Everyday Systems

carolejo

Hello and Welcome, BTW! One point I'll make at this time is be careful with the 'virtuous' non-taking of the S days. There are S days for a reason and if you're not very careful you'll start to feel like you deprived yourself and get resentful, then you'll make excuses and give up. I hope the only r...

carolejo

Found the best SG music for me so far. Sheryl Crow's globe sessions. tracks one and two have a nice swinging beat that fits very well with the shovels and wood chops. Track 3 is not so good (I find the beat a little too indistinct) so I've taken to skipping that one. Track 4 is back to a good tempo ...

carolejo

Hey Freaky and Lisa-Marie, How 'bout you also make sure with your HOURLY readings to put a line marking when you ate each meal each day...?! :lol: You could collect data on whether or not lentil soup causes a bigger upwards blip than a cheese sandwich does...... Only kidding. I also started thinking...

carolejo

actually, Viscount_S (my husband, also known as 'the Boy') did a 'no C diet' a few years back, when he realised that crisps, cheese and chocolate were his major pitfalls. One of the nicest things about NoS for me is that nothing is actually banned, just delayed. If it helps, you could always do as y...

carolejo

excellent work!

Bet you're really pleased.

C.

carolejo

Aha! So I managed to convert you :lol: (well, convince you to give this a try, anyhow) I have always bent the rules a little and said that up to 2 portions of fruit or raw veg is allowed in addition to my 3 meals a day. Usually, I don't acutally need to eat it these days, but it helped a lot at the ...

carolejo

Yeah, I dunno what it is about that full moon, but all teachers will tell you that their school classes get slightly more unruly at that time of the month too!

I certainly noticed it with the undergrads at Uni.

C.

carolejo

I'd agree with the 'going to bed hungry' thing. I just can't seem to get to sleep at all if I feel hungry! or cold! I think that's always a bad idea to go to bed hungry, although it seems to work for some people. Cynthia, Hang in there!! It's one slip up in an otherwise OK day. Don't try to deal wit...

carolejo

Monday morning weigh in. I'm at 89 kg. Going down down down! *grin* This is back to the weight I was 5 years ago, before I started Judo. My lowest ever was 77.9kg, but that was seriously 'manipulated' for Judo competition (heavyweight for girls is 78kg and above, so if you can get below there, you'v...

carolejo

Ha. 1pm. See? You're already more than halfway through for today. :D It's a Saturday though, so you can actually have a little treat if you want one today. Many people helped me along my NoS journey, particularly at the beginning and when I was finding it really hard. I'm just glad to pass on the fa...

carolejo

Friday - SUCCESS NoS :D SUCCESS MILA :D Today is a nice S day. I've been eating a ton of chocolate and slumming out around the house, reading. The Boy is back in Blighty for the weekend, so it's just me and the LyraCat. Tomorrow is my big adventure, hashing and meeting a load of random new people. I...

carolejo

6 pounds lighter! Wow. That's really impressive. You must be psyched!

Good going. OnOn to the next 21 days, I say

carolejo

fantastic, Shameless!!!

Great effort. I'm really pleased for you.

C.

carolejo

Hey Cynthia, Only your third attempt! That's nothing. :P Most of us are on about attempt 20 or something, but I don't think of it as starting again each time. Even if I mess up spectacularly, it doesn't undo all the good work I did on the good days. I say as long as you have more good days than bad ...

carolejo

Deb is right that the cans might come loose - but I still think it depends on whether you were in the Girl Guides and learned to tie your knots properly

Good luck anyhow.
I'm sure there's the right 'routine' and 'equipment' for you out there somewhere.

C.

carolejo

Yeah, this is the thing I'm finding. Even if I'm only doing NoS in a 'less than perfect, slightly more than half-arsed way' I'm *STILL* eating way less crap and way less in general than I was before. It's like I've regained some measure of control and can actually eat a small amount of sweets withou...

carolejo

Slipped up a little yesterday afternoon when I ate about 5 gummy pig faces, of all things! ...they were tasty, but would have tasted all the sweeter if I'd waited until tomorrow. :? Did my 14 minutes of SG though. :D Didn't eat anything else I wasn't supposed to either, so it didn't trigger some maj...

carolejo

Hi Shameless, unfortunately for some of us, the need for 'willpower' will never go away. But it does get easier to apply that willpower and stick to it... and the days when you need willpower in abundance will become fewer. Don't worry. You're doing great and it will come. Habits take a while to unb...

carolejo

you could always tie a bag containing a couple of cans to the end of your broom....? It might help you to build up. Also, don't forget that you're not required to swing the sledgehammer with both your hands together. It's much easier if one hand is at the top of the handle and the other is right up ...

carolejo

75 days! Wow, Mo, that's fantastic. It doesn't matter that you then fell off the rails for a bit, you're right that two 'bad' days in 77 is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Get yourself right back on that wagon, mate! If you can do this for 77 days, you sure can do this for the rest of your li...

carolejo

Yeah, Inge!! good to see some more RED here, but for the wrong reasons!!!

