Everyday Systems

oolala53

Annie, if it's any consolation, the changing number on the scale is about the fluctuations in water in your body, not fat. There really is very little sense in the majority of people trying to manipulate their water content. No healthy, long-lived population has ever done so. Discrete meals greatly ...

oolala53

renew, I just noticed the first line in your signature. Terrific.

oolala53

I sometimes regret how much time I still spend on this, but it is an area in which so many people suffer, and I just haven't found a replacement as compelling! (One of the reasons I let myself off the hook is that a career aptitude counselor on the basis of some tests told me to find an area of inte...

oolala53

The extra calories needed in pregnancy are only about 300 per day. Certainly not a reason to snack all day. That's the equivalent of an extra banana or the like each meal. Even if a woman takes in no extra calories, if calories are needed for the baby's development, her body is made to take them fro...

oolala53

I will try some! I'm not a fan of balsamic vinegar, but I think I have some anyway, as well as red and white. I haven't bought olive oil in awhile because I've heard it's best to buy only enough for three months' time and I used it so little cooking just for me. However, making my own dressings is a...

oolala53

wosnes, where do you get your salad dressing recipes? I have to say I've never made one myself that I liked as much as Trader Joe's Goddess or Bernstein's Italian. But I'd like to learn to make some.

oolala53

Congrats on beginning! Isn't it amazing that we need to have a board like this to encourage each other just to eat sanely! But I'm glad to be here.

Expanding your life beyond food is a worthy goal. I'm still working on it, but the food habit is pretty solid. It's worth the effort!

oolala53

finallyfull, I'm glad someone said it: eating is fun and I want to! And it is in keeping with the meal structure.

oolala53

Stupidity treadmill. Good one.

oolala53

I think your trainer was trying to get you to leave out the toast or bread.

I wonder if French athletes skip bread?

oolala53

The Nepalese peasants I saw up in the mountains back in 1979 worked for a few hours in the morning before having anything but hot water. Their breakfasts were meager. They carried at least 50 lbs. of stuff (can't think of the word) strapped across their heads and resting on their backs up and own tr...

oolala53

One bodybuilder/trainer said he once went for an entire year without doing any specific abs work. I guess a summer without much is acceptable!

oolala53

Snap, hang in there. Back in the day, I got used to eating according to the 40*30*30 principles with a fair amount of veggies. I found when I used those meals when I was on WW, they allowed me to eat a generous volume of food for moderate calories. I used to think that the meals other WW-ers were us...

oolala53

Didn't do too bad on my weekend away, starting with Thursday. Not perfection but I'm still pleased. Did plenty of walking on Sunday but almost none on the drive home on Monday. Took ten hours to drive home. Wasn't hungry but still ate late at night. It had actually been a stressful weekend mixed in ...

oolala53

If you weren't stuffed for those meals, just give it some time.

oolala53

With all due respect to your trainer, anyone who makes his/her living getting people to use a gym is never going to understand the wisdom of something as simple as No S. Nor Urban Ranger and Shovelglove.

oolala53

Two eggs at least, please. And more veggies.

oolala53

I have done this occasionally, but not typically, though as some of the others have said, if I do, I eat only one other meal, usually some time between 5:30 and 7 p.m. I will have a cafe au lait, decaf or otherwise, if needed mid-afternoon. However, I will say that before I started No S, I was often...

oolala53

Dave, I appreciate your checking in and appreciate that you're proof there is life beyond overeating or talking about it. Maybe year four is the charm. Being a lapsed Catholic, I'd say it doesn't get much better than Buddha, so I'm curious who a Goethe-reading computer-and-habit specialist extraordi...

oolala53

For me, those are the hours after the students leave for the day and the work of preparing for the next day, grading papers, and handling all the problems that had cropped up begins. Earlier on, I would be looking at another 3-4 hours after having spent the day teaching and it was overwhelming and d...

oolala53

No dizziness in 3.5 years. I remember once or twice feeling shaky; don't know why, since I had not gone any longer than usual (and have often gone longer) without eating.

oolala53

How is this different from what we have here and on our daily check in threads?

oolala53

The French eat a higher proportion of their intake from those fats than Americans (and Italians), but they average less intake total (than Americans). Lead-ins to articles are fond of saying "How can the French eat ALL that cheese and those pastries and still be thin?" It turns out they average abou...

oolala53

I have the dubious honor of being the source of the pee quote.

