Everyday Systems

Just three months late :-) You'll understand when you see it why I was reluctant to post it... shocking reduction of facial hair. http://www.nosdiet.com/beforeafter.html My older daughter (not pictured) is still very unhappy with the situation and keeps pleading with me to "stop shaving, daddy!" But...

Hi all, The magazine is still interested -- but they want more candidates. If you're a woman who has lost a bunch of weight on no-s and have any interest in appearing in a major national magazine (and acquiring my eternal gratitude), please drop me an email. reinhard.engels@gmail.com Don't worry if ...

I have to admit, I do have very fond memories of Chicken McNuggets from when I was a kid... but I'm trying (probably in vain) to preserve my kids from forming a similar attachment. Less because of the fake ingredients than because of the mechanized cruelty of the factory farms. Of course, from that ...

Welcome back, Finnigan.

I vastly prefer shugging in the morning, but I haven't been able to do it since we've had kids -- they get up too darn early. Hopefully when they get older I can get back on the AM schedule.

Reinhard

I am interested. They certainly are beautiful! I'd be scared the weights would come flying off, but I guess you've been doing this for years now with no terrifying incidents. For those who aren't familiar with fungus's history of modding hammers, here's a link he posted way back in 2007: http://bigg...

Winston Churchill said, "Winston Churchill said, "When you're going through hell keep going."." I love that, wosnes. It's amazing how many brilliant quotes that man came up with. Amazing he had time, between dropping all these bons mots , to save the free world, etc. tarantinofan: Two weeks isn't m...

Thanks for de-lurking, treacletart! (and for the quote) There have been a bunch of pro-meal stories in the media recently. Is it possible that the pro-snacking drumbeat we've hear these last decades is finally becoming "old?" (a far more damning fate than merely "wrong" :-)) In any case, I need to g...

I'm so happy people are still finding these ancient episodes useful!

Thank you for letting me know, amomac.

Hoping to have a new episode out shortly...

Reinhard

Unfortunately, after over a year of looking at foods in terms of points and grazing through the day on 1-3 point foods, I have no idea what a normal meal consists of! Sad, right? Yes... but all too common these days. You're not alone in terms of where you're coming from (or where you're headed -- w...

Welcome back, Kit!

I'm glad you're finding it easy to fit no-s in with your kids' dietary requirements -- the fact that no-s is sop compatible with other ways of eating is one of its greatest strengths.

Reinhard

I wouldn't worry about it unless you find this happens often and is actually a problem.

But big picture, I think you might find it EASIER to stick with unambiguous one-plate-at-one-time meals. Same amount of food, maybe, but less head scratching.

Reinhard

Hi All,

Thanks for the ipod app vote...

I've started messing around with appcelerator and hope to have something "alpha" soon...

Reihard

Thank YOU, Grammy G!

I always enjoy reading your kind, thoughtful posts (even if it sometimes takes me a few days to respond

).

Reinhard

Welcome, Kristen!

It sounds like you have a very good, long term outlook.

Best of luck and looking forward hearing more from you,

Reinhard

Thanks for this link, Kathleen (and Gia, in another post).

It's great in terms of adding additional support for the "no snacking" rule, but sad in terms of how bad a problem this had become.

Why do things always have to get so awful before people even notice them?

Reinhard

Please join me in congratulating ShannaR and MerryKat for their achievements (and thank them for sharing them with us as testimonals!) ShannahR's testimonial, besides containing an impressive story, is organizationally interesting. She divides her testimonial into three points ("me," "the diet," "ex...

MerryKat, I'm so happy to see your testimonial here! And deeply impressed at your successful determination to give no-s another go after that initial false start. There's a world of difference there is between intellectually understanding something and really getting it. And I think there are far to...

Shannah,

Congratulations on making it to the testimonial "threshold" and thank you for posting!

I like your three "points" -- could serve as a good template for future testimonials.

As for exercise, hey, that's textbook urban ranger. Nothing to apologize for here.

