Everyday Systems

This is a great quote.

It's funny how by disabling reflexing eating with the "no snacks" rule you can force the underlying problem to the fore. No-s doesn't just lose you weight and make you enjoy food again, it's like an auto-psychoanalysis.

Reinhard

If you can get to a Trader Joe's, it's very inspirational. The variety of dried they carry is amazing -- and at great prices. Be bold, try the weird stuff. Variety keeps it interesting. I pretty much still do what I described in my podcast. "Old Wessex Scottish Style Oatmeal" + dried fruit + nuts + ...

Congratulations and thank you for sharing!

The moving average overlaid with the habitcal compliance is very neat. You've nudged me a step closer to taking the plunge and coding this up already...

Reinhard

Central Kitchen, in central square is excellent. Somewhat pricey, but not nearly as bad as gastronomically comparable restaurants. The vibe is a little annoyingly hip, but the food is worth it. http://www.yelp.com/biz/central-kitchen-cambridge For more economical fare, Royal India is great (make sur...

I sometimes make smoothies like this myself and don't consider them sweets, but I do limit them to meals (breakfast). They're a little too thick and food-like to qualify as drinks in my mind. But feel free to draw the food/drink line differently if you think you can handle it. This is definitely one...

Drinks (unless they're full of added sugar, in which case they're sweets) aren't snacks, according to No-s. In fact they're a positive help in avoiding snacks. So cheers, enjoy your after dinner wine.

Reinhard

If you find the 10 pounder is a little too heavy, go real slow, position your hands closer to the hammer head, and don't be ambitious with the rep counts. If it's still too heavy, downgrade to the 8. If you can't exchange or return the 10, you can always hold on to it as a future upgrade. I know it ...

Please post a picture when you get a chance! We've had some charming shovegloves posted in the past, I think I may set up a gallery if I get a few more: Here's a particularly fun one: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2428&highlight=stuffed+animal Your son might be interested to know abo...

Welcome, Gail! Congratulations on your solid start.

The hunger will get better with habit. And feel free to grab a glass of milk if it'll help.

Don't make yourself too crazy with the scales. Weight loss will probably be very slow and jump around a bit.

Reinhard

Welcome, Janine! Congratulations on your engagement. I'm always especially happy to hear from people who discovered the book from browsing in a bookstore -- it always seems so tiny and inconspicuous when I check that I get scared no will will ever see it. No snacking can be tough up front, but once ...

My publisher says June 5 (tomorrow!). I'll link to it from the home page as soon as there's something to link to.

Reinhard

Yeah... this CR stuff is interesting. And the evidence from lab animals does seem compelling. But there seems to be something almost ironically misguided to me about torturing yourself to live longer. It's kind of like engineering your own hell on earth, stretching yourself out on the rack in order ...

Congratulations, mjn! Thanks for sharing your success -- and the implementational details.

Reinhard

Belated welcome! No-s "thingy" is fine. Though a tad general. :-) "Diet" doesn't have to have such awful connotations. Even animals have "diets" after all (as in "the pygmy marmoset has a largely gumnivorous diet"). Everyone has a "way of eating" or "eating tendencies." That's all no-s is. In fact, ...

Regarding the paperclips, I hadn't realized anyone was building non-metaphorical chains of habit. Great idea!

kbits: yes, I'm certainly going to add something like this at some point. Relatively soon, I think. Can't argue with Napoleon

In fact, I may have to use that quote...

I like the social aspect of it too... though phase one will probably be pretty bare bones.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Reinhard

A little tool for fellow autodidacts:

http://everydaysystems.com/blankful/

My immediate "use case" was practicing German articles, but it's pretty general purpose.

Reinhard

Monday May 26th: nosdiet and shovelglove NWS day (Memorial day) Tuesday May 27th: shovelglove NWS sick day (hurt my neck doing stupid daddy tricks for my 3 year old daughter). Don't want to count skipping shovelglove as a failure because shugging while injured is not a virtue. Thursday May 29th: tas...

You are very welcome, briana!

I was using my pc to watch the video while I was doing it. I got a great exercise and it went soooo fast!!!

Maybe it's time for a shovelglove dvd

Reinhard

Joel (the guy who runs this excellent site) is actually a member of the everyday systems bulletin board (check out the links on the right -- I should probably return the favor and link back to him). There are absolutely a lot of compatible (or at least similar) ideas.

