I’m away for 5 days in Cornwall at the end of Feb – not looking forward to going off the 800 cals but can’t see that I will be able to do this easily as we’re booked into fancy restaurants for two of the 5 days. Going to try and limit the carbs all the same and will be doing loads of walking so just hoping the weight gain won’t be huge – will be back on the diet as soon as we’re back.

Hi Bernie
I hope you have a lovely time while you are away. I’m curious though, you said you are booked into restaurants for two days so what about the other three days? You may have decided to just let the diet go for the five days which is fine but if you want to try to limit the damage, there are some things you could do. You could stick to 800 cals the other three days. It may well be enough to balance out the other days and you could still lose weight. Only have one course in the restaurants or if its not possible, choose low carb or leave the carbs – the restaurants might customise your dishes if you ask. Keep an eye on your alcohol intake (if you drink alcohol), it not only adds calories but reduces will power too. Avoid any bread if they offer it. Don’t starve yourself before you go thinking it will help with the calorie count as you are more likely to be like a kid in a sweet shop and eat everything!

Of course, its only five days and we should make the most of holidays as we don’t get enough of them. Decide beforehand whether you are going to be semi-dieting or not at all and don’t beat yourself up while you are away. Its a chance to re-charge your batteries ready for a big push when you get back. Enjoy!

Thanks Janet – thanks for all the encouraging suggestions.
I am definitely going to try and moderate my eating on all of the days and definitely going to make low carb choices where I can.

It is this psychological battle with dieting that I have struggled with for years i.e you eat something ‘bad’ and think you’ve blown the whole diet – logically I know that isn’t the case and I really want to work on the beating myself up if things go slightly astray. I really want this diet to be a lifelong change to the way I view food.

I am on week 2 of the diet and haven’t faltered at all and feel really great on it and am losing weight which is my main goal – your encouraging comments have made all the difference to how I was viewing this holiday.

Thanks Bernie, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head – the psychological stuff really makes a difference. If you haven’t found it yet, there is a great thread on here about catastrophes which I think you would enjoy. I have done every diet under the sun over the years but have only just started this one and have never tried giving up carbs (my best friends!). I hope so much that it changes my way of weight loss forever and that I get the results other people are getting.