Everyday Systems

Welcome! Wow, a sledge from your grandfather -- a sledge with history, that's presumably been used to actually do something useful. That should make the "role playing" even easier to buy into. My standard advice for newbies is: be very careful to do the movements slowly and carefully while you're ge...

(another) GREAT thread! Thank you again, LA_Loser. Resisting individual excesses can seem so small and insignificant. And yet there's a lot of habit riding on each such resistance. Recognizing (and glorying in!) such acts of heroic moderation makes them seem more important, and makes it easier to mo...

CrazyCatLady -- contratulations on your impressive, continued progress over many months! And with your "behavior first" mindset, I'm very optimistic it will continue. MeslissaK -- welcome! I know this particular thread has a particular number (100 pounds or more) -- but I think the best means to tha...

Tiffani, Thanks for delurking and congratulations on managing to cling to N-days during some very tough times. You've made immense progress so far and maintaining it (though it may not seem exciting) is the most important thing you can do. Best wishes on your move and (especially) to your husband, R...

Josh, Thanks for the detailed multi-system update! It sounds like you're training yourself brilliantly with no-s. Those are exactly the kinds of historically normal reactions (snacks seem excessive, hunger before a meal seems not only bearable but good) that you want to reestablish. As for shovelglo...

I actually looked into this briefly before "rolling my own" habitcal last year. At the time, there didn't seem to be any satisfactory mechanism, but that many have changed since. I'll certainly look into it again at some point (I love google calendar as a regular calendar) -- if anyone out there is ...

I'm back! Thanks for all your kind wishes.

So don't be alarmed or offended if I don't respond to your posts. I've asked some friends to keep an eye on the sites and call me if things get too ugly, but I'm sure you guys will be your usual lovely selves and that won't be necessary. Looking forward to some extended ludditing and NWS by the beac...

Mike,

Welcome to the bulletin board and THANK YOU for posting these pictures. Very impressive!

You've got your own private "before and during" going here.

Looking forward to more updates,

Reinhard

I think 3 is the best place to start, and that for most people, it will be stay sufficient. It's not TOO hard (as 2 meals might be), and limits the potential for excess to sneak in. Plus it's got the weight of tradition behind it. Don't worry about this metabolism pseudo-science -- three meals is pl...

Congratulations!

My personal thoughts are: it's clearly worked brilliantly for some people, but it is open to abuse and (generally speaking) I'd recommend proceeding with extreme caution. But it does sound like in your case it may be worth a shot. I think the key to making it work is, as Too solid flesh points out, ...

Good idea. Regular sleep is an even more basic structure than regular meals (and helps support it). 2 merciless little human alarm clocks keep me in line in this regard.

Reinhard

Congratulations, Mag and Blueskighs! Inspiring to have the actual Olympics taking place right now.

HI Nagla,

In your profile there's a box for "signature." You can include the links there.

They'll have to be in "BB Code" as described here:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/faq.php?mode=bbcode

Sorry for the delayed response!

Reinhard

Rose, I've just been updating the testimonials page, and I took the liberty of including your lovely chart.

Hope this is ok with you! Let me know if not. I think it's been very helpful to people already and will be even more so with more prominent placement.

Reinhard

Hope it goes well! Looking forward to hearing about the results of your experiment.

Reinhard

Great to hear from you rebounders! JillyBean -- I think the problem with intuitive eating is that we don't really have good intuition about avoiding excess. It's not a situation that occurs in nature. My cats, for example, though blissfully innocent of the corrupting influence of diets, will cheerfu...

Welcome, Weehawk! One word of caution: though these are all great habits you're embarking on, it does sound like a lot at once. You might want to consider staggering them (i.e., giving each new habit a month or two to get established before starting on the next) if you find it's just too much. Reinh...

Sounds fine to me (though I personally would vastly prefer alternating between milk and juice to some powder concoction).

Reinhard

Sorry No s didn't click for you, Hungry Girl.

Best of luck on your new path, and feel free to pop in whenever you like. You're always very welcome here.

Reinhard

Welcome, ohlittlejeannie!