Reinhard

You're not sore because you're the first person ever to have eased into this correctly! :-) I wouldn't worry about this too much. Getting sore is really, really easy. The trick is not getting too sore. Keep upping the ante very, very slowly -- more minutes (up to 14), more reps, slide your hands fur...

Welcome back, kbits! Throttling one's ambition can be the trickiest part of self-improvement... I try to build this into the systems themselves, but when you're doing 5 at once, it can quickly become overwhelming. I'm just coming back from a 3 day vacation so I've got quite a bit of catching up to d...

reubenthetadpole, Sorry the scale hasn't been more cooperative, but as you can see from some of the responses here (thank you Dawn and CrazyCatLady in particular!) this isn't an entirely unprecedented way to start what turns out to be a long term success on no-s. It sounds like you feel confident th...

Welcome, Tagir (and congratulations)! I stuck with no-s and shovelglove through 2 kids (so far) -- so while tough, it is possible. I think the trick is just to put the emphasis on a consistent, sustainable minimum of compliance. Realize that some meals will be large and not optimally healthy. Realiz...

During the week, I most often eat (good) bread and (good) cheese plus some fresh fruit on the side (and a mug of black coffee). Sometimes cold cereal with fresh fruit and whole milk (oatmeal is for lunch).

Reinhard

Folks, Carbs vs. whatever is a not a subject about which I personally have strong feelings. But I do have strong feelings about keeping things civil on this board. So please, please, think twice before posting something aggressive. And think twice more before taking offense. That's almost guaranteed...

Relax -- pbj is fine.

Sustainable weight loss is about half a pound a week. It's *very* possible to go two weeks without being able to measure any.

Reinhard

Eat moderately. Move moderately. See what happens. That's your "ideal" weight. My guess is that most people will actually wind up weighing a lot less following this rule than by striving for some semi-arbitrary number based on crude metrics like BMI. And they'll certainly wind up feeling a lot bette...

Dear Mollymouse, It's very hard to change big habits like overeating, so don't be discouraged if it takes several tries to really get it down. It takes most people who succeed several tries. I'd be very cautious about framing the problem in terms of some uncontrollable addiction... that's pretty muc...

wirerat123, Congratulations on your success and THANK YOU for letting us know. The details are great. People are constantly asking about example meals. I've posted about some of my "intelligent default" meals, but everyone is different and I'm sure yours will map better to the tastes of some people ...

Congratulations! 12 pounds is also a shovelglove

Reinhard

I've just been informed that the Kindle version of the No S Diet (and other ebook formats) will be available June 5. Thanks again, Scott, for the nudge. This might not have happened but for that nudge (and certainly not so soon).

Hey, the more times my name is mentioned in conjunction with Eckhardt Tolle (and Oprah), the better.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention -- now if only someone would bring it to Hers.

Reinhard

Here's a scan of the original big picture (post scribbling):

http://everydaysystems.com/bigpicture/b ... -08-30.jpg

And here's a more recent one:

http://everydaysystems.com/bigpicture/b ... -05-21.jpg

Just put it on my daily card. If I don't do it today it's a "red" on my habitcal

Reinhard

I care!

Sorry to hear it

It was a noble effort!

Reinhard

People have done no-s on just 2 meals a day -- one at least with remarkable success. http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=174&start=500 It's not something I'd recommend because I think it's simply too hard and unpleasant for most people, but your friend (like James) might not be "most peopl...

I like to use Jorge Cruise's plate suggestion of filling it half with vegetables, one quarter with protein and one quarter with a carb. I'd say just modify Jorge's suggestion and make fruit interchangeable with vegetables. I don't want to put words in my fellow diet guru's mouth, but I assume the i...

It's a tough call. I guess, if you're afraid not seeing the right number would unhinge you, put it off. You've gained too much in terms of peace of mind and (at least) weight maintenance to want to risk that. Instead, add some moderate, regular exercise -- this is a good idea no matter what the scal...

S-day for me ("major national holiday").

Reinhard

Blueskighs,

Congratulations! And THANK YOU for documenting your experience in such lavish detail. The photos of the plates are wonderful. I'm almost inspired to set up some kind of user contributed plate photo gallery here, for people looking for some visual guidance/inspiration...

