Interesting about your 5:2 experience, Tulip – I never actually tried it because I knew I’d likely eat too much on the 5 days, especially if I wasn’t tracking. I’ve finally learned over the years that tracking is pretty much the only way to keep myself accountable. Otherwise, my tendency is to just graze all day and night, and that historically included a great many carbs, especially sweets, hence my extremely overweight body and the previously high A1c. Not sure if it was actually diabetes or just a reflection of all the sugar floating around in my blood from whatever I’d been eating.
I have read that some people have a lot of success with 5:2, though.
Sunshine, you were right in what you pointed out about how even if I’m eating 900-1200 calories, I’m still eating well below what most people on the calorie-counting boards consider to be healthy, even though I’m an older, shorter, very sedentary woman. I don’t know who created the line about “never go below 1200 calories,” but I’d venture to guess that most of us on this board are getting far better nutrition than a lot of those mainstream higher-calorie dieters, and thus will probably do just fine staying under 1200. I know I’m eating a lot more protein now, for example, than I used to in my more abundant-eating days.
Speaking of protein, though – I MUST cut back on the cheese. I’ve been overdoing it, and it won’t be doing my cholesterol any good.