Sienna's Annualish Check-In: The First Year

(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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Sienna
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Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 5:00 pm

Sienna's Annualish Check-In: The First Year

Post by Sienna » Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:47 pm

The First Year of the Rest of My Life

This is going to get long, so I'll try to split it up into sections. That way you can scroll to sections that interest you and skip those that don't.

My Intro To NoS
One year ago today, I stumbled upon the NoS website. It was a Tuesday night after dinner, and so the day was already effectively red. But nonetheless I decided to start immediately, no more eating that night. No waiting until Monday, or the 1st of the month or New Years. When my husband got home, I told him what the basic plan was. I told him he didn't have to follow it, but that I wanted to enlist his help in not offering me snacks and sweets on weekdays. He agreed and decided to start the plan himself. A few days later, I started daily weigh-ins and charting. I didn't take initial body measurements until October.


Results By The Numbers
My results go so far beyond these numbers, but it is still a good reference point, so I'll get them out of the way first.

Starting Weight: 226.4 pounds (6/27/2010)
Current Weight: 160.9 pounds (6/22/2011)
Total Lost: 65.5 pounds or 28.93% of my starting body weight

Starting BMI: 37.67
Current BMI: 26.77 (or 25.97 - I've also apparently grown an inch, perhaps because I'm standing taller?)

Starting Clothing Size: snug 18
Current Clothing Size: 10 to 12

Inches Lost (10/9/2010 @205lbs to 6/21/2011)
Waist (at bellybutton): 5.5
Narrowest Waist: 6
Hips: 6.25
Chest: 6
Bust: 6.5

My total cholesterol, trigylceroids and LDL are also down, although I don't know the exact numbers. The total cholesterol is still a bit elevated, but the PA was very encouraged about the direction its moving. It's worth noting that I don't take any cholesterol meds and I don't do much watching what I eat outside of the NoS rules. So it's basically all due to NoS.

My Husband: Less compliant on average and mostly has over-the-top wild S days. He's down 20 pounds over the year.


My Personal Interpretation and Execution of the NoS Rules
If anyone asks, I follow Vanilla NoS. I haven't made any major changes for the rules. However, for any system of rules, someone has to decide how to interpret them. NoS rules are so simple they don't require much interpretation, but there are still the occasional borderline cases. I talk about my personal interpretation/execution in some detail in my personal check in thread (http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... &start=100 near the bottom of the page) But here is the cliff notes version:

- Anything goes on S days. Although they have naturally gotten pretty tame over time, I've had some doozies.
- S events for many non-weekend "special days" instead of full s days.
- Hot chocolate is not an S for me. I don't drink coffee, and its just not any worse than coffee with cream and sugar.
- Calorie estimation. Not calorie counting! And I don't really do it anymore, but I used it as a cruch when I was starting out to avoid going overboard on N days.
- No regular exercise. I should work on this...
- Daily weigh ins. I "mark it and move on" though, I use the wii fit and sometimes I don't even look at the weight, just let it chart me.
- No tracking red days (or green days). When I screw up, I note it as a failure and then move on. I don't keep a habitcal or a calendar tracking success or failure. I've toyed with tracking in checkins and monthly challenges (especially trying to up my exercise), but it doesn't work well for me. I get caught up in the perfection of it and when the challenge is over I tend to rebel. I think that I had more failures in the month immediately following my all green challenge week than I'd had in the 6 months previous.
- I gave up (diet) soda for a few months, but then ungave it up. It didn't seem to have much of an effect when I started drinking it again, but I do thinking ditching it from the get go may have helped me resist the sugar cravings of the early days.
- To avoid bias, any questionable decision must be made on an S day. Never on the fly when I happen to be wanting to break/bend a rule.


That last one is one of the most important. It prevents me from deciding on the fly that some random meeting is an S event since Susie got a promotion (which is afterall very special!), just because I really want a cupcake. But allows me to celebrate a friend's birthday with her when we have cake for her on an N day (because it was planned for, in advance). It's also what I used to decide on the hot chocolate. I declined when I first had the N day craving, thought about it over the weekend when my brain could make a logical decision instead of relying on my stomach. And decided that for me (for a number of reasons) it was okay and maybe even a beneficial thing to allow hot chocolate on N days.