Reinhard

Maybe switch your shugging to be evenings every night? That way you don't pile up sessions to close together, and it's more regular. I prefer mornings, too, but had to switch to PM because of scheduling issues (chasing the kids out of the house). If you do have to do two sessions in a short amount o...

Fixed!

Thank you!

Reinhard

Malivu -- thank you! I see it now. That was some inspiring fare! Delene, wow, that's impressive! I knew that it was available online in South Africa but local bookstores -- that's nuts. Thanks for letting me know! Scott, I just pestered my publisher about the kindle. I don't think there should be an...

David,

Sorry it's been so long since I've dropped in here -- congratulations on your prolonged, consistent and effective efforts!

Reinhard

So I say what Reinhard seems to be saying: go with works for YOU. Yes. Sorry if I didn't say that clearly enough :-) Resting -- I am not trying to undermine your effort. Almost everything I've ever written here regarding scales has been pretty anti-. I'm just saying that there seem to be two very d...

Tiffani, I think adding an extra planned, discrete mini meal Thursday is worth trying. It doesn't sound like forgoing it is working, either in terms of your stress levels or compliance. Give it a try. Make it official. See what happens. As long as you limit it to one discrete "event" I'm pretty conf...

Mike, - Did you find that consuming anything, within the No-S restrictions for your 3 meals worked - or did you have to cut-back or modify your diet. I think sticking to 3 meals DOES modify your diet, without your even thinking much about it. The "spotlight" effect of seeing what you're eating in fr...

Sunday May 18: weekend luddite failure. Wife and kids were visiting the in-laws so I had a rare opportunity to catch up on day job work. A productive weekend luddite violation at least.

Many welcomes and congratulations!

Sorry it's been a while since I made an appearance here -- but nice to see that things have been so lively in my absence.

Reinhard

Airen08, I've contratulated you once already but it bears repeating -- this is fantastic. I think it's interesting that No-s gives you a lot of scope if you want to be a little more hard core about it. While I think for most people, slow and steady is the way to go, you can certainly turn on the acc...

I don't personally have an issue with scales. I have a mild occasional curiosity but I "neither beg their favors nor fear their hate." And I think this is the best, healthiest and most effective attitude for most people to have vis a vis scales. Just be moderate in your eating and moving and have fa...

Dear Jocelyn, 1. In time you'll get very good at budgeting how big your meals should be. I rarely fill my plate to the point where I'm disgustingly full or have to scrape it into the garbage. So "more of the same" plus patience will probably do the trick as far as excessive firsts are concerned. 2. ...

Hi Lisa, I'm very loath to add extra colors because I think it would add massively to confusion... Probably what I'd suggest is just tracking "exercise" instead and giving yourself full green credit whichever form of exercise (shovelglove, elliptical, whatever) you wind up doing -- and red if you do...

I guess I should report that my "expensive junk" nano I posted about previously (in 2006) is still working (and HEAVILY used). Was just a gunk in the hold button issue. So I guess I'll have to upgrade my opinion of the thing.

Reinhard

Nice idea!

I usually just scribble stuff like this on the back of the card (or the big picture), but it can get pretty crowded...

Reinhard

Today was my 4th day of Shovelglove.... It's kind of fun, and I'm not real sore, I'm happy to hear it! Shovel naked I'd advise against this (in either sense). The sweater (or equivalent) really does make a difference. It can sometimes take some trial and error to get the sleaves to stay put, but I'...

To me, marmalade on toast, falls into the "go ahead and put a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee" category. It's a very typical European breakfast. For me, it's clearly distinct from dessert, and not likely to degenerate into something worse. So I'd recommend not stressing about it unless you find it'...

I didn't know! Thank you!

The issue of freezer burned ice cream -- formerly a formidable objection to the No-s way of life -- has finally been countered!

Reinhard

Congratulations! Yeah, it seems too miraculously obvious to actually work :-) But do brace yourself for the pace to slacken, or even reverse direction some measurements. Scales are fickle creatures, and the time scale on which no-s really shines in not days or weeks, but months, years, a lifetime. R...

I'm pretty fond of vanilla as well

On the Anna Karenina principle, there are a lot of other flavors that get discussed here, so it's nice (and important) to see a post like this every once in a while.