C.

carolejo

Hey, there's nothing in this plan against fast food of any kind. As long as it fits on a plate, that 'particular micro-decision' is up to you. :) I sometimes also eat fastfood stuff. Usually when travelling and the options are limited, but sometimes also just because "what I *really* want for lunch ...

carolejo

Now, why then would I be trying to LOSE pounds (sterling) ? Surely I'd want to GAIN them instead!!

Actually, I am trying to lose pounds in both senses. I'm still waiting for my company to transfer me to a Dutch contract and start paying me in Euros.

C.

carolejo

welcome back, btw. I had wondered where you'd got to.

carolejo

I've actually heard something else very similar before. Mercedes Benz. Top of the range European car. Doesn't sell very well in the US and they couldn't work out why... ....til someone pointed out that it didn't have cupholders. :lol: Capiche?! It seems it doesn't matter how luxurious, sporty or exc...

carolejo

Just a quick update to say that Lyra-the-Wondercat has been here for nearly a week now, that everything in the house now 'belongs' to her and that she's behaving as if she's been here for 6 years, not 6 days

It's nice to be all together again.

C.

carolejo

Ah. Hang on a minute. I just twigged you're not a Yank, but a fellow Brit. Sorry Ingrid

In that case, one of our American friends will have to confirm that our British pounds (weight) are no fatter or leaner than a US one.

Anyone...?

C.

carolejo

Probably you're right and the headache is Detox for sure. Try some herbal teas (Camomile or peppermint are pretty good, I find) with a little honey in them. The honey is sweeter than sugar and might help wean you off those artifical sweetener chemicals a little more gently. Watch for Caffeine crash ...

carolejo

I think OJ is perfectly fine. Afterall, didn't Reinhard put somewhere "if Orange juice is REALLY your problem, you don't have a problem"

C.

carolejo

Kimmi..? did you cross the dateline or something? Last time I looked it was DEFINATELY still Thursday. :lol: :lol: :lol: Michelle, Deb is very right with this. You CAN'T have had a complete failure. There's no such thing here. Wasn't there at least one period between meals where you didn't snack? Di...

carolejo

yes, one stone is 14 pounds in the UK.

One KG is 2.2lb here. I think that's the same too.

C.

carolejo

I love Quinoa. I eat it quite often for breakfast, just boiled up in some natural vegetable stock.

Welcome back for round 2, BTW.

C.

carolejo

yesterday I was good. I even did my SG for 14 minutes (well, nearly, as the doorbell went in the middle somewhere, but it didn't take me long to sort that out) despite my abs being pretty sore from the Aerobics class.

And NoS - Success.

C.

carolejo

I dunno.... Personally I never felt unsafe walking around, even through some pretty dodgy places, but then I'm pretty big and friends tell me I walk like a bloke, so maybe nobody fancies finding out just how much of a pushover I'd be if it actually came down to it :lol: How about having a car accide...

carolejo

Most Excellent, DUDE

Glad it's going so well. You're fantastic, Deb.

C.

carolejo

*hugs*. It will get easier, honestly. In the meantime, allow yourself to be human and mess up sometimes. It's just the way it is. It's certainly not worth crying over! Hey, just think back to all the good days you've had. All those successes! And now there's a bit of a setback, well, SO WHAT?! Tomor...

carolejo

But have come to understand, really understand, that this is not about rules, or others' approval, or making the elite 21-day club. It's about completely changing how I've always been about food, and about dieting for that matter. Spot on. Nothing else to add really. Good for you. I feel I've learn...

carolejo

Fantastic to hear. I think you made the right choice for sure, AND more importantly, for the right reasons and with the right attitude. Go Judy! Don't worry, they'll hold you a place in the 21 days club. It's not going to close it's doors, that's for sure :lol: ...and when you get there, you'll know...

carolejo

Hey Kevin! That's a pretty cool idea. I might investigate it too, if you don't mind.

