Everyday Systems

Finnigan, I haven't consciously made an effort to engage the legs, but I have noticed that they naturally, unconsciously are engaged with many of the movements, particularly the twisty onces like drive fence posts, the fireman, chop tree. Now that I no longer climb 8 flights of stairs to get to my o...

12catcrazy, I think everything I would say has been said already, but just to summarize: 1) make your breakfasts a little larger. It might take some experimenting till you hit on the right balance. Worry less about the calories than about getting the 3 meal pattern down without excessive hunger. Onc...

Welcome! It's amazing to me how much bad food is immediately cut from my diet by simply not snacking. It's funny how just changing your eating "structures" can have such profound side effects in terms of the "substances" you eat. And it's much easier than restricting the substances directly. Congrat...

Sounds great!

Don't feel you have to rush through a certain number of reps. The goal is to keep doing this for years and decades.

I still usually do a couple or so days a week when I just do 7 reps of each movement.

Reinhard

Congratulations! I'm so happy to hear this. I like to think the chief advantage of shovelglove (and all the everyday systems) is sustainability -- but it takes a while to get empirical confirmation of this. So don't be shy about posting here now and then, fellow old timers, even if you don't have an...

The thing that I find so strange about the appeal of these extreme diets is that there is absolutely no historical precedent for them -- and plenty of historical precedent for being thin. I guess the solution is so obvious (approximate the eating structure of the vast majority of your ancestors who ...

Most sandwiches can fit pretty comfortably on a plate. If you have a plate handy, put it there. If not, use your imagination. The "stacking" guideline is more for crazy stuff like slapping a steak on top of mashed potatoes and peas instead of making room next to them. Honestly, it'll look so excessi...

Welcome, sbay301! Welcome back resting!

There are three things I find especially helpful in times of stress: 1. The realization that such times aren't rare. I don't let myself pretend that stress is something exception that isn't supposed to happen, for which I can afford to just "take a break" from my routines. I face the fact that I hav...

Meg, I'm glad to hear this. I'm actually sort of amazed at how well this has continue to work. I'm also amazed, as you point out, how fun it is. Besides increasing efficiency in practical matters, it's psychologically really helpful. I always feel like I have something attainable to do. It's hard to...

July 3,4: Vacation/Independence Day NWS days for nosdiet and shovelglove. Visited friends in Vermont. They own a bakery. Not really possible to resist taking that extra no-s NWS day.

Jamie,

Congratulations and THANK YOU for overcoming your understandable wariness of online bulletin boards to share your sustained and significant success!

Reinhard

Shirls, Why did I think I was so brilliant that I could form five habits all at once? Why didn't I listen to Reinhard? My wife tells me I'm one of those people who has to make every mistake myself personally in order to learn from it, it's no good listening to other people's advice. So perhaps you d...

15 pounds in a month is a lot. I wouldn't expect to lose that much that fast -- I'm not even sure if it would be healthy... Still, with all that exercise, I think you'll be happy with how fast you make progress on no-s. Worst case, it'll take a couple months more. But it'll last. Reinhard P.S. Have ...

A week is too short a time to make meaningful judgments, especially based on a single measurement. This takes serious time, and premature tweaking is usually a big mistake.

Reinhard

Having a ritual "punctuation mark" after dinner is helpful, whether brushing your teeth or something else. I usually have a drink or two with dinner, but I linger over it very slowly, starting before but finishing after. So for me, finishing the drink actually serves as a punctuation mark/surrogate ...

I'm terribly sorry to hear this. I can barely begin to imagine.

My prayers are with you and the family,

Reinhard

I actually think the humor helps with the practical part, but it's nice to know it works independently, too.

Reinhard

At least Great Britain and the monarchy were impressive masters. If our forebears couldn't tolerate even those, how on earth can we stand to be subject to a bag of cheese doodles?

Happy independence day (in both/either sense) to all,

Reinhard

Congratulations! Not just on the pounds -- but also (more importantly, even) on the green.

