automatic intrusive negative thoughts.
I am on anti-depressants, which act by making available for use the serotonin you have. (A function of depression is that the brain blocks these receptors).
However, this is only of use in so far as the amount of serotonin you are producing, therefore that needs a boost too.

To answer your question, for serotonin, we need vitamin D, which of course comes mainly from the sun (hello winter).
So I highly recommend Vitamin D3, and importantly, Fish oil (or an equivalent, cod liver, etc).
However it can take a while for your stores to build up again. I'm coming good now after 2 weeks on Vitamin D. I get mine from "bulk powders" (.it, maybe they post to malta? But you can also get it from the pharmacy)
The second one I use is 5htp (online also, eBay) This is a brilliant one. It works fairly immediately. It is a plant extract, and is synthesized into serotonin, helping it also cross the blood-brain barrier.
So Vitamin D aids your body in the natural production of serotonin, and 5htp is akin to ingesting serotonin.

Dopamine is a great one because it aids also in focus. (Brain fog and lack of motivation, anyone?, natural symptom of lowered serotonin and depression, as WELL as a.d.d symptoms, lots of stuff really.) Increases natural feeling of well being, and that things are worth achieving.
DLPA is the best for this. Tryptophan also, if you can get it, but DLPA reduces the drowsiness. Tryptophan is hard to come by these days due to a processing plant in Japan stuffing a batch up, many people became sick, and a media scare banned the production of it. That hasn't been rectified (it was a fault in manufacturing, not with tryptophan itself), but the bad name has stuck. DLPA is its synthetic equivalent.
Also got it online (bulk powders), but it is easy available elsewhere.

I'm sorry to hear that Madgirl, I totally understand, you aren't alone

Yes we are back guys, a new year, and yes Deb, we still have until April Thanks for all your support guys. The vitamin D has well and truly kicked in, it's cold a wet here, but I gotta tell ya, I feel fanTAStic. We can do it, here's to a lovely new start for all of us to add some fuel the fires of our goals.
Back on OMAD, officially. I'm still here, dammit, can't get rid of me that easily