Everyday Systems

Deb, congratulations on holding strong with no-s! I think an entry on the pround moments: I stayed on habit thread is in order! If the exercise is slipping, I'd suggest lowing the minimum standard of compliance. Make it 7 minutes instead of 14. I know that may seem like barely anything at all, but i...

If you can't just build walking into your workaday routine, I'd aim for time instead of distance. Here's the rationale: 1. as you get fitter, you'll be able to walk faster in the same amount of time. No matter how fit you get you're never going to have more time at your disposal. So focusing on time...

Any interesting critters on those pastures? Any woods or such around? "Country walks" seem like a more straightforwardly attractive prospect than city walks. Just pretend you're someone out of a Jane Austin novel going on a "long walk." Even if you don't live in Merchant Ivory caliber English countr...

Featuring my brother's enormously talented girlfriend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFfSC7_MlF0&ytsession=LbRvPc1p1WfRhMN62OPQaHhWGX9ZqxUGZvqtDjHXPKH3hCkzsBtzo4EkoVkFPza5iKHezWRemAyt2srI7bZk6Wz3WV3myf77vB3aj4c9XRsQmoqIuOwf-TF0nA174LsoNz1Km4rcfXwrzBp59zTniG0Id9mc9-asISSMA5HPuPYgDQQCRsHHk8Xzr5WHCheH...

Tiffani, You have some very compelling excuses. I certainly don't want to make light of them. And you shouldn't beat yourself up about having compliance difficulties. But sometimes extraordinary efforts are the only kind that will do. And it sounds like you're in such a situation. The consolation of...

Robert, Winnie is right on: The way I look at it is this: fourteen minutes of walking may not be a very long time, but it's probably fourteen minutes more than you're doing now, and for me, once I get out there for 14 mins, it's pretty easy to continue on. Is 14 minutes of very low intensity exercis...

Welcome back to the wagon :-) My wife doesn't actually swing a sledgehammer, but (4 days a week, M-Th) she does the 14 minutes with me (she does yoga/pilates). It's definitely motivationally helpful for both of us. I just need to be a little extra careful about where I'm swinging that sledge. :-) Re...

Fri Dec 5: Tasks failure. Those darn eyedrops again.

You don't need much at all, though people do manage to spend quite a bit if they're really determined :-) Basically all a podcast is is an mp3 (or aac) file with some metadata slapped onto a server that (if you want anyone to ever find it) itunes knows about. I record my podcasts with an olympus ds-...

Welcome! No advice on the colon cleanse... hope it's nicer than it sounds! Meanwhile, if you have time, peruse these boards; I still will never catch up on all of them It would be nice if you could sort the threads by number of views... that would be a good way to (approximately) identify the most g...

Congratulations, Happy Cooker! (and welcome to your husband) I'm so happy you've experienced such good results while being able to live up to your screen name! I too, am an enthusiastic cook and eater, and I think No-s is particularly attractive to people like us. Thanks so much for sharing your suc...

I did actually consider making a habitcal facebook widget at some point (it's actually why I joined facebook)... I'll look into it some more.... In the meantime, if you find this remotely interesting, join the facebook group. If we get enough members, it'll give me some indication that further effor...

I have been "good", no-s style. only one red day I'm sorry the results have been so lousy, but this literal compliance is in itself good news and something you can build on. You don't have to chuck the whole thing out. You've got a solid foundation for further efforts. I have been eating quite a bi...

Just put up an official Low Smoking page here:

http://everydaysystems.com/lowsmoking/

Not much new material (except for some pictures).

Reinhard

I must have had a seriously Disneyfied view of you.

You may retain your Disneyfied view of me -- I've been practicing it with 100% success for over four years now

Reinhard

Some people enjoy food journaling, at least initially. But if you're on the fence, I'd recommend skipping it. I'd certainly skip it if you don't actively want to. Journaling tends to be fascinating for a few days -- but rapidly becomes a dreaded chore. Even apart from the work involved, you don't fe...

Sure, call it "Biker Scout."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AM4B6__sic

Meets all the urban ranger criteria of (actually) useful movements.

Reinhard

Relevant "teaser content" from the book (page 36): Are Snacks When I Eat or What I Eat? For the purposes of the No S Diet, snacks are when , not what . Pretzels with lunch are lunch. Maybe not a particularly healthy lunch, but the No S Diet delegates that micro- decision to you. A snack, for No S Di...

