Everyday Systems

OK, here's a pdf of my current big picture (with only slight redactions): http://everydaysystems.com/bigpicture/bigpicture-2008-01-08.pdf I'll post a scanned image of what this looks like after a weeks worth or scribbles. At some point I'll post the first big picture I ever did too, to show how this...

acs, Congratulations! And thanks for posting. That is really impressive. You are now a member of the elite "I lost more weight than the guru himself" club (as well as the venerable "my pants fell down" club ). I'm certainly going to move this (and other recent testimonials) to the main testimonials ...

Thanks for the nudge! My prioritization system is very nudge based, so it helps.

I have two presentations I'm scrambling to prepare for tomorrow, but as soon as those are done I'll post a sample Bigger Picture.

Reinhard

I would be very careful about doing this. It's very easy to overburden yourself by adding extra restrictions. I'd say, only consider it if you're compliance with vanilla no s has been excellent for a good amount of time (months) and you're still not seeing results. And even then, I'm not sure it's t...

I'm say, set a timer for 14 minutes and very carefully, very slowly, try out a small number of reps of each movement and see how each one feels. Revisit the movements that seem promising, skip (or defer till you're stronger) the others. If you need to rest, rest. If you want to use dumbells or somet...

Double thank you, christmas tree! I really appreciate this -- and I hope you won't be disappointed. While it's true that the book doesn't contain any Secret Information I don't freely give on the website, I do think it has some added value: it's more grammatical, more in depth, more tightly organize...

The "no mixed drinks" sub-rule was important for me up front because mixed drinks were the proximate cause of me hitting "rock bottom" and motivated me to start practicing glass ceiling. At this point, having very successfully practiced glass ceiling for several years without a single major failure,...

No significant changes, I just keep gradually getting even more consistent about following my routines (and very, very slowly upping the weight of the sledgehammer, about once every 2 years so far). I also think "more of the same" really is more, that it can take months or years for a behavior to de...

This was just brought to my attention:

http://OutYourBackDoor.com

Looks useful for those of us who leave the house.

Particularly interesting is the (currently) first item in "World News, Stories & Links"

http://outyourbackdoor.com/article.php?id=882

Reinhard

rxea, It sounds like (as with most people) automatic permasnacking is your biggest problem. The best remedy is clarity. Especially when you're stressed, you don't have the mental energy to weigh each individual snacking opportunity ("Is this healthy? Am I really hungry?"). A simple "no, it's a weekd...

Sounds good, Alex. Let us know how it goes. As I mentioned before, I'm fortunate to live in such a walking friendly environment (I can walk to work) that I personally don't need quantification, but I'm sure I would otherwise, and I'm sure others reading this thread will benefit from these ideas. Rei...

I'm glad to hear it! It drives my wife nuts -- good to know someone is getting something out of it.

I don't know, might not be such a good idea, my brother actually takes that class

(and he shovelgloves -- that arm-wrestling incident was quite convincing)

I'm definitely going to add a "routines" section, both to the forums and to the main site. In fact, thanks for the nudge... I'll do it sooner. Keep nudging if you don't see it, at least in some rough form, within the next few days. Below are the details of my current default routines (since at least...

Soup and salad can be a little tricky. They're legitimate, normal foods that can confuse the one plate rule. Though it's certainly possible to successfully navigate, when you're starting, just to build the habit, it's probably best to minimize the number of times you're in situations like this. Once...

I have been amazed at how little attention people actually pay to what I eat in these situations. If I stick with just coffee, I'm almost always fine -- no c'mons, no questions, no stares. It's pretty astonishing, book deal and all, how few of my coworkers know what I'm doing. If the sweet looks par...

I have a "reduce smoking system" that I don't emphasize too much because I'm not sure it's replicable, though it has been very successful for me. The other reason I don't emphasize it is that non-smokers tend to get all puritanical on you if you admit any level of smoking (especially if you're posin...

This is great. Just to pick a few (particularly) shovelglove-esque points: Many critics also say that health clubs perpetuate the false divide between strength and cardio. Train on your feet. Sitting is an unnatural body position for strenuous work. Train movements, not muscles. Train for the four e...

Amen to that. Every year "global weirding" dumps more snow on us, and every year it feels like less. I almost look forward to big storms as unambiguous and direct confirmation of the real world utility of shovelglove.

