Everyday Systems

Brother John,

Thank you so much for this wonderful article!

Much as I esteem your Cardiologist, St. Paul's blessing tops even that

Reinhard

Thanks for the iphone votes... I've gotten a number of emails about this recently.

Maybe I'll make it a May monthly resolution, once I get the next batch of podcasts out.

Objective-C can't be THAT hard, right?

Reinhard

Amyliz, This is wonderful -- thank you for taking the time and energy to share this with us. Your story got me thinking that the way most people eat nowadays is literally dis-ordered -- there is no order to it. And how strange, and recent, and obviously problematic a phenomenon this is. Some dis-ord...

Welcome back, scassie!

And please don't be embarrassed. The "expected" number I quote on the home page is 12, so you're still ahead of the pack

Best wishes this go and however many more it takes,

Reinhard

My understanding is also that instant isn't quite as good, that some of the more nutritious bits have been stripped away to optimize for rapid preparation -- though you certainly could do a lot worse. And regular "old fashioned" rolled oats cook so quickly that's it's not really much of a sacrifice ...

I often wonder how far little Laura Engles walked to school each day. Not sure about the mileage, but I assume her step count would have been something like this: From: http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Media&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=4205 The results of the study indicate...

John, I'm so happy to see you back here -- and feeling better.

Thank you for relaying your cardiologists "blessing!" That is very gratifying to hear.

Best,

Reinhard

Welcome! Congratulations.

Welcome to normalcy! In more ways than one.

The normal eating you do with no-s is at least as much the appeal as the normal BMI (though that's certainly nice, congratulations!).

Reinhard

Jeane, I don't think I am overeating. This is actually the problem no-s is intended to solve. So it's great that you have that at least in place. Whatever you do in terms of tweaking, be very careful not to risk this -- it's emphatically not a given. And it sounds like you're getting a reasonable am...

Sorry to hear this, KCCC (though I'm glad shugging's not to blame!) I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgeable about injuries like this... (I've been every lucky, I guess not to have to be). Hope you feel better soon and that someone with a bit more of a clue about these things than me chimes in here, Re...

I don't know, so I hedge my bets and do both. M-Tues high rep sets W-Th low reps sets (just 7 reps each side per movement, then cycle through them all again) F "freestyle" (usually low rep) If I had to choose one I'd say go with low rep sets. It's certainly safer. It's also more approachable -- much...

Be careful! Think too small and you'll succumb to diet hubris... I find it more helpful to "think one" and stick with that religiously. Some "ones" are bigger than others, but overall, I'm eating a lot less. You're very right about the "REALLY good food" part, though. Focus with that and the size, I...

Welcome, Wren!

Don't worry about not having a "goal weight." It isn't necessary -- I think it may often be positively unhelpful. "Eat and move moderately, see what happens" is what I'd advise.

As for the wine issue -- I've also got a system for that, glass ceiling.

Reinhard

Fungus,

I'd forgotten/never properly processed that you were the one who made that clip.

It's gotten some serious view count in the meantime!

Reinhard

Glad to hear it's going so well! Thanks for letting us know.

Welcome, Heidi! I have a hard enough time doing 50% parenting (my wife might say 40% :-)) for a mere 2 kids -- I can't imagine what 100% for 7 must be like. I think the trick to making no-s work in your situation might be to look at it as an island of sanity in a sea of chaos, rather than yet more "...

guadopt1997, If it's any comfort, you are not alone here, this is a VERY common concern with new no-essers. Were you able to find the podcast LA_Loser mentioned? I think you'll find some good tips there. Here's a direct link to that episode: http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=34 Best ...

Hi Jeanne, I think we'll need a little more data to make a useful diagnosis. Here's what we've got so far: 1) You've only lost about a pound 2) It's been 3 months 3) though restricted in your movements, you continue to do the same moderate regular exercise you did previously 4) you have significant ...

Congratulations and welcome, SavvyV! Nothing unusual about it taking 11 attempts (except the fact that you had the commendable gumption to persist!): From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A10995-2002Jan7¬Found=true Studies show that altering eating habits for g...

Seinfeld actually uses something very like the habitcal: http://lifehacker.com/software/motivation/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-281626.php Seinfeldian (or Elainian, to be precise) question for those pondering whether or not an occasion provides sufficient grounds to take a special day: "Is it...

