Two Year NoS Check-in!

(New!) Read (or post) about people who have stuck with No-S for 10 or more months, lost 10 or more pounds, or 10 or more percent for their starting weight. Periodic updates strongly encouraged -- you can think of it as "Yearly Check In."

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vmsurbat
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Two Year NoS Check-in!

Post by vmsurbat » Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:33 am

I am just past the two year mark of adopting NoS for life. You can see my first year check-in here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5306

To summarize, the first year I followed NoS, I lost @30 lbs and 3 sizes. In this second year, I've lost @10 lbs and one size. :-) But as anyone who has followed NoS for any length of time knows, we reap many more benefits than just weight loss and sensible eating. My first year post lists quite a few.

Some thoughts and lessons learned from this year include:

1. I cannot successfully "virtual" plate at all. A meal here or there does not derail me. But last autumn I found myself in the unusual situation of having to virtual plate 70% of my meals for three months. I kept to my NoS principles of no snacks, no sweets, but since my first servings were so tiny, I had to have seconds. For me, a little here, a little there, still adds up to "just a little" and is very UN-satisfying so I often had thirds ("just a little bit," of course). No *major* damage was done weight-wise, but now I'm much more diligent about avoiding virtual plate scenarios and/or I just go ahead and take a full (for me) plate without worrying what others think.

2. Vanilla NoS structure works best for me. Because I was so successful the first year, I branched a little with various mods that have worked for other people on the forum: eg, NoS events throughout the week vs. NoS days. I quickly lost count of NoS events and when I tried to quantify them (ie. was that a big NoS treat (eg. cheesecake) or a little one (cookie)? Should it count as a full "event" or maybe just "half"?), I quickly became stressed out with the accounting involved. Ditto with calorie counting. So while in theory I think NoS events (or calorie counting) should work well, I couldn't do it. Back to regular NoS *for me.*

3. My eating habits have slowly improved, and I think they were pretty good to start with. For example, because I've been eating sensibly for two years now (wow, that feels GREAT to say!), I find it difficult to eat rich meals back to back (eg. pizza one day, fried tacos the next--both Nday meals if I want them to be). Also, I love the desserts I make but have gone from a 9x13 pan yielding 12 servings, to a 9x13 pan yielding 18-24 servings for the same dessert--and I eat just one serving.

4. For a period of time after the virtual-plating and various mods seasons described above, I diligently followed NoS without any budge on the scale. That meant that I was consuming the same number of calories that I was expending. In thinking through my two main options: eat less or move more, I decided that I needed to move more. I've chosen walking as my main form of "physical activity" but had gotten very lax with it when my pedometer battery died. In April, I dug out the pedometer, walked(!) into town to get the battery, and have been diligently getting in my steps. This, plus continued NoS, has gotten the scale moving again. :-)

5. Lastly, although I never worried about my Sdays (I took Reinhard at face-value that one cannot "fail" on an S-day), and I never had a bingeing problem, my Sdays have continued to improve this second year. In the first year, I got to the point that I was no longer overeating on my S days. :-) In this second year, I've gotten to the point that I can enjoy my S-days with no "diet-head" chatter going on in my mind.

What do I mean? Well, in the past, I usually had a little patter going on in my head with respect to desserts on S days, particularly Sunday. It went something like this: "Mmmm. Should I have a big piece of cake or little one? I won't be able to have anymore treats until next week. I don't want to waste this opportunity so I should probably have the bigger piece. But the smaller piece will definitely have less calories and that will certainly affect the scale reading.... so maybe I should have a smaller piece. Yet if I take the smaller piece, will I be satisfied? Or will it feel "too small" and then I'll have another small piece? And anyway, with no more desserts until next weekend, I deserve a real treat." And in every case, I felt "entitled" to a sweet treat whether large or small.

Now, however, I can have dessert on Sunday if I want OR NOT. I no longer go through the "bigger, smaller, how many calories would I save by my choice" chatter, but just ask myself "Would I enjoy a piece now or not?" If yes, I enjoy it. If no, I skip it EVEN though I won't be having any dessert for another week. I no longer feel the "But-I'm-entitled-to-it" pull. I feel free and very "adult." And it took me two years to get here. So, hang in there!

Wishing everyone continued NoS success,
Vicki in MNE
7! Yrs. with Vanilla NoS, down 55+lb, happily maintaining and still loving it!

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sophiasapientia
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Post by sophiasapientia » Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:43 am

Vicki -- Happy 2 year anniversary & congratulations on your continued success with No S!!! :D Thanks so much for sharing your story ... It is helpful to see how things have shifted over time.

You're a great role model and an inspiration! :D :D :D
Restarted No S (3rd times a charm!) January 2010 at 145 lbs

LoriLifts
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Post by LoriLifts » Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:34 pm

Congratulations Vicki!

Thank you for sharing your story, you're my role model!

Lori
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

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la_loser
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Terrific! You've marked it and moved on. . . successfully!

Post by la_loser » Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:33 am

Wow-what great news from you, Vicki! The others are right; you certainly serve as a role model for the rest of us. That "slow and steady wins the race" mindset and having the patience and trust to let the system work like Reinhard so often encourages us to do are traits that we all can learn from.

I love your illustration of that little head chatter that I know I am so familiar with. How great to be able to silence that little talker! I hope that everyone who is relatively (or really really) new to No S will read this post and take your message to heart. The freedom that we can enjoy from worrying about counting/keeping track/feeling guilty about what we eat or don't is awesome and hopefully the concept that by following the simple No S system that our consumption will eventually level out and that "gluttony" that Reinhard talks about will be a thing of the past.

Besides your inspiring presence on the board, I want to thank you for being the creator of that wonderful phrase that is quoted so often here. Many of you may not know that Vicki was the originator of "Mark it and move on!"

I know you are many miles away from many of us, but it seems to me that are right next door! Keep up the good work!
LA Loser. . . well on my way to becoming an LA Winner. :lol:

kccc
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Post by kccc » Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:56 pm

What an inspiring post! So glad to see you're doing well, and appreciate your sharing.

For me, "mark it and move on" remains one of the BEST "take-aways" from this board - applicable to more than No-S.

Now the "but-I'm-entitled-to-it pull" adds a really wonderful (and all-too-recognizable) description. I continue to learn from you!

Cheers,

KCCC

idontknow
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Post by idontknow » Tue Jul 20, 2010 3:47 pm

Just read your 2 testimonials and am inspired by you. I hope I am here in 2 years time with a similar inspiring account. Well done and thank you for posting this :D

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Jul 21, 2010 3:43 pm

Vicki,

Congratulations and thank you for posting here!

2 years and 40 pounds -- these are not small achievements. But as usual in this forum, your "qualitative" accomplishments are at least as important. And they're not unrelated, of course: all that "head chatter," miserable as it is in itself, usually winds up settling around the gut.

I'm very glad to hear that good old vanilla no-s was all it took on the diet front. It's impressive that you were able to learn from your experiments with mods and virtual plating without getting derailed by them. You're bold enough to try new things, and cautious enough to cut your losses and retrench when it isn't working -- that's a great combination.

It's great to hear that you are finding your S-days settling down without heaping on extra rules -- so many people worry about this when I think most of them would do better to just relax and give it some time.

Your link to the "nitty gritty" of your daily checking thread is a great way to leverage the work you put in there to help others.

Thank you!

Reinhard

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