Two Year NoS Check-in!
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 6:33 am
I am just past the two year mark of adopting NoS for life. You can see my first year check-in here: http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5306
To summarize, the first year I followed NoS, I lost @30 lbs and 3 sizes. In this second year, I've lost @10 lbs and one size. But as anyone who has followed NoS for any length of time knows, we reap many more benefits than just weight loss and sensible eating. My first year post lists quite a few.
Some thoughts and lessons learned from this year include:
1. I cannot successfully "virtual" plate at all. A meal here or there does not derail me. But last autumn I found myself in the unusual situation of having to virtual plate 70% of my meals for three months. I kept to my NoS principles of no snacks, no sweets, but since my first servings were so tiny, I had to have seconds. For me, a little here, a little there, still adds up to "just a little" and is very UN-satisfying so I often had thirds ("just a little bit," of course). No *major* damage was done weight-wise, but now I'm much more diligent about avoiding virtual plate scenarios and/or I just go ahead and take a full (for me) plate without worrying what others think.
2. Vanilla NoS structure works best for me. Because I was so successful the first year, I branched a little with various mods that have worked for other people on the forum: eg, NoS events throughout the week vs. NoS days. I quickly lost count of NoS events and when I tried to quantify them (ie. was that a big NoS treat (eg. cheesecake) or a little one (cookie)? Should it count as a full "event" or maybe just "half"?), I quickly became stressed out with the accounting involved. Ditto with calorie counting. So while in theory I think NoS events (or calorie counting) should work well, I couldn't do it. Back to regular NoS *for me.*
3. My eating habits have slowly improved, and I think they were pretty good to start with. For example, because I've been eating sensibly for two years now (wow, that feels GREAT to say!), I find it difficult to eat rich meals back to back (eg. pizza one day, fried tacos the next--both Nday meals if I want them to be). Also, I love the desserts I make but have gone from a 9x13 pan yielding 12 servings, to a 9x13 pan yielding 18-24 servings for the same dessert--and I eat just one serving.
4. For a period of time after the virtual-plating and various mods seasons described above, I diligently followed NoS without any budge on the scale. That meant that I was consuming the same number of calories that I was expending. In thinking through my two main options: eat less or move more, I decided that I needed to move more. I've chosen walking as my main form of "physical activity" but had gotten very lax with it when my pedometer battery died. In April, I dug out the pedometer, walked(!) into town to get the battery, and have been diligently getting in my steps. This, plus continued NoS, has gotten the scale moving again.
5. Lastly, although I never worried about my Sdays (I took Reinhard at face-value that one cannot "fail" on an S-day), and I never had a bingeing problem, my Sdays have continued to improve this second year. In the first year, I got to the point that I was no longer overeating on my S days. In this second year, I've gotten to the point that I can enjoy my S-days with no "diet-head" chatter going on in my mind.
What do I mean? Well, in the past, I usually had a little patter going on in my head with respect to desserts on S days, particularly Sunday. It went something like this: "Mmmm. Should I have a big piece of cake or little one? I won't be able to have anymore treats until next week. I don't want to waste this opportunity so I should probably have the bigger piece. But the smaller piece will definitely have less calories and that will certainly affect the scale reading.... so maybe I should have a smaller piece. Yet if I take the smaller piece, will I be satisfied? Or will it feel "too small" and then I'll have another small piece? And anyway, with no more desserts until next weekend, I deserve a real treat." And in every case, I felt "entitled" to a sweet treat whether large or small.
Now, however, I can have dessert on Sunday if I want OR NOT. I no longer go through the "bigger, smaller, how many calories would I save by my choice" chatter, but just ask myself "Would I enjoy a piece now or not?" If yes, I enjoy it. If no, I skip it EVEN though I won't be having any dessert for another week. I no longer feel the "But-I'm-entitled-to-it" pull. I feel free and very "adult." And it took me two years to get here. So, hang in there!
Wishing everyone continued NoS success,
To summarize, the first year I followed NoS, I lost @30 lbs and 3 sizes. In this second year, I've lost @10 lbs and one size. But as anyone who has followed NoS for any length of time knows, we reap many more benefits than just weight loss and sensible eating. My first year post lists quite a few.
Some thoughts and lessons learned from this year include:
1. I cannot successfully "virtual" plate at all. A meal here or there does not derail me. But last autumn I found myself in the unusual situation of having to virtual plate 70% of my meals for three months. I kept to my NoS principles of no snacks, no sweets, but since my first servings were so tiny, I had to have seconds. For me, a little here, a little there, still adds up to "just a little" and is very UN-satisfying so I often had thirds ("just a little bit," of course). No *major* damage was done weight-wise, but now I'm much more diligent about avoiding virtual plate scenarios and/or I just go ahead and take a full (for me) plate without worrying what others think.
2. Vanilla NoS structure works best for me. Because I was so successful the first year, I branched a little with various mods that have worked for other people on the forum: eg, NoS events throughout the week vs. NoS days. I quickly lost count of NoS events and when I tried to quantify them (ie. was that a big NoS treat (eg. cheesecake) or a little one (cookie)? Should it count as a full "event" or maybe just "half"?), I quickly became stressed out with the accounting involved. Ditto with calorie counting. So while in theory I think NoS events (or calorie counting) should work well, I couldn't do it. Back to regular NoS *for me.*
3. My eating habits have slowly improved, and I think they were pretty good to start with. For example, because I've been eating sensibly for two years now (wow, that feels GREAT to say!), I find it difficult to eat rich meals back to back (eg. pizza one day, fried tacos the next--both Nday meals if I want them to be). Also, I love the desserts I make but have gone from a 9x13 pan yielding 12 servings, to a 9x13 pan yielding 18-24 servings for the same dessert--and I eat just one serving.
4. For a period of time after the virtual-plating and various mods seasons described above, I diligently followed NoS without any budge on the scale. That meant that I was consuming the same number of calories that I was expending. In thinking through my two main options: eat less or move more, I decided that I needed to move more. I've chosen walking as my main form of "physical activity" but had gotten very lax with it when my pedometer battery died. In April, I dug out the pedometer, walked(!) into town to get the battery, and have been diligently getting in my steps. This, plus continued NoS, has gotten the scale moving again.
5. Lastly, although I never worried about my Sdays (I took Reinhard at face-value that one cannot "fail" on an S-day), and I never had a bingeing problem, my Sdays have continued to improve this second year. In the first year, I got to the point that I was no longer overeating on my S days. In this second year, I've gotten to the point that I can enjoy my S-days with no "diet-head" chatter going on in my mind.
What do I mean? Well, in the past, I usually had a little patter going on in my head with respect to desserts on S days, particularly Sunday. It went something like this: "Mmmm. Should I have a big piece of cake or little one? I won't be able to have anymore treats until next week. I don't want to waste this opportunity so I should probably have the bigger piece. But the smaller piece will definitely have less calories and that will certainly affect the scale reading.... so maybe I should have a smaller piece. Yet if I take the smaller piece, will I be satisfied? Or will it feel "too small" and then I'll have another small piece? And anyway, with no more desserts until next weekend, I deserve a real treat." And in every case, I felt "entitled" to a sweet treat whether large or small.
Now, however, I can have dessert on Sunday if I want OR NOT. I no longer go through the "bigger, smaller, how many calories would I save by my choice" chatter, but just ask myself "Would I enjoy a piece now or not?" If yes, I enjoy it. If no, I skip it EVEN though I won't be having any dessert for another week. I no longer feel the "But-I'm-entitled-to-it" pull. I feel free and very "adult." And it took me two years to get here. So, hang in there!
Wishing everyone continued NoS success,