Everyday Systems

Welcome back!

Hi all, In my fiddling around with a mobile version of habitcal I figured something out that seemed worth adding to the regular version: you can now drag/swipe to set multiple days to a color. This is useful if like me you don't update every day and especially if you're tracking multiple habits in t...

Wow! Very cool. Everyday systems inspired art -- it reminds me of rosary beads, in a way. I'm deeply flattered (and very impressed).

Reinhard

I love the idea, but it's just not practical for me. I live in a city and don't have enough indoor space. Although our house does have a back yard of sorts (more of a back alley) the neighbors would probably think I'm crazy and call the cops -- except for our junkie neighbors in the directly abuttin...

This mod finally brought my S days under control. I'm so happy to hear this! How would you incorporate it into the No S Diet rule of thumb if you decided it was worthy of inclusion? It's still just a mod, although a very helpful one, I think, so I'll leave the basic, vanilla, formula as is. I just ...

Welcome, Ruff! (and companion)

Hope days 2+ have been going well.

It's all about building habit -- so don't be discouraged if the first few days take some serious willpower. You'll need less and less as you go on.

Reinhard

Of course! Welcome.

Welcome back!

I've been doing this now for 10 years, and it's only gotten easier and more pleasant.

Reinhard

Welcome Syim, herbsgirl, and Threadbenders! (and welcome soon linda45!) Syim: tip for you snacking mod: what you call it matters. If I were you, I'd avoid the word "snack" and declare it an additional meal of sorts. Why? One, to keep it contained. Two because you'll feel less like your twisting the ...

Thank you, r.jean! Thursday, Sept 29: No-s and shovelglove S-day (Rosh Hashanah) Tuesday, Oct 4 glass ceiling failure (2 drinks over the limit). Two alcohol lubricated social events in one day. I could have been more virtuous and limited myself to one drink at each, but I didn't. Friday, Oct 7: No-s...

That's me. Feel free to private message or email me if you have any questions or problems.

reinhard.engels@gmail.com

I rarely go longer than 14 minutes. In terms of other stuff, these days I walk about 20 minutes to work and 20 minutes home. Plus 10 * 2 to drop off the kids (slow going, but I often have one on my shoulders, which I guess must burn a few extra calories :-)). So about an hour total on weekdays. Week...

It's weird, I still get this kind of dream once in a while. I'll catch myself stuffing myself and realize it's an N-day. Or I'll blow way past the glass ceiling. They're never positive dreams, either. It's always an unpleasant, shocking, realization. But I, too, think this is a good sign. It's so im...

My problem....I'm afraid of the weekend! I've done so well, and I'm afraid I won't restart on Monday, that I'll find an excuse to snack again. Snacking is my downfall, once I start eating in the evening I don't stop until I go to bed. Any suggestions? Thanks! I have the perfect mod for you: http://...

Congratulations!

Thank you!

We Sed it up in style.

Went to a great new restaurant around the corner called Bondir.

http://www.bondircambridge.com/

Reinhard

There used to be, but it seems to be misbehaving now that I look at it again. I'll poke around a bit and see what I can do. Apparently the upgraded software to the bulletin board system I'm using has serious rss support baked in by default. So maybe that's a good reason to go through with it after a...

I would stick with low rep count sets (7 is good), nice and slow. If anything hurts or feels weird, stop immediately. The supremely important thing at the beginning is not to overdo it. Keep it slow and safe and fun to deprive yourself of excuses to give up and build the habit. Then add difficulty a...

me too! Took me several years to work up to that.

Welcome!

Reinhard

Welcome!

Fond as I am of all my everyday systems, if I had to pick one, it would be this (thought of most of the rest of them while doing it!).

Reinhard

Welcome back, Valerie! I'm so sorry to hear about the hard time you've been going through, but very glad to see you again here. I hope no-s and the group here can be of some help. My family went through some work and health scares a couple of years ago (now, at least for the moment, favorably resolv...

Welcome, Paula!

Hope your first week and change has been going well.