My Emotional Journey

I have been overweight since high school. But in high school, a lot of it was fairly legit weight, because I was very athletic and musclular. So even though I was over the magic BMI 25.0, I wasn't really unhealthy. Somehow though, this got it into my head that my "normal" was overweight. I steadily gained weight all through college. I'm not sure that I was very aware I was gaining, but pictures and clothing sizes don't lie. I didn't think it was possible for me to be a super skinny girl, so I just sort of accepted that I was "a bit overweight". And that's all I was. No matter how much I gained, I still saw and thought of myself as "a bit overweight" or someone who could "stand to lose a few pounds"

This attitude persisted after college. I did try several diets, half-heartedly, but I had this underlying attitude that life wasn't fair and that it wasn't worth being thin if it meant I had to be miserable and starve myself to do it. So I did a lot of giving up on diets/dieting. After a job change in 2008 that left me more sedentary and more stressed, the pounds started to pack on even faster. Between summer 2008 and summer 2010 I went from 190-200lbs to 226+lbs. But all this time, any problems with my weight were the world's problem. Clothes shopping was always an emotional minefield - but that was the stupid designers not making clothing in my size.

I would sometimes feel unattractive, but I was convinced attractiveness wasn't important. Only on some level, it is. Because I wasn't happy with myself. I didn't want to admit to that level of vanity, but it was true. I don't need to look like Heidi Klum, but I do need to be able to be happy with myself. And being unhappy with myself because of how I look is okay. It doesn't make me vain or a failure as a woman. I can still love myself for all the good attributes and work on others I don't like as well. Because I'm not perfect. And I never will be perfect. But that doesn't mean I can't work towards being better, it just means I shouldn't hang my happiness on some unattainable level of perfection.

In June 2010, I saw a picture of myself on facebook. And I didn't just look fat, I looked ENORMOUS. I wasn't just overweight, I was Obese. I'd known for years that my BMI was obese, but had mostly convinced myself that it was a problem with the system, I had muscles, I was overweight, maybe, but not obese, etc. I'd obviously seen pictures of myself before too, but had always written it off as me being unphotogenic and the camera making me look fat. I'm not sure why it finally clicked, but it did: The reason I looked fat in pictures is because I WAS fat. The reason my BMI says that I am obese is that I need to lose weight. Shortly there after I stumbled upon NoS. And the program clicked for me. Reinhard's words were convicting - and it was about time I faced the music
If you're like most overweight people, it's no mystery why you're fat. You're fat because you eat too damn much. I don't care whether it's carbs or hydrogenated oils or granola bars, you just eat a lot of it. Maybe you don't metabolize your food quite as efficiently as your skinny neighbor, I'll grant you that (maybe), but the fact remains, you eat too much. I don't mean to be insulting, I used to eat too much too. I put it this way because you're never going to lose any weight if you pretend that there are more complex and flattering reasons for your condition. So get this genes stuff out of your head, it's probably an excuse.
Yep. That sounds about right. And I guess I was finally ready to hear it. It really doesn't matter if life is fair. And if my metabolism means I can't eat as much as Naturally Narrow Nancy. I was eating more than I needed. And really, blaming my willpower is better than blaming something else. Because then it is completely within my control to fix - even if it isn't easy to do. And here was a plan to train myself to eat less. And what' better, it seemed so simple. And easy. No counting every calorie. No never eating sweets. No depriving myself of fats or carbs or anything. I could eat anything I wanted 28.5% of the time. And the other 71.5% I just had to confine eating to meal time and lay of the sweets. It didn't seem daunting trying to imagine doing NoS for a lifetime. Let alone for a month.

