Everyday Systems

flipturn

Blithe: Yes, it is liberating when you realize that a certain food no longer has power over you. Once I was in a city which was hosting a TOPS convention, and I saw a woman who was wearing a label button that said, "I've conquered bread."

flipturn

update: I am doing so well No S-ing (knock on wood) that I have absolutely no interest in going to OA meetings. I always knew that I was one of the dreaded meeting-goers who used it as a "diet and calorie club" and used none of their tools (the steps, sponsor, writing, higher power). Plus the meetin...

flipturn

I just returned from the local library and noticed posters for various 5k walks and bike rides to raise $ for different charities. You could sign up for an easy 5k walk, for example, and that would motivate you. Other than that, ask yourself what type of exercise you might enjoy. In the town next to...

flipturn

Wednesday night used to be pizza night, but I gave it up because I would have two slices . . . and eat another an hour later and finish off the rest for breakfast. (I already feel grateful that flipturn is not my real name!) Yesterday afternoon I called my husband to say that we were resuming pizza ...

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Wow, Bright, what an accomplishment to be able to post a photograph of yourself and not wail about how fat it makes you look. Congratulations on your amazing weight loss/maintenance.

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I am the same height and weight as Sandooch, and I have also dieted half-heartedly for the past ten years. With every new attempt to curtail my eating, I start from a higher weight. What if, ten years ago, someone had told me that he had a simple way for me to enjoy my meals, eat anything I wanted w...

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Right, KCCC, I forgot about the "no sweat" part. Thanks for your input!

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Hi, all -- This is a helpful discussion for me. I am going on my third No S weekend, and, as Reinhard suggested, I permitted myself sweets but not seconds or snacking. Now that I think about it, though, let's say that I treat myself in the same way, with iced cookies from a nice bakery. These cookie...

flipturn

Great going, blueskighs! I love the way that egg salad looks, and good job with the extra pocket change.

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I love the site the way it is. I used to glance at 3fatchicks, which was broken down into so many subheadings that it was without any personality at all and very time consuming to find what you wanted. There were specialized subthreads for different problems, ages, weights, diets . . . I also spent ...

flipturn

We just ate "twice baked potatoes" stuffed with cottage cheese, scallions and mozzarella; steamed broccoli and a ramequin with sliced kiwis and pineapple.

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I am not a gardener, but the day I started No S I decided to spend time in the late afternoon -- a problem time for me, after-school snacks and all of that -- hacking away at the weeds and honeysuckle growth in the backyard. I am enjoying -- in a perverse way -- using a scythe, dragging dead tree li...

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Terhorst -- I love your haiku. It is funny because this morning I was going to tell BrightAngel that her postings look like poetry!

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Thanks -- I am not being facetious -- for the mention of peanut butter. I had it for lunch on multigrain bread and am still feeling "pleasantly satisfied." I love peanut butter and ate it without the slightest bit of guilt.

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Hi, Carla -- I read your response and have focused on the fact that you have gained some weight recently but nevertheless have kept off 100 pounds. That is a tremendous accomplishment!

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Reinhard -- Thanks for your insight! I think that we all probably know what you said, but somewhere along the way decided to ignore all those bells going off in our heads.

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Hi, Carla, and welcome! Here are a few things that come to mind: banish the scale and use a pair of jeans as an indication of how your body is adjusting to No S. Buy a pedometer so you can see how much you are walking at work; maybe you can get in a little extra mileage in those hallways and don't n...

flipturn

Mavilu -- I am laughing! I had no idea that she was known for anything other than the Nutrisystem commercials. Thanks for the posting. I can't wait to tell my husband, who hates those things even more than I do.

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Hi, Jill -- That's why I started the thread, because I feel exactly the same way that you do. What I liked about OA were discussions about personal foibles and the food demon, but we do that here as well. I have not resolved the ambivalence about OA but couldn't quite bring myself to go to the Monda...

flipturn

What? You still have Easter eggs? I'm impressed! Mine -- and the Peeps, even the colors I don't like -- were gone minutes after I received them!

flipturn

Great question. Although I do love sweets (all the C words, like cookies, cakes, candy and ice cream), my worst habits revolve around salty snacks. Somehow, in my teenaged mind, it was better to eat chips (another C word), Wheat Thins, nuts, etc., instead of cookies and candy. I would start with the...

flipturn

The husband isn't home tonight, so I am going to have a mozzarella/tapenade/avocado sandwich on multigrain bread and 1/8 of a really fresh, sweet pineapple. I am having hummus, carrots, whole wheat little pitas and yogourt for lunch.

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As Reinhard says, you have to train your body and your mind not to snack, not even a carrot. Saving part of your meal to have later is defeating the no snack rule.