Best to you and your family,

Reinhard

I just move to an office without a kitchen for the first time in my career, so my default oatmeal isn't going to be an option anymore. So far (two days) I've stuck with sandwiches, but Bento does sound intriguing....

Reinhard

Sorry to hear that...

Please lay off the shovelgloving until everything feels 100% OK.

Over time, shovelglove will give you a back like Hercules, but in the beginning especially be VERY careful.

Wishing you a speedy recovery,

Reinhard

Hi Slothlike,

I do both low rep count (7 reps each movement) and high rep count sets (max 42 for some movements) throughout the week.

Not sure if one is better than the other, but it keeps it interesting to mix it up and I hedge my bets.

Reinhard

Yes, that's how it would work. Cookie with meal (as dessert) -- no audience required. Cookie between meals (as snack) -- gotta have a partner/witness. Note that it doesn't STOP you from having that cookie. Just from unthinkingly wolfing it and a dozen more down. It's a speed bump that cuts down on a...

Congratulations to the many new and returning members since I last popped in here!

Reinhard

Clarica has now lost ~50 pounds and brought her total weight under 300 pounds.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8004

You all know how I feel about scale numbers, but hey, this is a milestone to celebrate.

Reinhard

Congratulations, Clarica!

I'm not a stickler for numbers when it comes to weight loss, but that's a very satisfying threshold to have crossed!

Thank you so much for letting us know.

Reinhard

Please join me in congratulating Staria, who has maintained her tremendous progress (-65 pounds) through a VERY difficult year.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7993

Lots of people can lose a bunch of weight. But very few can keep it off in times like these.

Reinhard

Staria, Flashy, this testimonial may not be -- but it's deeply impressive. It reflects well both on the system and (even more) on yourself. I think it's pretty amazing that you were able to get through this all without gaining weight. Still, impressive as it was, for your own sake I wish you a much ...

Long time no-esser Sinnie (~6 years?) is still with it and still going down:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... 984#106984

Not bad at all for someone who reached their "ideal" weight two years ago.

Reinhard

Sinnie,

Great to hear no-s is still working so well for you. Thanks for keeping us updated!

Reinhard

Friday Sept 9: Shovelglove and tasks failure. Too tired. Fell asleep.

Breakfast is my big fruit meal. I almost always have fruit then. I'll often have it with other meals as well. With lunch, I often have dried fruit (with my oatmeal), which isn't quite the same as fresh, of course. Apart from its taste, nutritional value, and visual appeal, fruit works great with no-...

August 29, 31: No-s s-days (vacation). I was off the whole week but only took 2/5 s-days. Had a bit of a GI bug which made it difficult not to be virtuous. August 30: Glass ceiling failure. 1 drink over the limit. After almost 7 hours of driving, I was thirsty. August 31, Sept 1: Shovelglove S days ...

Nice! She's a beaut.

Happy shugging,

Reinhard

Welcome! In terms of what I've gained, among other things, I can slaughter everyone I know (with one possible exception) in armwrestling. Granted, I hang with a pretty nerdy crowd, but still. I've also overheard my friends' kids say things like "Daddy, if you were as strong as Reinhard you could pic...

Thanks, all!

We appreciate your kind wishes.

Zippy's brother Gingi is still alive and well and actively engaged in his role of shovelglove mascot.

Reinhard

That's great to hear -- congratulations! I had a similar experience. It's hard to tease out the contributing factors, but with no-s alone I lost 20 pounds. When I started shugging a few months after, I lost another 20. And I'm guessing I lost a lot more fat poundage than that, given the muscle I gai...

Welcome back! I'm counting my reps in Spanish. It may sound silly, but in my language studies the thing I do LEAST often is count. It may sound silly, but I do exactly the same thing. :-) I notice it gets much harder to count (unless I know the language really well) toward the end when you get exhau...

Welcome! Yes, the stricter you are, the faster it gets easier. It's all about building the habit. If weekends get difficult, I think I've (only recently) hit on a great solution. See my most recent mods & tweaks discussion entry here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=105419#105419 Keeps...

And they taste so damn good too.

Congratulations, sheepish! That's wonderful.