I like Dr. Phil's way of phrasing the issue. It is what it boils down to.

I used to call the hours from around 3-5 p.m. "the witching hours." I still get tinges of desire at that time, but they're minor.

oolala53

Welcome back! I'm still not a purist about anything except no snacking, sweets, or seconds on N days, but I do still eat a diet of a lot of fresher, less manufactured food than most. It evolves over years! I was struck visiting my older sister how different my outlook has become since even before NO...

oolala53

If something looks especially good, I take a piece and freeze it for use on the weekend. I just keep repeating from the bottom of my heart that I've got to negotiate food in a reasonable way.I still get to enjoy, but curtail the most excessive details.

oolala53

It's not that it's not sacrifice but it's the most productive necessary suffering you'll ever endure. A poor man's diet if there ever was one. I mean, oatmeal as a default for lunch, for golly's sake. Cheap and simple.

oolala53

I'm pretty sure French women limit themselves to a glass at the average meal. I know I've read they're shocked at how drunk the English girls typically get, as well as how much they eat. I don't get that they think it's a sign of lucky freedom to overdo eating or drinking.

oolala53

A much better subject to excel in. I didn't even take a typing class until the 90's! But it has been more useful to me than trig was...

oolala53

Agreed.

oolala53

Being at this a little over a month, it's hardly worth saying you "still" haven't gotten the healthy food thing down. You're just getting going! Having gotten to the point at which you don't feel like cheating is already terrific progress. Isn't it fun/ I have days on which i can go all day until di...

oolala53

1) If you've ever been overweight and then lost weight, you will need several hundred fewer calories a day to maintain than you would if you had never been overweight. 2) I have a membership from a long time ago on a bodybuilding site for women, and they say the number of calories needed to lose wei...

oolala53

I don't use my fingers for measurement, but maybe in the future? I had actually been eating meals similar to this for several years, but I was a terrible binger. On weekends, at this point, I actually often eat even less in volume because I eat out some and food at restaurants is richer. I certainly...

oolala53

Yes, I just have to accept who newbies are. I am reminded so much of myself from years ago. I actually did get some of these messages back in the late 70's and I just couldn't accept it and put it all together. I'm reminded on Geneen Roth constantly having to get women to accept that diets were unli...

oolala53

Not to be mean, but don't you want to tell newbies just to try not to even think about it for a few months? They look for results and changes after only a few days. That's left over from diet head. It's too bad when we have to practically invent our own tribe to reinforce moderation. But then again,...

oolala53

Perfect slip up. That is SWEET!

oolala53

I, too, use various bowl sizes for soup or "wet" things, and vary what I add to the plate according to the density of the foods. I've always roughed out the volume of the servings of things by using my hand: the palm is a serving of protein, the fist is a serving of starch or fruit, two fists is a s...

oolala53

Get what you would enjoy as the total experience, as long as it's not a sweet. As time goes on, you will come to know what really pleases and what just teases. I used to think I would eat lasagna morning, noon, and night, if I could. Turns out that wasn't true. I can if I want, but I actually like t...

oolala53

Agreed. You can even put sugar in your coffee. This kind of drink is best drunk if you are actually hungry.

oolala53

Hot tea with lemon? Helped me yesterday.