Reinhard

Big Phil, I'm very happy to hear you're still shugging and no-s-ing with such excellent results -- and thank you for taking the time to post. I like to think the no s book is entertaining enough to be enjoyed even by people without weight issues, so hopefully your family and friends won't take it am...

Thanks for posting this, David. It's a great (or at least greatly relevant) little poem. There was another discussion about it a while ago: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1207 When I do get around to following through on that last action item, I'll make sure to link to both these thre...

That is a fantastic quote.

I'm sorry it's too late to stick it in the No-S book -- next version

Thank you!

Reinhard

Don't get me wrong -- I find your proposal very acceptable, at least, the sane and rational part of me does. And I'm confident that the stats will bear out what you suggest. But for the sane and rational part of me to prevail, stats will help. Here are the results of some off the cuff googling (not ...

Dec 24,25: NWS days for nosdiet and shovelglove. Christmas eve and day.
Dec 26: NWS sick day for shovelglove.

Hi Dorothy, I'm glad you like the habitcal, and thanks for making this well thought out request. Unfortunately, I don't think it would work well. For one thing, chances are it would result in a lot more clicking (there are currently 4 states: green,yellow, red, white; so that means the last state wi...

Not dull at all. Very intriguing, in fact. I'm not much of a driver at all, so not, big picture, much of a speeder, but I have to admit, my virtue in this regard is mostly due to lack of temptation. I've heard a lot of these arguments before, but I haven't seen hard statistics. To win me (and others...

Wow, this has been a very satisfying thread to read!

Gotta get that testmonials page updated before new years...

Thank you all for sharing your successes!

Reinhard

KCCC, That sounds very reasonable. It's interesting all the ways people tweak no-s around the edges to find the right balance of control and freedom. For you, vanilla no-s doesn't provide *quite* enough control, for Jaxhil not *quite* enough freedom. But all it takes is a slight modification one way...

Thanks all, and belated merry christmas to you, too!

Sorry I was offline for a few days -- we were at my mom's and I knocked out the power for the (computer) half of the apartment while trying to inflate an air mattress.

Reinhard

Congratulations, Spook and mimi! It feels good, and it's definitely getting much easier. My wife reminded me this evening that when I'd just started I used to complain about how hungry I was at around 11pm each day. That's now passed, thankfully. Habit is a powerful thing. In a way, this is sort of ...

More beefcake!

More symbolism!

More systems!

More star wars!

http://nosdiet.com/beforeafter.html

Reinhard

Minor change: I just changed the month sort from descending to ascending. Thanks, Spook for suggesting this. For a moment I considered making this user configurable, but I think 99% of the time users are going to prefer it this way, and don't want to confuse and clutter the interface. If you do want...

KCCC, Congratulations! Everything I have to say has been said here already, but repetition can be helpful so here goes: 1. Bigger meals. 2. Reach for a drink instead of a snack -- even a caloric drink, if necessary. 3. Make "no snacks" a top priority until you really get the habit down. I know you'r...

http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=32

KCCC,

I really like the "naming" technique. Extra inspiration at no cost -- plus an element of humor or drama which is valuable in its own right.

Reinhard

Excellent! I'm very happy you and others are finding it useful.

I was hoping to get version 2 out before new years, but I'm not sure if that is actually going to happen (unless I drastically scale back my ambitions for what this release should include).

Reinhard

Dec 14-15: I traded days for no S (took an S day Friday and and N day Saturday). Social pressure, again. Generally speaking, I think trading is a bad idea, but this is the first time I've done this since I started the habitcal, so I'm not going to get too excited about it. Still, it is officially "f...

Hey, that's passing! Congratulations! It might sound silly for something like walkabilty to factor into making real estate decisions, but it's actually hugely important. You might wind up having to do with less space, but you'll be healthier and happier. Not a bad trade. Though with 2 kids (one who'...

babyprrr, I know it's much easier for an old, married father of 2 whose sole form of entertainment is netflix to refrain from excessive partying than it is for a socially active college student, but I think you might be able to profitably adapt the idea of glass ceiling without making intolerable co...

Official congratulations! (my last was a few days premature) And thanks for sharing the details of your routine. Once I get the movements discussion threads all linked to the movements pages (you wouldn't think it would take this long, but I somehow always seem to have some slightly higher priority)...

