Everyday Systems

carolejo

Well, I can really tell that I retrained my tastebuds whilst doing this. Last night I went to the supermarket to buy some cakes to take to work. I was walking through the fruit aisle and I saw a big bag of juicy grapes and a large crate of plums and though 'Oh, yummy! They'd be PERFECT to take in.' ...

carolejo

so far so good. I'm going back to taking this one '8 hour period' at a time though cos there's too much happening in my life!! Arrrgh!!!!!!!! Today I have a full day at work (big, nasty, important, confidential and very hard project with a deadline of this coming Monday morning and everyone else who...

carolejo

Hi Galemarie, welcome to this amazingly helpful place! I'm pretty sure that Reinhard and some other people will chip in here sooner or later, but in the meantime, I thought I'd add my two-pence-worth. Your plan to eat the plate of salad then have about a third to a half plate of protein seems like a...

carolejo

I've arrived at my penultimate day in the Wakefield office - tomorrow I get CAKES!! Yay!

For now though, everything is fine. Total textbook eating yesterday. Just about to make myself an omlette in the microwave at work for breakfast.

good morning everyone.
C.

carolejo

personally, I'd leave it as a guideline. Keep posting it as 'almost funny stuff' so you can track how your behaviour changes over time. If it creeps up and up and you're eating more and more after 9pm, consider re-instating it properly, but if it tails off consider dropping it (after about another 6...

carolejo

I put something on my Blog about wanting to do something about my self-destructive eating habits and one of my friends suggested this. She'd never tried it, but thought it might appeal to me...

...and here I am.
C.

carolejo

another sucessful day. I managed to resist the temptation of the birthday cakes AND (more difficult) the half bar of Green and Blacks Maya Gold chocolate which is still in the fridge left over from the weekend. Guess what else? I also stumbled over a bottle of Ginger beer that I'd forgotten about, f...

carolejo

That's why you should wrap it in a big sweater or something(!)

But I'm still very careful, even with that.
C.

carolejo

Yeah, it's blowin' pretty well over here too... but at least that means any clouds don't stick around long enough to rain!
C.

carolejo

Glad to hear your week got off to a good start. Keep going! Every little 8 hour period of the day where you stick to the rules is 8 hours where you suceeded. Even failing somewhen else can't take those sucesses away! (Man, I'm sounding more and more American with each passing day :lol: ) Hope you've...

carolejo

Hi Everyone, just like to report a total SUCCESS with NoS yesterday, despite it being a Monday and therefore somehow 'tricksy and false' (to borrow one of Gollum's favourite phrases). I also wanted to say that my Nan is out of hospital for the time being. She and my Grandad are staying with my paren...

carolejo

On the avoidance issue - My husband thinks I'm crazy, cos I actually *like* walking down the cake and sweets aisle in the supermarket, knowing full well that I'm not allowed to buy anything there. Somehow I derive an amazing amount of satisfaction from just walking past it all. It's partly because I...

carolejo

Whooo Hoo!! Go go garden busting action! My body doesn't feel too bad though, considering I did more hard physical labour in the past 2 days than I think I've done in the whole of the last 5 years! Back to it now though. No more toasted marshmallows... at least, not until next Saturday :lol: Have a ...

carolejo

This weekend (in addition to the 3 'normal' platefuls of food I would usually eat) I ate the following additional things (in no particular order) 5 large pieces of homemade shortbread 4 bags of crisps (in the UK, 'chips' are what we call french fries. 'crisps' are what the Americans call 'chips'. Ou...

carolejo

Thanks Freakwitch, that's really sweet of you to say. Well folks, I'm hanging around in my 'old' house, having just taken delivery of a skip and waiting for the first people to show up and help me dig my garden. I'm not really expecting anyone to show before about 10:30, but for some reason had a fi...

carolejo

*sends you happy vibes*

Keep movin' and shakin'. You can do it Lynne!