Reinhard

The $5.95 version is a "bargain book" (aka remainder).

I don't make any money from these (gotta love publishing), and I'm hoping amazon runs out soon.

The full price No-s book is actually slightly more expensive than the kindle version.

Reinhard

Welcome, Sparkle!

You've got the right "habit centric" mentality.

Focus on habits, and results will come (and stay).

Reinhard

Thanks for seconding my decision, Grammy G. :-) Feb 23,24: Tasks failures. No special excuses. Just overwhelmed. Feb 25: No-s and shovelglove S-day (funeral). Glass ceiling failure (2 drinks over the limit -- small drinks, but still). March 1: tasks failure. Fell asleep one task short while tucking ...

Looks like they have a bunch of moves

Shoveling, Moderate

And:

Steel Mill -- tending furnace (stoke oven)

No idea how scientific their methodology is (or how accurately the shovelglove moves calorically map to their real world counterparts).

Reinhard

I found a technology that makes it possible to write iphone (and android) apps using javascript which sounds significantly less time consuming than figuring out objective C, so the odds of me actually creating a habitcal app have just gone up dramatically... http://www.appcelerator.com/ Good thing I...

I agree with everything pirateman wrote :-) I'd add one further refinement: the best time is whatever time you are most likely to actually do it. Don't allow some real or imagined "optimal" time to become an excuse for doing nothing at all. I LIKE exercising in the morning. But since my kids get up ...

Thanks for the quote. It's no surprise to me, since I've been experiencing the benefits of moderate exercise (and walking in particular) for almost a decade now, but it's so much more impressive to hear it from NPR.

I think I'm going to stick with this.

Although I'm rather fond of this, too.

Reinhard

Hi Josh, Besides urban ranger, for the last few years, I run (theoretically) once a week with a coworker (it's more like .75 times a week because of travel, kid crises, boston weather, etc.). Not too fast, and not too far (about 3 miles in a little under half an hour, usually). It's actually kind of...

Welcome, accmom, and congratulations on your successful start!

I'm going to officially exempt skype and itunes from weekend luddite (at least, until the kids can figure out how to skype grandma and grandpa and play "the sound of music" without my help

).

Reinhard

Kathleen, Thanks for the update! My issue with IE is that because of bad habits, I think most of our intuitions about food have become pretty corrupted. They may have been reliable once (though I'm not sure they were ever really good enough to deal with the problem of modern superabundance), but the...

That's great to hear, sparkle.

I'm all for metrics -- but they have to be good metrics.

Congratulations on those inches!

Reinhard

Hi Anoulie, If the banana is really the issue, as Deb suggests, I think you could incorporate it into no-s easily enough. RJLupin is right that there is a danger that one thing might lead to another, but I think adding a forth mini-meal is far less risky than intentionally going off-system altogethe...

Welcome, Zuudy! Sorry you didn't get more of a consensus one way or the other, but it's a bit borderline. Smoothies are kind of sweet, and they're somewhere between solid and liquid, so it's not a totally clear call. I think you'll have to decide for yourself whether you think it'll work for you -- ...

Thanks for the encouragement.... looking into it.

That is interesting (sorry for the delayed response).

Between this and Michael Pollan's quote (and Michelle Obama recommending limiting desserts to weekends) I guess my ideas are slowly seeping into the culture.

Reinhard

Hi uncgbrody, I'd suggest just focusing on an N-daily amount of time to commit to, and then filling it in as you see fit ("14 minutes of ANYTHING"). That way you focus on establishing a sustainable framework rather than getting lost in details. If one particular exercise or set of exercises gets bor...

Thursday Feb 18th: took an S-day from shovelglove and No-s to enjoy a fancy dinner and a movie at a friends'. A little borderline, I guess, but when you get out as infrequently as we do, it's cause for celebration

Hi Leanmc,

I've done two relevant podcast episodes that you might want to listen to/look at if you haven't already:

Put the scale in perspective

S-days gone wild

Reinhard

Hi John, Caffeine is supposedly an appetite suppressant, so I'd imagine it would help. I'd also imagine the "ritual" of drinking coffee would be helpful. You come to associate "break time" with coffee instead of food (or cigarettes). I drink 2-3 cups of black coffee a day. Are you still drinking "h2...