I don't do anything... I used to feel vague guilty/nervous about not stretching or warming up before shugging. But now that I've shugging without for 7 years with no ill effects I don't.

Reinhard

Reposting is good! If you didn't see it and it's worth seeing, you can be sure plenty of others missed it, too. So thank you! The movie this clip is taken from (Aparajito) is wonderful, by the way (trilogy of movies, actually). And yes, it's also been posted about before (not a problem, really!) htt...

Thanks for the link, Yaki.

I also think you'd be hard pressed to find a beer bottle or glass, at least here in Germany, that is 0.25

Yeah, I think I saw far more 1.0s than .25s when I was over there.

Reinhard

Cool. Thanks for the link. Deb, yes, you're right, Mark wrote a couple blog posts about no-s. I think he started out doing vanilla, then wound up doing a heavily modded version (the temptation for a fellow productivity guru to mod must be enormous!). Not sure what the current status on that is. As f...

Coffee? Tea? An audiobook? An urban ranger stroll around the block? Some combination of all these?

Good luck finding something that works!

Reinhard

Welcome, Marleah! No-s is 100% compatible with veganism

I have to admit that I personally am an irredeemable carnivore (sorry if I've ever gotten defensive about it on these boards). We do get most of our meat through a local "meat share" which I actually feel pretty good about.

Reinhard

And easily embarrassed

Thanks guys!

Reinhard

Congratulations! Don't worry about the "only" 1/2 pound. According to the crude Brian Wansink number I'm fond of throwing around, you should expect only about 1.5 in that period. But it's a crude "one size fits all" number, and a mere pound is well within the margin of error of a typical household s...

Welcome! Yes, milk is OK. Enjoy that latte. Relevant blurb from the book: (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 different from solid- food calories, by reaching for a drink instead of a ...

Welcome! permasnacking. (I've never heard that term before reading Reinhard's stuff, but it is perfect.) I think I may have actually coined the term "permasnacking." The only other not obviously no-s inspired reference I can find to it is post-me (possibly/probably an independent coinage) in a comme...

dittany, Sorry I spaced on this post till now. Yes, absolutely. Lifting weights seems like self-torture in comparison. It's not just the "acting" element (though I think that's the bigger part), there's also something physical about the full, swinging movements that feels liberating. I think nobody ...

I love the idea, but I'm afraid shipping might often be more than the hammer itself (many of the hammers on amazon ship free, which seems like it must be some kind of software glitch or insane loss leader). Still, it's worth investigating. If I'm wrong and someone here does discover it's worth it, p...

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/weekinreview/22bittman.html?em the truth is that most Americans eat so badly â€” we get 7 percent of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is â€œsweetsâ€; and one-third of nationâ€™s adults are now...

Thank you, Marygrace!

Great article, and I like the photo of the oblong, fruit laden plate, too.

Your article came up in a google news alert I'd set up for "no s diet." It's been a while since no-s made the (google) news, so I very much appreciate it!

Reinhard

Babyprrr, Well, sorry no-s isn't wearing so well for you anymore, though it sounds like it was helpful for a while. If think you can manage without "food rules," fantastic. But if it turns out that you don't manage so well, consider KCCC's excellent advice. Even if vanilla no-s doesn't quite work fo...

That's very cool. I like the two days off idea (especially if they start with "T" :-)), though I have to admit, I don't take nearly that many off myself, though maybe I should. And my beer glasses tend to be a little larger than .25... (.34, I think). Does the campaign have a name or a website? Rein...

Have you seen/listened to this podcast?

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

Good luck! (and enjoy!)

Reinhard

I've always found the idea of fake foods so aesthetically repulsive that I've never been tempted to resort for them for "health" reasons -- nice to see confirmation that my aesthetic sense jives (at least to a degree) with nutritional reality. The only one of these I'm guilty of resorting to is turk...

That's great news! Congratulations to your husband -- and thank you for letting us know.

I dug up the old thread for anyone who wants the full back story:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic ... ght=#50899

Best wishes to you both,

Reinhard

Welcome, rugbyfat!

Thanks for introducing us (or me at least) to the term "movenat."

I guess you can think of shovelglove and urban ranger as (proudly!) low production values versions of "movenat."