Reinhard

Book review, actually:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/books ... ef=general

Some numbers to back up good old Aristotle and your Grandma.

Long live that musty victorian odor!

Reinhard

Sorry -- got a bit derailed by those above mentioned issues. It's actually really close. I just need a few days to putter around in earnest to get it over that final hump. Thanks for the nudge! In terms of the name, I think I might go with something like "Habit Traffic Light." Captures something dis...

Nice! The color coding works well for this.

Any male children conceived using the habitcal must be named "Reinhard."

Reinhard

Hi bjalda, The only S which requires company (according to this mod) is snacking. So if I have a solo S-day meal (a hypothetical scenario with my omnipresent attention-demanding children) I can have seconds and sweets. I'm finding it's getting easier and is actually sort of soothing. No more decisio...

August 22: Glass ceiling failure (1 drink over the limit). Book club again. Aristotle's Ethics, of all things!

August 15-19: I was on vacation in the Berkshires and ran for my daily 14 minutes instead of shovelglove. Was more like 30 minutes a day, lots of hills. I'd just read "Born to Run" which hugely impressed me and since I was sledgeless thought I'd give upping my running at last for a week a try (more ...

I just started experimenting with what I think might be a very promising mod myself (I was on vacation and wanted a rule to help me relax about all the S-days): "No Solitary Snacking -- even on S-days." I posted about it on the "tweaks and mods" thread: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=...

The other thing that helped was getting a Soda Stream. We've got one of those too and get a lot of mileage out of it. All we ever drink is plain seltzer (perhaps with a splash of lemon) but we drink a lot. Besides the financial benefits vs. buying bottles, and the easy availability of a zero calori...

Congratulations, Ray!

I'm impressed at how precisely you've recorded your rep counts -- curious how that progresses (no rush!).

Reinhard

Two answers: Little picture: When I bother to weigh, I frequently (usually, in fact) see greater than 3 pound shifts within a single day. So I wouldn't be greatly concerned about this number. Big picture: yes, no s is slow. Expect maybe half a pound a week, in fits and starts. And don't expect to be...

Nice! Thanks for the link (and thanks Clarica and KCCC and for the comments there).

Reinhard

Yes, Nicest, I just re-read your description of these mods on the last page and it's very similar. Maybe I'll do a write up describing this whole "family" of mods. So far (a week in) I'm really surprised at how much unsatisfying crap eating this has cut out and how easy it's been to comply with. Thi...

Zippy, one of the two brother cats pictured on the home page (the gray and white one) who inspired "cat proof" shovelglove, had to be euthanized this morning. He had a stroke over the weekend and couldn't walk or see anymore. We're all pretty sad at the Engels house, but it's some consolation to thi...

No Solitary Snacking -- even on S-days I'm experimenting with this one right now. Not so much to get more "results" (I'm happy where I am now) but because I don't actually enjoy this kind of eating and it's all too easy to fall into if you have permission. I also think it might be very helpful for ...

July 26: glass ceiling failure: one drink over the limit. Bookclub again. July 30: glass ceiling failure: one drink over the limit. Dinner guests. Someone poured me a third glass. I might have been able to refrain from pouring one myself, but not from refusing. August 5: my daughter's 7th birthday. ...

I've been astonished at how infrequently I'm in a situation where I have to explain anything. Even people who know (or knew) what I'm doing forget, or perhaps assume that I can't possibly still be doing it (because who ever really sticks with a diet, right?). As for my close family, my wife and kids...

Dear KitKat, I'm so glad you're seeing less of your "sweet and salty friends." :-) (great phrase) Your numbers are great, but even more valuable (and encouraging for future numbers) is your newfound sense of normalcy and that this is something maintainable. Congratulations, thank you for sharing, an...

Great to see you here again, Becky.

Many thanks for your kind words and prayers!

Wishing you physical health to match your obvious spiritual health,

Reinhard

I can't speak from personal experience with kettlebells, but if you're interested, by all means go for it. I don't know about keeping your muscles guessing, but it could help to keep your mind interested and engaged to spice up your routine with a little variety. The only danger I'd say, is habit. I...

