Everyday Systems

milliem

Friday 4th May was a success . I just checked my calendar and this is the first fully green week since January ! Ugh not good. I've had weeks without reds, but with S events/S days. I'm glad of S days though, it is still mentally challenging to go through the 'shall I have a snack/sweet or shall I n...

milliem

I very rarely bake these days :( Even if I baked on an S day, there's only me and the human dustbin that is my other half at home - and even he might struggle to help me finish off an entire tray of delicious goodies! Maybe smaller baking trays and scaled down recipes are the way forward! Enough for...

milliem

Congratulations on your exciting news tobiasmom

I can't imagine how much more difficult keeping to the rules must be when you have hormones all over the place and a 2nd human being to feed!!

milliem

Well done on your successful first week!

I often go for a glass of milk if I'm hungry between meals (or post-workout if there will be a little while before my next meal).

milliem

Thanks for the tips oolala - yes I often keep frozen mixed veggie packs in the freezer, otherwise I find fresh veg languishes in the bottom of the fridge for weeks!! One pack of that, plus a small sweet potato and some portion of meat/fibre/carbs would make a fine meal, I must figure out what else I...

milliem

Wednesday 2nd May another success day - and another 2 meal day. Although one meal was a plateful of chinese takeaway, so not the healthiest choice! And not even healthy choices relative to getting a takeaway... :oops: I think I'm going to have to keep a watchful eye on how much takeaway food I eat o...

milliem

I have way too much trouble getting out of bed in the mornings to get up even earlier for exercise! I tend to work out when I get home from work, or early evening before dinner (I eat dinner quite late, 7-8pm). What helps is that I match my workout schedule with my OHs, so I work out whenever he goe...

milliem

Some people have tried having S 'events' rather than whole S days, that could limit the opportunity to eat badly if you are worried. You could plan for 2/3/4/etc. times in a day where you have a snack or sweet or second helping. So if you had two portions of chocolate cake after dinner, that might c...

milliem

Tuesday 1st May was a success for NoS and exercise.

Ended up having only 2 meals rather than 3 - I think that will be the same tonight, it's a bit late to eat an afternoon meal at 6.30pm when I'll be eating dinner in about an hour!

milliem

A few people have tried 'floating' S days to fit around whatever works for them, with some success. I guess the N day/S day split makes sense for people who work weekdays on a regular schedule, but it won't work for everyone. I think as long as you set some boundaries/rules and stick by them it's no...

milliem

Sunday was an S day of course

Monday was a success.

milliem

I think the No S Diet ROCKS, don't get me wrong, I still believe that. But, hopefully this new plan that has a little more structure, will help me stay on track. I guess I'm not disciplined enough to adhere to flexible rules without losing control (does that make sense?). This totally make sense - ...

milliem

I guess for some of us just following the rules isn't quite enough to be truly healthy - I know I'll have to think a lot more about what is on my plates and what I'm eating on S days to make a significant difference. Yesterday was an S day - not too gluttonous.... Breakfast: rice pudding and strawbe...

milliem

If No S has taught me anything it's that it doesn't need to be a fancy or detailed program to work. Eat less, exercise more, lose weight. It's that simple. You are so right! Doesn't make it easy though :D I had a terrible week last week - just got back from a holiday where I made no attempt to mana...

milliem

Thanks for the support guys, it is much appreciated :) I am having some success snapdragon thank you! I met my initial goal of staying below a BMI of 30, and not gaining weight. Like oolala, I only have some desire to weigh less - which I am starting to think is part of my problem, as I am still ove...

milliem

Thursday was also green and not too stressful!