Paradoxically, a few minutes of a little vigorous exercise around the time I feel the first pangs of hunger seem to send them away for awhile. I think it forces the body to dip into its reserves. Who knows?

oolala53

Self-concept has a lot to do with it. Some people (not necessarily here) adopt a view of themselves as cave man/woman, athlete/warrior, gentle one treading lightly, righteous health advocate, lithe goddess, chic urbanite, etc. Moderate eater surely takes less of a toll than them all.

oolala53

I've read that the body retains more water with carbs because it's tied up with the molecules, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's necessary for processing them. It's been only two weeks! Unless you are excited about the prospect of eating low carb forever, don't start. No S is about retrai...

oolala53

Indonesians and Thais use peanuts in savory sauces. So do Africans. African ground nut soup! Awesome.

oolala53

I want to stress that you don't have to start this way, unless you've already been veering towards higher quality foods. No S-ers do tend to gravitate towards better food, and many expressing themselves here are pro's at this point, but if you impose it on yourself too soon, it can just seem like yo...

oolala53

I guess Michael Pollan didn't know my grandmother. She cooked everything (except bread, I think) from scratch and was obese. But I understand his point. Industrial cake mixes and cookie dough were two of my downfall foods, but I didn't fare much better with homemade. I still love Von's chocolate dro...

oolala53

This is why I don't want to push myself to try to get to a much lower weight. I might fit the image more but I don't think it would have a lot more benefit to my health or vitality. For the most part, I feel I eat well without a terrible amount of stress. I think if I felt that I had to weigh in the...

oolala53

I don't mean to be mean but it not realistic at all for you to want to eat only one serving of sweet on your very first weekend! If you look at the long termers, we adjusted over periods of months and years, not weeks. But the good news is, that is still better than the alternative which is to have ...

oolala53

Welcome back, although feeling free from the concern sounds nice...

oolala53

I have not had the experience of consistently having hunger go away in a workable amount of time, especially on workdays. But more power to those who do! Keep up with us. I'd like to follow this over the next 6 months or so.

oolala53

OMgosh, I used to shovel chocolate in after midnight on Friday nights. I don't recommend using that technicality. I applaud your for waiting! And your decision to wait until the weekend to buy is probably a good idea for now.

oolala53

Welcome! Well, isn't that a statement: low carb dieting and rebounding over 10 years have left you weighing more. There ought to be a law that people have to follow No S for two years before they are allowed to try any other diet.

Welcome to sanity. Now don't let go!

oolala53

Not taking an S day on a day that is very appropriate it for it just because you haven't been doing well is not a very successful tactic in the long run, so I'm glad you abandoned it.

oolala53

Nicest, I'm glad you reminded me that getting cravings is not a sign of doing something wrong. There are so many programs that seem to promise that if you just do this, the cravings will go away. We don't count on that here. Then we're set for both possibilities. Cravings decrease; we win. Cravings ...

oolala53

With all due respect, fasting during sleep and wakefulness are not the same thing. No conscious effort is needed not to eat during sleep. But it's also true that when someone commits to a certain number of meals a day, feeds herself adequately at those meals, and goes through a period of habit- form...

oolala53

Toast and jam for breakfast- okay. Re=evaluate in 6 months. How to deal with a craving that doesn't go away after dinner- live with it. So what? A craving is not an emergency nor a sign of anything important except that you've made a habit of giving your body something it doesn't really need all the...

oolala53

Right on, Sistah! "It also isn't true that the craving wont go away until you satisfy it." In fact, the likelihood that the craving WILL go away if you give in to it is equally mythic, in my experience, at least in the case of the binge foods that I "craved." I still eat binge foods, but hardly ever...

oolala53

OMgosh, I had a French Swiss boyfriend who introduced me to Panache! I don't like most alcohol. too bitter for me. Panache was a nice compromise. I've since decided that I'd rather chew than drink, so I limit even sweet booze. But on a hot day, once in a while...

oolala53

Long response to the thread about Mom calling herself fat. I read Susie Orbach years ago and The Beauty Myth relatively recently,and many similar views in between. It is a very difficult issue, as Naomi Wolf points out: it means changing how we see, and there is a huge media industry that shapes tha...

oolala53

Oh, my. So many memories, so many thoughts. I put some of them on my check-in page.

oolala53

Now it's toothbrushes.
http://everydaysystems.com/bb/profile.p ... ile&u=8308

oolala53

Sammybunny above thought so, too. Let us know how it goes.

oolala53

July 4th doesn't have to be wild to be celebrated. Do celebrate!

oolala53

I, too, have wished for symptoms more obvious. Why wouldn't chocolate give me flu symptoms or high blood pressure or something so that I definitively had to give it up? But it's not a big issue now. I do secretly wonder about the joint issue that paleo people and anti-wheat people talk about. I do h...

