Everyday Systems

I started the No S Diet on the 21st of January, 2010. I am 5'8" and at the time weighed over 350 pounds at 37 years. I don't know how much over, exactly. I went to the doctor a couple months before and was, as I recall over 350 by a shocking 7 pounds. When I started I was probably 357-365, or maybe 349. Who knows. I did my first scale check-in about a month later and weighed 340, so for the purposes of my charting I've put my starting weight at 350lbs on 1 Jan 2010 (20 days before I started!).

I had, for about a month before my diet, began to feel like my fat had begun to impact my health. I had developed some acne on my chest for the first time, one of my knees hurt some of the time, and my heart felt sort of funny sometimes, which I think might have been high blood pressure (which I'd had a few years back when my sodium intake shot up from eating too many pre-prepared meals and not cooking).

I also had been moved to skip a few steps and for the first time in my life felt like I was glued to the earth, instead of being effervescent. I probably weighed 220 pounds when I got out of high school, and gradually gained weight since then, but after experimenting a little with dieting in high-school, gave that up, for reasons I cannot now clearly recall. Did it make me cranky? Feel crazy? Hungry? Was I not good at it and frustrated? Who knows, but whatever it was since then I never seriously dieted or considered dieting.

When I started my plan, my method was to be "eat less, move more" rather than straight-up no-s. I did a little food and movement journaling before I came to the conclusion that I didn't really enjoy it.

Now my plan is no-snacks and no seconds. I do eat less sweets than I used to, but I'm not currently keeping track. (I used to allow myself a single chocolate at bedtime, now I don't have it every night, but sometimes I will have 2 or three.) I don't usually eats snacks anymore at all, and seconds really seem to make me feel much more uncomfortable than overeating ever has before, so I'm not usually grazing, permasnacking, or going wild on s-days.

My weakness, as I have discovered, are mostly any food "opportunities." If I ordered a pizza, "it was there." If I ate dinner, and then went to hang out with friends, who wanted their own dinner, "I was there". I take a multivitamin now as well, on the off chance that it would make resisting these temptations easier, and I think it has, though maybe my diet has been getting more nutritional, because I've been forgetting the vitamin lately.

I weigh myself whenever I have an irresistible impulse to, but I now I'm recording it once a week (on Sunday mornings). The irresistible impulse doesn't come every week, but sometimes as many as three times in a week, I think when I begin to feel frustrated by the back-and-forth progress of the numbers on the scale.

Having started on January 21st, 2010, I showed a 10 pound loss by the end of February, woo-hoo, but wavered on that 10 pound loss for two more months. In June I started logging my food to see what it was like, and in July stopped that and recording my weight regularly every week too. In August and September I went through a couple of patches of logging my weight 3-5 times a week, then I quit logging until February of this year.

I lost about 25lbs the first year, and since then have lost 10 more, so I've lost 10%! It wasn't really my first goal, which was to get under 300lbs, but if I do that by the end of the year, considering the trend I've had over the last year (16 pounds lost), I'll be lucky.

And really, I am quite lucky--because I found I way to painlessly drop pounds. It's not quick, and I'm frequently inspired to try to tweak it in one way or another to rush it, but nothing really sticks.

My weight does fluctuate up and down a lot, you know, scales, what can you do? Plus, I like to remember water retention is not as linear as the rest of me, and 40-60% of my weight is made of this very inconstant material. If that proportion fluctuates by as little as 1%, that's 1 and a half pounds or so right there, at my weight. It's not a particularly satisfying philosophy in the face of weight fluctuation, but it's probably a significant part of the truth of it.

I don't use habit cal to keep track of success or failures right now. Most days are successes, and some aren't, but I think my ratio is as good as 5 n days to 2 s days. If I get really frustrated with my progress I may try to chart, but I don't want to now. I am better at skipping seconds and snacks than I am at charting! I am thinking of starting a weekly check-in thread in the daily-check in forum, so I can woo-hoo each "new low" as it happens.

Clarica -- Congratulations on reaching your 10 % goal! That's fantastic! You have a good sense of what is working for you and it is definitely paying off. I'm inspired by your determination, your persistance and your attitude. Thanks for sharing your success story!

Clarica,

Congratulations and thank you for posting here!

Your numbers are great. But even more importantly it sounds like you're now in a place where you can put those numbers in the proper perspective. Yes, the scale will fluctuate, but with these habits in place, time is on your side now. And it sounds like you really get that.

I am better at skipping seconds and snacks than I am at charting!

And you've chosen the far more important thing to be better at.

