Everyday Systems

Thalia

WOW! thank you for posting, and congratulations on being a long-time loser!

Thalia

Yum, avgolemeno! My husband's Greek, and he makes that, starting with a whole chicken that you poach in the pot.

Thalia

Oh, YUM! One thing about homecooked is that it's so vastly more delicious than packaged lunch meat.

I wish I were organized enough to cook my own more often! Enjoy!

Thalia

French people eat French fries (OK, they call them frites), and they're skinny! They just don't eat too many of them.

Thalia

I know that decades of off-and-on dieting produced that response in me. There have certainly been times when eating was so fraught that I wished I never had to do it again -- how sick is that? I really think that is one of the things that No S can cure -- you are SUPPOSED to eat three plates a day, ...

Thalia

I figure there's NO WAY I have to worry about getting TOO thin, so wherever I end up doing what I'm doing now is maintenance by default. But yeah, I'm a long way from having to worry about it at present.

Thalia

The vanilla No S way to maintain is ... to just keep doing No S with no changes. The theory is that following the rules will get you to a healthy weight, and no lower, because you really aren't restricting calories beyond what your body needs to stay at a lean healthy weight. So maybe for maintenanc...

Thalia

That's totally true -- it's still a GREEN N day if you have a greasy diner lunch, as long as it fits on one plate! I would get whatever sounds best on the menu; it doesn't have to be "diet food" or even particularly healthful.

Thalia

Do they sell sparkly green sledgehammers? I guess you could buy a bag of green rhinestones and bedazzle one yourself.

Thalia

Deb, life is not fair. I believe that, that being the case, at least it should be unfair in my favor.

Thalia

I would totally chp in for the "green socks fund."

Thalia

Oh yeah, Marc needs a second job. I'm thinking of emeralds like Angelina Jolie on Oscar night.

And the guys can get, um ... green socks? You could probably get a green iPhone or something, couldn't you?

Thalia

Yes, it did! And I like your car idea, so you can get me an emerald-green Prius. With a bike rack, so I'll actually use my poor neglected bike.

Thalia

It's funny how different we all are, because I find summer easier -- I have more energy, all the amazing fruit and vegetables are in season, and it's often hot enough to kill my appetite. I can get through most of the summer half subsisting on cherries, watermelon, peaches, zucchini, and sliced toma...

Thalia

the best subsitute for lunch meat is to roast your own turkey breast or ham or beef, slice it thin, and freeze in individual sandwich-filling servings. It's more expensive, though, because the packaged cold cuts are full of water and gelatin and other cheap fillers, and when you make your own you us...

Thalia

It's been a weird month so far -- June 1 I was traveling, so took a yellow, then yesterday I got sick to my stomach after lunch, so it was a green day in more than one way. Ugh. I'm still here, and still up for the challenge, though!

Thalia

You could get something with emeralds or jade, to keep you in the green.

Thalia

I'm in!

Thalia

Have fun at the wedding -- your menus always sound so good!

Thalia

There's a book called The Better Way to Drink by Roger Vogeler. I think it's out of print, but it's a very cognitive-behavioral approach to cutting down if you think your drinking is getting out of hand, but you are not an alcoholic who must abstain entirely to be safe, just someone who has slipped ...

Thalia

Honestly, I'm pretty sure I would never have tried this, without seeing Reinhard's testimonial pictures -- year after year, the exact same weight ... otherwise, I would not have believed anyone could lose weight by just eating three meals a day without starving or byzantine restrictions.

Thalia

There are two more days of May, but I'll be traveling with no computer access (visiting the in-laws). So this is my month-end post! One red event(movie popcorn, totally satisfactory), and I'm down two pounds for the month. Only two brown-bag fails, one of which was just stupidity and failure to plan...

Thalia

I think my grandma used to just slice kohlrabi very thin and eat it raw, like celery sticks or jicama. It's crunchy and good.

Thalia

Oh, thank you!

Thalia

Yeah, it's practically June! And there's only one more N Day before the finish line!

Thalia

Oops, I edited. I meant "N-day treat."

Thalia

I dunno, restaurants in other countries with much lower obesity rates than ours don't write nutrition information on their menus, and people seem to do fine. I just try to stay out of chain restaurants (OK, except for CPK -- my kid LOVES that place) and ask for a to-go box if the serving's too huge....

Thalia

for an N-Day treat made with leftover bread, you can do a strata! basically a savory bread pudding. Or stuffing or panzanella. There's that whole world of recipes made up by desperate cooks to use up their stale bread ...

You are making me want to start baking again!

