Everyday Systems

[Mander]

Ok, I'm going to try and do this properly for a while and actually check in!

Day 1 (January 24) went mostly ok, but it was still a fail overall in vanilla no-s terms. I had an extra snack (one oatcake) while waiting for dinner, which ended up being later than planned, and a cookie as dessert with dinner.

However, my main goal to start with is to eat regular meals instead of perma-snacking, which I managed to do! Had a wedge of fritatta for breakfast, leftover stir-fry for lunch, and this wierd invented pasta casserole thing for dinner. We are trying to use up all the leftovers after having had a huge crowd of family over to visit last week. Once that's all gone I'll be back to more normal food.

[Mander]

Woot, an all-green day!

I had slightly larger meals today in an attempt to stave off the desire to snack. Breakfast was more fritatta, as well as an oatcake. Lunch was leftover pasta weirdness plus an apple with peanut butter. Dinner was a sort of southwestern chicken chowder thing, plus salad and a tortilla.

I have been thinking about the one plate rule today, and I have come to the conclusion that part of "don't be an idiot" includes not freaking out because you can't put your soup and salad in the same bowl. My interpretation of one plate is basically one meal, no seconds. So soup + salad + roll, all on different dishes, equals one plate in my book.

[Sweetness]

Good for you on the green

I agree with you about the plates, Reinhard calls it "virtual plating" I think. But when you can make it one plate, its easier to see just how much food you're eating. I have a tendancy to be overly generous with myself. Face it, I love to eat, that's how I ended up overweight. But nobody expects the soup and salad to go in one bowl!
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Patty

The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. --author unknown

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. --Benjamin Franklin

[Mander]

Indeed! Soup and salad in the same bowl would be a bit, um, interesting.

Anyway, Thursday was mostly green as well but I was up late helping my husband with something and we had hot chocolate. Today was an S day (yes, I know Friday doesn't start with S, but I am much more likely to want to go to the pub or out to dinner on a Friday than I am to snack all day on Sunday). Most of the day was fine, but I had a very snack-y dinner and ate some chocolate afterward. But I'm not feeling too bad about any of it, really.

[Sweetness]

I believe hot chocolate is allowed on no S. As long as its not too much sugar! Reinhard says you can put sugar in your coffee, why not in hot chocolate?? I make my own with cocoa powder in the cup. Add boiling water about 3/4 full and stir, a little vanilla, a little salt, a little stevia to sweeten (or you could use honey or sugar) then whole milk up to the top. It really helps when I have chocolate cravings and it's healthy!
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Patty

The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. --author unknown

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. --Benjamin Franklin

[Mander]

Right, well, the weekend ended up being kinda snack filled, although I didn't go too insane. I usually get up earlier than my husband on weekends and wind up snacking while I wait for him to be ready for breakfast. Maybe this week I'll make something in advance so I don't have the same problem.

Ok, now time to get back to reality!

[Mander]

Right, well, I guess I had a bit of a "snack hangover" after the weekend. The past two days I ended up snacking, even though yesterday I had a big lunch and felt stuffed for much of the afternoon. I think part of the problem was that I didn't eat until late, which kind of threw me off. It's also strange how certain foods seem to stop me feeling hungry later in the day, while with others I want to snack all day, even if they have similar nutritional values. If I eat an omlette with toast, for example, I don't feel as hungry as if I have pate on toast, even though the latter probably actually has more vitamins, protein, etc.

Anyway. We'll see how today goes.

[Mander]

Right. This last week did not go well in terms of avoiding snacks. I think I had a late afternoon or evening snack every day this week. Friday I didn't really have a proper breakfast as I was running late for class, and afterwards I went shopping and didn't eat anything until nearly 6pm. And even after my late "lunch" I had yet more snacks. Dinner was late, too.

Today I at least had breakfast, but since then I've eaten three cookies. I know that it's supposed to be an S-day, but maybe I should try not doing S-days for the first few weeks?