Here's what I'd do: If your slip up was primarily honest confusion, give yourself the success for yesterday. Get clear in your head about what the rules are that you want to adhere to are, and be stricter next time. It's kind of like catching someone doing something bad but not illegal. You can't re...

Welcome! I personally would skip the shake both because yeah, a chocolate shake is kind of unambiguously an S, and also because I think these energy shakes are big scams (and in this case, a not even a particularly tasty scam). But feel free to modify the rules if you think otherwise. It's fine to d...

Tiffani,, This is great news! Thank you for sharing. Looks like we've got a spurt of new testimonials just in time for the new year's crowd. What I think is interesting and important is that even though your adherence might not be perfect (snacking reduced but still there, etc.) No S has still broug...

Jan, We missed you, too! You need to restrain your ambition! I know from your past check-ins that you have phenomenal self-discipline. No-s would be no problem for you if you didn't keep wanting more :-) So down diet-hubris! It's a very different problem than most people have here -- but the solutio...

ou812, If the online habit cal is too scary and technological, a paper calendar will work just fine. Stress is tough... but unfortunately for most of us stress is a given. Life is stress with a few intermissions of relative calm. We have to figure out how to make our habits works in stressful times....

Thanks for popping in again Peetie! I'm very happy to hear that you no longer need the site (kind of the goal for everyone, right?), but occasional pop-ins (and book purchases) are much appreciated!

Reinhard

zingano, Great idea. Shovelglove scenarios -- urban ranger missions. I personally am not much of a photographer (yet?) but I'd be very interested in seeing what other people are doing (and maybe this would be the spur I need). The picture with the cards is helpful, too. Good use of spare "personal p...

Welcome! The hardest part starting out is throttling your enthusiasm so you don't overdo it. It is funny that you can even feel it in your thighs, I've noticed that, too. These are really very fully-involved movements. You may not get hulk-like all over, but you probably aren't missing any muscles e...

Congratulations! Both on weight and duration -- with diet, duration is usually the harder part.

And thanks for sharing. These are impressive numbers. I'll have to update the "testimonials" page....

Reinhard

Great, thanks Donna!

Dec 7: another Hanukkah shovelglove and nosdiet NWS day (I know, I know, at least I'm not taking

I envy you! I wish I could do this movement. But I think I'd get arrested if I started whaling on a tired in the narrow crawlway behind our house. Not only does it sound satisfying as hell to actually whack things, but I bet the reverberations from the impact are good for your muscles/bones. If we g...

I think the interaction between genetics and environment on this (and most) issues can get very, very complicated. But there's no genetic reason why anyone has to overeat. Most of us stuff ourselves like pigs and move like slugs. There's no reason on earth to do that. On no-s (plus some moderate exe...

Hmm. For some reason it just never occurred to me to do it that way. I'll give it a (careful) try tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the tip!

Joel, I'm so happy to hear that the cards are continuing to be so useful to you. I, too, have continued using them and find them increasingly useful. I've kept the three column format for N-days I described before (work/routine/errand), though the items I tend to put in them have changed a bit. My r...

Welcome, Donna! You'll probably want to add a new topic for your check-in.

Nov 22: nosdiet and shovelglove NWS day (Thanksgiving)
Nov 23: shovelglove NWS day (vacation)
Dec: 4 nosdiet and shoveglove NWS day (1st night of Hanukkah)

Reinhard

My trick to moderating ice cream intake is to buy it a cone at a time instead of in big vats. A little pricier by volume but I think it works out even economically because there's so much less volume. I also wind up with fresher, better ice cream. I'm walking distance to 2 outstanding local ice crea...

Yeah, it does.. unfortunately this is not something under my control.

Matthew -- if you're still lurking here, maybe repost the video or send the updated url?

Reinhard

Very nice! I think it's a great idea.

May be a few days before I can get around to messing around with this, though.

Might also be fun to keep the general look of the existing emoticicons -- a green smiley, a red frowny, and a yellow straight-face.

Reinhard

Thank you, Annie! In the unlikely event that I do book signings anywhere I'll certainly let you all know.

Reinhard

P.S. Looks like they just added the cover shot on amazon.

I do understand -- and you are very welcome! I feel the same way myself.