C.

carolejo

I know what you mean about 'previously you wouldn't even walk 5 mins'. I drove to a new supermarket that opened close to where I live, about 6 months ago now. I pulled up in the car park right in front of the doors, got out of the car, then realised that the doors were up a flight of stairs - not di...

carolejo

Hey Lynne, You might find it easier to keep track of if you keep one topic (Lynne's check in or somesuch) and just post replies to yourself each day. It's cute to have one for each day, but I expect it will be a nightmare if you ever wanted to look back over it a few month's later to see how you've ...

carolejo

There's a small rule that I use in addition whenever I eat anything - either at home or out in a restaurant. It applies to all those of us who are 'allergic' to leaving food on our plates... If I put the food on my plate myself, I really should try to eat it all. Otherwise I was being very gluttonou...

carolejo

Ouch Deb, big bills are BAD! Hope it gets sorted out somehow and you can convince them they made a mistake :shock: Don't beat yourself up too much about yesterday. Today is another day entirely. Everybody falls off the wagon sometimes - it's part of being human. I know what you mean about your 'mont...

carolejo

Thanks Mo. You're totally right of course. The old me would have eaten a second doughnut, 2 chocolate muffins, a large slice of lemon cake AND washed it all down with the fizzy pop sitting next to it.... Oh, and eaten about 15 chocolates for afters. I only wish I was exaggerating here :oops: :? It's...

carolejo

Oops. Just broke the rules. One of the girls in the office is leaving and she bought some PERFECT JAM DOUGHNUTS in with her to share. So I ate a doughnut. That's definately an S. ....But I'm not going to eat another one, or even one of the chocolate muffins, or some chips and dips or any of the othe...

carolejo

Oh, and a 5 hour detour - no sweat! Sounds like my usual kind of holiday!!!

*grin*

carolejo

Hi everyone. No news on my Nan yet. No change, for better or worse. Yesterday was a 'mostly success' with NoS. I did have a very small portion of the bread and butter pudding that my brother-in-law cooked at teatime though, so it wan't picture perfect. Lots to do today. I've got a full day at work (...

carolejo

Cheers! I will definately be trying this out as soon as I get access to my own kitchen again.
C.

carolejo

Awww. thanks Deb and Dru. You're so sweet. I'd be totally psyched if you came to visit me! I LOVE getting visitors and having people to stay!! Who knows, but I might well be able to visit you in Great Neck someday. I have a very very good friend (she's also called Deb too - how about that for co-inc...

carolejo

I'm *definately* making some of those as soon as I next get access to a kitchen of my own!

I'd also like your cornbread recipe please.

C.

carolejo

Cheers guys! Somehow it made my day to hear that I'm 'officially funny'!! Things here are a little rocky right now. My Nan is in hospital. She had some pretty severe stomach cramps and they took her in. As of right now, nobody really knows what's wrong. She's waiting for a scan, but the hospital say...

carolejo

I remember as a kid 'sneaking' into the kitchen and 'stealing' a large piece of cake that was supposed to be for tea. Needless to say, when teatime came round and most of the cake was missing, I started to get quite worried. "hey! Where did that cake go?" asked my mother "um. Well..." "did you eat i...

carolejo

cheers Deb! There's a picture of my face on page 3 (hey, fancy that!! Me, a page 3 girl!! :lol: ) actually, I don't think you yanks have page 3 girls in your newspapers. Just in case, page 3 in several of our tabloid papers in the UK is taken up with an image of a girl in some kind of daft pose with...

carolejo

Yesterday was a SUCCESS. Yay! I'm getting geared up for some seriously hard work this weekend. I'm holding a garden party to fix the nightmare mess that the rogue builder scumbag left behind when he "allegedly" did my garden for me(!) a few months ago. Lots of digging and bashing and moving heavy th...

carolejo

I put my 'before' photo up too. Like you, the photo I picked is the one that made me go 'holy crap! I really have to do something about this!!!'.

Nice to see you anyway, even if it's not the image you really want us to see! Looking forward to seeing your first 'during' photo for comparison.

C.

carolejo

*hugs*.

Hope you get completely recovered in next to no time! being ill is not a recommended weight-loss strategy, generally

C.

carolejo

Put a reply to the Flickr image thread on the 'I'm confused' topic.

Hope it helps. If you need any more assistance, please feel free to contact me again.