Deb,

Congratulations both on making this resolution and on your spate of green!

I think the 14 minute "time component" of shovelglove is even more important than the sledgehammer. It's an excellent structure for ensuring a sustainable (and sufficient) modicum of exercise.

Reinhard

Blue,

Best of luck with your mod!

But as I mentioned in another thread, please do be careful.

2 meals makes me even more nervous than 4. There's not only the danger of "cracking," but also of being too successful and undereating.

Reinhard

Great! A lot of times the holidays are easier than one might expect.

Plotting your NWS days in advance this month can be helpful, both in terms of realistic "threat assessment" and sticking to your guns.

Reinhard

There is a facebook "group" (not sure if this is what you mean): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19526240069 Not a whole lot going on there yet, but y'all have my blessing to change that :-) I have to warn you, I'm pretty much a passive facebooker (I log in when someone "friends" me and that's...

Forgot to report a "tasks" failure on Wed Nov 26. Nothing very profound. Just fell asleep one short of knocking off my minimum quota of 7 "routine" tasks.

For those of you who don't check the "testimonials" forum as obsessively as I do, there are some great recent additions I'd like to bring to your attention:

1.10 Weeks In, 30 Pounds Gone (Phineas)

2.Still NO S'ing... (3aday)

3.The Peanut Cluster Diet with Restrictions (Kathleen)

Reinhard

RenÃ©,

Congratulations and welcome to the club!

Good luck on building your indoor ranger habit!

I was a prodigious pacer as a child... wonder if the "bad habit" of pacing is something that could be built on...

Reinhard

Congratulations, blue!

once I got the right "name" I started racking up the greens .

..

Funny how motivationally important properly "branding" a habit can be...

Reinhard

OK, now it shows up (twice!). Not sure what was going on there.

Looks cool! Thanks for sharing and good luck.

Extra careful with tux now!

Reinhard

Phayze -- the image link seems to be broken. I'm not sure what's going on since I can see if if I right click and open in new tab.

Reinhard[/img]

Hi Kate, Though they're frequently mentioned on the bulletin board, I haven't promoted these to "top level" systems yet -- they're still in "beta." You can find links to descriptions here: http://everydaysystems.com/lab/ Some of them at least are going to percolate to the top soon (I've been practic...

Phineas, Congratulations and thank you for posting here! Dropping a whole BMI "category" is a huge success. But I think just as helpful as your impressive (and impressively fast) results is your report of what your initial difficulties were (after dinner "non-stop gorge fest") and how by sticking wi...

Welcome! Great to have another multi-systems practitioner on board.

Reinhard

Dear Blue (et al)., I personally eat three meals even if I'm not particularly hungry. They don't have to be big meals, after all, and I do think the regularity is important. It's that whole "train your appetite, don't let it lead you" thing. It's also one less decision to make. And I don't want to f...

Dear Rose,

Thank you so much for this post (and your many others!). I'm so happy no-s has made such a difference to you. And as impressive as your adherence to No-s has been under the circumstances, I hope you'll soon be able to practice it in less trying times.

Reinhard

Thanks, Deb. The hand is fine now -- just skinned it a bit. Thurs Nov 27: No-s and shovelglove special day (Thanksgiving). Fri Nov 28: Another glass ceiling to confess, alas. My father in law tried to convince me that the glasses he was serving at dinner were so small that they should only count as ...

Forgive you? This is wonderful!

Thank you -- and congratulations!

This might even be the paradigmatic "testimonial." There is so much wonderful stuff hiding in people's daily checking threads -- making one's testimonial a "best of" powerfully leverages this existing wisdom.

Reinhard

Welcome back!

Best of luck this time around,

Reinhard

Gingercake,

I'd advise forgetting the weight entirely. Just focus on eating (and exerting yourself) moderately. Those are the real issues.

Reinhard

Odd but revealing!

Shows what lousy side effects snacks (bad enough in themselves) have on meals.

Reinhard

Oh, and five pounds of rice. Is everyone following along here? I was carrying a 25 lb pack on the way back. Not a bad workout! Indeed! And it sounds like you enjoyed it, too. Most people find such chores onerous, when they can't avoid them. To us urban rangers, they're opportunities to be savored. ...