C.

carolejo

Hi DeDe, my sledge weighs 13 pounds, which is a little on the heavy side, really. I think the 8 pounder was a good choice. My routine is similar to yours, except I do less shovelling and some other random stuff like standing canoe paddling, stirring the cauldron, a thing which I call 'wading through...

carolejo

Start over TWICE...? Inge, I've started over about 20 times by now!!! I don't think of it as starting over though. You've not undone all the good work you did so far, so you're not starting over in that sense. It takes about 12 attempts to get a habit down-pat. Cut yourself some slack!! You're only ...

carolejo

The headache could be sugar-withdrawal, or some other 'body detoxing' side effect. It could also be a mild dehydration. Are you drinking enough water each day? It will almost certainly go away in time. If it doesn't, you could consider eating a single piece of fruit mid-afternoon to balance out your...

carolejo

travelling is always HARD. There will be times where you have to make the best of what you're given. I had an instance where one of my french colleagues went out to buy some lunch for me whilst I was over there and he returned with a huge cake thing. That was definately an S for Sugar, but as it was...

carolejo

Hey Y'all, The torture class really wasn't all that bad. Our trainer was very kind to us, and motivated by kindness and care, rather than the 'C'mon Ladies!! Let's see some EFFORT here' style that you sometimes get. I'm gonna sign up and do this every Tuesday evening from now on. It was nice to see ...

carolejo

I'm with Navin on this. I like to chew gum which is sugar-free, but won't touch the fake sugar in anything else.

C.

carolejo

Hi Judy, My ten cents worth: I think that whether this was a success or a failure has more to do with the mental processes that go with it, than what actually happened. Were you with a bunch of people where it would have looked bad to pile it up on that first plate? Did you decide at the outset that...

carolejo

So far so good today. More Eierkoken for breakfast (can't just throw them out, and they'd have gone off by the weekend. I just won't buy them during the week again as I'm pretty sure they should be an S item) Working from home today, but no SG yet. I'm going to an aerobics class with the boy's ueber...

carolejo

*laughs*

May it never be necessary!

C.

carolejo

Don't forget, you can still have your coke and fizzy pop - but ONLY on the weekend! :) That way it's easier to say to yourself when you find yourself craving it "Oh, you can have that on Saturday if you still want it! Hell, I can have 30 cans of it on saturday if I really want to!" good luck with th...

carolejo

Gossip collumnist, eh..? *chuckles*.

How do you folks get to know me so quickly, huh?!

C.

carolejo

Oh, take a look at some of the back posts in the NoS general discussion section. There's one called 'is there life after snacks and sweets?'. It might surprise you to see just how many of us on here are recovering sugar junkies. I won't lie to you. It's very very hard to start with. But if you tough...

carolejo

On 'not sure you're doing this right' - don't worry, you're spot on.

Thanks for the info.
C.

carolejo

Wow! That's super cool, Dede!!! Well done you. You say it took 45 minutes door to door. How long would it have taken you before, when you didn't walk? Is it very much longer, time wise? I found that sometimes the rush hour traffic is so bad, it actually takes just as long to take the bus as it would...

carolejo

MILA's back on track (14 minutes of SG done this evening when I got in from work), but I'm not so sure about the eating yet. I only had my 3 meals, no snacks and no second helpings, but my breakfast was Eierkoken. These are like gently chewy plain sponge cakes. They're very nice and easy to grab and...

carolejo

What's BFL? (just for those of us who were lucky enough to find this one *before* trying every other diet out there!)

Welcome by the way. Hope this very sane way of doing things will appeal and bring you much success.
C.

carolejo

best of luck and love with everything Deb. You deserve a break.

C.

carolejo

I'd say it depends... Some dried fruit has added sugar. This kind is not OK. But the kind Judy's talking about doesn't, so I say BRING IT ON. If that's what you want for dinner, go for it. There are much much worse things you could be eating.