Reinhard

Sunday March 15: glass ceiling failure. 1 Drink over the limit (1 after seeing Verdi's Otello late Saturday night, one with dinner Sunday, one cocktail later with my wife). No disaster, but no good excuse.

Welcome! And kudos for starting on such a bang -- very impressive.

Dude. This is totally what I do. I just never thought to give it a name It's funny how powerful naming things can be. If you're doing something good, and you name it, you're more likely to keep on doing it. Plus it makes it a lot easier to communicate to others. or write a poem about it, but I'm to...

No, I don't troll :-) I'm happier with unrealistically good reviews as long as I know they're real. I'm very grateful that the overwhelming majority of the reviews have been very positive. There have been just three negative ones (vs. 43 extremely positive ones): one by a person who more or less adm...

Nice! And true (sort of). But I prefer to forget about those darn calories entirely and focus on how no-s helps me enjoy food more. So how about: "Hunger is the prelude to satisfaction." or (adapting from Socrates): "Hunger is the best appetizer." If you don't ever let yourself get hungry, you don't...

First, these are bad, or at least unnecessary. O, reason not the need: our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous: Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life's as cheap as beast's (sorry, I couldn't resist) As others have pointed out, you don't have to eliminate any of these -...

I feel full when I see the plate empty.

Seriously, it's amazing, if you stick with the "no seconds" rule, how powerful the sight of an emptied plate becomes. It's like Pavlov's bell -- in reverse. Instead of making dogs start to salivate, it gets you to stop.

Reinhard

Interesting, but I wouldn't worry about this too much. Big picture, people are eating LESS at meals, big plates and all, than they used to (and much more between meals as snacks). Somewhat surprisingly, most of the increase in calories is from calories consumed during snacks. Dinnertime calories hav...

Congratulations, magicman, and thanks for the real time update!

Reinhard

Welcome! "No snacks" is the rule most people have the most trouble with (and I think it also makes the biggest difference, long term). The good news is that habit makes an enormous difference. If you can tough it out these first few weeks, you'll find it gets much easier. It'll probably start to see...

Never heard of one! Sounds promising, though. I think it might give you a more intense workout at the same weight -- and maybe be a little safer to boot. Not too pricey, either (as long as you don't go with the single piece model)... although I haven't been able to find any with free super saver shi...

That is funny...

And good to know! I'm an infrequent (but very enthusiastic) bowler.

Unfortunately coordination rather than strength is my chief issue (I have a tendency launch myself with the ball and wind up on the floor).

Reinhard

Thank you for posting! Don't worry that you can't see much change. Despite what the charlatans tell you, this stuff tends to be very slow. From the NY Times article I linked to before: â€œTo make a change in how you look, you are talking about a significant period of training,â€ Dr. Kraemer said. â€...

Wow. Scary. Glad you detected this in time -- and thanks for the warning.

I guess sledgehammers aren't exactly like cast iron pans....

Reinhard

Beer, useless calories? Be careful how you speak of the life blood of the German people in my presense :-) On the no-s home page (and in the book) I mention a sub-system called "Glass celing" that specifically addresses this issue: http://nosdiet.com/#drinks I discuss it in a bit more detail here: h...

Oh, well, I guess it was bound to get panned at some point. At least it was for all the wrong reasons :-) It's almost a backhanded complement. But alas, I'm not sure if the casual reader is going to pick up on that. So if someone here who loved the book has been waiting for just the right moment to ...

Hopeful, You sound like you don't feel like you're doing well, but (if I'm understanding correctly) you've been very successful in terms of losing weight, and in terms of resiliently bouncing back when you hit compliance bumps. Congratulations and please give yourself some credit! In terms of the pi...

Hi Cassie There are a bunch of people here who eat more than three meals on no-s, so that's certainly an option. A regular, structured 4th mini-meal called snack is OK. The main problem, as you point out, is unstructured permasnacking. I'd prefer you didn't call your 4th meal a snack (tea? supper/di...

If you're maintaining your weight AND are happy about your eating AND your bloodwork has improved, that's no small thing! It's certainly possible to layer on other dietary rules on top of no-s, but there's the danger that you'll feel overburdened and miserable and quit everything altogether. You're ...