I like the term "hypermiling." Thanks for posting it, Blithe (and sorry it somehow escaped my attention till now).

Reinhard

Welcome, Josh! Although shovelglove designed for long term sustainability, it is impressive how soon it tends to get you stronger. I wonder if it's some distant ancestral muscle memory switch getting flipped by the familiar movements, like "ah, time for work again. Better start beefing up..." :-) Re...

I have to say, this (physical) timer is fantastic. http://astore.amazon.com/shovelglove-20/detail/B0002EXVIM VERY intuitive to use, and the three kinds of alerts (audible, visual, vibrate) are all quite useful for different situations -- and endlessly entertaining for small children. Not a big inves...

(belated) Welcome!

You were wise to start with a lower weight -- it's always much harder than you think it'll be from just jiggling around the hammer in the store.

Reinhard

Thank you, Deb! She did have a great day -- I'll check out Alavert. So far I've been through claretin and nasenex. They worked great for a week and then they suddenly didn't. Now I'm on aferin and it's working well too, but I think I can only take it for a few days or dreadful side effects kick in. ...

Welcome, Rostam! I don't know about tendons pain vs. other kinds of pain, but what's worked very well for me (no injuries or even discomfort worth speaking of in 6+ years of shugging) is this: 1) when starting the routine or upgrading to a heavier weight, take it very easy. You'll be very excited, b...

Welcome! I don't know about the science behind "DOMS," but I'd rather overtrain than not train, which seems to be the alternative. And I'm pretty happy with the results I've gotten over the last 6 or so years -- and except while I'm working out, and then in a good way, I'm rarely sore. There's no wa...

Monday August 4: sick NWS day for shovelglove and tasks -- hit me suddenly in the afternoon and I'm not going to blame myself for having ordinary ambitions for the day and then being unable to comply with them. Tuesday August 5: my older daughter's birthday (and still sick!) NWS day for shovelglove ...

phosphorus, You got some great advice here, just a few things to add. 1) you can drink caloric drinks between meals (100% fruit juice, whole milk, just not sugar soda). This is a 100% legitimate, vanilla no-s tactic. And it might be enough to satisfy your hunger. Plenty of calories, plenty of of sug...

Thanks for this post, connorcream! As you point out "no gain" *is* progress for most of us, especially during vacation/celebration heavy times. I'm very happy you have the composure to see it this way and are genuinely enjoying no-s -- this is at least half the benefit. Gottes Segen mit Euch allen a...

Nice "mod." I think I remember toosolidflesh (a VERY successful no-esser) posted a similar mod involved cottage cheese. Reinhard P.S. I know I've said as much before, but it bears repeating: This is a beautiful blog. The graphics are gorgeous. As someone who knows just enough photoshop to know how h...

The posts here overwhelmingly positive. I'd love to think that's because everyone who tries it loves it and succeeds brilliantly, but, more realistically, my guess is that most quitters just fade away and we don't hear from them. But of course I have no way to quantify or prove this. Generally speak...

Hi Laguna,

What web browser are you using?

Reinhard

Welcome, Melissa! And congratulations on making it the first time around. I wouldn't obsess too much about scale numbers, but if you do, it's best to not arbitrarily pick the best or worst number: take a bunch, regularly, and focus on the average. Even better, plot the moving average in excel or som...

Congratulations on your no-s success so far and on starting med-school. As KCCC points out, regularity of schedule is more important for building habits than having a whole lot of time, so maybe this won't be as bad as you think. In any case, but the focus on a sustainable minimum of compliance for ...

Wonderful, congratulations!

Nice to see how focused you are on behavior and the long term -- but results can't hurt

.

Reinhard

Great graphic, VERY misleading title. According to the 2003 analysis of this exact data series, calories from dinner have actually SIGNIFICANTLY DECLINED since the 1970s (-59% for men, -74% for women). It's snacks that are the problem (+241% for men, +160% for women) -- dinner plates have been getti...

Welcome, KeegansMom. No-s is more like wave action on the sea shore: powerful but slow. Give it time and you'll achieve results as impressive as (and more satisfying and permanent than) surgery. It'll take patience -- but you'll be waiting in a fantastic waiting room. Three meals is a very enjoyable...

