I am new and didn't read the book too far ahead. Only the beginning and the first 3 steps so far, so that I won't get ahead of myself.
I did the 1st step for 2 weeks and had no problems with it since I am used to having breakfast soon after waking up. The only thing I changed there was I started paying more attention to the proteins.

I started journaling about a week ago and I'm finding it very useful. I am seeing patterns in how often I eat and noticing things I wasn't aware of before. I feel anxious to start the 3rd step of the program to get my meals somewhat balanced, but I am telling myself I should take it slow and focus on the journaling still because more awareness of the patterns in my eating behavior might still pop up.

The reason I am writing this is because I am having some very INTENSE sugar cravings. I was doing fine all day yesterday and went grocery shopping and congratulated myself for the items I bought. Yet, at night after a pretty successful day, I felt this frenzy and before I knew it, I went to buy candy and just ate it without thinking. I had very strong guilt feelings afterwards, and these self-loathing thoughts of being fat (to be honest, I am not even terribly fat but I have been gaining weight lately and having trouble controlling my eating). Last night I decided that "tomorrow I'll try to be without sugar". And so, that "tomorrow" is now, and here I am fantasizing about candy and chocolate, and planning a trip to the nearby store.

I would like to hear if you other people doing this program experience anything similar and how you deal with it?

I also wonder if it would be better for me to move on to the 3rd step and start having regular meals already, and then eat my sugary things with the meals instead of denying myself of having them completely, and instead of having them whenever, for example late at night.

Thank you very much for all the help and tips you might have!