Reinhard

Wow, congratulations! Especially given the challenges of being a single parent with a demanding career. I like to look at challenges like this as opportunities for further self-improvement glory :-) I would not lose so great an honour As one man more, methinks, would share from me Best to you and yo...

I've found myriad parental uses for the "daddy timer" (as my daughter calls it) as well. Great for negotiating those "one more minute" procrastinations, and I don't know how I'd do "time out" without it

Reinhard

Congratulations, Gail! And thanks for sharing your success.

JÃ¼rgen -- belated welcome back and happy to hear things are going well this round. Going overboard with diet and exercise is probably THE biggest danger in both. Best of luck being firm but moderate.

Reinhard

Kevin,

Great to see you again here!

I've quoted you in so many places on the site that you can't ever really leave, but still

)

Reinhard

Congratulations, Reineres! This is wonderful news -- both in terms of results and your attitude. Some teaser content from the book on those lost bits of maternal wisdom: From page 148: Old- Fashioned Excuses for Virtue Weâ€™re all too familiar with excuses for failure (genes, cravings, stress, depre...

Yes, the problem is that no one would ever have heard if it if I didn't use the word "diet." So I prefer to dig in my heels and reclaim the other definitions of the word for human beings again. Some stuff I've posted previously on this issue: From: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p= 4183...

drswife, Sorry about your lack of results -- but it doesn't sound like you're basing your verdict on a whole lot of data points (2 measurements?). I gained (and lost) 10 pounds in a single day, according to my scale. It sounds like you've decided to move on from no-s -- if so, best of luck. But if y...

This is a great analogy. And I think it'll be very helpful to impatient newbies.

I think my next podcast is going to be about setting expectations and I may have to quote your post here...

Thanks again, KCCC!

Reinhard

Mime, welcome and congratulations!

Reinhard

Thank you! They did. Can be a tough balancing act (and then there's fathers day right after). Sat June 28: Weekend Luddite failure. (unsuccessfully) tried to help my wife get the scanner working. It wasn't much, and I was good about limiting it to that. But still, I want to call it red to keep my gu...

Welcome, Morganlefay! Give my regards to Mistress Krista. I worked (very briefly) in London a few years ago. I was a librarian at an investment bank, which meant I had a relatively piddling salary but with master of the universe perks (the Travel and Expenses system wasn't set up to handle mere libr...

Welcome, Red! You make the call about particular foods. Everyone draws the line in different places. But I personally would consider anything with the word "sugar" (or a euphemism for sugar) in the product description to be a pretty unambiguous sweet. If you don't want to mix your own sugar in, and ...

My pleasure, Deb. It's good to know you're still listening.

I guess it's about time to start thinking about banging out the next one...

Reinhard

Great news! #3 in particular.

Reinhard

That's very funny... surprised I missed that. I think I'll have to promote that to the home page (with attribution, of course). Thanks, resting52!

Now we just need something for the "forbidden foods" diets...

Reinhard

"Any publicity is good publicity," right? I've not yet reached the point where I can roll my eyes at precisely how my stuff has been portrayed on television. I look forward to seeing something by people who have actually read the book (or the site), but for now, this is great :-) Thanks for dropping...

Great thread! Some more in this vein: http://www.amazon.com/Prison-Historical-Recordings-Parchman-1947-48/dp/B0000002UW/ref=pd_sim_m_4 http://www.amazon.com/Prison-Historical-Recordings-Parchman-1947-48/dp/B0000002UV/ref=pd_sim_m_1 http://www.amazon.com/Afro-American-Spirituals-Work-Songs-Ballads/dp...

That's a lot of sugar... about Coke level. When I say it's ok to put sugar in your coffee or tea, I'm thinking a teaspoon or two. I would either switch beverage, see how it tastes with less, and if neither of those work then even (shudder) consider an artificial sweetener (you can always go half and...

Here's some perspective on candy consumption (in the US at least): http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/FoodConsumption/Spreadsheets/sweets.xls During the period for which they have data (1966-2006) per capita consumption ("domestic disappearance") rose a bit over 20%. That's a lot, but not too disproportio...