So far, I have had great success with NOS. I lost 9 lbs. my first week! Congratulations! Though be careful... I suspect that some scale funniness may be going on. Not to knock the power of no-s, but that's a lot of weight to lose in a mere week. Just don't be demoralized if next week you don't lose...

How do you handle meals in restaurnats where salad is served separately? I'd say ideally, try to avoid such situations on N-days. I personally find, with just a bit of attention, it almost never comes up. If you're eating at a restaurant where a salad is automatically thrust in front of you, you ca...

Deb, I'm very, very sorry things haven't been going well.... I hope the weekly updates here help you turn things around. I've somehow managed to convince myself that the entire world is looking at my habitcal every minute, but I understand that that feat of useful self-deception may not be within ev...

Good luck, Winnie! Sounds like it might really make the most sense for you.

Let us know how it goes,

Reinhard

Welcome! I wouldn't worry about the "correctness" of the movements too much (I'm a computer programmer, after all, what do I know?). The main thing is that they capture your imagination (and don't hurt!). The fireman and chop tree look (and are) pretty similar, but I think the difference is signific...

Sorry it's taken me so long to pop in here. Belated welcome to you (and Hopeful!) and congratulations on your success so far! I love the graph. Don't worry too much about the plateau. They're bound to happen. And better you hit your first 10 pounds down rather than right away as many people do. Rein...

Interesting... but I'm not crazy about her central "your diet is a bank account" analogy. For one thing, so many of us (especially in the U.S) are overweight AND hopelessly in debt! Balancing our finances is not something we tend to be especially good at (hence this recession). And though the dietar...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Eileen!

(and thanks Oklahomaquilter, if you're a member here, for the positive comment! Congratulations, too, that's an impressive success!)

Reinhard

Sounds reasonable to me. I'd probably have my second meal a little earlier if possible to even out the spacing, though. If it doesn't sound fine to you, you've got some options: 1) Split meal #2 into two mini meals, just for today. 2) Call it a special day. I don't hear friends sing in bistros very ...

Welcome back! Better than a weight goal is a behavioral compliance goal. Have you tried the habitcal? (or paper equivalent). As for exercise, "14 minutes of ANYTHING" every N-day is a great structure (and easily habitcal-able). It gives you a structure for finding the perfect workout while you're wo...

Brother John, Sorry to hear about your condition but glad they caught it in time! It's nice to hear the doctor and dietician approved of your doing No-s (and in general). Thank you for relaying that! Prayer said! (+ bonus kind thoughts) Looking forward to your feeling well enough to post again soon,...

Tiffani, Sounds like you've been having a very tough time, it's no wonder diet has fallen low on the list of priorities. But we know what you're capable of here, and as LA_Loser pointed out, the structure of no-s can actually be stabilizing force when everything else around you is crazy and chaotic....

Dear Nichole, Given the two data sets you've given us (scale readings, photo) I don't see any reason to be alarmed. 1. The Scale Readings. Spudd's analysis shows a trend line going from 149.5 to 148, or -1.5 pounds. That's not far from the -2 pounds one would expect (according to Brian Wansink) for ...

Welcome, Janmarie!

Yes, no-s is very recession friendly

Maybe it'll turn out to be a blessing in disguise if enough of us come out of it with vastly improved habits.

Reinhard

Monday March 9: Nos and shovelglove special day (Purim)

Thanks for the link!

His ledger of virtues looks a lot like the HabitCal table view, doesn't it?

(not entirely coincidental)

Reinhard

Too Solid Flesh, a long time No-s champion, has just posted her "new style" testimonial here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4734 Even those of you who are familiar with her story already should check it out -- it just keeps getting more impressive: 3 years, -84 pounds, "fairly automa...

Thanks for the link!

I'd love it if the no-s rules got on his radar somehow...

(wink-wink, nudge-nudge)

Reinhard

Too solid flesh, Though you've already "done your bit" on the old testimonials page, I VERY much appreciate your taking the time to update your (increasingly!) impressive story in this new forum! Anyone can drop pounds quickly, but to keep doing it year after year, "automatically," without pain and ...

I've never tried it, but the potential cons I see are: 1) the hardest of doing a workout is starting. Now you've got to start twice. 2) 14 minutes gives you something approaching a minimal "cardio" workout. Many people would say even that's not enough. A mere 7 is even farther off... That being said...