Vicki has now been no-essing for 3 years and is down a grand total of 45 pounds:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7858

Please join me in congratulating her on this tremendous achievements -- and learning from a true No-s master.

Reinhard

Congratulations, Vicki! This is such a triumph, on so many levels.

Thanks also for linking to your previous update threads.

Looking forward to many more years!

Reinhard

Congratulations!

And thank you for being a "Gideon" of no-s.

Great! That sounds testimonial-worthy.

Certainly does! (no pressure)

Reinhard[/quote]

Well, I guess it's some satisfaction to have my hunch about this being next door to chemical warfare confirmed by a chemist.

I'm not sure I can quite bring myself to stop (works too damn well!) -- but I will be even more careful not to over-apply, though.

Thanks!

Reinhard

2 (not so good, alas) updates:

1) my daughter dropped my ipod touch in the toilet
2) my attempts to get the other habitcal app guy to stop have been in vain.

But I will soldier on! Sorry for the delays. I may be slow, but I'm persistent.

Reinhard

One of my favorite breakfasts is "garbage disposal" of leftovers that are not quite sufficient to make another dinner. Recipe is basicially as follows: Heat frying pan Put in some fat Put in some (starchy) leftovers Add egg and/or cheese and/or ham/bacon and/or peppers/onions and swish around Adding...

Before I let the backlog pile up even further, some more testimonials you should check out (you guys have to slow down on the success, I can't keep up!): I'll let Sheepish's discussion thread title speak for itself: Imperfect? You can still get results Strawberry Roan has not only succeeded on multi...

Sheepish, Congratulations! (And great title, by the way) Those are some very impressive numbers. And though I know you're planning on upping the compliance a bit for further progress, it's very encouraging to hear that you can achieve those kinds of results without "perfection." (I put "perfection" ...

Wow! Victory! And what precision! Congratulations! Thanks for the "mod" details. And don't sweat the differences from vanilla. If it's moderate, and it works for you, that's what's important. Orthodox no-s is a good default, or starting point to find personal moderation, but it's not necessarily eve...

Dave, Congratulations on another year of heroic moderation! And thank you for sharing your saga here. I don't think the hero-terminology is overblown. Remember how Odysseus had to sail between the twin, opposite evils of Scylla and Charibdis, a kind of "golden mean." The greatest hero of antiquity w...

Welcome back!

Sadly the Director (my lazy ass brother) got distracted by other projects.

I may have to just do this myself. We shot the footage. And hell, low production values are part of the charm, so stay tuned...

Reinhard

After much trial and error I use "certain dri." It's frighteningly effective -- I'm sure the stuff causes cancer, it works that damn well. Nothing else I used ever actually worked -- except for ruining shirts. Certain-dri works so well that I can run 4 miles in 95 degree weather and be drenched in s...

Welcome! Hope your first "N-days" are going well.

Reinhard

Welcome, sez! There really isn't much you can't eat on No-s -- that's one of it's biggest selling points. Do you have any additional dietary issues? If not, then start with filling up your plates with whatever non-sweets most appeal to you. Get a few weeks of successful compliance under your belt an...

June 27-29: Shovelglove S days: injured myself doing something totally unrelated on Saturday. Wanted to play it safe so took a 3 day break from shovelglove.

July 6: No S and shovelglove S day. Our yearly work dinner at a fancy restaurant.

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Definitely take it easy until you're feeling 100% better. The good news is that shovelglove will give you the back muscles of a titan if you can navigate this and keep at it. (but definitely prioritize the navigation part for now and don't shug through pain -- take as many ...

Evernote is an amazing (free) piece of software for (multimedia!) note taking in the "cloud" (with local copies on your machine). It's got both desktop and mobile versions, so you can blaze away at the keyboard at home or yammer into your ipod while urban rangering and it all gets tucked away in the...

Hi guille,

I have done more, but I can pretty reliably bang out 10 pull ups, 12 chin ups, or 10 "wide grip" pull ups.

