Chocolate 61% of Days (Still Lost a Stone)

Seventy days tracked. Sixty-four of those days, I actually ate something.

The other six? Complete fasts. And of those sixty-four eating days… Chocolate or crisps showed up on thirty-eight of them.

[Pause] That’s sixty-one percent. Most days. Started at fourteen stone two in early October.

By Christmas? Thirteen stone two. One stone lost. On top of the 4 I have lost in the previous 22 Months

Which… wasn’t what I expected, honestly. Turns out there’s research on why this works.

Debra Skene — chronobiology researcher at Surrey — has spent decades studying meal timing.

And what she’s found changes everything about how we think about treats. Let me show you what happened.

Right, so. Early October. Fourteen stone two. Did a five-day fast first. Dropped to thirteen stone two.

Water weight came back. Thirteen stone eleven by the start.

Then seventy days of what I’m calling the Rhythm Reset. Five days eating in a four-hour window. One day stretched to a full twenty-four-hour fast — works out to about forty-four hours the way the timing falls. One day opened right up to twelve hours. Room for real life.

And I tracked every single day. Sixty-four eating days. Six complete fasts. And on those sixty-four eating days? Chocolate showed up thirteen times. Crisps showed up thirty-two times. Sometimes both on the same day.Thirty-eight days total with treats. Sixty-one percent.

Let me show you the worst day. Day sixteen.

Five Lindt chocolate balls. One hundred grams of crisps. Nine hundred and twelve calories from treats. About fifty percent of my daily intake that day. [Pause] Sounds catastrophic, yeah? But here’s the thing.

All of it? Inside a four-hour window. Started at one PM. Soup first. Two PM: crisps. Three PM: chicken meal. Four PM: Lindt balls with coffee. Five PM: window closed. Everything contained.

From five PM to one PM the next day — twenty hours fasted.

I thought treats would derail me. Thought I needed perfect discipline. “Be good” for weeks, then inevitably crack. That’s what I’d done for years. White-knuckle resistance until I couldn’t anymore.

Then binge. Then guilt. Then start again Monday.

Didn’t work. Because I was fighting the pattern. Trying to eliminate chocolate entirely.Delete the craving.

Leave a gap. And your brain fills gaps with stress. “I want chocolate. I can’t have chocolate. I’m depriving myself.” [Pause] Not sustainable.

So instead of eliminating treats… I contained them. Think of your eating window like a shop. Mine’s open four hours most days. One PM to five PM, usually. Inside that window? Chocolate’s allowed. Crisps are allowed. But the shop closes at five. No late deliveries. No opening the back door at nine PM because I fancy something. Once it’s closed, it’s closed.

Sixty-four eating days. Thirty-eight with treats. Fourteen stone two down to thirteen stone two. One stone lost. The chocolate didn’t stop the weight loss. The window did the work.

So I wanted to know: why did this work? Found Debra Skene’s research. University of Surrey. Section Lead of Chronobiology. Hundred and ninety-plus publications. Basically, UK’s top expert on how meal timing affects your body. And what she’s found… explains everything.

Here’s what Skene’s research shows: “If you eat the same food at lunchtime and the same food at midnight, you’ll have much higher levels of triglycerides at night. You definitely metabolize food differently.” Meaning: It’s not what you eat. It’s when you eat it. Your liver, your pancreas, your gut — they all run on a clock. Lunchtime? They’re ready. Insulin’s responsive. Metabolism’s primed.

Midnight? They’re shutting down for the night. Same food hits differently. Higher blood fats. Slower processing. More likely to get stored.

Think of it like this. Your local shop opens at eight AM. Staff arrive. Till’s ready. Deliveries scheduled. You walk in at nine? They’re ready for you. But if you show up at midnight with a trolley full of shopping… The staff aren’t there. The till’s off. Delivery system’s shut down.You’re trying to force the shop to process stock when it’s closed. That’s what eating at midnight does.

Your body’s shop is closed. Insulin’s sluggish. Liver’s in night mode. Same chocolate at two PM? Shop’s open. Processed efficiently. Same chocolate at ten PM? Shop’s closed. Gets dumped in storage poorly.

Skene’s research also shows this: “We should have consistent meals at the same time. Food irregularity isn’t good for your body.” It’s not just about compressing eating into a window.

It’s about consistent windows. Same time every day. Your body learns the pattern. Liver knows when to ramp up. Pancreas knows when to expect food. Insulin gets more efficient.

My pattern: one PM to five PM, five days a week. Sixty-one percent of those days had chocolate or crisps. But the window stayed consistent. Body adapted to the rhythm. Weight still dropped. [Pause] Probably should’ve known that sooner, mind you. But here we are.

Right, here’s exactly what I did. You can copy this.

Step 1: Pick your window Four hours worked for me. Six hours might work for you. Eight if you’re starting out. Pick a window. Commit to it for a week.

Step 2: Keep it consistent Same time every day. Mine: one PM to five PM, five days a week. Yours might be noon to six. Or two to eight. Doesn’t matter. What matters: same time daily. Your body adapts to rhythm, not randomness.

Step 3: Everything inside the window Treats included. Chocolate? Inside the window. Crisps? Inside the window. No exceptions. If you want it, have it. Inside the window.

Step 4: Close the shop Five PM hits? Shop’s closed. No late deliveries. No opening the back door because you fancy something at nine. Closed means closed. This is where discipline lives. Not in saying no to chocolate at two PM. In saying no to anything at ten PM.

Step 5: Track it honestly I logged every treat.Thirty-eight days out of sixty-four. Kept me honest.

Some days five Lindt balls. Some days half a bag of crisps. But I knew. Awareness prevents creep.

One more thing. High treat days? Weight spiked the next morning. Day sixteen: nine hundred calories of treats. Next day: up a pound or two. Water weight. Glycogen replenishment. Normal. Gave it forty-eight hours. Spike dropped.Trend continued. [Pause]

One high day doesn’t ruin progress. Quitting for a week because of one high day does. Keep the window. Trust the rhythm. Here’s what seventy days of this taught me. You don’t have to eliminate treats. You have to contain them. Inside your window. Same time daily.

Tracked honestly. And here’s the bit Skene’s research proves: Your body doesn’t care if you had chocolate yesterday.

It cares if you gave it a consistent eating pattern. It cares if you compressed your eating into a tight window. It cares if you let it rest for twenty hours afterward. [Pause]

Fourteen stone two in early October. Thirteen stone two by Christmas. Chocolate on sixty-one percent of eating days. One stone lost anyway.

Three Steps: Pick your window (4-8 hours) Keep it consistent (same time daily) Everything inside (treats included, nothing outside)

That’s rhythm. Not restriction. Not elimination. Strategy.

Quick reminder: This is what worked for me over seventy days. Might not work for you. Educational content, not medical advice. Speak to your GP before changing your eating pattern or fasting window. Your body. Your GP. Your decision.

Next up in this series: “The Six-Hundred-and-Forty-Calorie Mistake: Autopilot Eating in Ten Minutes.” What happened. Why it happened. How to stop it. See you there.