Everyday Systems

zoolina

As long as we're doing testimonials!

I've been shovelgloving for three weeks, and the number of pushups I can do has doubled: from 12 to 22! Wow!

zoolina

Day 5 Failure
Day 6 Failure

Shovelgloved, did PT exercises

zoolina

Day 4 Success

Shovelgloved, kneed and footed.

zoolina

What's gotten easier about no-S: 1) No sweets (no problem!) 2) Not craving food after dinner 3) No seconds, to some extent But I still have this tendency to want to snack. Lately I've been fragmenting my meals: half a sandwich and an apple at lunch, the rest of the sandwich before I get on my bike t...

zoolina

What's gotten easier about no-S: 1) No sweets (no problem!) 2) Not craving food after dinner But I still have this tendency to want to snack. Lately I've been fragmenting my meals: half a sandwich and an apple at lunch, half before I get on my bike to ride (40 minutes) home. In the end it's the same...

zoolina

Jenn,

Let me know how your positivity resolution goes. I'd like to be more positive and take setbacks less seriously. And I know it has something to do with my binging too. Good luck with it. If it works for you I'll try it next month.

Hoe gaat het met jou Nederlands?

Zoo

zoolina

Thanks for the votes of confidence David and Jenn! As far as monthly resolutions go, I opted to do the physical therapy exercises without fail, and to shovelglove on most weekdays without makeing it a resolution, exactly. Day 2 S day Day 3 Mini-S day (I"m going to have a peice of cake at my best fri...

zoolina

yeah, the problem with just stop worrying is that some worry can be good, can insure that things get done, but mostly it's just a control thing. sometimes I use a techinque from Dale Carnagie's book "How to stop worrying and start living" 1) imagine the worst thing that can happen 2) make peace with...

zoolina

Day 18 Success
Day 19 Failure (damn!) Aaaalmost made it to the 21 day club.

Day 1 S day, not too idiotic.

Shovelgloved.

zoolina

I've lost three pounds in three months.

zoolina

For me, binging is self-revenge. I get angry or bored (and when I get bored I get angry at myself because I think I should be doing something useful, improving myself) and then rather than fight the thing that made me mad in the first place I get masochistic with food. I know that it's not good to b...

zoolina

Christi,

I can't believe how strong I'm getting on a dinky 6 lb weight. Shovelgloving is the best! Just wish it were more leg oriented, though I feel the shoveling most in my hamstrings and butt...

Day 15 Sucess
Shovelgloved-- tweek in the shoulder, will take tomorrow off.

zoolina

What's meal stuffing?

zoolina

You should be Dutch! Basic diet: sandwitches all day long and then one "warm" meal either in the afternoon or the evening. If the dutch eat "warm" more than once a day they feel like they're being frivalous!

I think it's ok to eat a lot of bread, as long as you have fruits and/or veggies on the side.

zoolina

Day 14 Success

shovelgloved, knee and foot exercises

zoolina

Can I just say: I love my hammer! I don't think I've ever gotten strong so fast (just two weeks, but I can tell the difference). Here's my shovelglove song (taken, of course, from the ballad of John Henry) John Henry had a little woman, Her name was Polly Ann, When John Henry lay sick down on his be...

zoolina

Day 13 [colSucess

Trying to drink tea instead of coffee: abolished. Gave it a month, didn't like it and it didn't help.

Shovelgloved, knee and foot
Basis condition: 15 push-ups.

(Monthly resolution: knee and foot exercises on week days.)

zoolina

This week has been bad for me too! Maybe we all have the winter blues. I've been craving summer like crazy. Sun, (relative) freedom, ahhh. I hate to admit this, but sometimes I go to a tanning place. I put on sunblock first, but even then the UV light makes me feel happy and relaxed. But of course t...

zoolina

Christi, Don't give up hope! I've been battling the same deamons for the past week too. Sometimes I win the fight, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I have a sweetened yogurt drink between meals and don't know if I'm winning or not. But I think you have the right attitude, and that you WILL get back ...

zoolina

Days 11+12 S-Days Again, not as idiodic as they could be. I'm giving up on drinking tea instead of coffee-- it's not reducing my caffiene intake any, and I'm putting something I just don't like three times a day. Possible monthly resolutions for February: stop worrying so much shovelglove on workday...