I'm feeling a bit depressed about the whole business today, and in fact for the last couple of days. I have never been successful in following any kind of diet, and in fact I haven't even bothered to try for most of my life. Just keep allowing myself to get fatter and fatter, and lazier and lazier.

[r.jean]

I would guess that many of us have had the same kind of feelings at one time or another. The beauty of No S is that it is not really a diet. It is a way of changing your habits and developing a new lifestyle. That means you just have to take one day at a time and keep trying. The only failure is if you give up trying.

Good Luck!
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The journey is the reward.

[Mander]

Well, yesterday being an "s" day, I guess everything went as expected. I did the usual thing of snacking until DH got up, but we had a friend coming over so never really ate a proper breakfast or lunch. We had snacks with said friend and then a normal dinner (followed by a couple of mini-florentines).

Today was going reasonably well until about 4, when I felt compelled to snack even though I wasn't really hungry. I had an apple with peanut butter and a tiny dish of muesli with yogurt. Sigh. I guess at least it's better than eating cookies all day.

[oolala53]

Though I tortured myself about food and my weight for decades, I actually rarely stuck to any plan, though I did have a few bouts. I am not one who has been on countless diets. I couldn't stick to them for two days! No S was the first time I thought about doing something for at least a year. Now it's been two and counting.

I'm curious what you are saying to yourself before you eat these snacks. When we are first trying to establish the habit, we may have to do a fair amount of self-talk. As time goes on, the habit becomes more automatic, but I still use self-talk several times a week. It's almost automatic, too.

Another idea that helped me was the recognition that it was at the moments when I wanted to eat that I had to say no, if it was not meal time. I kept thinking I had to say no only when the urges weren't there. Good luck to me with that! But saying no made it so that the urges are there much less frequently.
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I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[Mander]

I'm not actually sure what I am saying to myself at these times. Classic emotional eating behavior, no? I will make an effort to pay more attention to what I am thinking.

Yesterday was a bit chaotic. I had a real breakfast (yogurt with muesli) and then had to travel to a nearby city for a research study I am participating in. Lunch ended up being spread over several hours because I only had time to eat half of it when I got to the study site, and I ate the other half a few hours later on the train home. I managed okay with dinner, although DH and I both had seconds -- I was kind of skimpy with the first round, and there wasn't enough left in the pot to make a full-sized lunch. But at this stage I am more interested in building the habit of actually sitting down to eat a proper meal instead of just snacking, so I'm going easy on myself with the no-seconds rule. For now, anyway.

[oolala53]

Sitting down can be the first step! Good call.

When I first started, I consciously sat at my dining table rather than on the couch. It felt so dinner-ish, like being a child and a grown-up at the same time! Now there's stuff all over the table again, but I don't need the cue as much. But I also noticed that i did not want to eat even a slice of cucumber until everything was on the plate and I was sitting. It just tastes and feels better when it doesn't feel like you're still waiting for the meal to be ready. Plus, nothing feels as good as that first bite when you're hungry. I want to be sure I'm not distracted by anything for those first bites, and a lot of them after that!
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I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[Mander]

Well, let's see. I don't really recall what happened on Thursday, but I'm sure I broke down and had snacks. Friday was another day where I went to class in the morning and then ran errands without stopping for lunch, so by the time I got home I was starving and had an extra-large lunch/snack. I guess I have all the evidence I need that if I don't have a proper breakfast and lunch I don't do so well with resisting the snacks later on, eh?

Weekends usually involve sleeping late. I managed to have brunch yesterday and lunch today, but no real breakfast either day. Dinner has been ok but it has been a snack extravaganza both days -- peanuts, chocolate, cookies, rice crackers. I don't even particularly lust after chocolates or cookies, so I'm not sure what is going on there. Time for more self-analysis!

[Mander]

Arrgh, snacks snacks snacks!!! I've been doing pretty well with actually sitting down with a plate and eating a proper meal, but it seems that every afternoon I am just too hungry and I wind up eating snacks.

Perhaps I need more substantial meals? More fiber? Soup every day? Probably the biggest thing is figuring out my destructive self-talk that leads to snackage, I expect.