I'd love to do this -- the only problem is finding the time.

But the more people pester me here, the more highly motivated I am to do that.

Reinhard

jairvee, Don't worry about shovelglove not quite slaughtering you as much this week as last week. That's inevitable, -- and good (exhilerating as it can be initially, very few people can handling being slaughtered five days a week indefinitely). Give it time (much easier to do now that it isn't so p...

Welcome, Liam.

You're right to play it careful with the wrist -- take your time working up to the full 14 minutes. There's no rush.

Best of luck and looking forward to hearing more from you,

Reinhard

Welcome, Elspeth!

(and welcome back, oolala53 and Dandelion)

That's great to hear, Deb (sorry about my way delayed response). Resolved: I'm going to start fessing up reds and yellows in this thread again instead of "batch processing" them once every few weeks. Not only because I forget what the reasons were, but because there's less of a disincentive if the d...

Maintenance is the hard part, so though it would be nice to have lost some, you've made important progress. You're right that "tweaking" in general is risky -- and that calorie counting in particular can push a lot people over the edge (though some here combine it quite happily with No-s). The first...

It's funny that people have suggested using all kinds of implements for shoveglove (brooms, mops) but never shovels, which you'd think, in retrospect, would be the most obvious. If you're just starting with a shovel today, don't even bother worrying about the next step. Just get nice and comfortable...

Hi All, This is still very much "live," so please let me know if anyone else is interested. They might be willing to lower their quantitative criteria a bit for people who are willing to be photographed, so please, if you're a woman even remotely in the minus -50 pound ballpark and not camera shy, p...

Fortunately there are precious few of these -- and maybe it's good they exist or people wouldn't believe the positive ones. I don't actually think I've seen another book with a comparable number of reviews where the average has been so high. Thanks all of you here who have been so generous in your p...

Michael Pollan just sent me an email! He wrote that he'd taken the S rules to be a "meme at large" floating around the net and hadn't realized that they were a consciously devised, published system. He would have happily credited me if he had -- and is going to look into doing so in the next printin...

You guys are great. Thank you Deb, Dave, Kathleen, lelovelady, Steven, Sophia, and Too Solid Flesh! Welcome, weimanxi! And thank you for making the effort to dig up the source of that reference. I hope you'll find it to have been worthwhile. On vanilla No-s, an unsweetened latte would be allowed; sn...

Allow yourself really big firsts until you get those "mealing" habits down. That way you'll be less hungry between meals and you'll have incentive to hold out (because you know your next meal is going to be legitimately substantial). Every day you successful resist snacks and sweets it will get easi...

mrsj, That's frustrating - I'm sorry to hear it. But I do think you're in better shape than you were before -- you have a platform of moderate habits to build on. The most obvious next step would be, as wosnes has mentioned, to add moderate regular exercise, if you're not doing it already. It's a go...

I am flattered, no question! I'd just really like to be flattered by name, is all :-) If anyone else feels moved to remind/inform Jane Brody, Michael Pollan, and/or the New York times of the source of this particular bit of food wisdom, here are some urls/email adresses to make it easy: Email Jane B...

Welcome, Ragdoll!

Don't stress about the two pounds. Get the behavior down and the pounds will follow. It's not unusual for people to experience an uptick when they're first starting (can take a while get a feeling for how big one's plates need to be, S-day panic to subside, etc.).

Reinhard

Wow, this is thrilling (and simultaneously infuriating!) I've become anonymously famous. :-) Still, I'll take it over no New York times quote any day. I emailed Jane Brody -- fingers crossed it makes it past her screener(s). She does seem genuinely interested. It doesn't seem beyond the realm of pos...