zoolina

Thanks, everyone, for the kicks and pats. What would I do without you? No, really! I don't think my goal is that unrealistic. I'm 5'3" and weigh about 140, and would like to weigh between 125 and 130. The "habits gone awry" is, I suppose, more about a tendency. I feel that fence starting to give, st...

zoolina

Day 10 Sucess (biiiig plates)
Day 7+8 Coffee failure

Shovelgloved.

zoolina

I'm discouraged. I know I've been eating less than normal in the past few months of No-sing, but the scale just won't budge. Now, I'm not someone who has a whole lot to lose--15 lbs would put me back to where I was as a teenager--and maybe this just is the weight I'm meant to be. But the lack of pro...

zoolina

Day 9 Blood sugar issues, technically a failure, but I'm going to call it a forced pause.

Coffee Day 6 Success

Shovelgloved.

zoolina

Christi, So sorry, I don't know why I wrote the wrong name there! Jeeze! Anyway, I think 6# is great. At first I thought it was too light but on the third day it was suddenly a lot harder (I guess I'm tired!) I like it so much because it works all the upper body muscles at once. I think that, in ter...

zoolina

Actually, day 1+2 were easy, day 3 was quite a bit harder! But wow, what a great way to wake up.

Z.

zoolina

Thompson-- I think "arrogance" was blue.

I chose green: "grumpy."

It was a kind of fun party because everyone had something to talk about right off.

zoolina

I just started shovelgloving and I have to say that I just love it. I do it outside in the garden in the cold/dark, and it really feels like farm work. I do have a couple of questions, though: 1) How do I know if I have the right size hammer? I bought a 3kg one (6.6 lbs) because óur local hardware s...

zoolina

Day 8 Sucess
(minor violation with some green beans)

Day 4 Coffee Sucess

Shovelgloved: love it.

zoolina

Oops, Panglesue: that's a 6 POUND hammer. Whew!

zoolina

Day 7 Sucess Day 3 Coffee Sucess This Path: I found Dutch rather easy to learn because of the easy verbs and closeness to English, but I have to say I live in a litte English speaking bubble, so my Dutch could be a lot more polished than it actually is. I don't know if it's really possible to learn ...

zoolina

Day 5 S day Day 6 S day Day 1 Coffee S Day One of my less idiotic set of s days, but coming back after a weekend of freedom feels hard. I'm not hungry, but I just want to nibble. Am drinking tea and dreaming about lunch: Sweet potato, some Tibetan barley bread, and, um... something tasty on top. Did...

zoolina

hey, I was wondering where you were! Welcome Back!

Zoolina

zoolina

I've had nasty blood sugar issues for years, so I've developed a fail-safe breakfast that I eat almost every day and which keeps me satsified for longer than anything else out there:

Oatmeal made with 2% milk and a teaspoonful of almond butter, and a kiwi on the side.

zoolina

A few months ago I was invited to a party in which I had to dress in a color that represented my biggest character flaw. Not seeing myself in the five "flaws" given for the party, I was forced to think about what I dislike most about myself. And yep, here it is: I"m a worry-wart. Although not one of...

zoolina

A similar technique I've used when I thought I didn't have the umph to exercise is to say to myself "I'll do 5 minutes. If I want to stop after that, fine. If I want to keep going, I'll keep going as long as I want." 95% of the time I would keep going as long as I usually did. And when, after 5 minu...

zoolina

Panglesue,

Yay for you! You sound like you have it under control!

Zoolina

zoolina

Hang in there, Christy.

Eating out of boredom/lonliness is one of my biggies, too. Let's make a pact: the next time either of us wants to nibble for one of those reasons, we don't. And the next day we check in with each other and luxuriate in our sucess?

Zoolina

zoolina

The personal mount Olympus seems like an advanced technique. Right now I like the simple traffic lighting: Sucess/Failure. Oh, I certainly hope to make it to the 21 day club at some point... but that binary simplicity, I did it or I did not, has helped me the most so far. I do have my own personal "...

zoolina

Day 4 Sucess
Day 18 coffee Failure

zoolina

I bike to work--75 minutes of low-key cardio a day.