Welcome, TDonaghe and Nagla929!

Nice! Very karate kid.

Hoist the sack is tough. Good to have a more approachable version.

I think I get it.... would love to see video of, of course.

Reinhard

Monday July 28: Vacation NWS day for nosdiet and shovelglove

Wednesday July 30: Tasks failure. Just overwhelmed.

Welcome!

I even got my fiancee doing it!

You're beyond me -- I still haven't convinced my wife to do it, though she does do the 14 minutes (yoga) with me while I shug.

Reinhard

Zombies -- awesome! I would love to write a shovelglove book -- but I need an advance to justify to myself and my family the sleep deprivation I now know from experience that would entail (even more because it would have to have pictures). Depending on how the no-s book does over the next few months...

OK, it's sticky!

Gudrun,

I may not understand it -- but I am very impressed by it!

Thank you for the blog and spreading the word!

Reinhard

P.S. Icelanding language rights are still up for grabs if you know any publishers who might be interested

Dear kmoreland7118, Sorry you're not seeing better results -- but thank you for taking the plunge and posting for the first time ever! I hope you'll find that something here will have made that risk and effort worth while. First off, the first few weeks tend not to bring striking results -- for the ...

Great thread! Keep em coming.

At some point maybe I'll organize them into something more formal (or at least make it "sticky").

Reinhard

I'll have to send this to my editor -- she wanted to cut the line about gluttony and dishonesty.

Great review -- thanks for posting the link!

Reinhard

Congratulations! That's a very satisfying number -- especially in spite of those red days. Nice to know that there's lots of scope for sane and moderate improvement should you think you need it. Thanks for letting us know! I had no idea about the "Quick and Simple" pickup... thanks for bringing that...

Congratulations, Deb! I know what a tough and longstanding issue this has been.

If the Jedi mind trick doesn't work next time, don't forget Zuel

Reinhard

Welcome to the group, Laird, and congratulations on making it through a record 5 days! 12 pounds is surprisingly heavy when you start swinging it around! It's what I started with myself, but it took a while to really get comfortable with. Make sure you throttle your initial excitement and don't over...

Shovelglove isn't really about maximum efficiency in working out any one body part. Most of the moves are pretty full body, involving lots of muscle groups at once (including the abs -- remember the French coals miners who inspired it). In the process, your abs will get a very decent workout. And be...

Congratulations! Impressive (and interesting) numbers to go with those impressive pictures.

Reinhard

No-s gives you plenty of wiggle room to counter real, physical hunger without breaking the rules. 100% fruit juice has PLENTY of sugar. Whole milk has plenty of fat (and protein). You can legitimately reach for either. You can even institute a fourth (mini-) meal if you feel you need to and can hand...

I don't think there is much point in having an ideal weight. Have ideal behavior -- habits of moderate eating and exertion. Whatever you weigh then is ideal.

Reinhard

Congratulations on your green, Deb! The first in a while is always the hardest.

I'm so sorry about the hard times you've been going through this past year, but it's great to have you back on the boards.

Congratulations to Ritchie on those A+s!

Reinhard

If you're actually having some kind of biochemical craving, fruit (or fruit juice) will do the trick. There's plenty of sugar in there.

Beyond that, sit tight and hunker down. You're being assaulted by ingrained bad habits. If you're firm, they'll get tired of bothering you soon enough.

Reinhard

July 23: nosdiet and shovelglove NWS day (anniversary)

An excellent addition to the roster, thank you Randal! In diet as in finance, there's nothing like transparency to keep you honest :-) I'm going to make this thread "sticky" so it floats to the top and is easy to find for No-s diet bloggers/blog readers and link to it from the home page. Looking for...

Deb, I'm so sorry to hear you've been having a tough time, but so glad you're posting here again. We really missed you! It sounds like it's been a very tough year, and I hope circumstances will turn around. It's hard to worry about diet and exercise when there are so much more pressing worries to at...

