Everyday Systems

Dawn, I'm a month behind with the podcast I promised to do on this subject -- I'm determined not to get two months behind, so I'll be reading this thread with great interest to see if there's anything I can use. We've had some good discussion about this issue in the past as well, and I'll see if I c...

The most important reason for the single plate rule is to SEE everything in front of you at once -- to make excess (if there is excess) visible so you aren't deceiving yourself. A bowl and a small plate side by side should be fine. You can think of this as "virtual plating" -- and it's really the be...

Very cool!

I think I personally will stick with multiple hammers as added skull protection

Plus I like the aesthetics of a real hammer.

But I'm sure loads of people will find this useful -- I'll stick a link to it on the home page next to fungus's "mod."

Reinhad

I think KCCC's "don't expect" is the best answer. I've heard "half a pound a week" as a reasonable rate of loss for moderate eating, which has the advantage of nudging you towards "don't expect," but obviously isn't very scientific since it takes no account of how much you have to lose to begin with...

shamrockmommy,

Thank you for your kind words!

I'm always happy to hear the book praised, but I'm especially happy when longtime no-essers, who already "know it all," like the book and find it useful.

Reinhard

Yeah... some people are lucky and get it right away, but most aren't. It's safest to assume that you're one of those "most" and budget for a few (or more than a few) initial setbacks. The good news is that the reason it's so hard to start is the same reason it's going to be so easy to maintain once ...

Welcome, lindalou! In a sense, everything you need to know is on the cover of the book :-) But of course, everyone has particular areas and issues that need clarification. Looking over the posts in this thread and the home page, you should be in good shape until the book arrives, but in the meantime...

Jesseco,

Thank you, Jesseco! I hugely appreciate this -- and I'm so happy to hear the book resonated so deeply with you.

Best of luck incorporating no-s into your life and looking forward to hearing more from you,

Reinahrd

I think the combination of habitcal and chain of self command cards are really helpful because of what I'm going to call the "woody allen principle of self improvement." They give you a big incentive to SOMEHOW address all of your todos -- to "start" each one at least so you have some pretext to cro...

Glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know.

Nudge received

I'll have both my first and my latest up today.

Reinhard

Hi Sandy,

I just got back online from a long travel weekend offline (whew, maybe I need to get a pager

). Hope my PMs answered your questions.

Best,

Reinhard

swimfit,

I did a podcast about this issue a while ago that I think might be helpful (and reproduced it more or less verbatim in the book):

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

HG -- the "My pants fell down club" is here:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=398

Reinhard

xJocelynx87, I'd be very hesitant about tweaking... there's always a risk when you tweak, and you've now got good habits (and results) that you really don't want to risk. It's not just that the tweak might be counterproductive in itself, but every innovation diminishes the authority of the other rul...

In order to make my trademark lawyer happy, I've been digging through old emails and it looks like I've been off by a few months in dating when I first came up with and started no-s. I've been saying "March 2002" but it looks like that's when I first put the web site up, not when I started the diet ...

Thank you for starting this thread, swimfit, and all who've contributed (and have yet to contribute). As you can imagine, I'm utterly fascinated by the subject. bonnieUK -- Here's the link to the Guardian article. I actually did see this at the time (decent traffic spike) and was delighted. It was m...

I'm pretty sure it's not out yet.... if someone does see it, please let me know!

The editor promised me a cover image I could post here and I want to make sure I get it as soon as it's available.

Reinhard

Thank you all for being my virtual eyes and ears (and mouths!).

Reinhard

Yeah, I think spam filters weed out a lot of these. I don't think there's anything I can do about that...

Reinhard

I have a rule that if I do ACTUAL shoveling (for at least 14 minutes, of course), I don't have to pretend (shovelglove) that day. I love shovelglove, but real labor is always preferable. For an otherwise sedentary computer programmer like me, a snowstorm is a great opportunity. I wouldn't want to pu...

It's very obscure: "number of completed RCU updates invoked in a batch," if that means anything to you. I don't feel bad about repurposing it. Since I can't quite make up my mind between bration and blimit, maybe I'll formulate the system as a kind of geeky aphorism rather than as a single term: "Br...

