Hello, I'm new to this whole thing, but it seems like it might be a useful approach. I've been thinking about "doing" No S for a while now but I'm having a tough time with it. I just can't seem to stick to a plan or a routine in general, but especially with meals.
I work at home, and my days are almost all free-form. Once I've helped my husband get off to work, I don't have a set rhythm for the rest of the day. Normally I eat very small meals or snacks whenever I get hungry, but I hardly ever sit down to a designated lunch or breakfast. Most days we don't get around to having dinner until midnight, because my husband says he's not hungry until then. It often makes me feel that I am abnormally greedy to be hungry in the evening, especially since I'm the obese one and he is normal weight, with only the slightest of paunches. Anyway, I end up grazing all day, instead of eating real meals, especially around 6pm when I am usually hungry for dinner but I know that I won't be getting it for another 5 or 6 hours.
In trying to adopt the No-S diet, I have found it difficult to decide what is a "meal". I think the first thing to do is to change this pattern of all-day grazing and adopt a normal time to eat, but I'm finding it really difficult to do. Are there any handy tricks that others have found useful for tackling this kind of problem? It just seems so overwhelming, I've had a hard time doing anything about it.
Thanks.
Trouble getting started--establishing a routine
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Hi mander & welcome to NoS.
I also work from home & I, like you, found grazing hard to resist, particularly since it's so easy when working from home to take a little break & go down to the kitchen etc. I agree that you should make the effort- and it's an important one- to structure your meals. I also feel you need to have your husband on board to do this in an easier way. How does he feel about your decision to start NoS? How does he feel, more generally, about your relationship with food & your weight issues? It's important to have him on your side as it seems the non-structured way of eating that you identify as one of your main issues involves him directly as well. I would try to be honest with him & make the point that NoS is in no way a 'crash diet', it's a sane, common sense way of eating for the rest of your life. That might help to convince him.
Good luck & let us know how you get on.
I also work from home & I, like you, found grazing hard to resist, particularly since it's so easy when working from home to take a little break & go down to the kitchen etc. I agree that you should make the effort- and it's an important one- to structure your meals. I also feel you need to have your husband on board to do this in an easier way. How does he feel about your decision to start NoS? How does he feel, more generally, about your relationship with food & your weight issues? It's important to have him on your side as it seems the non-structured way of eating that you identify as one of your main issues involves him directly as well. I would try to be honest with him & make the point that NoS is in no way a 'crash diet', it's a sane, common sense way of eating for the rest of your life. That might help to convince him.
Good luck & let us know how you get on.
Restarting NoS (after going back & forth over the last 4 years) in November 2013.
GOAL: to lose 10 kilos.
HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR: 1.6 kilo
GOAL: to lose 10 kilos.
HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR: 1.6 kilo
The pattern has to work for your life, not some imaginary life.
If your life involves eating at midnight (hard for me to imagine, but okay...), then the rest of your meals will need to work with that. When do you get up? I'm assuming that it's probably not 6AM given the rest of your schedule!
When do you usually first eat?
You can also phase in structure. Start with identifying when you first eat. See if you can wait a little longer and make it a real meal instead of a snack. Then set a time about 4-5 hours away for lunch. Make it a real meal too. See where you are... if you can't make it to midnight, allow a "limited choice" snack. Work with the times and the food choices until you can phase out that late snack. And give yourself time... approach each day as a new experiment to see what might work.
You may also find that YOU don't like eating at midnight, so you have your evening meal at a normal time and just have some hot tea or a glass of wine to be sociable with your husband. Who knows, he may switch his eating preferences over time.
Experiment and see what works!
Good luck!
If your life involves eating at midnight (hard for me to imagine, but okay...), then the rest of your meals will need to work with that. When do you get up? I'm assuming that it's probably not 6AM given the rest of your schedule!
When do you usually first eat? You can also phase in structure. Start with identifying when you first eat. See if you can wait a little longer and make it a real meal instead of a snack. Then set a time about 4-5 hours away for lunch. Make it a real meal too. See where you are... if you can't make it to midnight, allow a "limited choice" snack. Work with the times and the food choices until you can phase out that late snack. And give yourself time... approach each day as a new experiment to see what might work.