Whenever I've noticed funny behaviors sneaking in, I just tell myself "next time that's a red on the habitcal." I'll speak it into my recorder or write it on my "big picture" so I can't wriggle out of it. Works wonders.

If anything, I'm more strict now than I was 6 years ago when I started.

Reinhard

Yeah, "tasks" is a little sneaky.... but it's been very effective.

Among other things, it's a staging area for habits that you might want to promote to top level tracking at some point in the future when you're clearer about their feasibility/sustainability/advisability.

Reinhard

Welcome, Finnigan! I live in a small apartment with my wife and 2 kids You sound like me! 7 rep sets are great. Great to start because the bar is low, and great even years into it -- I do them now at least 2 days a week. Distributes the effort nice and evenly. My advice starting (for both no-s and s...

Sounds good! Safer than fruit juice, more appealing than plain water, and perhaps just as effective in terms of hunger management. Thanks for the tip!

Reinhard

If there's no (or little) sugar in your latte you can drink it between meals. I stick with black coffee, usually, but I also drink whole milk. So essentially I do drink lattes, just separated out into component parts. Still, if it feels like a snack, and leads to more snacks, then declare it one. Ca...

Yes, you can add sugar to your oatmeal. It's totally fine. When you "Bring Your Own Sugar" (BYOS), you force yourself to see how much you're consuming, and that sight is enough to keep you in line. No one is going to spoon even half as much sugar over their oatmeal as goes into a can of coke without...

You're thinner, faster, stronger, and somehow have less muscle? That doesn't make sense. I would sooner think that this measurement is off than that you have to eat more protein (I'm not knocking science, I work in a lab, but even scientists CAN make mistakes!). From what I understand, the average a...

Welcome, both of you!

Keep the focus on the long haul and I think you'll be very happy on No-s.

Reinhard

1. Focus on behavior rather than results -- use the habitcal (online or paper or paperclip) to make this concrete. Don't even think of the problem as "being" overweight. Think of the problem as "doing" too much eating (and too little moving). 2. Brace yourself for failure. It can take a few false st...

You can eat anything for your one-plate meals on No-s (except sweets). But if you always or mostly eat extremely fatty, caloric plates, you'll probably have a hard time losing weight (along with other problems). The good news is I don't think you will. You might at first. And you'll continue to some...

I personally would call this a sweet, but it's up to you to make that call for yourself. There definitely is *a* case that could be made (though there's always some kind of case). Teaser content from the book, pages 76-77 (I'm going to have the whole book posted here at this rate :-)): But Chocolate...

Wow, even I haven't done that!

Though I do find the concept of S-days useful in limiting sweets for the kids. It's very easy for them to understand, and seems less arbitrary and unpredictable than the alternative of "not now."

Reinhard

welcome! Don't be discouraged if it takes a few days (or weeks) to get the habit down -- it probably will.

I eat at mealtime, whether or not I'm hungry. Trains your body to get into a rhythm. Now I'm pretty much always hungry at mealtime, and not in between. Little teaser content from the book (page 53): So donâ€™t eat when youâ€™re hungry. Donâ€™t eat when youâ€™re depressed. Donâ€™t eat when youâ€™ve s...

Now that we've got more than one of these maybe I should set up a page or section with nosdiet blog links...

Social pressure is the only part that remains hard for me. I'm pretty good about dodging it most times, but when push comes to shove, I cave. Still, push doesn't come to shove very often, something I was surprised (and relieved) to discover. I used to have trouble resisting the urge to "clean up" af...

I add them very rarely... (it's been over a year and I'm up to 4, 3 of which were well established before I even started keeping track). There's a cost, partly just in screen real estate (which is more of a technical problem that could be easily rectified in that version 2 which I keep talking about...

My unquantified feeling is that it used to be roughly 50/50, but then Woman's World happened.

Reinhard

June 19: nosdiet NWS day (my wife's AND my mother's birthday).