Reinhard

The "making a big deal out of S-day esses" and "no sneaking" principles rely on basically the same psychology as the 3 single N-day "spotlight," except they're framed more positively.

I look forward to facing down the temptations of wealth, but I'm afraid I'm still a long ways off.

Reinhard

I'd forgotten about this article -- thanks for bumping it up again. You'd think I'd given this guy a kickback or something it's so dead on in synch with what I've been emphasizing with no-s. He even uses my favorite word: "compliance."

Reinhard

Wow, Blondie, same minute, same suggestion. We don't only think alike, we think it at the same time

Welcome! 1. I do know of other diabetics who have reported success with No-s http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=5779 2. But do run it by your doctor. If nothing else, he might suggest modifying it a bit, like adding an extra meal, or some kind of emergency provision. Reinhard Disclaimer: ...

Me bad English major -- that was a poorly worded sentence.

I wish the eyedrops while sleeping trick would work. But I'm loathe to try it because of the risk of waking the little monster. An even more horrible prospect than a splotch of red on the habitcal

Reinhard

I'm glad this resonated with so many of you. Sorry again it took so long! I knew months ago that this was a subject that needed more attention. Judging from posting volume, another subject that's in equal need of attention is setting realistic expectations (aka, patience). Unfortunately it might tak...

Looking over the last year of my habitcal data, I don't have a single month where I didn't take at least one NWS day. I usually took two, sometimes one, sometimes more (Chritsmas time, summer vacation). I never took an NWS day just for the hell of it (properly speaking, that would be a failure)-- th...

EDIT: I should probably point out that "Quick Draw" is sort of a misnomer, and part of the joke (who quick-draws a 10 pound pistol!?) Hey, imagine it's a bazooka or a panzerfaust and a King Tiger or T-34 has just come round the corner. You'd draw pretty fast :-) Sounds very similar to "flip the lev...

Cool! Thanks. Both images are very clear (the links help too). "Pull weeds" is more traditional, but the dear old mower should get some credit as the source of your inspiration.

Reinhard

Yeah, this is the guy who had to be reminded to give me credit for the idea -- which, to his credit, he promptly did.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1871

Does seem to have worked rather well for him! Plus some of the extra moves are interesting.

Reinhard

No limit in vanilla no-s. So I wouldn't worry about this unless you've got the basic rules down pat and feel like this is causing a problem.

Reinhard

Yes! Though it's not completely obvious. Here's a sample url (my habitcal) http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/view/?t=*&o=2 Change the last number (o=something) to the "user id" of whoever you want to see. You can find the user id by clicking on the a profile link -- it's the last number (u=somethi...

Not that I know of! I haven't seen this...

But I'll keep my eyes open.

Reinhard

Hmm. I haven't noticed this...

Maybe your browser doesn't like the little flash player widget?

Have you tried right clicking on the mp3 like and "save as.."?

If that doesn't work, maybe try through itunes?

Reinhard

Brightangel, Welcome to shovelglove! Yes, 12 minutes is fine if that's what you prefer. The precise number is mostly just a trick to get you to do a consistent, regular *something.* So the only feedback I have is keep going. Forget about working "harder," or worrying about particular movements, just...

Cool! Thanks.

Upgrading is not remotely on my horizon just now, but maybe someday...

Reinhard

Excellent news, re the cholesterol! Good for downgrading to the 12 pounder for now. It's so easy to get hubristic. Keep the habit, keep plugging away, and I'm sure one day, when you're really ready for it, you'll dust off the 16 pounder again. One thing I've found really helpful when times get stres...

SIM was mostly luck. I honestly can't remember what I did, though I think it involved searching the itunes podcast directory. The podcast world was much smaller back then (I found SIM just a couple months after it started). I think there was a directory in itunes that just listed all German language...

Fkwan, It sounds like you know the right thing ("behavior, not results!") but are having trouble believing it. Maybe phrasing it even more starkly would help: stop thinking of the problem in terms of being overweight. Think of the problem as doing too much eating and too little exercise. The problem...

Welcome, mem! I agree with you that the issue of shame/guilt is a little more complex than it's usually made out to be -- it's not a question of shame or not, but of right or wrong shame. A little relevant teaser content from the book (pages 82-83): Donâ€™t worry about overloaded plates. Yes, it is ...