Best of luck and I look forward to seeing that picture up here soon!
C.

carolejo

My 'before' picture, BTW:-

My, Aren't I a handsome devil!!! *NOT*

carolejo

Hi Tonsha, Got your message. No problem. Log in to Flickr. Find the picture you want. Click on it to view it. Click on 'all sizes' at the top (it's in grey above the picture). Choose the size you want to post (medium is generally best for this board, I found). Below the picture is the photo's URL. U...

carolejo

Yeah, I have to do this project alright. I'm keeping my job and taking it with me, so that isn't going to change (another piece of conisistency in my life! Yay!) Last night I didn't do so well with the NoS. I came home and ate 2 lollypops that my little sister had left on the side in the kitchen. Th...

carolejo

Hey guess what..? My bathroom scales are currently in another time-zone anyhow! I don't even get to know if I go up or down anyhow :lol: Today I'm having the typical Monday MADNESS and wanting to run off and eat a chocolate bar. BUT I'm NOT GOING TO. If it gets too much, I can always eat the nectari...

carolejo

Oooh, S days!!! I think I went a bit overboard actually, but it's not a problem. Even if I go overboard, it's still not as bad as everyday used to be pre NoS!! Been a bit of a rollercoaster ride recently, in all respects apart from dietary ones. Nice to know that at least *one* aspect of my life is ...

carolejo

Thanks *blush*. I can't do more than about 7 or 8 minutes with the 10 pounder though! Got some more working up to do with that one. Tis a good exercise program - I like anything where you can vary the load so much and so easily to make it comfortable for you. Depending on where you hold the Sledge h...

carolejo

Personally, I modified the rules to suit me a bit better and allow myself up to 2 servings of fruit a day in addition to my 3 meals. Generally I eat none or one only, and usually I 'virtually plate' them with my breakfast or lunch anyway. The official version (like Spiral said) is to include it in y...

carolejo

Dave, I remember reading here somewhere before about these becoming 'boring'. It's like some version of a modern day wish / prayer:- May you and your family be happy and healthy, and may your diet blog be boring :lol: I wish you and all Nossers here the above! Boring is good in this case. It means y...

carolejo

My house is empty! The Boy is currently unpacking all our stuff into the new apartment in Amsterdam, as I sit at my desk in the UK writing this. I'm living out of a suitcase in my sister's spare room for a few weeks though, whilst I get everything finalised in the UK. On the diet front, I've not bee...

carolejo

I have to say, I'm really going to find the dutch style breakfast (fresh bread, cheese and cooked meats) to be very agreeable! This is one instance where I'll be 'going native' in double-quick time.

C.

carolejo

If you skin them, chop them and pile 'em high, I bet you could get about 10 on a plate

Without chopping them, probably 4.

Would you really want to eat 4 of them in a sitting though? I generally wouldn't want to eat 4 of anything much in one go. variety is the spice of life in my book!

C.

carolejo

I have to add here that I also really think breakfast is very important... ...but I HATE just about all cereals! The texture is just not appealing to me (if you put milk on, they go soggy and slimy YUCK, without milk it's a struggle to eat them and your mouth gets all dry) and they taste BOORRING. I...

carolejo

Hey! What time of day do you call this...?!

It must be, what, 4:30am in NY?!

The boy NoS recovered from his little 'shock'. He was very pleased to see me too *wink*

C.

carolejo

At least Bacon can't be all bad, it's recognisable as 'meat'!

Unlike Sausages, which are really very grim when you think about it.....

....Yummy

!
C.

carolejo

<t>Hey Betsy, It's looking good! Round E. Gogogogogo! I think I know what you mean about the whole 'starting fresh' thing. I know that you have to get started before you can finish, but sometimes it doesn't seem so easy. Great going, anyhow. 11 lbs down! W00t! C...

carolejo

part 1 went OK and we found a gorgeous little appartment in the Watergrafsmeer (South part of Amsterdam City Centre). At least now our stuff has somewhere to move to when they come and pack it up on Wednesday!! Today I'm working out of our Amsterdam office, parked in the boardroom cos that was the o...

carolejo

Thanks everyone for your good wishes!

Well, this might be the last time you get a post from me for about a week, as I'll be running round like crazy and not have reliable internet access.

Don't worry though. I'll be back

carolejo

I don't know why it is, but it's a common and well known phenomenon.

It's also the reason why farmers pen their stock!