Otherwise, I'm stymied by injuries--can't even walk right now. Bleh.

zoolina

Day 3 Sucess
Day 17 Coffee Sucess

zoolina

Day 2 Sucess
Day 16 Coffee Sucess

zoolina

Day 1 sucess
Day 15 Coffee Sucess

As for my last post, no, I don't want to count calories again. Did it for a day and it drove me crazy. Smaller portions, please.

zoolina

Day 9 Failure Day 14 Coffee Sucess Oh, Panglesue, thanks for the vote of encouragement. I just hate this constant level of control and/or dissapointment about what I put in my mouth. And, not just that, but the emotional element, having food connected to feelings, is just so weird. Querry: is the S ...

zoolina

I jsut feel like posting-- right in the middle of the first N day of the week. I'm really having a hard time. My meals have been huuuge and too close together. Now I'll be hungry/crashing at dinner time. Sigh. With my S day excesses, the scale hasn't budged in weeks. Not that that's not satisfying, ...

zoolina

I just love how people share recipes around here... I'm having the cream cheese football for dinner tonight!

zoolina

I read a statistic somewhere about how the average American will watch a total of 5 YEARS of commercials in his/her lifetime.

zoolina

Days 7+8 S-Days

Gorged on chips in front of the tube. Bleh.

Coffee days 12+13 S days

Had two coffees/day. Not too bad.

zoolina

Hexgon, A few weeks ago you posted about how you had been losing about a pound a week, and I was totally jealous. You HAVE had sucess here, and don't be fooled by a few rosy post holiday postings-- I think most of us are pleased to just gain a couple of pounds in the months between Thanksgiving and ...

zoolina

Hexgon, A few weeks ago you posted about how you had been losing about a pound a week, and I was totally jealous. You HAVE had sucess here, and don't be fooled by a few rosy post holiday postings-- I think most of us are pleased to just gain a couple of pounds in the months between Thanksgiving and ...

zoolina

Day 7 Sucess
Coffee day 11 Sucess

Though yesterday was a big plate day--and I was still hungry at night (go figure!)

Today is an S day and though I couldn't wait for it yesterday, today I don't really feel like any crap, though the urge for daaaark chocolate is strong, as is my coffee urge.

Z

zoolina

Day 6 Success
Coffee day 10 Sucess

zoolina

I agree, the chain of command is not so clear with the sports analogy. I guess the difference, for me, is that I resist following orders if I don't see the point or if it seems that the orders are made with someone else's gain in mind. Now, I know it's just an analogy, but I've had tons of bosses th...

zoolina

Thanks for the encouragement, Gettinbusy!

Day 5 Sucess
Coffee day 9: sucess

zoolina

Reinhard, I like this idea, but can't help being turned off by the military metaphor. Why not connect this to your "Personal Olympics" metaphor and have it be the Olympic comittee, coach, and player. Committee says "get in shape to win the olympics" Coach says: Ok, here's the workout schedule, and t...

zoolina

Day 5 Success Coffee: Day 8 Success Annie, Yes, emotional eating is my downfall. I am wholly conscious of what I'm doing the whole time, and yet it's sooooooo hard not to cave. Future possible monthly resolutions: coffee only on s days weights twice a week think positively be strict about knee and f...

zoolina

ShamrockMommy,

Awsome! You did it. Keep up the good work...

And by the way, good luck with the not weighing. I have the same problem--weigh myself every morning and even if it's just a little up I feel so down. Down with weighing!

Zoolina

zoolina

Welcome back, Rollo.

Zoo.

zoolina

Panglesue-- I like your star system!

Zoolina

zoolina

Just back from vacation. After 2 weeks of holiday I got the bronze medal --didn't lose, didn't gain. All my vacation days were S days, as far as snacking went, but I ate sugar and had alcohol only on real S days. So In my quest to finally make it into the 21 day club, I'm going to skip the vacation ...

zoolina

Reinhard,

I like the Personal Olympics structure, but I wouldn't make a non-weekend S day into a half slip up. If we stick to just birthdays and major holidays I think non-weekend S days are perfectly Special.