Welcome, Jill! No-s starts out as hard as it gets. If you can soldier on through a few weeks of compliance, habit starts to take over, and it gets easier and easier. I find this is a very motivating thing to keep in mind if it seems hard initially. It's the exact opposite of most other diets that st...

Bumpkyns, I wouldn't be so hard on yourself, when you've stared death in the face as you have, it makes sense that your waistline will seem a vastly less important consideration -- it was your initial reaction that was strange, not your subsequent re-gaining. Congratulations on having made it past t...

I don't systematically do this, but I think it's a great idea if you're having trouble keeping S-days from resembling professional eating contests. For those who are unfamiliar with this tactic, I think it was first described here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=28066 and further eluc...

For me, these are separate systems, and a glass ceiling failure doesn't also count as a no s failure. I think it's probably best to keep them separate.

Reinhard

milczar, I wouldn't even think of the problem as "being overweight" or "being obese." These are things that happen to you, thinking in these terms makes you passive. I'd think of it as two problems, things that you do (or neglect to do): overeating and undermoving. These are bad things in themselves...

Welcome, Malivu! "No Snacking" is the hardest (and most important) rule, so I think if you've managed that for a full month, you're in excellent shape. It is a moderate system, even with all three rules, so it's not hugely surprising that doing just 1/3 of it hasn't resulted in striking immediate lo...

Feb 24th: glass ceiling failure (1 drink over limit). Met a friend at a bar for lunch, had two drinks. Then didn't resist another at dinner time. Lame, but not a disaster. I've been getting a lot better at "tasks." Might start reporting "tasks" failures here soon too to see if that little extra pres...

Chrissy, Welcome! Glad the book is now confirmed to be in multiple west coast locations and that people are actually noticing it in stores (it's such a wee little book in such a big fat section). The no s diet is good for losing weight -- but it's great for maintaining (normally the really hard part...

Lori,

I love how you've turned this offhand remark into something concrete and practical!

Looking forward to seeing some long chains here!

Reinhard

welcome, camburger! It sounds like you've got the (moderate, sustainable) exercise part of the equation down, which is huge. I, too, am a big fan of walking (have you see the urban ranger site?). Although I don't use a pedometer myself (I'm lucky that my job is close enough to walk and that's suffic...

Yeah, I don't doubt that Atkins can work well short term. I'm sure the cabbage soup diet (to pick a particularly absurd example, though pretty much any diet your hear about will do) is fantastic for about a week. But unfortunately it's not about days or weeks or months or even a year or two. It's ab...

Thank you guys, for making this happen. I've sworn to myself (and my wife!) to only check the amazon page once a week (Friday mornings) because the ups and downs were making me so crazy -- but good news is always welcome. I should amend that section header in chapter 6 to read "How checking your ama...

"Blimit" might be better... (though it already has another -- pretty obscure -- techie meaning).

Reinhard

P.S. it's been working well for me, whatever I wind up calling it.

xJocelynx87,

Thank you! I really do appreciate it.

I hope it'll pay for itself in saved grocery/restaurant money relatively quickly...

Looking forward to hearing what you think,

Reinhard

Thank you, Dawn and mimi! Now that I'm in the double digits I promise to stop being such a nuisance about this. :-) And thanks again, Blondie, for being inspiring/encouraging all this generosity. Reinhard P.S. I did a local radio interview last night, and KCCC's review was directly quoted by one of ...

This is a great image... Another, related way to picture it is as a chain. Everyday you're "on habit", you add a link to that chain. If temptation is looming large and you're considering going off habit, ask "even if one day doesn't make such a huge difference in itself, do I really want to break th...

KCCC, I sometimes regret having come up with the virtual plate concept because it's very open to abuse and I hardly ever resort to it myself. It's really probably best to save it only for situations like buffets and when you're a guest and can't control you the food is being served. If you're prepar...

Exciting! Thanks for the update. I haven't heard anything yet from my publisher since the launch so you guys (and amazon sales rank) are my only eyes and ears for this stuff.

Thanks for the link, BonnieUK!

Between my coffee habit and no sweets (and no snacking!) it's no wonder my dentist is so impressed.

I wonder if I can get the american dental association to endorse No-s

Reinhard

dinosaursue, Most of us come here with very little willpower, so don't feel guilty about that. The idea is to leverage the little willpower you have by simple, natural, and unobtrusive rules to build habits, which then more or less automatically do the right thing for you. It's hard to build habits....