Welcome! I do it inside, too. High ceilings are very helpful for some moves :-) As far as I can see, sledges are all more or less the same. Some people have strong feelings regarding hickory handles vs. fiberglass, but I've done both and honestly, except for the aesthetics, it doesn't make much of a...

I wouldn't make yourself do a crazy killer routine every day. If you find yourself watching the clock and not actually enjoying it, you're going to find an excuse to stop (or injure yourself -- the best excuse). What I usually do is front load the really hard routines for the beginning of the week, ...

Wonderful! Congratulations!

Welcome, Vicki! The snacking bit tends to be the most surprising and difficult for people -- but I'm convinced it's also the most important. And once you get used to it, it'll feel profoundly normal. Sounds like you've got a good base, structure to build on, with regular home cooked meals. Best of l...

This is great!

Thank you No S Dieter!

Reinhard

Only one downside: you might not taste the food.

reinhard

I still love sugar

More than before, I think.

But it doesn't tempt me when it isn't allowed.

And I'm thrilled to hear no-s is helping people navigate more complex and problematic relationships to sugar!

Reinhard

Welcome, GrammaMarla. In case you had trouble finding it, here's the direct link to the habitcal. http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal You can use a regular old paper calendar instead if you prefer. You can also skip it altogether if you don't think it'll be helpful. As blueskighs points out, technic...

I've never tucked bales into my head, but I have churned butter into my chin -- not quite as bad, but not fun either

I'm with you on point 4. Cats are one thing, but no amount of sweaters are going to keep you out of the pediatric emergency room if curious toddlers are poking around.

Reinhard

I think they might be my favorites too, which is funny because they're hard. I'm not sure whether the appeal is more physical or "dramatic."

I added "ring the gong" to the alternate names column for "chop tree" on the movements page. Thanks!

Reinhard

Nice!

(edited your post to fix an extra character breaking the link)

I was actually thinking of taking a class at the MIT firing range... so it might actually come in handy!

Reinhard

Thanks, Storm! I dimly remember seeing something about this as well, but these links are very compelling (and clear). I do 2/3 of the component exercises already (squats and pushups), maybe time to add the combo... What it proves is that you don't need any fancy equipment, not even a sledgehammer, t...

July 19: Tasks failure. Those darn eyedrops again.

I think ultimately you'll make it easier if you avoid fake sugar desserts and soda during the week. It'll be less confusing to habit. But they are technically allowed if you don't feel ready for that jump yet (or ever). Have you tried having a piece of fruit instead? Plenty of real sugar there. And ...

Congratulations! That's impressive -- and encouraging for no-essers who find 3 isn't cutting it for them. Gotta add this to the testimonials page... (along with many others, sorry I'm taking so long to get around to updating it). I wonder if starting with 3 meals was good training for handling 4... ...

I've found that using the habitcal even after I've gotten a habit utterly down helps prevent relapse. It's impossible to become complacent when you know you'll have to see that splotch of red. In fact the red becomes even more of a disincentive when you're used to seeing nothing but green. And there...

My biggest reservation about the barbell is that the weights will come flying off... Not sure what to say about the sizes. I've only been to Europe once since coming up with Shovelglove, and I didn't have time to properly survey the options. But I would imagine that similar sized sledgehammers shoul...

Oh, don't worry!

We're going for realism here, not high drama

"slice strawberies" and "wash darks" are exactly the kinds of things people want to see.

Reinhard

Boy, that's a tough one. I think the age is much less an issue than the kid. If you're going to be her mom, you have to love her. If you can't, then you can't. And for him, for any parent, the kid has to come first. It's something you can't resent -- it's something you have to share. No idea on how ...

I'm going to (mostly) keep my head down for this one, though I think you all know where I stand... I guess I'll just reemphasize that there is room within No-s to accommodate a wide range of positions on this issue (and many others). While I think that most people can (and should) do without calorie...

OK, definitely time to get that blog links page up...

Thank you!

Reinhard

I think it's risky. This is going to take a lot of patience, and you might as while start cultivating that from the get-go. Behavior and results are not going to move in lock step with one another. There is almost always going to be a wait -- and an unpredictable wait. The good news is that no-s can...