I'm out this evening at the cinema, so going to try hard to resist those cinema snacks

Scales say I'm on a downward trend since my holiday which is a bonus too!

milliem

Hey oolala, sorry you're having a tough time lately. I do think there are often differences between how men and women lose weight which might be why Reinhard didn't predict such difficulty with S days. My other half lost a good few stone just stopping drinking full fat sodas and reducing the amount ...

milliem

Welcome Christine :) I think one of the things that sticks out about NoS is how moderate and sane it is. Not to say that all other diets are insane , just that NoS really encourages a healthy and positive outlook to eating rather than letting our insecurities and attitudes about perfection, failure ...

milliem

Hi Karen, hmm yes having chocolate in the house can be very tempting! I think your first thought was the right one - mark it and move on. There's probably a reason that Wednesdays are difficult, but that doesn't mean that the plan should change! My regularly difficult day is Friday, but I've always ...

milliem

I don't eat breakfast per se, but I do often eat 3 (or 2 and a half) meals a day. I just shift them into an 8-9 hour window between lunchtime and my evening meal. I wonder if the studies suggesting that skipping breakfast correlates with being overweight control for other factors? I mean anything ca...

milliem

Hey Karen, yep it has definitely helped me with my eating habits! I used to think nothing of buying chocolate every day after work, or snacking all day on supposedly 'healthy' things (and then eating three regular meals as well), or buying large packs of cake/cookies that I would inevitably eat all ...

milliem

I've just been on holiday and didn't try to follow NoS - and didn't feel good about it. I knew I was eating too much, but just didn't stop because 'there are no rules on S days!' (I was counting holiday days as 'special' days). I think next time I would definitely try for following the NoS structure...

milliem

Pretty sure words of encouragement are better than headslaps :D I know what you mean about 'part of me just doesn't care at all', I have similar thoughts sometimes. I KNOW that I could be a lot healthier and losing weight would be good for me, but I have these thinking patterns of 'yes but I'm not T...

milliem

Hey Karen, just wanted to pop in and say hello - I love your goals to focus on taking care of yourself and eating/exercising well! Hope your week is going well

milliem

Hey roxy, just thought I'd pop in and see how you are doing! It's funny how when the scale goes up you can beat yourself up, and when it goes down you don't believe it's right!! :) I'm still struggling with my weekends too (and lately, my weekdays, oops haha), I'm starting to think that having no ru...

milliem

Just wanted to pop in and say thank you for your support - you are doing amazingly!! Keep it up, all those greens are great to see

milliem

Thanks sweetness :) Yesterday I was successful at no sweets! I had a small lunch (a bagel and tuna), 3 slices of malt loaf when I got home, and steak/veg/sweet potato fries for dinner. After dinner I had a few tortilla chips but avoided the easter egg sitting right next to me... I think I need to ma...

milliem

Oof well last week consisted mainly of eating all the food :oops: I didn't do very well at hiding all my leftover goodies (and got given more at the weekend!) I did do ok at not snacking at work though.... but my sweet tooth got free reign on holiday and I'm having trouble winding it back in!! I thi...

milliem

Hello NoS-ers! I've been on hols - a road trip around Sweden - for the past couple of weeks which is why I've been AWOL, don't worry I haven't (completely) fallen off the wagon! I took every holiday day as an S day, although the days varied as to how much eating was involved. Some days there was a l...

milliem

yesterday - had nachos (just tortilla chips with cheese and sour cream) for dinner, although rather too much chocolate afterwards! Sunday 1st April: S day Breakfast - 2 toffee pancakes lunch: chicken burger, fries, 2 sugared doughnuts afternoon: chocolate bar dinner: bowl of chili with sweet potato ...

milliem

Ouch tooth pain is the worst

Hope you feel better soon!

milliem

Yep I think that if you accept snacking and eating between meals as part of your life, you are definitely opening the door to binge behaviour! Having the outline of 3 plates/day just makes things so much easier :) Overall I am doing ok - I tend to have 2 or 3 failure days per month, but these days t...

milliem

milleum, The harder I try, the more I binge. Today I weigh 215.8 pounds, and I feel sick because of all I ate. Is this a psychological problem? No. I really don't think it is. I think it is a physical response to dieting. What to do? I think I'm going to address the binge behavior only by following...

milliem

Monday 26th March: success
Tuesday 27th March: success
Wednesday 28th March: success

milliem

It's funny how people insist that snacking and eating all day is 'natural' and must be good for you! Clearly, if snacking was good for me I wouldn't be overweight