Dawn, I'm glad you can see that you've made progress in these 5 weeks even if it hasn't been scale progress -- because it's very true. Pleasurable maintenance is a huge improvement over the typical status quo of miserable, guilty gaining. But you're also in better shape even relative to results. Why...

The amazon sales rank bounces around a lot. I've had to forbid myself from looking at it more than a couple times a day because it was making me crazy (kind of like stock/scale checking :-)). Thanks for de-lurking! And thanks for the kind words about the book. Reinhard P.S. if you cross post your "P...

Jamie, Welcome and congratulations! I have a 9 month old and a three month old, so I can sympathize with the difficulties of "dieting" through all that chaos -- though of course, it's much harder for mommy. Generally speaking, I advise people to soldier on through stressful situations (chaotic times...

palomayombe, I would say it is more or less equivalent. "Doing the time" is far more important than any particular exercise. And pushups and squats are great exercise -- I do them myself as part of my shovelglove routine. If you really do them 14 minutes every N-day morning, I think you'll get into ...

Congratulations! Your first? I'm delighted to have contributed, in however small a way, to your being less distracted by the trivialities of food obsession and more focused on what's important.

Freelancer, Thanks for this detailed status update and the new move descriptions. Sorry it's taken me a full week to weigh in -- this no s book stuff has been distracting. If you do get a chance to take some video, I would LOVE to see Whirlwind of Doom (just make sure not to kill the cameraman!). I ...

I'm very satisfied with my biceps, and this is the only exercise I do. Are the forearms worked disproportionately? Compared to most other forms of exercise, maybe. But not compared to how we've historically used our muscles, I think. Forearms are really, really useful. And shovelglove, which mimics ...

Very glad to hear it's made it to (some) west coast stores!

chiquitabanana,

I have 0 expertise with eating disorders, so please do run it by your doctor.

Naively, it does seem like it should be a good fit though -- as long as you make sure to let the "minimum equal the maximum" and don't seek extra credit though skipped or skimpy meals.

Reinhard

Thank you, Blondie! (you SHOULD be my publicist) And thank you KCCC and Merrykat. Please don't pay for international shipping just to leave a review on amazon.com. Reviews ANYWHERE people buy books are helpful and much appreciated. In fact, it's kind of thrilling to get intercontinental recognition ...

milczar, Oprah is the super big league -- I'm a long way off from that yet (a relief in away because I find the prospect utterly terrifying!). Lori, palomayombe -- would you mind sticking your reviews on amazon (and/or the nobel foundation's web site :-)) when you get a chance? Whether or not you ge...

chiquitabanana, The rule is actually "no sweets," not "no sugar." Basically you just have to avoid the really egregious offenders, things that actually TASTE sweet. You don't have to make yourself crazy checking ingredients and harassing waiters. A good rule of thumb is, "it's an S if it's sweet eno...

Mo,

I am so happy you like it!

Hope it holds up and looking forward to your final assessment,

Reinhard

Welcome, lilfrenchbee! Great to see the article translate into new no-essers so quickly. Relatively speaking -- no s came off pretty darn well. None of the 10 diets escaped unscathed and "charming techie patois" is certainly better than what the author had to say about bestselling "skinny bitch:" Yo...

Welcome! The testimonials page here is more current than what's in the book: http://www.nosdiet.com/testimonials Poking around the bulletin board will get you an even more current picture still -- and I'm sure others will chime in here with up to the minute details. Just out of curiosity, what books...

THANK YOU, DRU!

As for the habit traffic light, I track glassceiling and nosdiet separately. And yes, if I have 3 or more drinks, I give myself a red light for glass ceiling.

http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/view/?o=2&sc=2&t=*

Reinhard

I never really measured very precisely. For me, it's kind of like the "one plate" rule of no-s: I could theoretically abuse the rule by pouring enormous glasses, but people would give me funny looks and I'd know myself that I was being a fool. I can't sneak my excess in lots of glasses that no one i...

Yeah, I didn't mean to sound bitter, I'm THRILLED.

Thanks for the local, reconaissance/advocacy, Peetie. I hope the dearth of copies doesn't result in outbreaks of physical violence.

