I started in March 2012 the day after seeing the 'Sunday Night' episode.  I tried decreasing but after a couple of weeks decided to go cold turkey.  I picked up my book to re-read it whenever I felt weak. That went well for 3 months until I had a milestone birthday, a trip to the city and travelling with my partner eating lollies - there was my weakness.  I crashed badly for a couple of months and regained everything I had lost and my eating was way out of control.  My body was craving for me to go sugar-free again but I forced sugar into it.  Then one day I woke feeling so ill.  The time had come.  I am now sugar-free since August 2012.  I was too scared to even try David's recipes for three months in case I slipped back.  What I have found is that there seems to be another habit/addiction to discard - overeating.  After eating so much sugar, and food, for 50 years it seems very hard to adjust to eating less. Having that overfull feeling was comforting but there is now no reason to reach for the fridge or cupboard.  Yes, I tried the sugar-free drinks and cheese was big for a while (I didn't know how sweet cheese was) but now I settle for a drink of water if I find myself reaching for food.  When I am actually hungry I know the difference.  Now I don't even have morning or afternoon tea, I am just not hungry.  And the weight is steadily decreasing.  I feel great and don't even look for sugar, I know what I can and can't eat.  One trick I had to do for myself is have treats (nuts, twisties and chips for me, lollies for my partner) in the car so my weakness of travelling and munching was filled (I travel 25 kms to work everyday) though that has come to an end as well.  I don't even think about it, I actually look for water.  I hope my story helps those just starting.

Congratulations Helen, sounds like you are doing really well, I too was a constant eater on road trips, an that is one habit that has gone too. 

Thanks John and Deb for replying. 

I suppose my post was crammed full of info and just as it fell out of my head, not really clear.  I did hope there would be some positives in there for new starters while showing there is a journey to experience.  A couple of steps back here and there really show how good it can be when you get there.

Yes John, I am really happy with where I am at now.  My overeating has stopped and my weight is coming off.  I feel full after each meal and rarely eat morning or afternoon tea.  I don't even think about food in between meals. 

Part of my journey was realising that I didn't need food any more, especially for emotional times which is a big part of some people's food addiction, and had to accept that dealing with issues didn't mean food would be the fix.  My daughter pointed out that maybe I would deal with the issues instead of stuffing food into them.  That's a fair thing to say.  There have been times that I have had a binge because I felt emotional but then for the next few days the thought of food nearly made me sick, so until it clears from my system, I just wait till I am hungry again and then I am back on my good eating path again.

I am happy that I now know the difference and have the ability to stop because my body is able to tell me when enough is enough.

And I am ok when travelling now because I have treats for both him and I.  He can eat mine if he likes but I don't even try to eat his because now they aren't even a temptation.  I have my own foods and I am ok with that.  I know I feel so much better because of it.

One thing I forgot to mention before is I had headaches most of my life - and now without sugar, they are GONE!  I don't even carry panadol or nurofen any more.  I know when I have tested sugar because I get a faint pain but then it's gone as the sugar goes so that has helped fix my sugar trials too.  I would never have known sugar was overloading me to that point if I hadn't gone without it to start with.  And without David's research I would never have gone without sugar. 

Hooray for David!