Anyway well done on staying strong and sticking to the plan

milliem

Last night, it occurred to me that The No S Diet (as BirghtAngel suggested) can work for some who are slightly overweight but not for those who are obese. I am too far gone for this diet or The Novena Diet. Actually, I think the opposite is true. Any changes from uncontrolled eating to controlled e...

milliem

Saturday 24th March: S day breakfast: pancakes, 3 mini reeses peanut butter cups lunch: squash, falafel and couscous salad, bowl of ice cream afternoon: toffees, cinnamon biscuits dinner: 4 small slices pizza, 1 small slice garlic bread, piece of cake Walked 6 miles yesterday as it was a beautiful d...

milliem

Evening snacking is something more simple for me I think - habit and boredom. When my mind and/or body isn't active I reach for food to pass the time. When I'm watching TV I automatically look for something to munch on. Years of doing that takes time to break I guess! If I'm out for the evening doin...

milliem

Kathleen, I get that you don't like restrictions, I really do. They SUCK. Ugh they really suck. It sucks that some people get to eat whatever they want and they can maintain a healthy weight. It sucks that some people don't really have to think about what they eat, they just naturally make good choi...

milliem

Ah I had the exact same problem with ice cream I bought on Thursday 'for the weekend'. Pff we all knew how that was going to turn out

Well done for not eating the entire tub and turning the evening into a fail-fest though

Hope you have a good weekend!

milliem

You're probably right, I do need to maintain my N days before I really focus on those S days

So far January was 90% compliance, Feb was 74% (ouch!) and March is looking at 83% so far (with a week to go). Overall compliance is 84.2%. Room for N day improvement for sure!

milliem

Positive actions are great, I agree :) I would suggest though that anyone can turn a negative into a positive if they so choose (or vice versa). For example I could say to myself 'I am NOT ALLOWED to miss an exercise session this week' or I could say 'I am going to do 3 exercise sessions this week'....

milliem

Day 5 - Friday, March 24, 2012: I am eliminating the word "No" from my diets. That leaves me with five things to do. The reason for this is simple: just like you cannot help but think of a polka dotted elephant when you are told not to think of a polka dotted elephant, so there is a trap with every...

milliem

Friday 23rd March: success Calling it slightly early but I have no desire to eat anything else this evening! I'm pondering on intermittent fasting - I actually follow this loosely at the moment anyway as I don't eat breakfast and NoS means I don't snack after the evening meal. I'm wondering whether ...

milliem

I use 8-ish inch plates and tend to go for 'one layer' of food - sandwiches count as one layer! I'd be ok with stacking 2 pieces of toast on top of each other - spread out they would still fit on a regular plate. At times I use pasta bowls (they are wide, shallow bowls) which are slightly smaller th...

milliem

Thursday - Green I stepped back from the situation.....took some deep breaths.....and focused on the "big picture" versus the one incident that happened. It worked!!! I feel so good that I resisted falling into old habits. Ahh...there's hope! :D Nice one! It's always so self motivating when those s...

milliem

Well so much for holding out for 2 days! Thursday 22nd March: fail Did fine most of the day, ate lunch and dinner, then ate a bowl of ice cream and about 5 mini reeses cups. I'd struggled through Wednesday craving sweet things and then impulsively bought my fave ice cream which was on offer in the s...

milliem

Congratulations on your good day Sinnie! Lets hope the evening continues just as well :) I have to say, I differentiate between tasting when I'm cooking and snacking - you can taste something with one small spoonful/bite, and sometimes I really need to so I can check seasoning etc. Snacking would be...

milliem

This past week or so, Ive been getting sugar/sweet cravings on my N Days but thanks to being on No S for so long, I believe this is helping me not to cave in, like I might have done manys a time in the past. So there are definitely many pros to this lifestyle and the lack of weight loss may be a sm...