C.

carolejo

Thanks Judy. My grandparents are my model for a long and happy marriage and life. Yes, they have arguments and do things that drive each other crazy sometimes, but they never go to sleep angry. Today's problems should be sorted out today. I think that's a very important thing and I try also to stick...

carolejo

*chuckles*

C.

carolejo

I also reckon that dried fruit is NOT a sweet, but it still shouldn't be eaten as a snack (only because you shouldn't really eat snacks if you're doing NoS, not because of anything the dried fruit did to me in a former life :lol: ). If you want it with your meal, then no problem, so I don't think th...

carolejo

Funny, isn't it..?! Here's me, generally a happy-go-lucky, confident sort who doesn't mind making a fool of herself by jumping up and down in a hotel carpark, yet I somehow don't want to do pressups in my own hotel room with nobody else watching... Oh well. I guess some of us are just a little bit u...

carolejo

Well, spent a large part of today asleep. Everything seems to have caught up with me this weekend, now I'm safely back home with my whole family (Lyra and Steve - Now we are three :lol: ). My stomach has been pretty sore these past couple of days, but I've been busy ignoring it as I had far too much...

carolejo

Go Inge,

It's really sounding good here. FANTASTIC EFFORT!

carolejo

This thread is also very interesting to me, with the amount of travel I have to do. Currently, I'm spending about 3 out of every 10 N days away from home. I've found in the past that a skipping rope is easy and small to pack. I used to jump rope in the hotel carpark for 10 minutes every night, but I...

carolejo

Not doing too badly, but today is not a textbook eating day. Didn't get to eat a proper breakfast with all that rushing around to get to the airport in the morning, so I had a bag of cheese & onion crisps, a bottle of water and a packet of Polomints. :? Yes, it would've fitted on one plate, but Polo...

carolejo

Go Dru. PERFECT FOR 5 MONTHS!!!! Wow. At the moment I'm having trouble with 'perfect for 5 days'! :lol: Hopefully once I get a bit more settled, it will be easier. Given what you wrote, I'm certainly not going to tell you it doesn't matter - but it really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of thin...

carolejo

I had wondered, but figured 'whatever'! Maybe you only wanted to wish the Shovelglovers happy halloween

C.

carolejo

I've really no idea how long we'll be here. We both have permenant jobs here, but what does that reallyl mean, these days? :lol: Our best guess (and it really is a guess) is somewhere around 5 years here. Neither Steve nor I get the feeling that this will be our last move, neither of us have any ide...

carolejo

HEY! I don't get this!! :P Just re-read what you wrote. Lunch-embarassingly large salad How can a salad EVER be embarassingly large!!? This doesn't make any sense :lol: :lol: Salad with grilled chicken is super healthy. AND it was all on one plate so there's no issue here. Just wanted to say though,...

carolejo

The LyraCat has been sucessfully relocated to Amsterdam! Yay! She was ever so good. She did keep telling me how tiresome it all was, every now and then, but only in a world-weary "please will you let me out of here now? I promise I'll be EVER so good, honest" kind of mieow. No nasty loud shouty mieo...

carolejo

*chuckles* Sneaking candy out of the closet! Oh Dear. Hey Deb, you know what they say... Closets are for CLOTHES, not for people and certainly NOT for candy bars :lol: :twisted: At least with this you only have to be 80% good and the rest of the time takes care of itself. Hang in there. Halloween ca...

carolejo

NoS success yesterday.

I even managed to only eat 1 portion of my chinese takeaway at dinner time and am currently enjoying the leftovers for my lunch today.

Looking forward to getting home tomorrow and swinging that hammer again.

C.

carolejo

Well, I got the European Union Pet Passport today from the Vets. I put Lyra back in the bag last night for about 90 minutes and she was much better behaved and much calmer. She shouted at me quite a bit at first, but then settled down a lot. I think she's getting used to it and will be OK. Yay! :D S...

carolejo

Oh dear! Those pesky fritos

Never mind. It looks like you're doing really well overall. The great thing about this is that it really *does* get easier over time, not harder!

Glad it's working out so far.
C.

carolejo

I'm really glad to hear it Judy. It's so nice when you can have a little peace about such a major part of our lives.

You're going great guns! You'll be in the 21 day club in no time at this rate

carolejo

Yeah. I know about that one. When I first started out, I objected on some level to paying for a sparkling mineral water when I was out eating. Afterall, it's just water, right? Why should it be as expensive (and in some cases much more expensive(!)) than a Coke...?! Then I figured that previously I'...

carolejo

my Cultural Shotgun (random listing of all my CDs on my work laptop, music and otherwise) just threw out the Evanescence tune that I like to shovelglove to! Oh, I really miss my hammer - but it's in a different time zone to me right now :? :lol: I thought about leaping up and dancing around the offi...

carolejo

Yeah, I have it in writing that she can come on the plane with me as long as 'all the conditions laid down by ground staff are met'. Whatever the hell that means! I guess I have to hope that my check-in staff member is not a cat-hating mini-hitler :lol: I'm sure it's just me fretting and she'll be O...