I enjoy my S-days to the hilt -- but I'm definitely "ready" for Monday when it rolls around :-) Another nice side effect of the No-s diet: you look forward to the start of the work week. Maybe I should ask Secretary Paulson for some of that stimulus money to enhance economic productivity by preachin...

Blue, Congratulations! And THANK YOU for continuing to share your progress with us in such articulate and visually compelling detail. I, too, wound up maintaining (considerably) under what I'd initially thought was my ideal weight. I'd gotten so used to being chubby that I assumed that that must be ...

To the extent that I can't really believe I was doing any heavy manual work yesterday!

I've noticed this, too.

It's not just a cool concept, this mimicking manual work -- it actually does prepare you for it!

Looking forward to snow season

Reinhard

Kathleen,

Congratulations and thank you for posting here!

Your (and your daughter's!) charming observations and "mods" are a great contribution to the board.

Reinhard

Fri Nov 21: fell and hurt my hand while doing my weekly casual jog and so took a shovelglove sick day. Sun Nov 23: Glass ceiling failure. Had two small (but still two) glasses of whiskey at book club. Then a glass of wine at dinner. I rationalized at the time that the two splashes of whiskey were so...

Great article, Storm. I love all the self-depricating "Empire of Evil" stuff -- you wouldn't think this badass Russian special forces type would have such a sense of humor. Honestly, in so far as my advice is "cutting edge" it's pure accident. I'm thrilled that it jives with observations like this: ...

oolala53, I think extra restrictions on S-days are really, really dangerous and almost never worth the risk. I'd only consider it IF 1) you have a few months of habit under your belt 2) your N-day compliance is close to perfect 3) there actually is a measurable problem 4) you've tried adding moderat...

A bunch of good advice here. To reiterate/reformulate a little: Explicitly ask him not to make comments about your eating anymore. Tell him you're doing you're best, but that it's very demoralizing to feel like the impetus is not coming from you. If you're going to succeed, he needs to let you do yo...

Welcome back!

Don't sweat the S-days. Some will be excessive. The danger, as you put your finger on, is getting right back with it Monday.

Reinhard

This is probably a copyright violation, but I figure it's long enough since the article appeared that no one's going to care:

http://nosdiet.com/press/womans_world_cover.pdf

http://nosdiet.com/press/womans_world_inside.pdf

Reinhard

Wow. I think most bench biologists would have a hard time getting these prodedures precisely right -- on lab rats. How on earth are lay people going to pull this off, on themselves, several times a day for the rest of their lives? I don't know what's more astonishing, how ignorant or how prevalent t...

Congrutulations, alanajuliana!

Sorry I didn't get to weigh in till after the event -- but sounds like you handled it brilliantly (and I don't think I would have had much to add to the excellent advice you received already).

Reinhard

That is a great one -- thanks burlsgirl and BrightAngel! Here's the link to the whole discussion: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4356 Another good one I came across today is the term "S-friendly Environment." (thanks, KCCC) http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=50652#50652 Not...

burslgirl, Welcome! And thank you for these inspired "ramblings." I see BrightAngels has already posted a particularly choice bit to the "catch phrase glossary." I'm going to post a link to the rest of this thread there so people can jump to the whole context. Might even have to stick it on the home...

Reinhard, when are you going to write your marriage counseling book? I have no more right to right a book on marriage than a person who's been effortlessly skinny all his life has to write a diet book. My wonderful wife, perhaps, could write a thing or two :-) KCCC -- I think we need to promote ""S...

Thanks for dropping in again, Betty!

Glad to hear no-s is still going strong.

Great mantra! May it prevail against the onslaughts of your snack-loving in-laws.

Best,

Reinhard

That was Violet Reinhard Veruca was the spoiled brat who went down the garbage shoot after insisting her father get her a golden goose, and then the scale said she was a "bad egg" LOL.. Thanks for catching that, Deb! God knows I've seen (1971 version only, please) and read Charlie and the Chocolate...

Nov 18: Blimits failure. 1 gmail check over the limit. Really dumb. Forgot what day of the week it was and all of a sudden thought I had to check an appointment. Not very time consuming, and I logged off immediately when I realized my mistake, but counting it red to keep me on my toes.

It's certainly not orthodox no-s, but you're welcome to combine elements of the different systems to create your own. I would, of course, recommend saving the chocolate for the weekend. I love the stuff too, and am fully aware of it's miraculous health benefits, but if I ate every food that had mira...