milliem

Just wanted to stop in and say a big congrats on all your lovely green days so far! Your meals always look delicious

milliem

Welcome back gk, good to (virtually) see you here again

A plan is surely better than no plan even if it's not Vanilla! Do you think you'll work your way towards Vanilla or just see where structured eating gets you?

milliem

Thanks guys! It does feel nice to have some solid N days behind me, even if S days are still a little crazy :) I finally got a set of scales and have been weighing semi-regularly, fortunately I am not too worried about what the scales say, I've been approaching it with curiosity to see how my weight...

milliem

Fantastic oolala!!

milliem

Monday 19th March: success Tuesday 20th March: success Wednesday 21st March: success Struggling today, really craving something sweet (or just a binge) must be the depression of watching the Budget ugh :roll: Managed to resist the temptation so far though, and resisted ordering pizza too. After toda...

milliem

Sunday 18th March: S day Breakfast: 2 pancakes Lunch: pulled pork, coleslaw, devilled eggs and pickles Dessert: one blondie, 2 pieces of lemon polenta cake In the evening I just permasnacked so decided not to cook a proper meal. Munched on tortilla chips and salsa, some mini peanut butter cups and i...

milliem

Friday 16th March: success Saturday 17th March: S day - no breakfast - lunch: bbq rib sandwich and a toffee sundae (small) - afternoon snacks: green lace sweets, 2 reeses peanut butter cups (little ones), a blondie, packet of poppets. - dinner: 2 hot dogs w/onions Also had 2 beers celebrating Wales'...

milliem

I'm in exactly the same position as you, I think I'm losing/regaining the same 2-3 pounds over and over again each week! My philosophy is, that compliant N days are allowing me to eat as I like on weekends and not continue to gain weight in a spiralling, out of control way! Which is good :) I have S...

milliem

Tuesday 13th March: success Wednesday 14th March: success (funny stuff: implemented my 'home baked gifts' mod when I was given some homebaked cookies at the cinema by a good friend. Ate (some of) those, didn't binge or use it as an excuse to eat anything else I shouldn't) Thursday 15th March: succes...

milliem

Now what? Well, there is wisdom in The No S Diet. I agree, which is why I don't quite understand why you seem unprepared to follow it for any length of time. I know this is difficult for you Kathleen, I hope you find your way back. Good luck! *edit* I realise on reflection that 'unprepared' is prob...

milliem

Ah, sane moderate thinking - lovely

So many things affect weight on a day to day basis that occasional weighing should definitely not be the cause of panic! As you say, it could well be a bad day, and belt tightening is a good sign

milliem

I feel so guilty eating food today. I don't like this feeling. What gives!?! I love the structure of the No S days.. Do we have to take exept days? I wouldn't give up S days altogether, otherwise there is no structure for when you do feel like something sweet or a snack or a second helping. However...

milliem

Good luck with your fresh start!

You know you can lose the weight which is a positive, go Vanilla NoS!

milliem

Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th were S days (holiday and regular S days). I ate something sweet each day, but didn't permasnack so that's something! Monday 12th March: Failure. Unsurprising given 4 days of S days! The fail was 3 and a half small chocolate boys after dinner... stopped at that though, no m...

milliem

You've been really successful so far, well done!! S days do feel weird after a successful NoS week (although I still look at them with glee so I can treat my sweet tooth ;)). You're doing great to let the S days go for now, there's plenty of time to look at them and tweak if needed when you have N d...

milliem

milleum, I am totally embarrassed. Let me think about it. Let me take some time. I'll be back in early April, OK? Kathleen There's no need to be embarrassed for failing! Anyway, you can't actually fail on an S day... Don't think you are the only one struggling, I overeat on weekends all the time . ...

milliem

If I start to waiver, remind me of this post! I am sick to death of spending all my time tweaking. It may be that it's a part of my personality to tweak. Fine... I'll tweak my exercise program. Just popping in with a reminder! Don't give up Kathleen, wild S days are part and parcel of developing ne...