So I started. And it clicked. Prior to NoS, I was a stress eater. But when you can only eat your emotions 2 out of 7 days of the week, there is an immediate decrease in stress eating. What's more, I soon became able to separate emotional cravings from hunger cravings. And to resist the emotional cravings even on S days. My relationship with food improved almost immediately. The treats I had on S days tasted better, because they were treats - instead of just other things I ate. And the 3 meal a day structure meant that I ate 3 meals a day, instead of perma-snacking through twice the calories in the evening.

Soon, I started to get pickier about what was "worth" eating. I'm now a bit of a chocolate snob. I won't eat cheap chocolate. Hershey kisses? Just not worth it. Resee's peanut butter cups? No thank you. And overall, it didn't cost any more, because I was eating less. So I got better chocolate, more enjoyment, less pounds on my body, all for the same cost. How is that not a win?

Mid July- Mid September brought one of the most stressful periods of my life to date. I'd resolved to call it a success to just not gain any weight. Instead lost nearly 10 pounds, and found that not using food to deal with my stress, led to me actually coping with it better overall (for the most part).

By September/October, I'd really seen the pounds start to come off. But I wasn't feeling any smaller. And I didn't think I looked any smaller. And my clothes weren't too big. Realistically, I was probably at the top of my size. And 20 pounds at 226 doesn't have the same effect on your frame as 20 pounds at 170. But, I felt in control of my eating. And optimistic about my future on the diet. Because I didn't really feel like I was dieting. Just eating moderately. This is when I took some initial body measurements, because I thought it might be worthwhile to look back on them later. At the end of September, I joined the NoS forum and started a checkin thread. I was hoping it would encourage me to exercise more, but while I will be good about exercise for awhile, inevitably something comes up and I stop. Which just reminded me how thankful I was to have a diet plan that didn't require any outside time. Busy week? No problem. You don't need extra time to not eat snacks or sweets. And not eating seconds saves time.

The end of November and December brought the first real struggles of the diet. With the holiday season in full swing, there were way too many S days. And a few times I slipped and engaged in mindless eating. I also ended up with more sweets around the house. Which meant more sweets on weekends and a few red N days. I briefly thought about "suspending" NoS through the holidays. Then realized that it works because you do it forever. And it wasn't that hard to restrain S foods to the weekends. Just needed a little kick in the pants.

January and February brought new and different stresses. We were moving, and that meant a lot of fast food and take out. But the structure of the plan gave me a constant even amound the chaos. Which was really wonderful. To know that I *could* eat at McDonalds as long as it was only a plate, was a huge relief.

March brought the March Challenge. I had an all Green month for diet and exercise. But emotionally, it was really rough. I didn't like the way I felt squeezing in exercise just to say I didn't fail. And although I tried to stay positive, I really didn't like how the whole thing made me feel.

In rebellion for March, April was a big stumbling block. Lots of fails. And I lost a lot of the drive to have a green day. I'd break the rules because I could and no one would stop me. I was like a rogue teenager hell bent on self destruction. But even after some fail days, I still just knew that the diet worked and I kept hopping back up on the horse.

By May, I basically had the rebellion out of my system. But I was (and am) starting to notice the weight loss slowing. This is normal. Healthy weight loss means the rate of loss should taper as you get closer to your goal weight. But after re-doubling my efforts for compliance, seeing the weight loss slow was a tad discouraging.

And now, here in June, I'm trucking on. I feel happier with myself and my eating than I have been in many years. Although I have moments of defiance, the plan is simple enough that I can still see myself doing it for years and years to come. And even if I never hit my goal weight, I'm convinced that I'll land on a healthy enough weight for myself (even if my BMI doesn't drop below that magic 25 mark). I still get emotional cravings for food. I imagine I always will. But I do get them less now. And they aren't as intense or at least I've learned to recognize and ignore them. I feel like I'm a food addict that has finally figured out how to conquer her addiction. And prior to NoS, that just didn't seem possible - because you can't exactly go cold turkey and just quit eating altogether! I'm really truly looking forward to the next year on this diet (and all the years after that) and what it can do for me.