Tea is not a problem -- it's probably a help. Especially if you drink it without sugar (I drink at least 2 mugs of black coffee a day). And a small amount of real sugar in your tea is fine, if you prefer. Remember that the rule is "no sweets" (sweet = sweet enough to be a dessert) not "no sugar." We...

Hello HelloKitty, I'm so happy no-s resonates with you and (perhaps to his own surprise) your husband. I think your example is the best thing you can do to support him. Do you do some/most/all of the cooking? Preparing meals that "just happen" to be enough for a single plate each significantly reduc...

I think the safest thing is to assume that Thanksgiving WILL INEVITABLY be a free for all, and that you will feel at least a little like a bloated whale. I think you'd have to be a quasi-vulcan to not stuff yourself on Thanksgiving -- it's practically one's patriotic duty. There are two important th...

On waking and reflecting on the dream, I was surprised to realize that the No-S attitude had gone deep into my unconscious life. I am having little trouble sticking to the plan, so I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise, but it was comforting and kind of amusing to see this dream evidence of my ...

Noel, The N-day/S-day split is probably the single most "resuable" everyday systems component. I use it for nos, shovelglove, weekend luddite (in reverse, and my level of punch card tracking (3 minimum 7 item columns vs. an undifferentiated list). This didn't hurt my output. Far from it. Did you kno...

Welcome, burlsgirl! Shovelglove per se doesn't work the legs much (though perhaps more than you'd think). But as Deb suggested, it's easy enough to throw in non-sledgehammer moves like squats (and many of us here, including myself, do). I personally don't worry too much about my legs since urban ran...

My "glass ceiling" is up to 2 drinks a calendar day. I don't do anything different for S days, both because I think I wouldn't be able to stick to a lower ceiling during the week, and don't see that there is a problem with this moderate level of regular drinking (on the contrary, the evidence strong...

I'd just propose that everyone serve themselves. One awkward conversation up front perhaps, but it's really a very natural request (more natural than one size fits all, doled out by the central authority), and then everything is normal and happy forever. If they challenge you, you don't have to say ...

It doesn't surprise me that doing one side at a time would be harder -- in fact, I'd worry that it might be unpleasantly (even dangerously) so.

Be careful!

Reinhard

Totally OK -- even with a little sugar, if you like. (The rule is "no sweets" not "no sugar") Some relevant teaser content from the book: (from pages 73-74) Can I Put Sugar in My Coffee? Go ahead and add sugar to your coffee. Itâ€™s amazing how much people agonize over this calorically insignifi - c...

I don't recall my first S-day, but I'm sure it was a more horrific orgy of excess than anyone has every dared to report here.

Glad you enjoyed yours! The more you enjoy, the more successful you'll be.

Reinhard

Welcome back, Magme!

No-s is a slow fix, I admit. But surprisingly pleasurable -- and it lasts.

Reinhard

This plan will work for even a sedentary computer programmer. Absolutely. This plan was DEVELOPED by a sedentary computer programmer! Does cooking your own meals help a lot, cause I was thinking about learning to cook. No question. Invest in figuring this out. It pays huge dividends, and not just i...

I recently started practicing this again (Depression II has been wonderfully inspirational!). But now I'm tracking it in a box on my "big picture" instead of on the back of my daily cards. This is a helpful change for two reasons: 1) I've explicitly spelled out the criteria for what constitutes a co...

I think that posting the alternate names for the diet would be enjoyable to read.

Done! (thanks again for coining this latest one)

Thanks for the link, Brain.

I've never (consciously) seen the term "obesogenic environment" before.

But I'll have to slip that in somewhere... nothing like scientific terminology to make the obvious compelling

Reinhard

Habitcal!

Reinhard

Just 3 reds in 108 days is pretty darn impressive! According to your habitcal stats view, you have a 97% compliance score (silver medal!) since you started. Keep that up, or even close, and you have no cause to worry about being self-destructive. Even I have a no-s red day now and then (and some of ...

Welcome!

Remember that caloric drinks (as long as they're not "sweets") are allowed on No-s, and can be a big help if you find yourself getting too hungry between meals.

Reinhard

I eat a pretty wide variety of foods (there's not a single category of food I dislike, as long as it's reasonably fresh and well prepared, I'll eat it), so I can't really meaningfully talk about a "typical" day of meals, but in the interests of contributing something, here's what I had yesterday: Br...