[Mander]

So far today has been better, but then I usually have the snack issue after lunch. Today my lunch was very late, but I made a proper meal including soup from scratch. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid the afternoon snack attack.

[Mander]

I think I am already suffering from the burn-out I feel when I try to establish a new habit but fail repeatedly. This all requires a lot more soul-searching, perhaps -- or maybe it needs less analysis and more adherence to rules?

Anyway, Thursday and Friday were also snack attack days. I did a little better in the daytime on Friday in that I took lunch with me, but I ended up snacking while waiting for dinner.

Self-improvement is such a hard thing. I keep falling into the trap of thinking that everything has to be done right, all written down in my best handwriting in a dedicated fancy book, etc. This just trips me up in the end.

[r.jean]

"..... analysis and more adherence to the rules...."

This sounds like the key to me!

And maybe throw out that journal for now and stick to habit cal?

[Mander]

Ah, well, I haven't actually been keeping a journal -- I don't want to mess it up with less-than-perfect pages!

Sunday wasn't too excessive although I did graze on snacks for breakfast and we didn't get around to eating "lunch" until about 4pm. So far today it's been ok. Breakfast was a bit more substantial than usual (omelette, toast, apple) and I had leftover fish chowder for lunch.

I had intended to go to a zumba class this afternoon but got struck with some unpleasant digestive issues just as I was getting ready to leave, so instead I have done a gentle "office" workout from sparkpeople on youtube. I'd like to build up a habit of doing more exercise but I don't want to try to change too many things at a time.

[Mander]

Woot!! Yesterday I managed an all-green day!!

I was pretty hungry in the afternoon and early evening but I managed to keep telling myself "no, not yet". I had a cup of bovril with a bit of ginger in the afternoon, which I'm not really counting as a snack since it only has 35 calories or something like that.

I'll try to replicate the experience today!

[Mander]

Double woot! I managed to make today all green as well!
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

All right, three in a row!!
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Sigh... I broke my streak. I had a big handful of carrot and celery sticks on Thursday afternoon, and I had a flapjack (the British kind) with a cup of tea yesterday evening with my husband after he got home from work. Not too terrible in the grand scheme of things but a bit self-sabotaging, really.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Well, I kind of fell off the wagon last week. I don't think I pigged out too much, except on Thursday and Friday, but I didn't even really pay much attention to what I was eating. I did have a bit of a relapse in terms of depression and anxiety this week which I'm sure both contributed to and was exacerbated by my snacking. Not sure what triggered it, possibly thinking about money and the endless search for a job.

This week I am going to pick myself up and get back on track. At least I managed to mostly eat proper meals last week instead of grazing for hours. Maybe tomorrow I will make a big pot of vegetable soup to have for lunches.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

I feel like it's been months since I updated this but I guess it hasn't really. Although I said I was going to start again on Monday I have not really stuck to the rules. Right now I am feeling unpleasantly stuffed after seconds of dinner. I had two colors and a chocolate with lunch, and oatcakes with chese as a snack. I bought some supplies to make a big frittatta today and I will try going back to having that for breakfast instead of cereal and yogurt. And I'd like to get out and move more often, although I have actually been doing a reasonable amount of physical stuff this week.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Right, dove off the wagon yet again but I'm trying to get started in earnest again as of today. Let's see if I can make it to 21 days this time!

I have also added doing a daily meditation exercise thing. Might help with my general state of mind.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Ok, I started again with this on Monday, and today marks three days in a row of following the rules! Yay! And if I count Saturday and Sunday, too, then I am five days in! That is the best record yet!
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Amy3010]

Good for you!

I started doing just 5 minutes of meditation each day a few weeks ago after reading in the McGonigal willpower book about how this is really helpful to boost willpower in general. I think it does help, actually.

Just two more days til the end of the week - good luck!

[Mander]

Wow, I actually made it through the first week! I'm going to reward myself by going to the beach later on today, before the weather changes.