I guess that isn't super-impressive, but I'm pretty strict about form (full range of motion, no "kipping"), and as you mentioned, I don't specifically train for them.

Reinhard

Ugh. Thanks for the head's up. Looks like it just came out a few days ago (my punishment for being too slow getting this out!) I'm trying to track down the author to respectfully ask him to change the name (it's not quite my habitcal in terms of behavior, though suspiciously similar) but I'm running...

Getting closer... A preliminary screenshot: http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/images/habitcal-app-2011-07-06.png My daughters are great beta testers. Their mischievous little fingers find bugs I wouldn't have found in a hundred years in like three seconds. They also find it astonishingly amusing t...

My favorite thing about this number is that it is 14.

Reinhard

Maybe Reinhard should think about finding a way to offer bulk quantities?

I'd be happy to -- anyone who is interested let me know how many copies and I'll see what I can do.

Reinhard

Congratulations!

Of all the esses, I think snacks are the hardest to give up, but once you do, you realize they gave you the least positive pleasure. In terms of cost/benefit, "no snacks" is a no brainer. Now if only habit were so easy to convince of that...

Reinhard

Yeah, one reason I don't advertise this system more prominently is that I think it's a small subset of smokers who would profit from it. It's worked great for me. But it doesn't surprise me in the least that others would find it impossible or even counterproductive.

Reinhard

Congratulations, Koopa! Both on the running and your baby!

Return of the pet rock! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Rock I can see how to market it already as an exercise companion: "All the health benefits of walking your dog, without the poop." There could be several levels of pet rock, depending on your current fitness level. Among others: Ciwarock (5 po...

Barbara Sher of Wishcraft fame and many other books and workshops on doing what you love tells those who want to market their work: if it isn't on Twitter, it didn't happen. probably not her idea, but still. I've heard this as well, and partly (reluctantly) believe it... I guess it seems to me like...

Whenever I walk to work, I am hungry when I get into work and I remain hungry basically until I eat lunch. But, because I want to stick to No S, I make myself wait until lunch. I've definitely experienced this as well. When I run on a weekend, there's no question I eat more to compensate. So I've b...

May it be the first of many. Congratulations.

Reinhard

I am very flattered! I do exist on twitter, but I have to say I have trouble paying attention to it... I've mostly found it useful for stuff like figuring out that the reason we didn't have running water was a water main break. But I really ought to, even if only for the purpose of shameless self pr...

Welcome to shovelglove! 12 pounds is heavy, but keep your top hand close to the hammer head and you should be all right. And force yourself to go slow, because there will be a delayed reaction till your body feels just how hard your workout was and what hitherto underutilized muscles it hit. I curre...

I've been a little remiss in keeping this testimonials thread up to date with the amazing progress people have been making in the testimonials thread, but I'm going to start remedying that now. In reverse chronological order, please join me in congratulating Sienna on an incredible first year (she's...

Wow. I think this sets the new gold standard for a "yearly check in." Not just in terms of the magnitude of your accomplishment, but what presentation! And not just one accomplishment, but your husband's too -- congratulations to you both! The graphs are fantastic -- one doesn't often see such quant...

Wed June 15: Shovelglove S-day. My wife's birthday observed. I actually managed to keep it a nosdiet N-day, which I'm not sure how I pulled off. Sa June 18: glass ceiling failure. 2 drinks over the limit. Carousing with my brother in NYC. Lest that sound too exciting, most of this took place while w...

Graham -- thank you for posting this and sorry it's taken me so long to respond (darn day job plus kids schools wrapping up and a slew of birthdays). I am absolutely interested in hearing about not-completely successful experiences with no-s (and even failures) here. For one thing, as someone coming...

Hi Debra, As you can see, you certainly aren't alone in having / having had trouble with this issue. In addition to all the great responses here (thanks, guys!), you might find it helpful to listen to a podcast I did a while ago called "S-days gone wild." http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/episo...

Everyday Systems

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Habitcal tweak: swipe to set multiple dates (broken in IE)

NYTimes Article on Willpower

RIP Zippy, Cat who inspired shovelglove

Evernote and Everyday Systems