You may also find that YOU don't like eating at midnight, so you have your evening meal at a normal time and just have some hot tea or a glass of wine to be sociable with your husband. Who knows, he may switch his eating preferences over time.
Experiment and see what works!
Good luck!
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andreamuse
- Posts: 54
- Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:16 pm
I am free form in the summers (I'm a teacher) so I know how it feels to be without structure, it takes a bit more planning and thought, but I would suggest maybe the following.
1. First, do you really want to eat at midnight with your husband or would it be enough to have eaten already earlier and just share a glass of wine (or non-alcoholic/non-sweet drink) with him at that time for the company?
2. If you do want to eat at midnight, then like someone else above said, then you'll have to structure your other meals around that and I think it can be done. I know what you mean about grazing. I was totally a grazer and not a meal eater before I started no-S. It felt so weird to pile one plate full of food, lol! Anyway, think about 5-6 hours between meals. Like maybe you get up around 10 or 11 and eat "breakfast" around noon. Then you could eat "lunch" around sixish p.m. Then dinner at midnight as usual.
1. First, do you really want to eat at midnight with your husband or would it be enough to have eaten already earlier and just share a glass of wine (or non-alcoholic/non-sweet drink) with him at that time for the company?
2. If you do want to eat at midnight, then like someone else above said, then you'll have to structure your other meals around that and I think it can be done. I know what you mean about grazing. I was totally a grazer and not a meal eater before I started no-S. It felt so weird to pile one plate full of food, lol! Anyway, think about 5-6 hours between meals. Like maybe you get up around 10 or 11 and eat "breakfast" around noon. Then you could eat "lunch" around sixish p.m. Then dinner at midnight as usual.
Thanks for the advice so far!
We're usually up at 8 or 9. He eats breakfast before he leaves but I'm generally not interested in anything other than coffee at that time. Then I get wrapped up in whatever I am working on and usually don't want to stop to fix a real meal, so I snack.
Most days he gets home by 8 but he often eats a bag of candy or similar when he first gets in, which I'm sure is half the problem. Some nights he goes running but he often doesn't leave until 8:30 or 9, so by the time he's been out, come home, showered, and relaxed a bit it's 10:30 or 11. Usually it's just that we're both either writing something (me) or surfing the internet (him) and not paying attention to time.
I suppose I should start with trying to get dinner on before then. He'll eat it if it's put in front of him. That and declaring my desk a snack free zone. The real problem is remembering that I have decided to do this, and actually keeping to the rules.
We're usually up at 8 or 9. He eats breakfast before he leaves but I'm generally not interested in anything other than coffee at that time. Then I get wrapped up in whatever I am working on and usually don't want to stop to fix a real meal, so I snack.
Most days he gets home by 8 but he often eats a bag of candy or similar when he first gets in, which I'm sure is half the problem. Some nights he goes running but he often doesn't leave until 8:30 or 9, so by the time he's been out, come home, showered, and relaxed a bit it's 10:30 or 11. Usually it's just that we're both either writing something (me) or surfing the internet (him) and not paying attention to time.
I suppose I should start with trying to get dinner on before then. He'll eat it if it's put in front of him. That and declaring my desk a snack free zone. The real problem is remembering that I have decided to do this, and actually keeping to the rules.
Mander, the main thing to do I think (and everyone has given good advice) is to take one step at a time. Your idea, to declare your desk a snack free zone, is a good starting point! Also, maybe pushing dinner earlier as a first step? And then gradually structuring breakfast too? The thing is, the NoS rules are straightforward in themselves, so even if you decide to start following them all at the same time (as an experiment, say for 3 weeks or so) that should be more doable than you think because it would just involve structuring and not real decrease in quantities / quality of food (apart from sugar). Does that make sense?
Restarting NoS (after going back & forth over the last 4 years) in November 2013.
GOAL: to lose 10 kilos.
HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR: 1.6 kilo
GOAL: to lose 10 kilos.
HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR: 1.6 kilo