I'm *very* impressed with your story, As am I! and maybe they will be too? I certainly think so. I don't want to put anyone on the spot, but please give yourself some credit, too solid flesh! As far as I'm concerned, you are an ideal No-s success story. If you still feel like a "during" -- well, ev...

Kathleen, I am Reinhard and of course I'm 100% fine with this :-) Many, many posters here have combined no-s with other "diets" or ways of eating. One of the advantages of No-s is how readily it lends itself to this kind of combination. Looking forward to reading more of your insightful posts now fr...

Another major national women's magazine is interested in doing a story on No-s! (I wonder if this is related to the Michael Pollan quote?) I can't promise this will be quite as exciting as last time: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2550 But it's still pretty cool. They haven't mentione...

First Michael Pollen, now Jamie Oliver, the word is spreading

Now if only the No-s title would spread!

Reinhard

I love it. Bars may be out -- but maybe there are No-s co-branding opportunities after all

Call it medicine and relax.

(or take a "'sick' starts with 's' day" if you think you need further indulgence -- perfectly legitimate)

Reinhard

His big chance to explicitly acknowledge the source of his quote for rule #60

Reinhard

Always good to see you here again, mrsj. Congratulations on your continued success.

Reinhard

You are very welcome, Collegegrl3!

Congratulations on your success and thank you for letting us know!

Reinhard

Welcome, JR! Think of it as a set of new habits rather than a diet. Yes, there are explicit rules, but the rules are more important as tools to build habits than in themselves.

Reinhard

Thanks, Wosnes! Just emailed him.

Reinhard

Congratulations and welcome, oolala53!

Exnerd, I'm glad I was able to sort out those login difficulties and thank you for posting here! I have added some personal quirks to shovelgloving, Shovelglove is all about personal quirks. :-) I see that this is heresy when viewed from the basic idea behind Reinhard's fitness philosophy, but I alr...

from page 131 of Food Rules , rule #60 "Treat treats as treats" These special occasion foods offer some of the great pleasures of life, so we shouldn't deprive ourselves of them, but the sense of occasion needs to be restored. One way is to start making these foods yourself... Another is to try to l...

I'm glad you like them, Dandelion!

I very much look forward to finding the time to record more.

Reinhard

Thanks for the great link, HG. Nice to see some evidence for my intuition! Digest that for a moment. Sweetness beats out coke I guess that's why coke was able to get rid of the coke :-) From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola Coca-Cola did once contain an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine pe...

1. Breakfast: whole grain bread 2. Lunch: oatmeal! 3. Dinner: a big plate (and a glass of wine or beer) But most important is habit. I don't always have these "defaults," but I always (well, on N-days) stick to my three single plate meals. That structure, over time, does far more to manage and conta...

Welcome, MindOverSnack! I'm not a huge gum chewer myself, so I haven't done a whole lot of homework on the subject. But my limited understanding is that there isn't any evidence to suggest it's harmful (and some that it's helpful). The "chewing habit" concern makes a certain amount of intuitive sens...

Welcome, leannamcg and love my whippets!

Thanks, guys, for noticing this and registering even before I'd gotten around to uploading an image or website link!

Reinhard

Hi Deb,

Thanks, things are going much better!

"Tasks" are going OK, but not perfectly (just about to tabulate my January cards in the habitcal).

I went in and renamed your check in thread.

Hope all is well with you and Richie,

Reinhard

Hi Ragdoll, Guilt? What for? Sounds like yesterday was a success! Remember that no-s isn't about stuff, it's about structure. If you take care of the structure the stuff will take care of itself. Not every time, but often enough. And even as far as stuff goes, there's nothing wrong with bread and bu...

Brent,

I'm sorry to hear you've been having trouble. This is a tough time of year for lots of people. On the bright side, every day you tough it out now, you're building serious habit-muscle for easier times. I find that consideration motivationally useful.

Best of luck and keep us posted,

Reinhard

Thanks for the link! Here's another choice quote: Cognitive scientists from Indiana University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin compared the dieting behavior of women following two radically different diet plans and found that the more complicated people thought their die...