milliem

NoS doesn't actually prescribe how many meals to eat per day, just that you don't snack outside of planned meals. There are people who eat 2, 3 or 4 meals per day, it's all about what works for you! I'm sure you won't fade away or abandon all hope from eating one meal less on one day :) On those day...

milliem

Wednesday 7th March: success / S day Yesterday started out ok but in the evening I was miserable with a tootache so had some ice cream to try and numb/soothe it a little. I didn't eat much in the evening due to the pain in any case. I'm off on a mini holiday for the next few days, planning to try an...

milliem

Welcome to NoS! The carb issue is a tricky one, I think (I'm not an expert by any means!) that when you start reintroducing carbs, you can gain a lot of 'water weight' due to the makeup of your diet changing. However fundamentally, if you continue to eat less than your body expends day to day it wil...

milliem

I often struggle with Fridays, what helped me recently was realising that on a Friday I just had to wait one measly day to have a treat! If I could make it Monday - Thursday, why not Friday?! Sometimes I'll have a treat meal on a Friday to relax after a week at work, but I can still fit it with the ...

milliem

Monday 5th March: success
Tuesday 6th March: success

I'm struggling this week, yesterday I just wanted to eat ALL THE FOOD, and today I am craving something sweet. Managing to resist the cravings but it is tougher than usual for some reason!

milliem

Eurobabe2, It's 11:15, and I have walked 2,779 steps. The dog is begging for another walk. I think I can do best right now if I just try to increase the amount of exercise I get from non-exercise activities like taking the dog for a walk. In future, maybe it will be different. I was friends with so...

milliem

Well done for a successful first week! It's great that you are already reflecting on and learning from your S days, they can be a bit 'wild' at first but once you have your N day habits down pat you will probably find that either they calm down naturally, or a tweak here and there will do the job

milliem

Friday 2nd March was a success / S event . The S event was a meal out with my OH, a very belated valentines meal :) Stuck to NoS the rest of the day though! Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th: S days After reading some of the podcast transcriptions and a few posts over the weekend, I'm going to try somethi...

milliem

I suppose the phrase 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' comes to mind! If hunger-driven eating is working for you and not leaving you feeling weak, light-headed or ill, then keep at it! By your post, it looks like you eat less or not at all after a large/calorific meal such as waffles and syrup, or a...

milliem

'Vanilla' means plain old NoS rules with no tweaks or modifications - so strictly no snacks, sweets or seconds except (sometimes) on days that begin with 'S'

milliem

Selina wrote:Friday success!

I just realized that this is my first green week this year

Congratulations!!

milliem

Ooh that sounds delicious r.jean! One of my favourite vegetable dishes is aubergine parmegiana - grilled slices of aubergine (eggplant) layered with onions, tomatoes and parmesan cheese and then sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. Probably not the healthiest of ways to cook it (dependi...

milliem

Thursday 1st March: success Lunch: squash, red onion and goats cheese sandwich, apple/grapes, crisps Supper: chicken curry, rice and chappati Exercise: weights Another 2 meal day - had a glass of milk when I got home to stave off the hunger but it was too close to supper to reasonably eat an actual ...

milliem

I struggle with getting my veg portions in as well, and often will plan a meal that has few or no vegetables in it :( Last night for example I had chicken curry and rice - barely a vegetable to be seen! I'm going to try and make sure I have a couple of meals a week at least where vegetables fill up ...

milliem

Wednesday 29th Feb: success

Lunch - butternut squash lasagne, crisps
Dinner - chicken and chorizo stew

Another slightly light eating day, I had a glass of milk after dinner to stave off any evening hunger pangs, although I felt fine.