oolala53

I find I cannot act differently unless I think differently. Here are a few thoughts that have helped me. Eating at night is just a very strong habit, an unproductive one that I really want to change. Strong habits can be broken with resistance if I just outlast the desire. What I feel is not real hu...

oolala53

You may not ever see the outer results you want at this point, but the discomfort you feel over this issue is really worth the effort to get free. One thing I asked myself was did I want to be grappling with the same thing a year from then or for the rest of my life? Because it was clear that it was...

oolala53

Good job! Getting over the idea that cravings and urges have to be obeyed is a big part of retraining your appetite. They are not to be believed or rewarded.

oolala53

My quote feature doesn't work so here's Jethro's question: Please correct me if I'm wrong, but do you mean permanent reduction on food intake = less weight = less health? Not at all! I am making no claims for better or worse health with reduced eating. I am simply saying that if a person thinks s/he...

oolala53

With all due respect, she can recommend all she wants, and even if it seems smart because a person is very fat and "needs" to take off weight faster, or even because there are physical benefits to following the advice, the results of the last hundred years are in: such tactics may lose people weight...

oolala53

If you can make the result you really want to be developing your ability to be sensitive to hunger and satiety and to satisfy yourself with those three meals, whether that brings weight loss or not, I really believe that can be your turning point. If deep down, you're thinking that you aren't going ...

oolala53

No S has helped me develop my skill at savoring food no matter what. The deliciousness has become less of a reason to eat more, even if my mouth tells me I'd like to. I'm more aware of the heaviness later when I do, so that now, I can enjoy the experience of a moderate portion and the appreciation o...

oolala53

The French don't eat big breakfasts. You can have bread or toast with a smear of butter and preserves plus your cafe au lait and be very French. Sitting down for a mult-course lonch might be more of a problem. There is a difference between being hungry and having a desire for food. Most people with ...

oolala53

Annie, I gently suggest it's too soon to start micromanaging. You're not even a week in! Get the habit down. With all due respect, look at it as a way to negotiate our food rich culture rather than as a way to "get the weight off" right away and then live thin forever. From what I can glean, people ...

oolala53

Renew, I know I'm repeating myself that it took me a good TWO YEARS of wild S days before their hold loosened on my. But I did white knuckle it most of the time to keep N days green or near-green(!). The cure for disorder is order! And it's taken me THREE YEARS to get to the point at which I feel I ...

oolala53

I'm looking back over the 3.5 years and also thinking of how disappointed or even freaked the women on my binge free team on Sparkpeople get over bingeing when they're trying not to. I try not to preach No S on the team, though most know I use it and at least one has adopted it, but I see more and m...

oolala53

Amen.

oolala53

I think there's a lot of value in any routine way to limit access to food that allows a person flexibility for social or other reasons and doesn't include SA. Calorie reduction can happen without counting them. Or has for me up to now. I'm thinking of making some kind of systematic mod on Mondays an...

oolala53

Andrea, I agree that it IS simple. Just not easy. But easier than anything else I've done!

oolala53

Yeah, just about no matter what, the amount of calorically dense food in your diet is what determines your general weight. Some of them bind up a few more pounds of water in your body than others so that you might weigh more, but that is usually harmless. How much dense food do you really need on a ...

oolala53

If you don't get the eebie jeebies thinking about curtailing your sweets, go for it! A 2-S ceiling sounds like an appropriate goal.

oolala53

Ha! Poor author. Odds are she'll end up regaining. Did you see where she said, "I always lose weight on it."? (It's at the point at which when people say they lost weight on such and such a diet, I think, So what? I don't care what you weigh now. I want to see you in two years.) And what a lens to s...

oolala53

It also invites people to choose a higher proportion of high- density foods at their meals because they figure that they've already had a serving of veggie. Same goes for fruit.

oolala53

It took me 2 years to begin to tame my S days, though I lost weight each YEAR. I definitely had months I didn't lose and even gained. But I just couldn't STAND the thought of limiting myself, even when I would overeat and be miserable. Nowadays, 41 months in, it's hard to remember that urgency and I...

oolala53

I think that's what I said. I have no problem capishing the theory.

oolala53

If weight loss was my only issue, I might try being a purist about it. I use stevia at home, but don't tote it. Others have gone more cold turkey on the sweet taste than I. Some of them are still here, as I am. I don't know what happened to the others.

oolala53

I second your sticking to milk. Chewing the right thing one day can so often lead to chewing the wrong things on another.