Thalia

In my case, no question: snacks, snacks, snacks! I had no problem with the sweets at all, that just isn't my biggest weakness. As long as I can have some ice-cream or a cookie on the weekend if I want them, that's plenty for me. The seconds haven't been hard, as long as I make sure my meals are fill...

Thalia

I have been No S'ing since the beginning of January and have lost 15 pounds. I had a fairly substantial loss in the first months, and lately have been losing about a pound and a half a month -- not rapid weightloss, but it is coming off! I'm 42 and around 5'7" or 5'7 1/2" tall, and started at 190.5 ...

Thalia

I am not a fast loser. However, I AM a loser, and I'm not starving myself or feeling deprived! My menus are really varied, but here are some N Day "dietary defaults" Breakfast might be cold cereal with skim milk (I don't like any other kind) and fresh berries, or oatmeal with raisins, or a couple of...

Thalia

Bittman's recipes are really reliable, in my experience. I love him.

Thalia

Well, they're hardly alone in that!

Thalia

Oh my gosh, I am in awe! What a fab piggie palace. And your boars are so cute! We have a pair of females. Aren't they just the nicest little animals? So gentle and sociable.

We are spending an ever-loving fortune on Carefresh. Maybe I should look into switching to fleece -- they don't nibble it?

Thalia

It makes me wonder how good an estimator I am on "stuff in a bowl" meals -- I'm guessing it's often a lot more food than I think it is.

Thalia

KCCC, I've been plating my lunches at work, and I keep meaning to post about the same thing! I bring my little tupperwares and I think there's hardly anything in there, but then you dump them on a plate and WOW it's a lot of food. I had no idea I was such a bad estimator. And I'm using a formal chin...

Thalia

You have a guinea-pig condo? We have a guinea-pig condo! Our two piggies have a two-level cube-and-coroplast cage my husband contrived, with a little ramp to run up and down. Boy, is it ever a pain to clean, though.

Thalia

Even if it doesn't, I think she's better off at a higher weight without a food obsession. I think that's incredibly wise. I really believe that being heavy is much less of a risk than disordered eating is -- I wish so much that I hadn't tried so many wacky diets and felt so bad about my body as a t...

Thalia

I'm happy with vanilla No S, so I'm going to keep going with that. I've been doing this since January, and tt really is a habit now -- I don't eat between meals, except on the weekend when I like to have a snack or hors d'ouvre before dinner while cooking or hanging out with my family/friends. I don...

Thalia

Bright Angel, that's fantastic! The more I read, the more I conclude that almost anyone can lose weight -- and lose it fast, even -- but very, very few can keep it off. Have you considered joining the National Weight Control Registry? You are one of the rare, successful people they study! I do belie...

Thalia

mama-g, is the challenge still on?

Thalia

Still in, down another pound, no further reds. I have started a Habitcal for exercise, since that does seem to help me. Mostly, I'm proud that I only have one red on my "brown bag" calendar! That is a new monthly record, and even that slip was because I was away from the office at lunch, not because...

Thalia

I think party attendance is a very legitimate S event!

Thalia

I have a friend who lives in Paris, and that is exactly how they feed the kids at his preschool -- they'll have a starter, then maybe salmon with lentils, salad and french bread, and a little sweet of some kind. Every day! She says that on weekends, he complains if he doesn't get an appetizer with h...

Thalia

Oh my gosh, this thread is lovely.

Thalia

Deb, congratulations!

Thalia

I've had great success with compliance -- I find it very comfortable -- but I'm losing very slowly. Of course, I'm not getting 14 minutes of exercise every day either, so maybe I should focus on that first before turfing my salads out of the bowl and onto the plate with the hot food ... or do both ....

Thalia

Have a cup of tea?

Thalia

Oh man, I always have my salad on the side, and now I think you've talked me out of it.

Ignorance was bliss!

Thalia

Oh, the biscuit incident must have been mortifying!

I believe I will start a "not bursting into flames" Habitcal.

Thalia

I use a Whirley-Pop stovetop popper -- it works great, and uses a teaspoon or two of oil (without which no salt will stick to the corn). It makes for a nice S-Day movie-night treat!

Thalia

Those peppers sound really good!

Thalia

You can stick 'em in the freezer and save them for S Day treats, maybe? Most cookies freeze well and I'm another one who doesn't like to throw away good food.

Thalia

My first failure! I guess I'm not that boring. My group at work had a special, "rebuilding nonexistent morale" event at a movie theater, complete with a screening of an upcoming movie. They had free popcorn in little buckets for everybody. I wanted popcorn, I considered it, and I had some popcorn. I...