Welcome, Over43!

I'd never heard of a "bullworker."

Somehow the use of the word "bull" in a commercial exercise product doesn't seem particularly well advised...

I think you'll find SG at least as fun. Let us know how it goes.

Reinhard

Good luck, Bsuds!

Keep posting here. Establishing new habits can be tough and you need all the encouragement you can get.

Reinhard

fatfarmlady, I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time... But don't let it get you down. You are not meant to fail, and it's really best not to let yourself talk like that. It's like a negative mantra -- if you say it often enough, it'll become true. I'm not sure how effective positive mantras are...

Blueskighs,

Congratulations and thank YOU for so thoroughly (and beautifully) documenting your no-s diet journey. You make one plate a meal look really, really good.

Reinhard

No-s will "work" if you currently overeat. If you don't, if you already eat moderately, then it won't do anything except merely increase your enjoyment of food and ensure that you don't slip into overeating in the future. Not too terrible, I think, but perhaps not what you're looking for. No-s isn't...

Congratulations!

You're right to be proud. These are impressive numbers -- and just the ones you should be focusing on.

May your N-days continue to be green,

Reinhard

No mumbo jumbo at all! I'm overjoyed to think that I had the slightest thing to do with the transformation you describe. This is wonderful news -- thank you for posting! I too have been astonished at the ramifications that such simple little rules can have, way beyond diet. Before no-s, I used to ma...

Here's my take on the cheeseburger issue (assuming by cheeseburgers you mean junk in general, though cheeseburgers aren't necessarily too bad as far as junk goes): 1. I eat cheeseburgers (etc.). I've lost a lot of weight. 2. Though I don't have any specific rules about it, I don't eat cheeseburgers ...

I have no idea. I found it randomly on youtube.

Now I can write "As seen on TV!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzWzFgFmr1s

Reinhard

angelka71,

Best of luck this go. Don't be discouraged that it didn't stick last time. It takes most people several tries. Habit building is hard work. But once they're solidly built, they're ease itself to maintain. Let that thought encourage you through the hard part.

Reinhard

Well, "normal" meaning what most people do today is probably rather pathetic. "Normal" meaning what people did before the advent of "labor saving devices" is probably unattainable. If you're interested in coming up with a goal, first figure out your current normal. Wear the pedometer for a few days,...

I love the idea of this move (big Tolstoy fan), but I haven't been satisfied with the mechanics in previous attempts. I think the sledge just isn't long enough for the necessary verisimilitude. Have you been doing it regularly? Maybe I'll give it another go... Thanks for the clip! That'll be helpful...

Welcome, KK! The most important thing about the one plate rule is to see all the food you are going to eat at a meal in front of you at the same time. If it's excessive, well, at least it'll look excessive, you won't be deceiving yourself. Once you eliminate the possibility of self deception, you'll...

Welcome!

I personally would skip the ovaltine... but I can see the case for it being a borderline food.

Reinhard

This uses the same principle as the Hollywood diet (except divided by several million).

Reinhard

Welcome! There's been a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of weighing on this board, and what precisely is the best way to do it, if at all. The issue is, sustainable weight loss like you'll experience on no-s tends to be very slow -- half a pound a week is a good, rough approximation. That'...

Congratulations again, Jessies Daughter! I'm very happy this "Thingy" is continuing to work so well for you.

That's actually significantly more attractive than I'd imagined! Nicely done (aesthetically, at least).

Hi Betty, When even you hear that little voice about the "just this once..." remind yourself (out loud if necessary) that nothing is ever just this once. Everything sets (or unsets) a pattern. Every "just this one" slice of cake makes it that much harder to resist the next one. So in making this sin...

Welcome, anovelgirl! I think there is a huge yearning for moderation: it very obviously works and is pleasurable. But people have just come to assume it's impossible to learn, that once you've become corrupted by extreme habits (as most of us have been), that's it. The exciting thing about no-s is t...

Keep at it, gail. It can take many tries, but eventually it's going to click. And then it gets to be easy -- a pleasure even.