Welcome back, Noel! I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. Diet is pretty trivial compared to something like that. The holidays can actually a good time to start -- you might not make dramatic progress, but you'll be dramatically limiting the damage. Also, to paraphraze Liza Minelli "if you can mak...

I do think it is a sign of maturity to be able to handle the (7 letter) "F word" (congratulations, Deb!), but for those of you who are not quite there yet, "Red" is a pretty good substitute. Just as clear, without the potentially destructive baggage. The only good part is that it's now contained. Th...

Unless this is something that comes up frequently (doesn't sound like it) I'd just call it an S-day and enjoy.

Reinhard

Nov 11: Took Veterans day NWS day for shovelglove.

The angel and devil were on my shoulders, and the devil was winning! Every time you resist the angel gets stronger and the devil gets weaker. You're pumping that angel up, taking him to the gym. Your angel's going to look like Tony Atlas soon -- the devil won't even bother showing up. Congratulatio...

Yeah, they don't call it the No $ Diet for nothing.

Reinhard

You are very welcome -- congratulations!

Reinhard

Unless there are multiple sandwiches!

(this is getting rabbinically sophisticated

)

Thanks for digging up this thread again -- some of you might noticed I used a chunk of one post almost verbatim in the book.

Reinhard

I don't actually think PMs in general are a problem. If there's a fight on the boards, it probably is a good idea to alert me before it escalates too far. It was my B-52 strike style intervention in this case that was not so great. But I promise I'll be more careful in the future. Best to all, Reinh...

Welcome, Anna!

Nice to see another fellow librarian type here! (and thanks for the order)

Hope no-s "bottles it up" sufficiently for you -- keep us posted.

Best to you and your husband,

Reinhard

Thanks for the links, drswife and BuckeyePink.

Nice to see that just 1/3 No-s was so effective for you, BuckeyePink!

Reinhard

I don't know about others, but I'd certainly say that for me, shovelgloving is a high intensity workout. My heart pounds during 75% or so of the workout. That's certainly how it is with me, 6+ years into it. Sure, I'm stronger/fitter now. But enthusiasm fills the gaps and the routine as a whole fee...

Dear Deb,

Best wishes for a speedy recovery... and good luck with your "lovely blokey."

(going now to check out your "off-topic" music post...)

Reinhard

Blue, Thanks so much for joining us again! I totally hear you on the time issue. I myself have had to come up with rules to limit my board time (making posting a single, N-daily task, and impossible an upper "Blimit" of four bulletin board checks per day). It's really just like any other everyday sy...

Veteran's day could go either way, it's really an individual call. It's a very legitimate national holiday, but not exactly a feast day. There won't be huge temptations in terms of parties and such, but for those who get the day off it's certainly not quite "normal." If you want to honor veterans by...

Brian, It's great to see you again here! I remember you well -- in fact, I think your story made it to the testimonials page (and the book!). I'm sorry to hear you had a falling off... but I'm confident that since you've experienced how well and painlessly it works, that you'll have no trouble re-in...

Congratulations, Marie! 3 pounds in a month is actually about what one would expect. And with your mindset, I'm confident that over the next months and years, you'll lose many more. I think I'm going to add an "alternate names" section to the no-s diet home page. One that's been suggested before is ...

I love it! I'm going to have to find time to watch the whole series...

Reinhard

(my baby daughter's name is Clara -- all set for depression #2!

)

Oatmeal (horse food!) is cheaper than cat food. It's perfect for people on a tight budget. And it's as filling as cement. Alter the fruits, nuts and seed you mix in and you can even get quite a bit of variety. And as long as you don't go the haggis route, it's thoroughly vegetarian

.

Reinhard

Yes. And to a far greater degree than I did pre-nos. Baked potatoes were a staple long before the obesity epidemic. I love them. I eat them frequently. Great recipe is chop them in half lengthwise and rub with salt and olive oil before you bake -- cooks evenly with a nice crust. It's meal patterns, ...

Don't worry about minor fluctuations in weight. You have clear evidence that this works for you at this point, just focus on behavior and habit and soldier on.

You might find this podcast motivationally useful:

http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/ ... .php?id=24

Reinhard

A passion for beer is perfectly compatible with no-s.

See "glass ceiling" for more details.

http://www.everydaysystems.com/glassceiling/

http://www.everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=8

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

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