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Hi, Jocelyn -- Welcome back! Try not to beat yourself up over the fact that you reverted to old habits; you are here now, and that's what matters today.

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Hi, blueskighs -- No, I am not saying that all Frenchwomen do that, I really am not. But dieting is a big industry there, between liposuction (developed by a French surgeon, after all), bariatric doctors, reduced-calorie foods, and a new fad diet every week in magazines like Elle (which is a weekly ...

flipturn

This was my second No S weekend, and I continued something that worked well for me. I had my Sunday S day treat for dessert at lunch, didn't have a snack and had a new-habit dinner. In this way, I prepared myself for the coming No S days. In other words, I look at Sunday PM as a bridge back to No S.

flipturn

I didn't know anything about 12-step programs when I heard about OA and thought that I would give it a try. If I had known about the concepts of a higher power, anonymity, the steps, etc., I would probably never have gone to that first meeting. Abstinence seemed harsh and punishing and the very idea...

flipturn

Hi, Suzy -- You know what Scarlett O'Hara said about tomorrow . . . You had a bad day, and now it is over. I am sure that it had something to do with that 13-hour day. Hope things go better today and this week.

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Reinhard -- I received the book a few days ago and have enjoyed reading it. I am really glad that I bought it! I do have two questions, and I hope that they are not too pedantic. First of all, why do you prefer the word 'binging' without the 'e'? At first -- when I realized that I was a binge eater ...

flipturn

I, too, had to look up QOD. Is it a coincidence that the D stands for Die? Quague Other DIE . . . Yes, I would want to die if I had to do that! But why would you put yourself through that?

flipturn

sounds good! I was so full that I only had half a pretzel sandwich and am putting off the cookie until later. I feel like a normal person (knock on wood)

flipturn

B -- 1 morning glory muffin (I posted a variation on the recipe, but this time I used sugar when I made them) and plenty of cafe au lait L -- turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich made on a Bavarian pretzel that I bought at a German bakery, maybe also some pineapple S -- iced cookie also from the German ...

flipturn

There are lots of good ideas here. We are going to have large-sized cheese ravioli (from Trader Joe's) with a little bit of butter, baby broccoli and tiny cherry tomatoes that a friend grows in her greenhouse. If there is any room left on the plate, I will have a kiwi.

flipturn

Oh, I completely forgot that when I lived in Paris and had gained about ten pounds, I went to see a friend's diet doctor. I had never been to a fat doctor, but she (a Frenchwoman, BTW) insisted that I needed to schedule an appointment. Several years later, I had to laugh because he wrote a book with...

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Nichole -- Great news about not giving in to the DD siren! I was invited to my husband's client's office for lunch and was pretty sure that I would find a way to make it work. It was a turkey sandwich on multi-grain bread, so that was perfect. Driving home I felt full enough that an old thought retu...

flipturn

Hi, again -- I forgot about this diet because I never tried it. I did read the book, though. I authors -- two women -- even gave workshops about their eating theories. You were supposed to carry around a "feed bag" with anything that you might want to eat, i.e. red Twizzzlers, Oreos, Doritos, celery...

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Wow -- This is all so interesting. I can't stand those nutrisystem commercials that are on certain cable news shows. That bottle blone who says that she isn't a typical female because she loves football . . . ! From the angle the footage of her was shot it all looks photo-shopped. We will all be clo...

flipturn

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful responses. I didn't go to a meeting yesterday and didn't miss it at all. As I have written on another thread, I made a new friend there and met many inspirational people who have lost 100 pounds (and also several equally impressive people who have gained 1...

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PS -- I forgot to add that I used my hoe as a shovelglove. I got so carried away that I am feeling (in a good way) every lateral muscle in my back and shoulders!

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Hello, Michele -- No one said that it was easy to form new habits! It is great that you were able to begin again the next day. Try to analyze why you were so hungry and learn from the experience. You will feel so accomplished if tomorrow goes well . . . because the day after is an S day.

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Hi, all -- I spent several hours this afternoon weeding and noticed how much more energy I have after nearly two weeks on No S. I usually hate garden work but enjoyed the blossoming trees, the natural exercise (as opposed to driving six miles to go to the gym) and loved not obsessing about a binge. ...

flipturn

As I have mentioned on other threads, I have attended OA meetings for the past seven months without any success. In the past two weeks doing No S, my food obsession has diminished and I am beginning to feel like a person who no longer has an eating disorder. I get so little out of OA that it seems l...

flipturn

If you can stop at one, perhaps it is okay. If you end up eating fistfuls (like me!), then you should only have them on S days. On the other hand, I might be wrong!