Your "woo-hoo"ing check-in plan sounds like a great (and unobtrusive) compromise.

Wishing you many more woo-hoos in future months and years,

Reinhard

Congrats on the 10%! The great thing I found about tracking 10% goals, is that the number of pounds you have to lose each time gets smaller

Good luck on the continuation of your journey. Keep up the sanity!

That's great to hear! Not just the numbers, but the way you're on a sustainable path -- great!

Thanks guys!

just for the record, here's my complete weight log for this 1st ten percent.

2/28/10 340 -10.00 A new low!
3/1/10
3/2/10
3/3/10
3/4/10
3/5/10
3/6/10
3/7/10 344 -6.00
3/8/10
3/9/10
3/10/10
3/11/10
3/12/10
3/13/10
3/14/10 340 -10.00
3/15/10
3/16/10
3/17/10
3/18/10
3/19/10
3/20/10
3/21/10 340 -10.00
3/22/10
3/23/10
3/24/10
3/25/10
3/26/10
3/27/10
3/28/10 344 -6.00
3/29/10
3/30/10
3/31/10
4/1/10
4/2/10
4/3/10
4/4/10 340 -10.00
4/5/10
4/6/10
4/7/10
4/8/10
4/9/10
4/10/10
4/11/10 344 -6.00
4/12/10
4/13/10
4/14/10
4/15/10
4/16/10
4/17/10
4/18/10 334 -16.00 A new low!
4/19/10
4/20/10
4/21/10
4/22/10
4/23/10
4/24/10
4/25/10 337 -13.00
4/26/10
4/27/10
4/28/10
4/29/10
4/30/10
5/1/10
5/2/10 329 -21.00 A new low!
5/3/10
5/4/10
5/5/10
5/6/10
5/7/10
5/8/10
5/9/10 334 -16.00
5/10/10
5/11/10
5/12/10
5/13/10
5/14/10
5/15/10
5/16/10 334 -16.00
5/17/10
5/18/10
5/19/10
5/20/10
5/21/10
5/22/10
5/23/10 336 -14.00
5/24/10
5/25/10
5/26/10
5/27/10
5/28/10
5/29/10
5/30/10 331 -19.00
5/31/10
6/1/10
6/2/10
6/3/10
6/4/10
6/5/10
6/6/10 336 -14.00
6/7/10
6/8/10
6/9/10
6/10/10
6/11/10
6/12/10
6/13/10 331 -19.00
6/14/10
6/15/10
6/16/10
6/17/10
6/18/10
6/19/10
6/20/10 328 -22.00 A new low!
6/21/10
6/22/10
6/23/10
6/24/10
6/25/10
6/26/10
6/27/10 328 -22.00
6/28/10
6/29/10
6/30/10
7/1/10
7/2/10
7/3/10
7/4/10 331 -19.00
7/5/10
7/6/10
7/7/10
7/8/10
7/9/10
7/10/10
7/11/10
7/12/10
7/13/10
7/14/10
7/15/10
7/16/10
7/17/10
7/18/10
7/19/10
7/20/10
7/21/10
7/22/10
7/23/10
7/24/10
7/25/10 330 -20.00
7/26/10
7/27/10
7/28/10
7/29/10
7/30/10
7/31/10
8/1/10 327 -23.00 A new low!
8/2/10
8/3/10
8/4/10
8/5/10
8/6/10
8/7/10
8/8/10
8/9/10
8/10/10
8/11/10
8/12/10
8/13/10
8/14/10
8/15/10
8/16/10
8/17/10
8/18/10
8/19/10
8/20/10
8/21/10
8/22/10
8/23/10
8/24/10
8/25/10
8/26/10 328 -22.00
8/27/10 331 -19.00
8/28/10
8/29/10 330 -20.00
8/30/10 331 -19.00
8/31/10
9/1/10 327 -23.00
9/2/10
9/3/10
9/4/10
9/5/10
9/6/10
9/7/10
9/8/10 326 -24.00 A new low!
9/9/10
9/10/10 327 -23.00
9/11/10
9/12/10
9/13/10 331 -19.00
9/14/10
9/15/10
9/16/10 327 -23.00
9/17/10
9/18/10
9/19/10 327 -23.00
9/20/10
9/21/10 329 -21.00
9/22/10
9/23/10 326 -24.00
9/24/10
9/25/10
9/26/10
9/27/10
9/28/10
9/29/10
9/30/10
10/1/10
10/2/10
10/3/10
10/4/10
10/5/10
10/6/10
10/7/10
10/8/10
10/9/10
10/10/10
10/11/10
10/12/10
10/13/10
10/14/10
10/15/10
10/16/10
10/17/10
10/18/10
10/19/10
10/20/10
10/21/10
10/22/10
10/23/10
10/24/10
10/25/10
10/26/10