Weight Loss Over Time/Milestones:
When there is a lot of weight to lose, it can be helpful to have milestones. Since I track my weight on the WiiFit, I have to have a constant goal. I set lots of little mini goals (1 month) to keep it happy. But I also have some big milestones that I've celebrated. Each one gave me an opportunity to say "woohoo!" and jump up in down with glee before resuming my regularly scheduled morning. So I'll share some of them here.

6/27/2010: Start
8/12/2010: 10 lbs lost!
9/29/2010: Dropped to Class I obese (BMI<35)
10/17/2010: 10% of my starting weight lost!! I'm only 90% of the person I was in June!
10/31/2010: Dropped under 200 lbs. my weight starts with a 1!
1/7/2011: Half-way to my Big Goal (150 lbs, BMI 25)!
1/29/2011: 2nd 10% loss! It's great that 10% gets smaller every time!
2/17/1011: Dropped to Overweight class (BMI<30). OMG! I'm not obese anymore
4/15/2011: 75% of the way to my Big Goal!
5/29/2011: 3rd 10% loss! I only need to lose 10% once more to reach my Big Goal!
6/18/2011: BMI dropped below 27.3 (I know it isn't a magic number, but BMI>27.3 is where increased risk of heart disease and diabetes is recorded in women)


And I'm sure the next year will bring some more.


Charts and Graphs
If anyone is interested, here are two charts of my weight loss over the past year. The first is just my weight over time, ploted with a trendline (linear regression) and an average weightloss line (basically connecting the first and last dot). The trendline is solid black and the average is dashed red.
Image


The second is a plot of my average amount of weight lost per week by week. To minimize noise from a single high or low weight, I actually determined the amount lost over the prior week for each day and then average those numbers for the week to get the weekly average (I also plotted the amount of weight lost per week by day, but its hard to gather trends from it). Basically, I hover around 1.5poundsish per week until week 27 (also known as "the holidays") where it dips quite a bit. The weightloss then picks up again in January, and slowly begins to slow over the last few months. I don't know how useful the information is, but I find it interesting.

Image
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!

Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)

Clarica
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Post by Clarica » Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:30 pm

and another hearty round of woo-hoo! Great details, thanks!

Who Me?
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Post by Who Me? » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:33 pm

I think this is where we crank up the stereo, and dance around the living room! Awesome!!! You rock!!! High five!!! Whoo--flipping'--Hooooo!!!

Starla
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Post by Starla » Thu Jun 23, 2011 12:58 pm

Congratulations!! This testimonial made me so happy for you.

I love that you titled this "The First Year of the Rest of my Life," and that you have found something that will stay with you forever. We experienced many of the same things during our first years, not just in terms of weight loss, but in happiness with ourselves and our lives.

Welcome to Year 2!

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sophiasapientia
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Post by sophiasapientia » Thu Jun 23, 2011 3:04 pm

Wow! Joining in your well-deserved celebration! Thanks so much for sharing your journey -- both emotional and logistical -- over the past year and in such helpful detail, too. Your story has inspired and will continue to inspire many .... :D
Restarted No S (3rd times a charm!) January 2010 at 145 lbs

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Thu Jun 23, 2011 7:25 pm

Wow.

I think this sets the new gold standard for a "yearly check in."

Not just in terms of the magnitude of your accomplishment, but what presentation!

And not just one accomplishment, but your husband's too -- congratulations to you both!

The graphs are fantastic -- one doesn't often see such quantitative rigor on a weight loss bulletin board!

THANK YOU for taking the time to share your story here in such useful and interesting and well organized detail.

Reinhard

Too solid flesh
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Post by Too solid flesh » Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:11 pm

Great results and a fantastic post. Congratulations! And thank you for all the inspiring information.
Be kind, for everybody you meet is fighting a hard battle.

r.jean
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Post by r.jean » Fri Jun 24, 2011 1:16 am

Congrats Sienna. I have always watched for your posts because your journey is inspiring and because your "numbers" and parts of your story are similar to mine. (Except that I am much older.)

I hope you know how helpful it is to read of your struggles and your successes as I work my way through the same journey.