C.

carolejo

Hi Everyone! Well, I'm feeling very cheerful today. Last night when I got in from work I DID 7 MINUTES OF SHOVELGLOVE! Wow. I'm feeling like I'm gonna be able to do this. Yesterday was also textbook NoS eating, despite having a hard time in the morning. This morning I had boiled eggs for breakfast. ...

carolejo

I got a bit confused, but I think I've worked it out...

Have you made the same mistake I made somewhen, and mixed up the N and S day terminology?

S days are Saturday and Sunday cos you can eat eSses and they start with an S

Mon to Fri are N days (unless it's a SPECIAL S day)

?

C.

carolejo

So far, today was a success, but for some reason this morning was very tough and I really craved that sugar again... ..but Uh-Uh!! No sugar did pass my lips! I made it to lunchtime and felt a lot better this afternoon again. I'm confident I can now make it to dinnertime OK. :D I think my breakfast d...

carolejo

*chuckles*

Testing is good. We all need to test this out a little more.

C.

carolejo

Great! Good for you. Hope it goes well. What I particularly like about this plan is the built in safety valves. Everything works so much better because nothing is absolute. If I really want to eat some sugary junk during the week, I can honestly tell myself that it's OK, hang in there and you can ea...

carolejo

Hey Peetie!

Nice to see you at last! Like your Avatar, you look great.

I know what you mean about overdoing the junk. I now can't believe that I used to do that all the time. Everything feels so much better most of the time, now I'm not stuffing my cavenous maw with junk from dawn till dusk.

C.

carolejo

Carole is the french spelling of the shortened version of Caroline, or Carolyn. Most often in the UK it's spelled Carol (without the 'e') but that annoys me even more than anything else, cos it's not me without the e on the end! Jo could of course by Joselyn, Joanne, Joanna, Josephine, Josie. Both C...

carolejo

however it's said, it's gotta be better than Roly-Jo, which is what my parents used to call me when I was a plump little kid! Oh, the indignity!!! :lol: If it's easier, I could just be Carole. The Jo is my middle name, rather than a hyphenated second part to my first name. Somehow it always causes m...

carolejo

PS - Hi to Richard too! I quite like the thought of being Carl-e-Ho! It sounds a bit like 'Tally-ho!' :lol: Does this mean I might get some more done if I was more 'tally-ho' than Carole-Jo..? Oddly, Spanish is a language I tried to learn twice now, but never managed to stick at it. I don't know why...

carolejo

Hi Everyone, Freakwitch, thanks for your comments about the timing for SG. I think I'll try for straightaway when I get home in the afternoon. That way it won't impact on anything else I'm trying to do, because my journey home is so traffic-dependant, that I can tell myself that I might not even hav...

carolejo

*Definately*. I had a single small chocolate muffin to celebrate my arrival into the 21 day club. It gave me a really amazing sugar rush... followed 2 hours or so later by a terrible CRASH. For the next couple of hours after that, I went back to being how I used to be, irritable, fidgety, unable to ...

carolejo

Today has been tough. Thank god it's an S day anyway. I've come to the conclusion I've been 'sitting on my own ticket' for most of the day. (I mean, I'm stalling without consciously meaning to). There are loads of things I could be doing to prepare for the upcoming move to Amsterdam, but instead I s...

carolejo

Hi folks, for some reason I missed this thread for a very long time!! On standing desks - I fell down the stairs and broke my Coccyx (the residual tailbone all humans have at the base of the spine) about 5 years ago now. This was a terrible thing to do, cos I couldn't sit down for 3 months! (Hell, f...

carolejo

Cherries... but they're so absurdly expensive here I hardly ever get them, even if I see them :( A really good, perfectly ripe peach or nectarine is pretty good. I also enjoy blueberries very much, but like the cherries they're expensive and hard to get here. Until recently, I wasn't really an apple...

carolejo

Hey Freakwitch, your triple is fantastic!

Deb, Richard, great effort. Well done!

C.

carolejo

Don't know the Pluot, but we do have Nectarcots (nectarine / apricot cross).

Those are pretty good, actually.