Reinhard

Daisy, looking forward to having you as a "regular customer" here in the 21 day club :-) Welcome, swimfit! Your reservation has been taken. Jean, if I understand you correctly, you made it to your thried week and then were hospitalized. You DO know that "sick" starts with "s," right? And when there'...

I am so happy that so many of you seem to like the book and am deeply grateful for your favorable reviews here on the bulletin board and kind words sent in private emails. But if you could, it would be fantastic to get a few more of these over to amazon.com, for the "undecideds" to see. Feel free to...

Westward expansion! (I'd only heard of east coast sightings till now). Thanks for the update!

Thank you, Lori, for buying the book just to be nice -- and thank you even more for actually liking it!

Reinhard

While it is true that losing weight boils down to caloric inputs vs. expenditures, I do not think consciously doing this math is helpful (or even possible) long term. No S provides a shortcut to caloric restriction that bypasses the math. It's sort of like how the simple act of walking across the ro...

Thanks, Jordonk! Looks like we've got the east coast pretty well covered. Hopefully with the LA Times article we'll make some west coast headway as well.

Reinhard

No S got its first major national US press this morning! It's (briefly) "deconstructed" as one of "ten hottest diet books" in http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-dietbooks10mar10,0,5460565,full.story You can also see a picture of it stacked with it's 9 (bestselling!) brethren here: http://w...

Thanks for your kind wishes, Deb! Thanks for reporting Atlanta, Elizabeth 7. So far that makes four confirmed cities: Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, NYC. I think I'm going to get a map and stick pins in it :-) I hadn't considered the issue of handbag portability, Dru. I'm happy it meets that criteri...

Welcome, swimfit!

I hope no s will do the trick for you. Don't hesitate to ask for help if you run into trouble.

Just out of curiosity, which Barnes and Noble? (the book just came out last week and I'm trying to get a sense as to the geography of where it's being sold).

Reinhard

Welcome back!

The trickiest thing about vacations is not the vacations themselves but convincing your appetite and habits to go back to work afterwards...

Reinhard

Welcome, 2poodles!

I'm very excited to see someone here who discovered the site through the book instead of vice versa (looking forward to many more!).

Deb -- I can't tell you how thrilled I'll be when we get sufficient traffic to take down the server. An S-day worthy event right there

Reinhard

Welcome! My advice: 1) Give yourself big plates to get you though to the next meal without snacking. 2) Drink plenty of beverages between meals, even caloric ones if necessary. 3) Proactively treat yourself on S-days instead of reactively binging. 4) Be strict about the rules. You'll learn them fast...

Thanks for the detailed explanation, twa2w. I didn't know the terminology, but I've experienced the same thing. I haven't felt sore the day after in ages (though I do still feel pleasantly sore right after a workout). I think this is a good thing! I do this 5 days a week, I don't want to walk around...

Mary, Thank you for posting this! It sounds like a very sensible modification -- and it's still "literally" compliant with the no s rules (which, superficial as it may seem, is actually an important safeguard). It's open to abuse, of course, but if the alternative is certain failure, then a bit of r...

milczar, Amen to both thoughts. 1. "Can't stick to it" is THE problem as far as diet is concerned. Losing weight, that's easy. Most of us have done it hundreds of times :-) 2. It's amazing, fat as we are, that we have the gall to be smug in regard to the skinny fifties. I suspect that the generation...

I can't wait to see it! (and you all!) Unfortunately the Woman's World editor just emailed me that they won't be able to release the cover image until it hits the newsstand. So I'll have to distract myself till april 7th hitting reload on amazon and obsessing over my "sales rank" :-) Actually, suppo...

nonskanse, I'm not mad, I'm thrilled! I'm delighted to have inspired you to come up with a system of your own that works. The fact that you didn't just give up after running into serious trouble, but learned from your experience, tweaked and tried again until you hit on something that worked is wond...

Thank you, Joel and KCCC!

I know it should theoretically be available in brick and mortar bookstores as well, but I'd love to hear of any actual sightings. I'll be hitting some of the local bookstores at lunch today.

Reinhard

I believe the date is April 14 but it'll appear in stores April 7th. Very happy you liked the book! I know the book hasn't even officially been out a full day yet, but if there are any fast readers among you who want to be the first to write a review on amazon, I'd hugely appreciate it! http://www.a...