Happy St. David's Day everyone!

milliem

I'm excited about your subject change today :) We're all rooting for you! As an aside, I know moderating S days is a big thing, but I think that comes after successfully creating and sticking to N day habits for some weeks. Don't beat yourself up if S days are a bit wild at first - KCCC's 'phases of...

milliem

I have to say I agree with Oolala. Dieting isn't a 'trap', it's a necessary way to reduce calories when you are overweight. You CAN control what goes in your mouth if you want to, there is no mystical force making you overeat or binge whenever you think about controlling your food intake. Restrictin...

milliem

Tuesday 28th Feb: success Lunch: butternut squash lasagne Dinner: turkey burgers and sweet potato fries Exercise : weights Eating was actually a little light today, especially for a weights day. I've been having a Frijj milkshake some days if I don't have an afternoon mini-meal, and particularly aft...

milliem

Welcome to NoS! I read a bit of your blog out of interest, you've achieved a lot! NoS is pretty great for the maintenance phase as it pretty much IS maintenance

Seeing those green squares line up is pretty motivating! Good luck with the rest of your first week

milliem

Saturday and Sunday were S days - slightly better than last weekend food wise although still ate a lot more than on N days! Monday 27th Feb: success Brunch: smoked salmon on english muffin, 3 rashers turkey bacon, blueberries Afternoon: chicken sizzler Supper: river cobbler, sweet potato and mixed v...

milliem

Interesting, although it seems that the groups differed not only on their breakfast intake but on the entire diet - one had a 'low carb' diet and one a diet including protein and carbs, with a higher carb breakfast. Actually it seems that both groups lost similar amounts of weight during the diet in...

milliem

Woah it's Saturday already! Wednesday 22nd Feb: success breakfast - pb+j bar lunch - tomato soup, apple, crisps dinner - pasta and garlic bread Exercise: weights Thursday 23rd Feb: success lunch - chicken sizzler meal, banana afternoon - pb+j bar, crisps dinner - steak sandwich and chips Split the a...

milliem

Loads of happy green faces there, well done! Chicken enchiladas sound scrummy....

milliem

Hi lemonzest :) In answer to your questions: I do unintentional intermittent fasting! I rarely eat breakfast and generally have dinner by around 8pm at the latest, so will not eat between 8pm and 12pm or so. It just works for me, I find myself getting hungry in the afternoon whether I've eaten break...

milliem

Tuesday 21st Feb: S day Breakfast: PB+J bar Lunch: tomato soup and bread roll Afternoon: PB+J bar, 2 hard boiled eggs Dinner: pancakes (savoury and sweet) Took a NWS day for pancake day yesterday :) Delicious! I don't think I ate enough for lunch though because I was STARVING when I got home from wo...

milliem

It's so freeing to be able to eat what you like not follow some strict plan with a hundred banned items isn't it??

Congratulations on your successes

milliem

I try to, for budgetary reasons as much as dietary! It saves me going out to the shops every evening looking for something to eat (and shopping when hungry is a terrible idea...) and saves me time when I know what to cook rather than spending half an hour umming and aahing about it. I find http://re...

milliem

Monday 20th February: success

breakfast: pb+j bar (peanuts, dates and dried cherries)
lunch: tuna and salsa salad, crisps
dinner: turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, cucumber

milliem

Well, that was a weekend that can only be described as EXCESSIVE! Jeez I ate a lot :oops: I'm going to put it down to still recovering from illness, I still don't feel quite right, hate these viruses that just linger around for weeks! I did manage to get in my third weights workout of the week on Su...

milliem

Friday 18th Feb: success

lunch: french onion soup, bread roll, small vegetable sushi pack
dinner: meatballs, gravy and mash

Exercise: weights

A success on a Friday, and only 2 meals! Who knew

milliem

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll come up with a new Everyday System to deal with your exciting new situation

milliem

Thanks sweetness :) I sound terrible today, but feel ok - just got the end-of-cold croaky voice going on haha :) Thursday was a (borderline) fail .... Lunch: french onion soup, 2 small rolls, clementine afternoon: muesli w/yoghurt and honey dinner: burgers and sweet potato fries I had a mug of hot c...

milliem

milleum, It does seem like a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. I like the idea of focusing on exercise and just listening to the CD which is all about relaxing around food and eating. Will it work? I don't know, but it's worth a try. I need to give it time. Kathleen What I love ab...

milliem

Wow a whole birthday week!! Sounds good

Nice to see all those happy green and yellow faces

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