Everyday Systems

Posted: **Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:06 pm**

I received the following email last week, which the author has given me permission to post anonymously (as usual, I'll send him the link, so feel free to post congratulations/responses):

Dear Reinhard,

I have been meaning to send this email for awhile now and haven't gotten around to it, so I am sending you this, which will seem scattered but never the less I want you to know how thankful I am to you for your systems and the impact they have had and continue to have on my life. Here goes.

The summary is as follows:

In August of 2011 I stumbled on your site, mainly the No S diet information. I was at a point where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was 36 and easily 50 pounds overweight, didn't exercise regularly, despite studying exercise for most of my adult life, and over drinking more often than I wanted.

What your site did more than anything was gave me permission to make small adjustments, be patient, and measure success by doing the habit, not reaching an end goal necessarily. This has opened up countless areas of improvement for my life and for that I am eternally grateful to you. I modified your systems to fit my personality and this has worked. For instance, I started with 3 minutes of exercise (anything) per week day, moving up in only 1 minute increments when I felt ready, even now I am only at 12 minutes per weekday, and I love it. I also bit off one of the NO S rules at a time and have since modified my diet system to include Intermittent Fasting, basically skipping breakfast. Again, I simply went off of my track record and personality and made the system work.

The other thing I did is I never weighed myself until about a month ago, because I didn't care. What I cared about is what I looked like naked and how my clothes fit. It's vain I know, but I had to use what would work for me.

Another trick I have used is as my clothes no longer fit, I immediately get rid of them. Psychologically I wanted to burn the ships so that I have to fight. ( I hope you get the metaphor)

I currently weigh about 170 and have muscles I never knew existed, I am easily in the best shape of my life. My wife has been blown away, my doctor is amazed and most of all I feel great about myself.

By the way, congrats on your third child, I have four and you know what, these systems become even more valuable as you have more kids because time seems to evaporate.

If you think there is any value to this email and would like it refined I will be happy to do so, sorry in advance for the scattered thoughts.

Thanks again,

Anonymous
Undisclosed Location

He sent another email qauntifying the changes a bit more:

Unfortunately I didn't weigh myself before, but I was at least 210 ( I have been over 220 before ) and am 170 or so now. I am 5-8. I am now working on a 6 pack, my next appearance goal and have added muscle, so some of the weight has been reallocated, so to speak. Jeans waist size 36 to a 32 and XL to Medium (loose) t-shirts. And, no daily indigestion medication, this was due to my belly size, much like a pregnant woman experiencing heart burn. I had suspected this was my problem and weened myself off of the medication with no problems.

Pretty impressive, I think you'll agree!

Congratulation and thank you for letting us know, anonymous dad of 4!

Reinhard

Posted: **Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:10 pm**

OMGosh, results on literally 12 minutes a day! And eating smartly, I'm sure.. Congrats on implementing the programs so successfully. You've done your children good, too.

Posted: **Wed Feb 29, 2012 1:15 pm**

Thanks for letting Reinhard (and us) know about your success! It motivates the rest of us.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:32 pm**

Once again, another marvellous and very inspirational testimonial! Many thanks for sharing!!

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:01 am**

Woohoo! inspiring.

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2012 1:58 pm**

oolala53,

Thanks for the congrats. It has been fun.
No S is eating smartly, don't get hung up in the macronutrients, it isn't worth it.
I have to confess, I didn't get those results in literally 12 minutes a day. Most of the time I workout less than that. What I have learned is that as far as appearance goes, your physique is based 80% on your diet, not your workout routine. It takes a lot of working out to compensate for 600 calories of snacking a day.

Chance

Posted: **Sun May 20, 2012 4:26 pm**

Oh, less than 12 minutes of working out! Even better.

But a lot more than 12 minutes of NOT EATING UNNECESSARILY. I hear ya.

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2012 7:17 pm**

Congratulations! Keep it up.

Posted: **Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:12 am**

Chance

You mentioned that you do intermittent fasting(basically skipping breakfast). I am assuming you have lunch and dinner. When do you have your 3rd meal? I am experimenting with IF as well and am trying to figure placement of that 3rd meal. Thanks and congratulations on the success!

bhensley

Posted: **Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:38 am**

I do have lunch and dinner, and usually no other meals. Weekends, events with family and friends may change this though.
If I do want 3 meals in a day I would add one between lunch and dinner, in the past I have done this with a protein shake but that was only during a specific experiment.
I have found for me that the biggest key to maintaining weight is simply not snacking. I have several bigger meals during the week and without snacking seem to be fine.
Reinhard did a podcast on not snacking, our additional snacking accounts almost exactly for the increased calories the average person consumes compared to decades ago.
Resources for IFing: Martin Berkhan, Brad Pilon, and The Simple Saloon.

Chance

Posted: **Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:57 pm**

Chance

Thanks for the response! I am about your same size originally anyway 5"9 and now about 185. I started at 210 and would like to get down to where you are at about 170. Thanks again for the feedback and yes I have looked at some of the other IF sites. Another question - since you are doing Mark's Daily Apple. Are you paleo? I am trying to take one thing at a time. Starting No S and then adding exercise along with then maybe paleo. Just trying not to overload myself with to-do's and then getting overwhelmed and quitting. Slow and steady!

Thanks

Posted: **Thu Jul 26, 2012 3:11 am**

bhensley

Not sure what you mean by Mark's Daily Apple...
No I am not paleo. I don't believe that anyone can be "paleo", nor do I believe in the magic of specific foods. Sure there are certain foods that offer more nutrition than others, as Reinhard has said before, nutrition is a separate subject altogether. With that said, I think that a person's greatest health risk is the extra weight he or she is carrying. This must be addressed first. This is the beauty of NO S. NO S, like IF, is simply a system to reduce calories on a daily basis. The best diet for you is the one you stick to.
In fact, no snacking is IF, which is a significant departure from the dietary habits of the average American.

Chance

Posted: **Thu Jul 26, 2012 6:33 am**

Chance wrote:Not sure what you mean by Mark's Daily Apple...

Does it have anything to do with the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away... but you have to aim sharp." ?

Posted: **Thu Jul 26, 2012 12:09 pm**

Chance

Mark's Daily Apple is actually an excellent website. Not sure why I thought you were looking at that. He believes in IF as well and is somewhat similar to the Lean Saloon site. Anyway - agree on no snacks. It has probably been my biggest issue and frankly did not realize it until I tried to stop. I guess it is just mindless eating. Thanks for the answer.

Posted: **Thu Jul 26, 2012 1:28 pm**

Congratulations on your results! No S and IF make a great combination. Thanks for sharing your story with the rest of us.

Everyday Systems

Anonymous dad of 4: down 40+ pounds

Anonymous dad of 4: down 40+ pounds

A little follow up

3 Meals

IFing

IFing

Paleo, nutrition, etc...

Re: Paleo, nutrition, etc...

Mark's Daily Apple