Thanks! :mrgreen:
The journey is the reward.
Maintenance is progress.

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DaveMc
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Post by DaveMc » Fri Jun 24, 2011 10:12 am

Fantastically well done! (Both your success in your first year, and in how wonderfully you've presented it. Great stuff.)

It's stories like this that awaken the NoS evangelist in me ... I want to get the address of everyone in North America and mail them a copy of the book ...

Seriously, if Oprah Winfrey started pitching NoS on her show (or, wait, did she retire?), the U.S. could collectively lose hundreds of millions of pounds in the next few years.

But I digress. Congratulations, Sienna!

(EDIT: Worse than digressing, I oversimplify. Of course it's not just a matter of handing people the book, and that underestimates the hard work that people like Sienna have put in! The idea is beautiful, but people need to be (1) ready to hear it, and (2) willing to work at it, as Sienna clearly has done. It's simple, but that's not the same as *easy*.)

jellybeans01
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Post by jellybeans01 » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:02 pm

Sienna, congrats, you are doing wonderful. I really appreciated your post it was so informative. Keep up the good work, you are an inspiration.

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NoSRocks
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Post by NoSRocks » Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:47 am

MANY CONGRATULATIONS Sienna, from me, too!! Just spent an enjoyable evening reading over your fabulous post. I just love hearing about others' No S Success as it inspires and excites me and gives me the impetus to soldier on. Thank you SO much for posting!!!

Now I just wanna kick all those other diets to the curb - you are living testament, hon: No S WORKS!!
No S-er since December 2009
Streamlined S Days: 6/25/12
SW: 170 /CW: 127
Weight loss to date: 43 lbs

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:24 pm

wonderful testimonial and success this year sienna!!!
congratulations :)
you are truly inspiring!!!
wishing you continued success and thank you very much for sharing :)
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

Grammy G
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Post by Grammy G » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:12 am

I appreciate your honesty and candor. I think I will be returning to read this again and again. You did it :) :) whaaa-hoooo!! ( I hope that someday you can be writing that on my success story!) :wink:
"If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think another negative thought."
Peace Pilgrim

Kathleen
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Post by Kathleen » Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:54 am

Sienna,
What a wonderful start to the rest of your life! Congratulations!
Kathleen

Joyofsix
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Post by Joyofsix » Sun Jul 03, 2011 1:27 am

Thank you for putting that down for us and congrats to you!
Lisa, mom to 7

Sienna
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Post by Sienna » Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:32 pm

Thank you everyone for your responses! It really has been quite a year and I'm looking forward to the next one. It's great to see others inspired, because reading the testimonials is probably what gave me the push I needed to get started. The plan was so simple, I knew I could eat that way. But knowing that it had worked well for others definitely helped it be worth the try.

And obviously, I'm very glad I did give it a try! :D

And many extra thanks to reinhard, because without his book and the NoS plan, none of this would have been possible.


And DaveMC: I absolutely agree with you. Both in wanting to become a NoS evangelist and in your assessment of why just handing people the book is not enough. But about all you can do is keep leading the horses to the water and hope for the best. I know I've caused a couple of my real life friends to check out the website and pick up the book. So we'll see what happens.
Finally a diet that I can make a lifestyle!

Started June 2010
6/27/2010 - 226 lbs
10/17/2010 - 203 lbs - 10% weight loss goal!
1/29/2011 - 182 lbs - 2nd 10% weight loss goal!
5/29/2011 - 165 lbs - 3rd 10% weight loss goal! (one more to go)

windomearle
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Post by windomearle » Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:15 am

Sienna,

I have known about No S for nearly 6 years.

I read the book nearly 3 years ago.

But it was your extremely well-documented story that made me finally decide to actually start using it as a guideline my dietary life.

Thank you!

Sweetness
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Post by Sweetness » Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:59 pm

Thanks for your post! I am loving No S. Good to know how well it's working for you. :)
Patty

Anxiety in a person's heart weighs him down, but an encouraging word brings him joy. (Proverbs 12:25 NET)
I'm a glutton for encouragement.

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