C.

carolejo

Thanks for your encouragement, Dru! It's really nice to be back in my 'normal' office again today, and sleeping in my own bed again! (although, in 2 weeks time everything gets turned on it's head again *grin*). For now, 'normality' seem to be spending half my life waiting around in airports. This mo...

carolejo

Long time no see! I've not been doing perfectly, but actually it wasn't too bad either. Monday was the Carnival which I took as an S day. I had an extra plate of my friend's home made Massala Dhosa at lunchtime. It was super yummy. Other than that, I Nossed perfectly the rest of the day. Tues I had ...

carolejo

Hi Sandy, Glad you've picked yourself up, dusted yourself down and come back in for another bite of the noS cherry, as it were! If you haven't already, take a look at the thread 'is there life after snacks and sweets' in the No S diet part of this bulletin board. You might be surprised how many of u...

carolejo

'funny stuff'. This is anything that isn't *strictly* 1 plate of food, 3 times a day, yet isn't really a stuff-up at the same time. For example, if you're eating Shepherd's pie with salad, you might not like to get your gravy on your salad, so you might keep the two on separate plates, but virtually...

carolejo

Depending on the size of the pizza, 2 or 3 slices is what I would normally go for. If it fits on a plate without overhanging much, you can eat it. Generally, it's easiest if you take a plate, put all your pizza on it and eat it, but don't go back for seconds. If you're out with friends who you think...

carolejo

There's this shampoo over here called 'herbal escences'. I personally find it very gloopy and really far too heavy on my hair, but the stuff sells like crazy.... ...They sell it as a 'totally organic experience' (yeah right! Spot the marketing bollox) with pictures of women washing their hair and go...

carolejo

How can it be possible to eat TOO MUCH SALAD....? :?: :P I mean, Salad is like 99% water anyway! Besides, if it all fitted on the one plate Sandy, then it's perfectly allowed. Just wanted to say, don't shoot yourself in the foot before you even get properly started!! You're doing great. Don't worry ...

carolejo

Lethal... It's your picnic, but I'm gonna hoe in here with my size 10 feet and a little unsolicited advice anyway. Ignore if you want. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your life. I have enough trouble running my own! :lol: Here we go:- Let your S days be S days and DON'T try to set yourself lim...

carolejo

I just wanted to put a little update in the 'smell at your own risk' section (:wink: Hiya Deb!)) I went to Sainsburys (a bit of a more upmarket supermarket than Morrisons or Netto, which is where I normally end up) last night and had a look around their 'alternative' grocery isle. I found a whole se...

carolejo

Had a nice S day yesterday, and there are 2 more to go cos Monday is a Bank Holiday here and I'm off to Chapeltown Carnival. Yay!! I wanted to give you a brief update from the Boy No-S - He's doing OK, but finding life in a hotel on his own very tough (as you'd expect). He even tells me he's missing...

carolejo

Hiya Deb,

Er, no. Those kinds of sweetmeats taste OK I guess, but they're on the list of 'could eat but it doesn't *have* to be, ie, "kann essen, muss aber nicht".

I'll see your prairie oysters and raise you a Thai ducks' feet soup!

C.

carolejo

Hope it tastes as good as you could wish for! You earned it.

I'm sat here swilling down a nice long glass of pomegranate and blueberry juice drink (the kind with extra added sugar

!!

I *love* S days! But I also quite like the N days. There really is no deprivation.

C.

carolejo

Freakwitch, I don't really know how to write this, but I just wanted to say something. I don't think I ever posted in your thread before, but I do read it every day. You're an inspiration to me. Don't lose sight of how you want it to be for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. I think belt notches are so much bet...

carolejo

Wow! What a stressful day it was today. I thought I had 2 non-urgent projects to work on, but they moved the deadline forward on one of them, and gave me a new urgent project too! I'm going to be spending a lot of my weekend glued to my company laptop. :cry: Somehow it is bearable though, because th...

carolejo

What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs...?
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Still no idea!

carolejo

Yummy Vimto! We used to make our own vimto lollies as a kid, and vimto ice-cubes (just put the mixed vimto in ice-cube trays, perfect size for you just to suck on a piece at a time). I think vimto is probably an S. I personally count all squashes as an S, unless I drink it with my meal (that's anoth...

carolejo

I had a nice chocolate muffin... but it messed with my blood sugar levels like I never thought about before! Talk about CRASH 2 hours later!!! Still, it tasted wonderful. Thanks everyone and thanks Reinhard for coming up with a system that even I can stick to, that incidentally has taught me quite a...

carolejo

Thanks everyone! :D Well, yesterday I had a small chocolate muffin to celebrate! It tasted great and although the sugar crash 2 hours later made me feel really edgy and 'empty-hungry', I didn't cave in and managed to stick to my planned 3 meals. It's amazing how sensitive to refined sugar I actually...

carolejo

The time traveller's wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

Excellent book. Totally internally consistent, as far as I and scores of my mates can work out.