carolejo

If you were gonna come and stay with me, I'd do what I do when my Aunt is visiting (she's very seriously allergic to all furry stuff AND very badly asthmatic to boot). I shut Lyra out of the spare room totally for 2 whole weeks beforehand, clean clean everything thoroughly TWICE at least a week befo...

carolejo

Luggage would probably not be a total disaster, as long as she only went on at the last minute and then got collected directly at the aircraft door (kind of like what they do with kid's strollers and business class additional cabin baggage), but in that case I'd be a little worried, cos the bag is d...

carolejo

I put Lyra in the pet bag last night for a whole 2 hours to get her acclimatised. It wasn't a great hit. :? She spent the whole time going through a cycle of protesting loudly (fortunately just the indignant 'you've shut me up inside here and I want to be let out' mieow she has, not the 'I'm serious...

carolejo

Back in the UK again. I miss the hammer already and I've only been here about 16 hours! Yesterday I stuck mostly to noS, except that I did have a coke with my lunch at the airport. That's definately liquid sugar, so the day has to count as a FAILURE really. This morning I ate a couple of boiled eggs...

carolejo

Go go go!!!

Fantastic work climbing back on the horse, Blue Daisy!

Congratulations. Don't beat yourself up about the apple - just be mindful that it doesn't slide.

I'm really glad for you that you're having another go at this.
C.

carolejo

He's a picture of my baby, BTW:

C.

carolejo

More hurtling through the skies for me again today, squashed into a space about 60cm square. The flight leaves at about 2 O'clock this afternoon. last night the Boy took me out to a Japanese noodle bar to cheer me up. It was very pleasant, but of course, no match for my favourite one ever in leeds *...

carolejo

Sounding good so far!

Nice one.
C.

carolejo

Hey! We have Snickers bars here too! Our mars bars also don't have peanuts!

C.

carolejo

I wish! Then today wouldn't have been a failure

Mind you, it's not within the rules to decide on the day itself that it's an S day, I think. Not if you already had a whole year's notice of when it was taking place!

Happy halloween to you too though!

C.

carolejo

Good point! Some of us need more random contact to keep going than others

C.

carolejo

not such a good day for me today, so far. NoS - Failure. I ate a load of sweets and chocolate after my lunch. The MILA goal was a success though - I did my 14 minutes Shovelglove this morning. I'm only too aware though that I'm away again from tomorrow until Friday, and can't take the hammer with me...

carolejo

*chuckles* Yes, I'm Carole, my middle name is Jo. My given names are not actually linked up / run together or hyphenated in any way in real life. You're not the first to say that about the mexican way though. Deb's son Richard also always thinks of me as 'Carl-Lay-Ho'! Arriba! btw, what happened to ...

carolejo

I also often wondered what became of these people, but am pretty sure that it wouldn't be the right thing to 'cyber stalk' folk to try and track them down and find out what happened. I always put it down to one of life's little mysteries. Maybe some of them will return - I think there are a few peop...

carolejo

ps: why 12:34? Is it just because it's a cool-looking number (1234) or is there some personal significance to this time?
C.

carolejo

Hey Joodith!

Good for you. Afterall, even if you haul your arse outta bed, only to sit semi-conscious on the sofa for most of the day, maybe you'll sleep a little easier the next night!

Good luck with the new commitment and may it bring you some inner peace.

C.

carolejo

The woodspice one is definately my favourite. It's got a really gentle scent, not at all 'in your face' or overpowering.

C.

carolejo

Mine's a 12 pounder, but it actually weighs more like 13 with the handle and sweater added. I ticked the 12 pounder box though.

C.

carolejo

Fantastic! I *love* it when that happens!!
C.

carolejo

Well, like I posted on my checkin, Friday is Lift-Off day for Lyra the Cat! :lol: She's considerably less enamoured of the pet bag than I was - they seem to have a 6th sense about these things - she won't be seen within 5 metres of the thing, although I know she's been inside at least once cos the f...

carolejo

Thought I'd post a short update on the 'smell at your own risk' thread. I've become a Toms of Maine deodorant convert - so much so that I've bought 3 sticks with me from the UK as I haven't found it in Holland yet! So far, I had 2 comments about how good it smells. I'm pretty happy with it myself to...

carolejo

Sadly we got to the noodle shop and it was CLOSED! I mean, what kind of crazy-ass country IS this place anyway, that the restaurants are closed on a saturday night...? :lol: We'll have to go back during the week. It's only open between 11:30 and 9pm monday to friday. I guess it's because it's in a b...

Everyday Systems

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