Welcome, Andrew.

Let us know if you have questions or run into trouble -- or come up with any useful No-s "mods."

Reinhard

If churn butter seems too easy, imagine it's a giant mortar and pestle and bring it down hard -- not easy! And, if you need a more appealingly violent image, imagine you are Attila the Hun delivering the coup de grace to your defeated foe.

Reinhard

I've tended to view the shovelglove induced calluses on my hands as an accomplishment rather than an annoyance, but after developing some unambiguously annoying calluses on my feet last month (even urban ranger has its risks!) I decided maybe I ought to revisit the issue. Weight lifting or batting g...

That is a nice idea... simple, whole body, and with a direct "historical" analogy.

Reinhard

That is incredibly cool (especially the king kong bit). Thanks for elucidating.

I must pass five cranes a day urban rangering. I'll look out for the orange...

Reinhard

Welcome, barbarag!

Thank you for easing into it! It is much more strenuous than most people seem to think it's going to be. I keep having to add more bold red disclaimers to the home page

Best of luck and let us know how it goes,

Reinhard

Welcome, Hungry Girl!

Hope you're still with us (and not so hungry?)

Reinhard

And elsewhere, presumably. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399534040/everydaysyste-20 Some people who pre-ordered (thank you!) have already gotten the book and posted their impressions here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2140 Looking forward to hearing more! Reinhard P.S. I m...

Very excited to hear they're shipping even here! Let me know when they arrive and what you think... (I'd love to get some reviews up on amazon, wink wink nudge nudge). kks71, Vielen Dank fÃ¼r deine nette Worte! Ich habe oft Ã¼ber eine deutsche Version nachgedacht! Mein Deutsch ist leider nicht gut g...

Not that I find myself hungry often anymore (I've gotten REALLY good at budgeting meal size over the years, plus habit has taught appetite to stay in the cage still mealtime), but when I do, black coffee does wonders. The wonderful thing about coffee is that it's got this immoral bad boy vibe, even ...

Wow! Ich bin erstaunt! Und sehr froh dass es euch gefÃ¤llt! The website has been a labor of love, but I've had to write it in fits and starts and I'm afraid that shows. It was a lot easier to justify spending the focused, consecutive hours that decent writing demands with an actual book deal in plac...

...on April 7, you'll finally get a chance to behold the rest of her -- when our very own Blondie will grace the cover of Woman's World magazine for a story on the No S Diet. The story will also include interviews with (and photos of, I believe?) two other longtime no-essers: Josie and Silverfish. I...

Deb, I am so happy to read this!

Congratulations (on all fronts) and thanks for letting us know.

Reinhard

Hi Bonnie, I think a good first step might be just to collect more "data:" Pay close attention for a week or two and make a note of situations in which you feel like you could have/should have been more assertive. I'd actually recommend writing this down so you don't selectively forget. Then see if ...

This is tough. I have some clue what you're going through because I've got 2 young children myself (there's a tupperware of fresh baked cookies in the fridge as I write this). The solution is not easy at first, but it gets easy if you make it over that initial hump: clarity about what you are suppos...

Congratulations! But please be VERY careful. I'm not sure it's a good idea, much less a possible one, to do much dieting during pregnancy. No-s is very moderate, but still, please really do run everything by your doctor. As KCCC suggests, cutting out "sweets" during the week is probably safe enough ...

Very clever. Thank you!

Thank you for your generous concern for my book sales! From what I understand, amazon "sales rank" is calculated hourly and can swing wildly. I think it's more a sign of something good than a cause of something good, so I wouldn't worry about timing purchases to outsmart it. Pre-orders seem to count...

sgtrock, Welcome (officially) and thanks for the intro! I love it that your wife is doing it, too. On one level a lot of the moves seem very manly and macho, but some of them actually come from traditional "woman's work" (churn butter, right?). I've been very happy at the number of female shuggers w...

Welcome paladn, freegirlnow!

Best of luck and keep us posted. Don't hesitate to ask for help or encouragement if you run into trouble.

Reinhard

Welcome back, Carrie. You have a big advantage because you've seen how this can work and know you can do it. The only adjustment you'll have to make is to think of this as something permanent, not a means to and end. Because there is no end (until The End). Fortunately, as I think you've experienced...

Everyday Systems

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