Zoolina

zoolina

Usually, this is what I have

Breakfast: Oatmeal with tbs almond butter, 1/2 peice fruit
Lunch #1: Sandwich, fruit
Lunch #2: Small plate of Leftovers
Dinner: Big plate of whatever

zoolina

Day 2 Success

My plan for vacation is to take Saturdays and Sundays as S days (These are travel days when everything gets goofy), to be a little less strict about alcohol and allow myself an extra snack while skiing, if needed.

zoolina

I agree with KCCC, as long as the readers don't get the idea that you can waffle on your own rules. (I use the No-S structure not AS much as a weight loss tool as a way to manage my blood sugar. So I'm more rigorous about what I eat but I'm a little less rigorous about how much I eat.) But what Rein...

zoolina

Day 1: Success Felt great and in -control. (got my period, too, which makes it so much easier to eat lightly) I wonder if guys have an easier time developing habits in week-chunks, and if women need to have a more monthly cycle? That's a long time to pay attention to, though. Weeks are overviewable....

zoolina

Day 1: Success Felt great and in -control. (got my period, too, which makes it so much easier to eat lightly) I wonder if guys have an easier time developing habits in week-chunks, and if women need to have a more monthly cycle? That's a long time to pay attention to, though. Weeks are overviewable....

zoolina

Silverfish,

One year for my birthday my brother made me a Roman meal. Word of warning: have it on an S day. Everything in the meal was sweeeeet, even the meat. And weird!

Love your aspirations! Have fun with them.

zoolina

Ouch! I found nursing a lot harder than pregnancy, eating-wise. When I was pregnant I ate a lot, but only craved healthy things like oranges and eggs. When I was nursing I was a lot hungrier, and to make matters worse, my idea of heaven was a snickers bar. I would go even further than an extra S and...

zoolina

PS-- It's Olympics Time!

Bronze: 17 successful days (My best, so far!)
Silver: 19 sucessful days
Gold: 21 Sucessful days

zoolina

Day 1 S-pecial day
Day 2 S-pecial dayDay 3 -Failure

Ah, no wonder jan. 1 is resolution day. I feel like a stuffed goose. Back on trak feels great.

No Snack foods!
No alcohol!
4 small meals
Except on S days, sometimes!

zoolina

Day 9 Failure

Had a tiff with hubby over dinner and didn't eat more than a few spoonfuls of soup. Then later, I got hungry and had far more than I would have had for dinner. Grrrr.

zoolina

I'm curious how many people out there limit their S's in a conscious way on S days. Now, I know that the strived-for ideal is to have habit be so strong that I start forgetting that it's an S day and just carry over my N day habits. Oh, I'd love to get to that point... but the truth is, almost 8 wee...

zoolina

Iregirl, I also have a massive holiday planned. three days at the in-laws and then, a few days later a week vacation. I'm not so worried about the holiday festivities-- definitely S, but am a bit worried/wondering about what I should do on the vacation. Good job getting thorough the 21 days! I'm sti...

zoolina

Panglesue, Before No-S, I was able to get rid of some of my bad habits in just the way you describe. I'd start with coffee, cut it down to zero for a couple of weeks. Stop with sugar for a couple of weeks. Give up alcohol for a couple of weeks, et voila! But I'd always slip back, I think because I d...

zoolina

Dear Kwag, Sorry to read about your *, but it sounds like you're really taking it in stride. Isn't it weird that the body doesn't remember getting sick from eating too much? You would think it would happen once, and then never again. I mean, everyone seems to have an alcohol that they overdid and ne...

zoolina

Hexagon, I think coffee is much worse for you than the studies say. Which doesn't, oddly enough, stop me from drinking it every single day :? . But really, when I cut it out my chronic knee pain gets a looooot better. I've been thinking about adding a No-C element to No S, once I feel I have the No-...

zoolina

Panglesue, Hexagon, Deryk, Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm at the in-laws now and will write more when I have time for more than an update: Day 6: Success Day 7 S Day Day 8 (Today) S day It's still super tough to be moderate on s days. I tend to look forward to them (too much, I think) an...

zoolina

Reinhard, I agree with Jamin'Jan, but would go even further: A No-S workbook would be great. I imagine a 3 month habit forming calander with stickers (green, red, yellow--what else?) and a space to write a few comments. Even better, tips for every week, focusing on the challenges of the first few we...

zoolina

Day 5 Sucess, but with some funny stuff: a cup of broth at night.