10/27/10
10/28/10
10/29/10
10/30/10
10/31/10
11/1/10
11/2/10
11/3/10
11/4/10
11/5/10
11/6/10
11/7/10
11/8/10
11/9/10
11/10/10
11/11/10
11/12/10
11/13/10
11/14/10
11/15/10
11/16/10
11/17/10
11/18/10
11/19/10
11/20/10
11/21/10
11/22/10
11/23/10
11/24/10
11/25/10
11/26/10
11/27/10
11/28/10
11/29/10
11/30/10
12/1/10
12/2/10
12/3/10
12/4/10
12/5/10
12/6/10
12/7/10
12/8/10
12/9/10
12/10/10
12/11/10
12/12/10
12/13/10
12/14/10
12/15/10
12/16/10
12/17/10
12/18/10
12/19/10
12/20/10
12/21/10
12/22/10
12/23/10
12/24/10
12/25/10
12/26/10
12/27/10
12/28/10
12/29/10
12/30/10
12/31/10
1/1/11
1/2/11
1/3/11
1/4/11
1/5/11
1/6/11
1/7/11
1/8/11
1/9/11
1/10/11
1/11/11
1/12/11
1/13/11
1/14/11
1/15/11
1/16/11
1/17/11
1/18/11
1/19/11
1/20/11
1/21/11
1/22/11
1/23/11
1/24/11
1/25/11
1/26/11
1/27/11
1/28/11
1/29/11
1/30/11
1/31/11
2/1/11
2/2/11
2/3/11
2/4/11
2/5/11
2/6/11
2/7/11
2/8/11
2/9/11
2/10/11
2/11/11
2/12/11
2/13/11 323 -27.00 A new low!
2/14/11
2/15/11
2/16/11
2/17/11
2/18/11
2/19/11
2/20/11 324 -26.00
2/21/11
2/22/11
2/23/11
2/24/11
2/25/11
2/26/11
2/27/11 320 -30.00 A new low!
2/28/11
3/1/11
3/2/11
3/3/11
3/4/11
3/5/11
3/6/11
3/7/11 318 -32.00 A new low!
3/8/11
3/9/11
3/10/11
3/11/11
3/12/11
3/13/11 320 -30.00
3/14/11
3/15/11
3/16/11
3/17/11
3/18/11
3/19/11
3/20/11 319 -31.00
3/21/11
3/22/11
3/23/11
3/24/11
3/25/11
3/26/11
3/27/11 320 -30.00
3/28/11
3/29/11
3/30/11
3/31/11
4/1/11
4/2/11
4/3/11
4/4/11 318 -32.00
4/5/11
4/6/11
4/7/11
4/8/11
4/9/11
4/10/11 316 -34.00 A new low!
4/11/11
4/12/11
4/13/11
4/14/11
4/15/11
4/16/11
4/17/11 317 -33.00
4/18/11
4/19/11
4/20/11
4/21/11
4/22/11
4/23/11
4/24/11 317 -33.00
4/25/11
4/26/11
4/27/11
4/28/11
4/29/11
4/30/11
5/1/11 316 -34.00
5/2/11
5/3/11
5/4/11
5/5/11
5/6/11
5/7/11
5/8/11
5/9/11
5/10/11
5/11/11
5/12/11
5/13/11
5/14/11
5/15/11 315 -35.00 A new low!
5/16/11
5/17/11
5/18/11
5/19/11
5/20/11
5/21/11
5/22/11 316 -34.00
5/23/11
5/24/11
5/25/11
5/26/11
5/27/11
5/28/11
5/29/11 314 -36.00 A new low!

This is fantastic Clarica and very inspirational!!!
Keep up the great work!!!

Nicely done!!!

Congratulations on your progress!

Even when it feels like you're just taking babysteps toward your goal, it's important to remember that babysteps WILL take you where you want to go. Your post really shows their power over time. And the growth in "sustainable habit" is wonderful.

Hope to see many "woo-hoo" posts on your thread!

Congratulations to you, enjoyed reading your post. It encouraged me to see the weight fluctuations, because that's what's happening with me. Keep it up!

Thanks, that's why I posted it! It is so frustrating to 'backslide' for weeks and then so exciting to 'loose' six more pounds the next week... And it should all count as progress, because maintenance is not actually conservative at all. The work may become automatic, or it may be a daily struggle, but it is always progress.