KCCC, I haven't given this quite as much thought as I probably should... Generally, my feeling is that which moves you do are far less important than carving out the time and easing in very gently with low rep count sets. 7 reps is a good, satisfying number. Different people find different moves dif...

Hey, they forgot the "S"

Even without, sounds very similar.

Thanks for the post!

Reinhard

Sounds great, on all counts! I would love to make it to that part of the world some day... For a diet, no-s travels remarkably well. There are no special required foods or statistics that may or may not be available. And it might even be easier if you're visiting places where traditional meal based ...

It's your call, Pepper. Definitely borderline. I tend to avoid products that have the word "sugar" in any of its forms in the name, but that's obviously somewhat arbitrary (and insufficient -- just because marketers don't draw attention to it doesn't mean it's not there). Puffins are really good. Su...

The best way is wait. Stick to three single plate meals an N-day and time alone will start to unconsciously whittle down your portions. The sight of excess right there in front of you is a very effective disincentive. Jumping the gun can be dangerous... you don't want to overshoot and find yourself ...

Thanks for the link! Lots of good moves to borrow... It looks like you'd get a great workout with the mace bell, but I just vastly prefer the idea of using an actual tool rather than some contrived exercise device. I'm sure you CAN do all the same moves with both. But the different lengths will make...

laloser,

Just to clarify: I think YOUR extra habitcals are a great idea. My reservations were about building in a "levels of failure" mechanism (like, different hues of red) into the habitcal.

Reinhard

Welcome, whitster! Relevant "teaser" content from the book: (from pages 50- 53) Isnâ€™t It Better to Eat When Iâ€™m Hungry? You often hear formulas like â€œEat only when youâ€™re hun- gryâ€ and â€œEat what you want, not what you shouldâ€ touted as liberating, antidiet weight- loss wisdom. But despit...

Welcome, Joelle!

The longer you stick with it, the less scary and more enjoyable S-days get -- especially if you actively try to enjoy them.

Not sure if you saw/heard the podcast I did on the subject:

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

Reinhard

<t>Two ideas to make indoor rangering more inspired:<br/> <br/> 1. Chores. Cleaning. Make it your mission to find things to tidy up during your walks. (with 2 small children and 2 hairy cats, this is never very difficult for me).<br/> <br/> 2. Audiobooks. I often don't want to stop cleaning when I'm...

I actually find that a glass of wine or beer helps keep me in line. My appetite feels well taken care of and doesn't grumble for more. It's sort of like a surrogate dessert, a reward. Glass ceiling can help here. Just lower it to the point just after you feel a sense of enjoyment and reward but befo...

Thanks for the link! To my mind, the most important distinction in eating behavior is having ANY precise and regular number of meals per day versus total chaos. In other words, 2 vs. 3. vs. 6 is less important than actually having and sticking to any number. The reason I think 3 is best for most of ...

The idea of including support in the habitcal for "levels of failure" has been kicking around for a while.... technically, it would be dead easy to do, but I'm still not convinced it's a good idea, and would rather not add complexity unless I really think it's worth it. What I find is a helpful way ...

Welcome, schnooli and Joelle!

It keeps getting easier, and the stricter you are, the faster it goes. It's just like training a dog. Be loving but FIRM.

Best,

Reinhard

Hey, green is its own reward -- and red its own punishment. The boot is superfluous. It can be an excuse even (paying off past transgressions buys the right for future transgressions). Just keep cultivating that visual-aesthetic sense of justice and you'll be OK. Wishing you green and happy days for...

Great to hear this, Joel!

I should probably dignify this family of systems (chain of self-command, personal punch cards, bigger picture) with a real website instead of just scattered podcasts some time soon....

Reinhard

I think Phayze pretty much nailed the distinction. To me the "image" makes it very clear: chopping through a door in front of you versus hammering in a fencepost into the ground. As with all the shovelglove movements, I imagine the task I'm imitating, and the mechanics follow.

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

Search found 5900 matches

Reinhard on webless Vacation next week (Aug 16-23)