Here's to week 2! Only 13 days till I get to join the 21 day club!
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

I haven't been updating this as religiously as I should, but I've been doing pretty well. We have just had a 4-day weekend and extended party for the Queen's Jubilee in the UK, so things have been a little off schedule the last few days. The "violations", so to speak, have been:

-- Friday afternoon I happened upon a free street party hosted at a local hotel, so I sat down and had a piece of cake and a glass of Pimm's and chatted to some random strangers.

-- I had visitors over the weekend and we went out walking on the coast and looking at local landmarks, having lunch and snacks whenever we felt like it, going to the pub and generally drinking beer with meals.

I didn't pig out or anything but it definitely wasn't my usual pattern. Since it was a special occasion, however, I'm counting the whole weekend and the street party as "S" days. Having a packet of crisps after having walked a few miles or having cake at a party are not in the same league as surfing the internet while mindlessly stuffing crisps into my mouth.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Sigh. I got off track with the long Jubilee weekend, did ok for a couple of days and then fell off the wagon again last Friday. I have been hitting the sweets really hard the last few days and I feel pretty gross as a result. I've also been struggling with the negative self-talk again.

Not much for it but to try to pick myself up again, I suppose. I'm leaving to visit my family next week, which will probably start a whole new binge-y cycle, but I will do my best to practice telling myself "no".
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

I have not been very consistent about this at all in the last few months. In fact I have hardly even paid attention to what I am stuffing into my mouth. Perhaps it's just a disrupted routine, what with vacations, holidays, and family visits. So far I have managed to more or less eat proper meals, but the snacking is still a problem, especially in the afternoon.

This week I've been munching on granola bars, trail mix, smoked sausages, oat cakes, and scones. I cut up some celery and carrots in an attempt to at least give myself some better alternatives but I haven't eaten them yet.

Tomorrow is another day, I suppose...
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Wow, it's been a while since I did this. I decided to start again and today was the first regular day. And I managed to keep it green!
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Yesterday was ok, though red on snacks/sweets (I ate 3 pieces of hard candy in the afternoon). But I didn't snack all afternoon and I had three regular meals.

So far today has been ok although I had another hard candy earlier. I'm not going to beat myself up too much with these, as long as I am only eating 2 or 3, because sucking on a 16-calorie candy is a lot better than scarfing down 300-400 calories' worth of my usual snack temptations.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[MJ7910]

i think if you can get through the day and not use "i messed up" as a reason to overdo it further, that is awesome progress!
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Done with dieting. This is bliss. "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

[Mander]

Well, I have done relatively well this week. I had a few hard candies one day as a snack, and this evening I have fallen off the snack wagon with a bowl of cereal and a granola bar, but the rest of this week I did fine. So, that's encouraging.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

I went on an overnight trip with the other half Monday and Tuesday, so things were a little off-kilter. Monday we had breakfast on an early train, no lunch, a big fancy dinner and some even fancier beers (and cake) afterwards. Tuesday we didn't really have breakfast, just a handful of nuts, and we had some snacks and the rest of the cake on the way home (as well as lunch at a cafe and a regular dinner at home).

This morning I was a little off-kilter as I had a long email to research and write ASAP, so I nibbled on a couple of oatcakes first thing, got involved with my email, and then had my usual bowl of muesli but much later than normal. I'll try to get back on track the rest of the day.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[MJ7910]

I like how you are able to get yourself back on track. that is a hard one for many (myself included) as soon as you do one thing it is ok to go back to plan! doesn't mean it's a fail the rest of the day so might as well do more damage.
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Done with dieting. This is bliss. "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin

[Mander]

Don't be too quick to congratulate me for getting back on track! I ended up snacking quite a bit over the course of the day, not a huge amount but it was still a fail in that respect.

But so far today I have done much better. Perhaps the key for me is having a reliable breakfast at the right time.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Well, the end of last week didn't go so well. Friday night we didn't have dinner until very late and I got hungry and started snacking (cheese, oatcakes, almonds, and a little bowl of muesli). I snacked a bunch on Thursday, too, with similar stuff. Part of the problem is that I have a cold, which for some reason always makes me hungry.