It's ultimately a feel-good story, but with a twist.
C.

carolejo

Hiya everyone! I made it to the 21 day club too!! YAY! I agree with Deb. You shouldn't be kicked out unless you regress to eating in a crazy fashion again for 21 days. That has a nice symmetry to it, I think. Today I will probably have a small piece of cake as a treat because I made it here... But d...

carolejo

Ooh.. DD. Tough call!

Glad I don't live in a country which has donut stores - I really would be as round as violet Boeregaarde, the blueberry in Willy Wonka!

Top effort Deb! Well done.
C.

carolejo

I'll also eat just about anything, but there are definately a few things on my list of 'could eat this, but wouldn't necessarily choose to, given the option'. Sheeps eyeballs...? Snails...? Bring it on! Marmite spread...? Ugh. Can be eaten, but really not my personal taste. Glad you had a good time ...

carolejo

Peetie's right about the "number"... Especially as bathroom scales are so innacurate and unreliable anyway!! Do you really want to hand over your self respect to the scales and entrust your health, happiness and wellbeing to one of the most capricious machines that was ever made...? I didn't think s...

carolejo

Haha!! DONE IT. 21 days club, here I come!! [/size] hehehe! Today I had a nice normal breakfast, still no SG though. :? . Oh well. Lets worry about one thing at a time then. NoS habit is pretty much down pat. Next thing to work on is SG then. No time like tomorrow *grin* (only kidding). Today I will...

carolejo

cheers for that Clicky! I'll enjoy reading it through on my lunchbreak. Other news, today is day 21 (!) of attempt D. I only have to make it to tomorrow morning and I get my slot in the NoS hall of fame, the 21 day club! So far I'm doing OK. Breakfast was an avocado stuffed with scrambled eggs. :D S...

carolejo

Hiya! Another Brit!

Glad you made it back. I've not been around all that long (about 3 months) but am feeling that this is a sustainable and worthwhile thing to do, so hope to be around a lot longer.

Best of luck with your attempt this time. I'm sure it'll go fine for you.
C.

carolejo

Nearly there, but nearly blew it last night! Went round for dinner to my friends Jo and Andy. Jo made a great homemade indian hot buffet. Managed to stick to my agreed 2 rounds (but only just). The rounds were slightly larger than they should have been, but at least I didn't really overdo it. Then t...

carolejo

I don't think you can 'lose' your membership. You did 21 days in a row and nobody can take that away.

Well done! Hopefully I'll be here on Thursday morning too !!!

C.

carolejo

I dunno about Holland, but I think I saw it in the wholefoods store at the weekend, here in Leeds. I'll check it out. If it works for me I'll export it wholesale when I finally get out of blighty.

C.

carolejo

I just had a little count up, and on thursday morning I will have completed my 21 days of NoS!

Only 2 1/2 more days to go! Yay! w00t!!

I had no idea I was this close to 21 days. Right, there aint no way I'm gonna dare mess it up now.

C.

carolejo

Hehe! Granny Carole! (move over Peetie, lemme get some of that prune juice! I'm proper OLD!!!) *grin* I'm actually 29. I think it's a good age to be as I'm mostly enjoying it. The Boy is well and truly over in Amsterdam. Got woken by a call from him this morning, from his new office - didn't get to ...

carolejo

Well, after mulling it over for a while, I decided to give it a go and quit the deodorant as well. Aferall, my cat doesn't need deodorant and her fur always smells really nice, even though she eats very stinky catfood and licks herself all over to get clean (how do they do that...?! - Probably didn'...

Everyday Systems

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Not long to go till I'm in the 21 days club!

Adventures in foregoing the deodorant!