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wosnes -- I'm with you; I seldom use anything artificial or low-fat except for splenda in the muffin recipe that I posted and 2% milk. My husband likes revolting 80-calorie-a-cup yogourt that looks so disgusting that I don't even like to buy it!

flipturn

I'm sorry, I seldom go to Starbucks, but then again, I work part-time (No S is a fantastic procrastination-enabler for me!) and drink coffee at home. I will put on my thinking cap and try to come up with a solution for you. I did buy a milk-steamer several years ago and love it. You put it directly ...

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Hi, Nichole -- Sorry that I forgot to respond to your posting re the size 10 anecdote. I loved what you had to say and laughed out loud. I guess that we will get to know one another through our new check-in thread!

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Hi, AmyLiz -- I used to Spin a lot until I tore my meniscus in three places. My surgeon suggested that I find a different form of exercise, so I got back into swimming and joined the Y. I swim four days a week with a Masters group (please note that I am the slowest in the group but still have a lot ...

flipturn

I also make morning glory muffins (Google the name and various recipes spill forth) and make substitutions that are healthy. Instead of 1 cup of oil I use 1/2 c. of unsweetened applesauce, 1/4 c. of pineapple juice (from the canned chunks) and 1/3 c. oil. Two eggs work just as well as three. Instead...

flipturn

I'm in, too, regardless of the title. Nurses in doctors' offices are always surprised by my weight also. I am athletic (well, I do call myself 'flipturn' here!) and like to imagine that I am carrying most of the weight as muscle, ha-ha. Trust me, only the Olympic shot-put (is that what it is called?...

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Me, too; my goal is also 145. I was very careful with my eating and weighed 125 pre-pregnancy. I loved that weight but it was too unrealistic for me. Then I weighed 135, which I also enjoyed. That was how much I weighed when we moved to Paris. I remember going shopping for some summer trousers and h...

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I completely agree. I have felt more spiritual in the two weeks that I have been doing No S than in the previous seven months going to OA meetings. As I wrote on another thread, I could get down on my knees and thank Reinhard for liberating me from the 12 Steps.

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I used to love red Twizzlers, even going so far as to have a friend send them to me while I lived in Paris. That's a lot of money in postage over the course of ten years! About five years ago (after having moved back to the USA), I realized that I would eat a bag in one sitting and it felt revolting...

flipturn

I ditto all of the suggestions about not buying the trigger foods and also eating a nice breakfast that includes pineapple or other sweet fruits. If fresh pineapple is more expensive than you want to spend (yikes! up to $4 where I live), you could apples/banana/pineapple chunks canned in juice. Good...

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Simple Solutions for Eating Well Cookbook from the Mayo Clinic and Williams-Sonoma . . . (Time-Life Books, 1998) page 56 This is their recipe for lentil soup, which I really love. I usually add a box of sliced crimini mushrooms in place of celery (was there ever a dumber vegetable?). 1 and 1/4 cups ...

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This is a little preface to my answer. Last year I went to a nutritionist in an effort to get a handle on my eating. Recently I found a list of food that she suggested, and if I wasn't grateful enough for No S before (trust me, I was!), I am now. Here is what she wanted me to eat for snacks: Luna an...

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droth -- I use nutrihand.com's free service to track the foods that I am eating. I know that it sounds obsessive, but it is easy to use and extremely informative. There are many other websites that you can use as well. Now that I am No S-ing, I may not use it during the week, but it was useful on th...

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Ditto for me. I also realized after a few N days that I wanted to get rid of anything that now falls under the category of S day foods. I guess that I bought all of that in anticipation of the binges that would come after too much obsessing about food. I really hope that all of that is (pun alert) b...

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Hi, jazzys mom -- For years I binged at night, even sometimes sneaking down to the kitchen at midnight to eat some more. Trying to stop only led me to eat more. Two things really helped me rein in this disgusting habit. I stopped buying the foods that triggered evening binges and brushed my teeth ri...

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Hi! I am going to jump in here and agree with all that has been said about WW. I first started attending those meetings when I was in high school (when I wanted to learn new habits for college and had less than ten lbs. to shed) and had a go of it several times through the years. Believe it or not, ...

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Hi, blueskighs -- I love your name, which rhythms with thighs (thinner soon, thanks to NS) or sighs (no more Bill W). If you laughed out loud over what I wrote, that was also my response to the lean-to. OA wasn't a total wipe-out; I did make a new friend. I read the article in Slate about going cold...

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Hi, blueskighs -- I read your blog and really enjoyed it. I also loved what you said about your OA failure/NS success. I am so relieved that I don't have to work the steps and attempt to conjure up a spirituality that doesn't really exist for me. I also became fed up (I guess that that is a Freudian...

flipturn

Hi, all -- I am completing my third day and am very excited about No S. I have been going to OA meetings for the past seven months but have great difficulties with the disease paradigm and other aspects of that program. My food obsession has diminished more in the past three days than in the previou...

Everyday Systems

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Are there other nearly-former OAers here?