Thalia

but their message boards are, not surprisingly, full of a lot of self-hatred, food obsession, and guilt

Our SOCIETY is full of a lot of self-hatred, food obsession, and guilt, so it would be surprising if this little message board were somehow exempt!

Thalia

The hardest thing for me was learning not to eat after dinner, too! Some kitchen-avoiding tricks: Brush your teeth. Clean the kitchen, turn off the light, and close the door (if any). Go for a walk after dinner. Eat enough dinner (OK, that one's obvious). Don't a eat such a skimpy dinner that you're...

Thalia

I wonder if having a cracker or handful of grapes or celery qualifies as a snack. I believe the official answer is "yes, that's a snack." If it's any help, I found that when I stuck strictly to the rules, after a few days my body had learned to be hungry at mealtimes and not in-between. Just like y...

Thalia

You poor thing! Why can't you get more sleep?

Thalia

LOL -- I am still boring! I didn't get as much exercise as I would have liked over the weekend, but we did go to "little India" in Artesia, and I suppose I burned some calories walking around and trying on kurtas. Last night I dreamed that I absent-mindedly ate a bunch of snacks on an N day. O NOES!...

Thalia

I don't particularly like the sweetness, but I LOVE carbonation. And my work provides free soda, but not free Perrier or Champagne (damn them), so I end up drinking a lot of diet Coke.

I really wish that soda water was as cheap and widely vended as soda.

Thalia

Could it be, shall we say, hormonal?

Thalia

Real food is always better -- it's so true!

Thalia

Don't worry about it -- it's very typical after you see a new low to see higher weights for a few days afterwards. It's just your body adjusting to the fast loss you just had. Unless it's climbing over the long term, those day-to-day fluctuations will drive you crazy -- you aren't seeing a fat gain.

Thalia

I don't drink a lot of calories between meals either -- juice is strictly with breakfast, a very small glass of orange juice. I'll sometimes have a glass of wine or sherry before dinner, usually on the weekends when I'm cooking. Otherwise, it's water or the evil Diet Coke.

Thalia

I have been dying to make my own cheese ever since I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle -- but I'm suspicious that it's going to be a huge production. I was on a bread-baking kick for a while, and the results of that are AWESOME. And of course homemade pizza is amazingly good for something so easy.

Thalia

Wow, that is an enormous amount of change to try to make all at once! I don't think you are making excuses or shirking when you say that you can't handle it. I would look at which suggestions seem like useful ideas to keep in mind -- high-fiber choices like sweet potatoes instead of white, or rememb...

Thalia

But if you recommend to people to make No S harder and less flexible and totally focused on fast short-term results, they really might just as well go whole hog and do Weight Watchers or Body for Life.

Thalia

OMG, I'm such an idiot! I never noticed the "posts since last visit" button!

Thalia

I can't knock people who want faster results and do other diet plans -- I've been them. I'm sure people who are doing whatever other plan they happen to be doing -- Weight Watchers, Body for Life, Atkins -- feel exactly the same about poor deluded fools who think they can lose weight by eating three...

Thalia

I've been trying really hard to get out and walk more since starting No S. It turns out that both Whole Foods AND the good wine store are within reasonable walking distance of my house. I have learned the hard way that carrying 30 pounds of groceries home uphill is more exercise than I had in mind -...

Thalia

I was so much more disgusting than I thought!

This is really sad to me. That seeing a number makes you "disgusting."

And of course she fell off the wagon -- that level of effort isn't sustainable! And then you get rebound weight gain. As I know to my sorrow.

Thalia

Well, the other thing about the plate sizes isn't just that we eat more, but that we're less formal -- people used to have a series of things on separate plates more than they do now, a bread plate, a salad plate, a soup bowl, especially at fancy dinners calling for nice china. We're more likely to ...

Thalia

marc, I often wonder when I read your posts what you find attractive about No S? You seem to be happiest and feel most in control when you add a lot of restrictions the diet doesn't have, and ignore the ones that it DOES have. I'm not picking on you, I promise! But I am curious why are you doing a d...

Thalia

Nicer, more expensive restaurants are usually much better about this -- they'll bring you a plate with a reasonably-sized meal on it, while Chili's/Outback/Red Lobster/TGI Friday's and their ilk know that their food isn't very good, so they try to entice you by giving you a LOT of it. See, we're giv...

Thalia

Hi Vintage -- have you read In Defense of Food? I think everything you need to know is pretty much covered in that.

Thalia

I'm still boring. Unfortunately, the scale is still boring so far as well. Show me some drama, stupid scale!