It's okay to play with meal times, if that's an option. I have a meal time window. It's worked for 42 months.

oolala53

If you eat the same as what on the days you don't fast? You mean if you don't compensate by eating more on non-"fast" days? Yes, for overall reduced food intake, all of fasting depends on not overdoing it when not fasting. As my No S years go on, that kind of compensation seems to happen less and le...

oolala53

Yes, I am a teacher. This is my fourth summer on No S. It's about the same for me by now whether I'm working or not. Actually, I'm experimenting with having only two meals a couple of days a week because my appetite has decreased so much and I'd rather eat a bit bigger meals less often. I can do tha...

oolala53

None of this is new to me, but I like reviewing it.

http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/w ... men?page=3

oolala53

Decided to eat my breakfast late and considered eating only one more meal today. No hunger for lunch. My very small-by-my-standard dinner was rushed a bit, so I opted to have a nectarine later. Technically, a green N day, though I wouldn't usually call a nectarine a meal! Dinner was rushed because o...

oolala53

Take all the time you need. I'm sure there is a fair amount of "recovery" to be done from having relied on Medifast, though I thought they also had classes on how to eat when off the plan? Too diety, I imagine. You're finding YOUR middle road. It's a beautiful thing. You'll also find the balance bet...

oolala53

I had heard that "tea" is actually dinner in England. It's more common in America for restaurants, usually in tourist spots, to offer a snack they call "tea" than it is for the English to partake in anymore. But tea rooms exist in England. I know when my English friends back in the '70's told me the...

oolala53

Have you looked at the Intelligent Dietary Defaults thread? Lots of ideas there for meals people have found easy to make routine.

oolala53

In my mind, at 4 weeks in, it doesn't matter if the peanuts were healthful or not. It matters whether they would have contributed to pleasure, satiety, and a later feeling of vitality. And keep the plan seeming fair and reasonable. As time goes on, better quality food becomes even more delightful, i...

oolala53

Here's the one I put on the other thread. http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/diets/8-hour-diet-dont-snack-all-day-long I don't know how to make the search feature narrow enough to find previous threads or posts about this. I know I've seen them in three years. But it's also okay to go on blind fa...

oolala53

I don't see a thread for this so I'll post here. Science catching up with Reinhard, though he used habit-friendly theory, not weight loss science. English literature major turned computer scientist outdoes the experts again. http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/diets/8-hour-diet-dont-snack-all-day-...

oolala53

The reason I said something about the soup not being enough for me was that I think the original poster had said something previously about feeling very hungry pretty quickly after meals during the day. I wanted that person to know that to start at least, it's okay to eat enough to avoid that. Getti...

oolala53

I think cattywompass is what it's supposed to be. I think I was assuming people using it were from back east and didn't say their r's at the end of words. I haven't used it a lot myself, but it sure fits at times. Christine I gotta say a can of soup and an apple would not be enough for me for lunch,...

oolala53

Anoulie, I think you see that this is not about weight loss anymore. This is about gaining peace with food. I believe Vanilla is your best bet. What was happening on your S days, BTW? A record-keeping mod that I thought at one point I might use (but didn't, as I've never used habitcal consistently) ...

oolala53

I love that you have such a great attitude about your medical issues. You're right. Could be worse! And thank you for reminding me of our clever leader's other interpretation of SAD. Really puts them on par par with the other one referred to in the wider world. Which is worse, eating too much poor q...

oolala53

Man, I'm lucky. Congrats on your mod. I think it might not even be the worst thing for a newbie, if she was really struggling, I mean the one about allowing one s on N days. Even Reinhard said at one point that people might consider phasing each of the s's in. Here's to your new lease on life and kn...

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