I think this is a great idea! There are at least two no-essers I know of that qualify already: Josie (who was interviewed for the woman's world article) and James . Airen, you're off to an astonishing start! But please don't feel inadequate if it takes the rest of you a little longer -- it almost ce...

It's funny you should mention that; eating during clean up was one of the toughest habits for me to break. But now that I've got it down, I have no problem with it anymore. It's very empowering to be able to look at a scrap of leftover sauerkraut and say "you don't own me anymore, pal" (and a little...

These are the reasons why I think whole milk is a good choice: 1. It tastes good. Skim can't hold a candle to it. 2. It's filling, even in small amounts. Fat and protein and sugar (lactose) provide more stopping power than similarly caloric fruit juice. Even more so than fruit juice, it tastes very ...

Welcome! Keeping it simple is very hard for some folks! I think you'll notice that much of the complexity here is the rest of us trying to talk them out of overcomplicating. There are, of course, some very legitimate exceptions where extra complexity really is required. And if they seem more conspic...

Another article in the expert takes random potshots at 10 popular diet books without necessarily having read them format. So a little inherently unflattering. Still, No-s is near the top this time! The article is popping up all over the place. For example: http://books.niethestate.com/?p=208 http://...

Terez -- yeah, you're right. I've said similar things myself about food (guru, help thyself!), but I'm skeptical it will take here -- in addition to the "waste", it just *looks* so alcoholic to pour booze down the sink. Maybe I need to invest in a funnel for the un-pouring of such glasses back into ...

Welcome! I think you'll find that the "spotlight" of 3 single plate meals will gently but effectively nudges you to food that balances healthy and delicious better than any explicit nutritional rules. Pizza, hut etc. are allowed -- but how many of your limited meals do you really want to blow on tha...

If you're not already eating it for breakfast, oatmeal makes a healthy and convenient default lunch:

http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=23

(apologies if you've seen this already).

Reinhard

Well, I'm deeply flattered that you're consider doing this!

You'll post a picture, of course?

Reinhard

Congratulations, Tifanni! And thank you for posting just now. With so many people running into up front trouble recently, your impressive and sustained success gives timely inspiration.

Reinhard

Sorry this took so long!

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

I'll refrain from making any predictions about when the next episode will be ready since that seems to have an inverse correlation with how long it actually takes...

Reinhard

The embarrassment goes away when you realize that you can now strangle a bull with your bare hands

Good luck! And easy into it slowly -- it's much harder than it seems. And you won't fully feel it till the next day.

Reinhard

I do this too. Far more than in real life! And it's never pleasurable, it's always upsetting. It's always me catching myself doing something I hadn't meant to, forgetting that it was an n-day. Funny.

Congratulations on your real 5 pounds!

Reinhard

Congratulations, Rheba! I think there are two legitimate camps of no-essers: minimal weighers (once a month or so) and scientific weighers. I'm a minimal weigher myself, and I think that's a good strategy for many, if not most people. But I don't want the scientific weighers to feel like second clas...

If "snack" is an extra meal, something regular and defined that they eat (say) after school, then I think it's fine. You don't want to turn into some kind of food nazi with your kids -- that's guaranteed to leave them with messed up eating issues. But if they're eating whatever whenever (and "whenev...

Sheesh! I used to enjoy sweets so much! It's not even that much fun now that they're not forbidden. Reinhard, I hope you're happy for being such a fun sucker! I'm sorry! :-) I don't feel this myself -- I enjoy sweets more than I ever did before. And I think what you're feeling is probably just temp...

Most of my "vacation" is used up on childcare (or writing!), so N-days. When we actually do get away somewhere nice for a long weekend or once a year for a full week, I count most days as S-days. My basic rule is, if there's some special delicacy worth trying or if I really would enjoy essing out fo...

Thank you all for your kinds words about the book! I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see it resonating like this. For an English major/Librarian who'd basically of given up on the idea of writing English because writing code seemed a more reliable way of paying the bills, this is a dream com...

Sheiler, Congratulations! That's very impressive -- and starting in the hospital, no less. I'm glad you also sound braced for the rate of weight loss to go down. I'm don't think I actually do address the issue of what to do when you've missed a meal in the book (except for advising to try not to mis...

Everyday Systems

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Blankful: Roll your own fill-in-the-blank tests

Associated Press mention of No S Diet

Podcast 34: S-days gone wild (finally!)