An amusing side note about the history of the term "normalcy" (which works much better for diet than for politics, I think):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy

Reinhard

Welcome back, Annie!

Welcome, Matt! Psychologically, you seem to be in great shape. Your "Just Get There" approach to the gym is right on target. With exercise, the hardest part by far is starting. As far as willpower is concerned, the actual physical work is nothing compared to that. It's like that woody allen line: "8...

Despair not, British no-essers! It's just been brought to my attention that you can pre-order the book from amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/DIET-Reinhard-Engels-Ben-Kallen/dp/0399534040/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196270414&sr=8-1 [English speaking] Germans can also get it: http://www...

The Orwell essay is excellent. Those who haven't already should really take the time to read it. It's not very long, and reads itself. Link to the essay: http://www.george-orwell.org/Down_The_Mine/0.html There was another discussion about it here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=28531#...

It sounds like you did pretty well, keeping even the Friday after thanksgiving an N-day. I'd say just keep keeping those non holiday N-days N-days, whatever their proximity to an actual holiday and however great the temptation of leftovers. As for the holidays themselves, you are going to overeat, j...

This is great!

And what's best (for practicing weekend luddites) is that "shorter frequent breaks" (aka weekends) are more helpful than fewer, longer ones.

Reinhard

Congratulations!

A year on habit -- that's the kind of metric I like to see.

Happy belated thanksgiving to you, too,

Reinhard

Just saw this... Looks like a fun challenge. I'll give it a try tonight, though I'm not optimistic I'll succeed: he's using an 8 pounder and my lightest is a 12.

Needs a better name. "Walking" doesn't suggest hands and fingers...

Thanks for the link!

Reinhard

That's a good goal, tapper47. The holidays are like the Russian winter that defeated Napoleon and Hitler.

Dig in and hold your positions, that's the best you can do. Just by maintaining you'll be zipping past most other people.

Happy Stalingrad!

Reinhard

I'm not really qualified to speak on this subject, but I would suggest "no."

Filling up your plates more is always a valid option when you anticipate trouble.

Good luck!

Reinhard

That's a very sensible modification, really just a tightening up of the definition of "sometimes." "Sweets" are the s we really miss, after all, the only essential reward (though for really festive meals, seconds are nice, too). Snacks I think at this point I could really do without forever without ...

Welcome, DegradedBeast!

Keeping the habit you're tracking simply "exercise" is a very good idea. That way you can experiment with different methods while consistently building habit.

Reinhard

Hi Per, A bit of muscle soreness in the beginning is to be expected... but nothing really painful. You shouldn't feel it in your joints. In any case, back off. Either take a little break from this move and give it another try in a couple weeks or do less reps more carefully. If it still hurts, just ...

Senanbar, Congratulations! That really is impressive. Thank you for letting us know. I'd love to hear about your slight modifications, too, if you don't mind revealing them. They might be helpful to others, too. Reinhard P.S. I hope you're making sure (given previous problems) to get enough food... ...

Nov 18: weekend luddite failure. I knew I'd be out of the office Monday so I decided to try to get some work done Sunday.

Sounds like a good variant. There's a lot you can do with this move.

My shoveling tends to mimic more or less exactly snow shoveling -- which is about the only kind I actually do in real life, so I guess it's good to prepare for it.

Reinhard

14 minutes every N-day :-) See shovelglove homepage for the rationale. Seriously, 40 minutes is great, but are you really going to be able to keep it up for the rest of your life? Go for a consistent minimum of compliance, not heroic efforts. It doesn't take much, if you do it consistently, to see g...

Hey, save it for the weekend. Cookies keep. It is a little ridiculous how people keep pushing food at us -- but we have to focus on what we can control: our behavior, not theirs. If we get irate, well, it might be justifiable, but it doesn't do anybody any good. Instead, think about how virtuous it ...

Welcome, Linda!

I think No-s will fit very well with culinary school -- I can't think of another diet that would fit better. Just keep the tasting tasting

.

Reinhard

Glad to hear it!

Just be careful about paying too much attention to the scale... I often fluctuate more than 3 pounds during a single day.

Reinhard

Someone once suggested batting gloves. Seems like a good idea.

