Taming the Wild Beast with Habit
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 5:18 am
I can hardly believe that I've reached my 1 yr anniversary on No S! I think that means I am no longer a 'newbie' - maybe! 
I can't remember how I came across No S - it might have been via Spark People. But once I read the explanation here on this website - I jumped straight in. It appealed to my logic - it made sense to me.
I've been an acceptably 'normal' weight all my life really. There was a short period, after I got divorced, when I went up to my highest weight at around 140lbs. That was temporary and I soon lost it by counting calories etc!
As many others have said, I've been through many, many different phases of eating systems: I became vegetarian when I was 18 and still am - along the way I've tried macrobiotics; food combining; eating dinner for breakfast; high fibre; low fat; low carb; raw; intuitive eating; mono-meals; juicing - oh, I really can't remember them all! I have always been on some sort of system or another.
For most of my life I've probably been a pain in the proverbial! Whatever system I was following I was obsessive about it - until I could no longer sustain it - then I'd try something else!
So - given that I've not been significantly over-weight - why was I constantly tweaking my diet? Well, what I've been wrangling with - all my life - is what I think of as a kind of Wild Beast - a raging force that compels me to munch and chomp and graze continuously - always looking for the next thing to eat - fearful without a snack in the bag.
I have, therefore, also worked my way through a whole host of books addressing the issue of emotional eating, craving, addiction, mind-body connection, spiritual nutrition, body clutter etc etc etc.
The BIGGEST thing that the No S system has given me is CALMNESS and SANITY in my relationship with food. I went from being a 3 meals and 3 snacks-a-day person, to being a 3 meals and 0 snacks-a-day person in the first two weeks of No S! And I didn't die! Amazing!
My weight has gone down on No S without me even trying - I've enjoyed reckless S days and abundant N days. I have even been able to slacken the reins and participate in social events on special S days when it seemed important. I can now actually make a decision as to whether eating a piece of cake is socially necessary or not. Rather than just eating the cake because everyone else is, and because it's in front of me.
I no longer feel powerless!
I've got no startling weight loss to report - I was a healthy weight to begin with - but I have gone down 5lbs quite naturally.
My metric is the habit - I've used HabitCal every single day since 13th June 2015 and these are the stats I use to measure my success.
HabitCal tells me I've a score of 88.9% - well, that hits the 80/20 rule well enough.
I've had 26 RED days over the 12 months - so that's approx 2 a month.
Tada! that's where I need to focus. I've just started a fresh 21-day Vanilla streak - My goal is to keep reinforcing my N days with the No S habit - and if I can get those RED days down to approx 1 a month, and push my % over the next 12 months - I'll be very happy.
Time for breakfast
I can't remember how I came across No S - it might have been via Spark People. But once I read the explanation here on this website - I jumped straight in. It appealed to my logic - it made sense to me.
I've been an acceptably 'normal' weight all my life really. There was a short period, after I got divorced, when I went up to my highest weight at around 140lbs. That was temporary and I soon lost it by counting calories etc!
As many others have said, I've been through many, many different phases of eating systems: I became vegetarian when I was 18 and still am - along the way I've tried macrobiotics; food combining; eating dinner for breakfast; high fibre; low fat; low carb; raw; intuitive eating; mono-meals; juicing - oh, I really can't remember them all! I have always been on some sort of system or another.
For most of my life I've probably been a pain in the proverbial! Whatever system I was following I was obsessive about it - until I could no longer sustain it - then I'd try something else!
So - given that I've not been significantly over-weight - why was I constantly tweaking my diet? Well, what I've been wrangling with - all my life - is what I think of as a kind of Wild Beast - a raging force that compels me to munch and chomp and graze continuously - always looking for the next thing to eat - fearful without a snack in the bag.
I have, therefore, also worked my way through a whole host of books addressing the issue of emotional eating, craving, addiction, mind-body connection, spiritual nutrition, body clutter etc etc etc.
The BIGGEST thing that the No S system has given me is CALMNESS and SANITY in my relationship with food. I went from being a 3 meals and 3 snacks-a-day person, to being a 3 meals and 0 snacks-a-day person in the first two weeks of No S! And I didn't die! Amazing!
My weight has gone down on No S without me even trying - I've enjoyed reckless S days and abundant N days. I have even been able to slacken the reins and participate in social events on special S days when it seemed important. I can now actually make a decision as to whether eating a piece of cake is socially necessary or not. Rather than just eating the cake because everyone else is, and because it's in front of me.
I no longer feel powerless!
I've got no startling weight loss to report - I was a healthy weight to begin with - but I have gone down 5lbs quite naturally.
My metric is the habit - I've used HabitCal every single day since 13th June 2015 and these are the stats I use to measure my success.
HabitCal tells me I've a score of 88.9% - well, that hits the 80/20 rule well enough.
I've had 26 RED days over the 12 months - so that's approx 2 a month.
Tada! that's where I need to focus. I've just started a fresh 21-day Vanilla streak - My goal is to keep reinforcing my N days with the No S habit - and if I can get those RED days down to approx 1 a month, and push my % over the next 12 months - I'll be very happy.
Time for breakfast