I hope you find the book motivating. Keep posting to the board if you need extra.

Best,

Reinhard

Congratulations! And good system for navigating the whole emotionally fraught scale issue.

KCCC,

I'm very happy to hear this episode had something significant to say even to a long-time no-esser like you. Your S-days sound pretty wonderful now!

Reinhard

I think rules like this can be very helpful, though it can often take a bit of fine tuning to find ones that will stick. Procrastination is a little like snacking. Every instance seems to little and harmless in itself, that without clear and firm limits you'll never stop until you've gone way overbo...

If you can reach your idea weight without exercise, you're not eating moderately -- you're eating immoderately little. That's not sustainable or good. By exercise, I don't necessarily mean hitting the gym. "Exertion," exercise that is built into useful activities like walking or sweeping or push mow...

Tuesday June 10: nosdiet NWS day. Our youngest daughter's first birthday "observed" (we had to cancel the party on her actual birthday last Friday because our oldest was sick). Wednesday June 11, Thursday June 12: shovelglove NWS days. Sick. Got whatever our daughter had last week. Too sick to even ...

resting -- double congratulations!

CatholicCajun -- that's wonderful. You've got a great attitude. I, too, think it's better to be strict about NWS days vs failures to keep successes meaningful.

Reinhard

Welcome!

Any chance we could persuade you to post a picture?

Do be careful -- I hate to think what might happen if that 20 pounds of concrete suddenly came flying off. I'm as cheap as the next guy, but 20-30 dollars for hammer head projectile insurance strikes me as a good deal

Reinhard

The safest thing to do is to just stick it on your plate. Otherwise you're going to wind up eating as much as you used to plus fruit instead of having the fruit replace something not quite as nutritious. I eat a lot of fruit, this isn't actually all that difficult. I think once you try it it'll feel...

Welcome, Seul!

Had to look up MMA... sounds cool!

Let us know how shugging translates to these other pursuits.

Reinhard

You are very welcome! Thank you for your kind words.

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

Reinhard

I'd say, if it's a party for someone very near and dear, call it an S-day and enjoy. If it's some work related function, CrazyCatLady makes a good point: no one will be paying the slightest attention to what you're eating. Either hold out for a real meal after, pile up a plate of non-sweets (you *ca...

Thanks for the link.

I've been sort of trying to do this for the last few months, but it's been tricky -- my daughters are ferocious little carnivores. And I have to admit to having a strong meet tooth myself...

But hey, it's a start. I'd say we're eating at least 10% less nowadays.

Reinhard

Welcome, Daycare mommy!

I promise you won't feel yucky on No-s.

The hard part, for many people, is that it can take a while to see results. That's the flip side of this being a behavior that's sustainable for a lifetime.

Reinhard

The Kindle version is finally available:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... aysyste-20

I don't know. Seems different enough (and not nearly as much fun). Anyway, as I point out on the shovelglove home page, there's plenty of historical precedent for shovelglove, it's not like I created it ex nihilo. And if shovelglove itself serves as precedent for other routines, amen. Some acknowled...

You'd think that eating less should cost less, but it's not always so, apparently. Most diets are much more expensive than mere overeating.

Most diets, except the No $ Diet, that is

Reinhard

Tuesday June 3: Tasks failure. Our youngest had to got to the hospital to get a cut glued. Good excuse, I guess. But I prefer to just take it on the chin and call it "red." Friday June 6: Tasks failure. More good excuses -- our youngest turned one, our oldest was sick -- but still, red. Nosdiet NWS ...

Welcome, CrazyCatLady! Congratulations. I'm very happy to hear about your supportive family and friends. It's a huge help, and definitely not a given.

I don't see it in the kindle store yet, but it's available through the sony store:

http://ebookstore.sony.com/product/400/ ... 85878.html

I'll bug my publisher to see what's up with the kindle...

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

Search found 5900 matches

No S Diet on TV

No S Diet eBooks (Kindle, Sony)