Not losing weight anymore. Maybe it's time to attack the portions on the plate.

zoolina

Hi Jamin Jan! I notice that you've been here a long time and would like to hear about your no-S journey. Was it always as easy for you as it sounds now? Also, tell me about your "air shovelglove". I like the idea of doing shovelglove, but live in a tiny apartment--no place to swing anything around. ...

zoolina

I've made an interesting discovery lately. It doesn't have to do with eating per se, but I think there are things that could be applied... Anyway, I'm a terrible insomniac and have always had trouble staying asleep. In the past few weeks, when I wake up at night I sort of summon up the voice of a mo...

zoolina

Kwang, I KNOW! But you know what's funny, and one of the things I like about no-sing? Even though the scale was up I had a "sucessful" day. Sucess is not how my pants fit, but about how disciplined I was able to be in honoring my committments!

Day 4 Sucess

zoolina

And remember, even if you DO have another day 1, you can still be sucessful. You can do it! Go girl!

zoolina

I was watching a show on tv about drinking too much alcohol, a push from the Belgian government to have people be more moderate, and they had lots of stuff about creating habits and planning and planning for contingencies and being strict with yourself that sounded really familiar! What I'd like to ...

zoolina

How did it go, shamrockmommy?

zoolina

It's so great to hear from someone with real sucess! I think that, for me, with this ultra slow weight loss (about a pound every three weeks!) it's been useful for me to actually chart the weight as well. Some days it's up, some days down, but if you ignore all the ups and downs the line does tend t...

zoolina

Way to go, Iregirl!

zoolina

Day 3 Success

Up 5 lbs from when I began? Is it possible? All that Channukah oil and a few slip ups enough to take me back to the very beginning?

zoolina

Day 1- S day

Day 2 S- Day

I find that eating sugar and alcohol really wacks out my blood sugar-- um--DUH!

zoolina

Hexagon,

Ditto to KCCC's last comment. You're doing great. And don't forget that No-S is a lifestyle, not a diet. You WILL lose the weight if you stick with it (even with sick days!)

Take your S days, and remember that even if it's not this weigh-in, someday you will make it to your goal!

Z.

zoolina

After a big meal, when the desert comes out, I often say: Wow that looks great but I'm nearly full. Why don't you give me just a fork and I'll share (with hubby). " Then I'll take the smaaaaalest bite and put my fork down. No deprivation and almost no -s.

Zoolina

zoolina

Day 7 Failure

Came home staaarving and ended up overeating, had seconds. Then had some chocolate. But I am determined to stop now, eat normally the rest of the day.

zoolina

Panglesue and Reinhard, and me, I don't know why it's hard to hear that I'm being "hard on myself" I've been thinking about it for a couple of days, as stress has taken over my life and I can hardly sleep and things just feel crazy. I AM being hard on myself, but somehow it seems like I should be. I...

zoolina

Day 7 sucess ... with the help of some virtual plating. I crashed, almost literally, on my bike ride home and stopped for a sandwich. what makes it a sucess is that I thought about what would be on my plate an hour later in addition to the sandwich and stuck to it, even though the seconds beckoned. ...

zoolina

Day 6 Success

Day 7 (today) had my lunch waaaay early "so I can grade those papers without losing concentration" we'll see if I can make it to dinner without snacking.

zoolina

Iregirl,

How did you get rid of the chatter? I fight it all day long, almost every day. I've only been ding no-s for 6 weeks, but I have to say I yearn for the time when the chatter quiets and I can just rely on habit and not willpower to get me through the eating day.

Z.

zoolina

Welcome, Kwag! No S is, indeed, the sanest "diet" I've ever been on. As far as I'm concerned, it's not so much losing weight that's important to me (though that wouldn't be so bad in itself :wink: ) but the relief of not having to be compulsive about eating 5 out of 7 days a week. But I won't tell y...

zoolina

Good job resisting temptation, Jesslyn! I always want something sweet after dinner, too. What I've been doing is putting a handful of raisins on my plate and eating them last. It really feels like a bit like eating something sugary!

Zoolina

zoolina

Day 5-- Successhad the nibbles at night, but resisted.

Everyday Systems

Search found 252 matches

Virtual plating = actual snacking-- any ideas?

Polly Ann

Support Needed-- Habits gone awry!

New Shovelglover--a couple of questions..

Help me develp a system for worrying, please!

What do you do on S days?

channelling your inner mom