Reinhard

Bonnie, Habit stickiness is a subject I'm very interested in... I think it boils down to three things. "Sticky" habits (or "habit friendly behaviors") are: simple, natural, and unobtrusive. They need to be simple because habit is dumb. You can't automate complicated conscious processes into somethin...

Kevin,

It's great to see you again here. If it's any inspiration, things worked out pretty well for the original prodigal son, as I recall.

Reinhard

Welcome back, Jordonk. I would recommend tying something around the sledgehammer. I'm not a particularly gifted tyer either, but, after a few flop offs, once you get the darn sweater on, it'll be many months before you have to worry about repeating the process. Duct tape is also not a bad idea. It'l...

Thanks for sharing this. Not currently a problem for me (2 kids did the trick and then some), but it certainly was, and is for many other people. Not only is irregular sleep a widespread problem, but I think it's one with very harmful effects that tend to be underestimated. Regular sleeping is right...

Ah, a compound move. Sounds very metaphorically appropriate -- and hard. I often do squats as part of my routine, but as a separate movement, without the sledgehammer ("fertilize the fields" :-)). I guess I'm worried that doing too much at once will make me dangerously sloppy with the hammer. Reinhard

Thanks for the post, sledge. I haven't seen this one before (and even if I had, never worry about reposting stuff that may be burried deep within the bulletin board -- if you who know what you're looking for can't find it, others who have no clue don't have a chance). I've been amazed at home many r...

Nov 12: Shovelglove NWS day (veterans day)

Best of luck, Slenderin. And keep on posting if you run into trouble. It does get easy once you build the habit -- but if your existing habits are very bad, it can take a while to get to that point. Be strict in terms of clarity about what you should do and assessing compliance, but tolerant in term...

Looks very nice... I wonder if this will affect real estate prices? :-) My place (in cambridge ma) got a perfect 100. No wonder I find urban ranger so easy... I figured all of Manhattan must be one big 100, but my mom's building (where I grew up) on the upper west side is a mere 97. This makes me su...

Welcome back! The urge to tweak is powerful... I certainly respect it -- I wouldn't have come up with any of this stuff if I'd been contented with received diet wisdom. But it is important to know when to cool it with the tweaking. Any moderate diet, by its very nature, is going to take time to show...

http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=31

P.S. I wish I could make these bulletin board discussion titles longer...

Last Martian, Yes, keeping it simple will remain a top priority. That's one of the reasons I've been taking my time implementing any changes (the other is laziness :-)): I want to think long and hard about the extra complexity they had, and whether that cost is worth it. Some ideas that seem good in...

Congratulations, Jack! And thanks for letting us know. That's a respectable amount of weight and a good, sustainable pace. I understand why you didn't want to post here until you felt you'd gotten the habit down -- a lot of time talk can be a substitute for doing. But I'm very glad you now feel firm...

Thanks for the link, Steve. I saw this article too and am not sure what to make of it (except perhaps to cool it on the self-righteousness, which is always a good idea). I'd be very hesitant to view this as license to chunk up, however. The causality is still up in the air. So many other studies see...

That is SCARILY cute. And the puns -- we've just begun to scratch the surface. Thank you Krista!

Now that I've got a "movements" gallery on the site, maybe I should add a "tools" gallery as well... somehow I've got to bump this up to a more visible place.

Reinhard

Excellent! Use the red. Don't let it get you down. Nothing beats redemption. Plain old green from the beginning is nothing compared to the drama of a striking turnaround. Speaking of 10:30, the clock is ticking for me, too. Here I am diddling with the bulletin board when I have a scant hour left to ...

James,

I wish I'd used your "Jedi mind trick" phrase in the no-s book. I wrote essentially the same thing but in a much less inspired way.

Oh well, next edition (fingers crossed).

Reinhard

Welcome, chickfilafan! Seconds was actually my biggest problem, pre-nos. Now I wouldn't dream of it. The power of habit is amazing. Once you get it down (and it doesn't take long if you're strict) the sight of an empty place will actually make you feel full. It's like this pavlovian association. You...

Well, it's written. I sent in the last edits to the typeset pages on Halloween. Next step: printing.

But I think the March 2008 release date still stands.

Hope your excitement lasts till then!

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

Search found 5900 matches

"Out your back door" pickup

The 2007 "during" is here!

Podcast 32: The Bigger (8x11) Picture

New podcast episode (finally): best piece of exercise eq