Anyway, today has been better so far. I decided to actually weigh the proper portion of muesli this morning so that I have a better idea of the appropriate volume, and found that it is about what I have been pouring myself in any case, so I felt pretty good about that. Right now I am having a bit of a cookie craving but I am trying my best to ignore it.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Amy3010]

That's funny - I weighed my muesli this morning, too, for the exact same reason! I find 30 g (the portion size on the box) just seems so little, so I measured out 50 g - which seemed more like a normal portion to me. How much do you use?

[Mander]

The label on mine said 30g was the right serving, which just happens to be exactly one little ramekin full -- that was about the amount I was eating anyway. This particular kind seems to be less dense than some of the others I've had (maybe because it has no added sugar?) but I think it is more satisfying that way. I also have been adding a small handful of almonds and I usually have it with Greek yogurt.

Right, so yesterday's update: I did ok for the most part but I got hungry in the late afternoon and munched a handful of almonds, and I had a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows as a desert.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Well, so far this week has not been all that great in terms of snacking. I have once again found myself getting very hungry in the late afternoon/early evening and dinner has been rather late for various reasons, so I've ended up having a snack. On the plus side these have been limited to just one thing (e.g. an apple with peanut butter, a scotch egg, a small handful of almonds) and not an entire afternoon's worth of mindless grazing.

I've been considering reviving the one useful thing about my stint at Weight Watchers years ago, which was making a big pot of basic vegetable soup every week and having a small bowl of that whenever you wanted a snack. The soup was based on tomato juice with a bit of canned broth and had low-calorie vegetables like cabbage and broccoli (no corn, potatoes, peas, or other starchy things). This time around I might start by making a stock with some bones from the butcher but otherwise follow the same idea.

It would be nice to have around for lunch in any case, with additions to change it up (add a bit of cooked chicken, some beans, a spoonful of salsa or yogurt, etc.) every day. Recently I read about a research study that had shown that soup makes you feel satisfied for longer -- people were given the same ingredients and quantities but in different forms, like chicken noodle soup versus stir-fried chicken and noodles with a glass of water, but the soup-eaters reported being less hungry and ate less later.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Sigh. I got off-track again, not only with tracking myself but also with snacking.

I'll try again next week.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[No BS]

Mander I used to never eat meals but graze most of the day and evening instead.

So when I had to prep 3 meals a day and let that be all of my daily food, I had absolutely no idea how much food to put on the plate! But it had to be enough so I did not get hungry between meals and reflexively snack. And it had to be enough so I didn't get anxious about food & quit entirely.

So I piled up those plates with ginormous amounts of food the first month or so to guarantee I was too stuffed to snack between meals or overnight It worked. I broke the snack/grazing habit and created a new 3-plates a day habit. And I still lost weight.

And eventually the piles of food on my plate got less & less as I learned I wouldn't die from hunger, as I learned what was a healthy portion for me, as I learned that the plates kept coming, like clockwork, at every mealtime. All I had to do was fill them and eat, 3 times a day!

It can be done. Good luck to you, Mander.
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2013: Slowly regaining control of my life in plate sized increments.

[Mander]

That sounds like a good strategy. I think I need to try something like that with lunch especially. The late afternoon/early evening period, when it's not quite time for dinner, is when I get ravenously hungry and reach for a snack.

I didn't fill out my habitcal last week and I think that, rather than trying to reconstruct what I ate, I am just going to try again this week. After all, if the aim is to build a habit of checking in daily, then it does no good to fool myself by sneakily filling things in after the deadline has passed.
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Beginning: about 18.5

[Mander]

Yesterday I had to go to the dentist to get a cracked filling replaced so my day was a bit wonky. I had a big breakfast (3 egg omelette with ham) and didn't have anything to eat all day until 5:30, at which point I was starving so I had my lunch then. Dinner wasn't until 9:30.
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Beginning: about 18.5