Nichole, Well, just remember that it wasn't worth it next time such a situation comes up. No-s gives you plenty of legitimate opportunity to enjoy cake -- to REALLY enjoy that cake, without guilt, and without setting up destructive habits. It's not a choice between "live your life" and privation. It...

Welcome, Cassie!

Bring your nutritionist this article and she might have an easier time accepting "no snacks."

(See especially the table on page 101)

Reinhard

I wouldn't worry about certain parts of your body feeling more worked than others -- if you're interested in useful movements, certain parts SHOULD be more worked than others. It's kind of like in the army how you've got front line soldiers and then a whole mess of auxiliaries and supply train behin...

Hi Caroleann,

Well, the good news is that I did come up with a system to address this problem, and it's been very successful for me personally.

The bad news is I'm not sure it's replicable.....

http://everydaysystems.com/lowsmoking/

Reinhard

Welcome, Gina! I was starving at one point and had a piece of cheese. Other than that, I sipped on some ice water with a squeeze of orange, or green tea between meals. I think today I will try to pace my meals a little better. Stay on habit and your appetite will adjust.... you'll no longer get so h...

Congratulations! You're on track to beat Micheal Phelps

I'm going to try to make the background for those medals transparent instead of white. I think that's easy...

Reinhard

Can you believe it -- I got Koterski's tapes from the library and liked them so much that I bought myself a copy from Amazon I'm very happy to hear this! He is good -- I don't think I'd seriously be considering plunging into the Ethics itself without the foundation I got from those lectures. I drop...

Congratulations and thanks for letting us know! I know running is heresy on this site but I think I read a post where Reinhard said he does "degraded beast". I'd rather run than wallow on the ground. I've actually been jogging myself once a week for the last year and change. :-) http://everydaysyste...

Marc, Congratulations! This is hugely impressive. Talk about "extreme" moderation! Not only did you lose more that I did (45 pounds vs 40) but you did so in a third of the time (and over the holidays!). Not, of course, that quick, spectacular results are the goal here, but it sure is nice when they ...

I wouldn't worry about there not being much visible difference in a month -- it would be remarkable (and perhaps not entirely healthy) if there were. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/health/nutrition/22best.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=exercise%20months&st=cse Why post then? Well, there's the self-discipline...

I would probably call 2 tablespoons of syrup on pancakes sweet... Maybe 2 TEAspoons would get by... (2 tablespoons = 6 teaspoons = 24 grams of sugar for you quantifiers). But there's something about pancakes and syrup that SEEMS very essey to me, so I pretty much reserve that much loved combination ...

Kathleen, It's interesting you mention Aristotle... I've been thinking more and more about him lately (he's now got a mention on the everyday systems home page). I love his emphasis on moderation and "virtue as habit." I haven't yet read his Ethics in their entirety, but I listened to an excellent t...

Who needs the StairMaster when you have the Empire State Building?

Or stairs, for that matter?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/healt ... ref=health

Reinhard

(thanks, Martin, for emailing me this article)

Still looking forward to it

I think perfection is sustainable. There are some things that are appropriate to be perfect. For example, infidelity in marriage is a big deal. A failure on that score can wreak havoc on a marriage. I read about The No S Diet after having read a book, which I no longer have and cannot identify, in ...

Thanks, Kathleen, for starting this amusing (and helpful!) thread. I'll have to add a link to this from the "don't be an idiot" section on the home page :-) Here's how I see it: dangers tend come in opposing pairs, like the monsters "Scylla and Charibdis" that Odysseus had to sail between. It is dan...

Welcome back, Linda!

As mjn mentioned, it takes most people a few false starts for this to click.

Reinhard

Just to put this in perspective: a can of coke has 39 grams of sugar. So I'd say go ahead and eat your honey nut Cheerios. It would be nice if the word for a kind of sugar weren't in the title, but I would call this borderline and not worth much anxiety. What cereals do my family and I eat regularly...

Mon Feb 23: Tasks failure. Just one "errand" short. Sort of a meta-task failure: didn't get my weekly big picture update done.

Two months ago today I started shovelgloving, and I am happy to say that I have only missed one day so far. Congratulations! That is excellent. The other thing I would mention is Minnesota is miserable in Winter; I was an undergrad in Madison, Wisconsin, so I can sympathize... (now in comparatively...

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