Welcome, Maya Jo! I'm a big fan of (whole!) milk. Relevant blurb from the book (which I'm sure you've bought multiple copies of, right :-) ?) (pages 55-56) Caloric drinks (as long as theyâ€™re not full of sugar) are also acceptable snack substitutes. While liquid calories are qualitatively no differ...

Welcome, Helen -- and enjoy your sandwich! The "one plate rule" is "can you fit it on a plate" NOT "could you arrange it in such a way that it wouldn't fit on a plate" (you could do that with almost anything -- imagine the square footage you could cover with thin film of lentil soup!). It's true you...

Sorry there was a slight delay in setting up 2010 (and a significant delay in replying to your post here!).

I just set up a (very skeletal) No S Diet facebook fan page. Easy enough... thanks for the nudge!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-S-Diet

Reinhard

Hi Sara,

I'm afraid I haven't gotten around to adding preferences or editing yet (it's been a VERY busy few months).

I do still hope to get around to adding these features, but in the meantime, I'd be happy to go into the database directly and rename any tags you send me.

Reinhard

As KCCC mentioned, this has been a hot (and often contentious) topic on these boards. Here are a few meaty discussions on the subject: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3226 http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3518 http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4041 And here's t...

If you know in advance (by lunch time) that he'll be late, a late lunch can help. I'm "fortunate" in this regard in that my kids will not tolerate deviations of more than half an hour from established mealtimes

Reinhard

I've never actually seen an episode. I probably should, just out of "professional" interest. Sounds awful, though.

Navin, formerly a prolific poster here (even from the yahoo group days!) is still no-essing!

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5922

Navin -- great to see you here again and thank you for posting this. There's nothing I like to see more than updates from long-time no-essers. So there have been some lapses -- overall, it sounds like it's been working very well for you. And I'm confident, given what you've accomplished already, and...

Sorry it was a tough week, amylpav22. Better luck this week. It does get easier as you build the habit.

Congratulations!

Have you seen this?

http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/ ... .php?id=34

Reinhard

minpick,

I am deeply flattered!

It's great to see that urban ranger isn't the only system to have inspired poetry

Reinhard

Hi Sara,

I haven't read it -- but it rings a bell. My wife is a middle school teacher, and I think I've seen it lying around at some point. I'll see if I can track it down at home or at the library.

Reinhard

Congratulations! But I'm afraid my artistic skills are insufficient...

Kathleen is right -- it's mostly about habit. And if you stick to your guns, habit will start to work for you. But as others here have already pointed out, there are some steps you can take in the meantime beyond merely hunkering down. Here's a relevant section from the book (which I assume you've b...

Dec 30: shovelglove NWS day (vacation)
Dec 31: shovelglove and no-s NWS day (new years eve)

I've started tracking "tasks" again for 2010 after a three month hiatus. Took me a while to figure out a new "routine" column but I feel pretty good about what I've come up with.

Reinhard

Hi Cantab,

Sorry I didn't see this post till now -- but I did see a slew of email on the subject and had it working again on the 2nd.

I'll make sure not to wait to the last minute for 2011.

Reinhard

Hi Pete, I'm sorry to year about your accident and I wish you a speedy and total recovery... Not that this is remotely comparable, but I had a period of intense stress last fall during which no-s was helpful in getting me to remember to eat at all. So yes, from personal experience, to some degree at...

Welcome back, mrsj!

(and congratulations on being our first guest in 2010).

Reinahrd

kal63,

Welcome!

I wouldn't worry about it if it's just a teaspoon or two (assuming the cereal itself isn't sweetened).

If it's about what you'd put in a coffee (especially if you're not also putting it in your coffee) I don't think there's any need to worry.

Reinhard

Hunter Gatherer has now been no-essing for FOUR YEARS.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5899

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

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The 2009 "during" is here!

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Michael Pollan quotes the No S Diet!