Thalia

the waitress REFUSED? That's crazy! Did she not want your tip?

Marc, the planting sounds great. It's nice to feel like all that work has had a practical result, giving you a stronger more useful body, isn't it?

Thalia

I count something as an S day if it's a big celebration that includes food -- so for me, if you were going to a bank holiday picnic or something, I would make it an S. If it's just a day off work, I would count it as an N day. I hope that's helpful!

Thalia

Anyone have any ideas for long (9 hour) plane journies? I'm thinking of taking my own food on board rather than eat airline s**t but is that also being a bit obsessive? Susie, I don't think that's obsessive! Now that the airlines are cutting back, your choices are all too often to eat nothing or to...

Thalia

I'm glad it works for you, but I wouldn't recommend that in general -- because I think one thing No S does is teach us not to constantly eat, and eating in between breakfast and dinner doesn't help change that snacking/incessant eating habit. I know that for me, dividing up my breakfast, EVEN THOUGH...

Thalia

Moules Mariniere Because we had them for dinner last night! Yum, yum, yum. IMO, 3 pounds of mussels is about right for four to six servings. Ingredients: 3 pounds live mussels, or however many you want 4 cloves garlic, chopped 4 shallots, chopped 2 bay leaves 1 cup dry white wine a mess of chopped p...

Thalia

Our new place might just screw up my whole diet tho!!! It's three doors away from *the absolute best* pizza place ever, and, hahah get this guys,,,, directly next to,,,,,,,, A gourmet hand dipped chocolate store!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!! Helppp!!!!!!!!!!! Deb, I just read your update. You know what I thin...

Thalia

Wow, I don't know where to start: I can eat real food, food that is forbidden on every diet I've ever tried, and enjoy it and lose weight. I can cook from any cookbook in the world, and eat the results. I don't feel like I'm pushing a rock up the hill every day I'm on the plan. I can eat with friend...

Thalia

Welcome! I think No S is the PERFECT eating plan for someone who isn't too concerned about weight loss, but wants to establish sensible eating habits. You basically "start with maintenance" -- no extreme deprivation or wacky diet food, you just eat the way you need to to maintain a reasonable, healt...

Thalia

I read the daily check-ins! I just don't usually post unless I think I have something useful to say. I bet there are a lot of us reading them, actually.

Congratulations on the best green month ever!

Thalia

I think the weighlifting is the most likely culprit -- especially since you know from experience that you go up on the scale when you start. But also, if you've seen a big initial drop, a little rebound afterwards is pretty common.

Thalia

My total weight change for April: Down a pound and a half, for a total loss since January of 13 and a half pounds. On to May!

Thalia

I really liked the focus on WHY tweaking and bending is a bad idea -- eventually a whole podcast about moderating expectations would probably be useful, because I think that's a very hard thing for most of us.

Thalia

I bet Kirstie's shoes are very expensive indeed!

Thalia

Well, I'm going to have to replace all my pants, so that's a little bump for the economy!

Thalia

OMG, what a horrible day! I mean, you had me at the possible bedbugs ... ugh.

Can you take the kids to an indoor playground or something to get out of the house?

Thalia

I think Brother John has seen some significant improvements in his numbers?

Thalia

So far No S compliance has not been an issue for me, but I also have a HabitCal for brown-bagging -- not buying lunch at work. My husband was laid off in December, and I reallly NEED to not be spending money on lunch (when I could be spending my meager discretionary income on, say, perfume and shoes...

Thalia

I think Kirstie Alley is a stunning beauty, but she's always seemed a bit nuts to me, and I think that it plays out in her relationship with food (among other things).

Thalia

Reinhard, this is great! Well worth waiting for.

Thalia

I'm in. I'm pretty boring, though, because so far I haven't really had red days, and I'm not losing super-fast, so I will posting neither agony nor ecstacy! Unless I have to eat those words ...

Thalia

Still green!

Thalia

Mayo is good for you too, full of heart-healthy whatevers.

Most real foods are good for you, in moderation.

Thalia

I think the idea behind it is that you plateau on diets because if you eat a very restricted number of calories your body freaks out and slows your metabolism down. So if you alternate, your body doesn't know WHAT to think and you don't go into starvation mode. I would find that eating pattern very ...

Thalia

I set behavioral objectives, because I can control those -- to bring my lunch every day, or to take the stairs instead of the elevator, and of course not to eat snacks, sweets, and seconds during the week! How much I lose on a particular week or how many pounds by a certain date aren't entirely in m...

Search found 569 matches