Everyday Systems

I thought it was about time I posted a testimonial to this wonderful eating plan. 26 lbs down and still losing !

After a few false starts (!) I started the No S Plan back in December 2009, after a life time of struggling with binge eating and food/diet anxiety as well as a host of other things including poor body image and self esteem issues.

After a month or so of No s-ing, I was delighted to discover that many of my symptoms had dramatically reduced, esp my food and diet obsessions.

The S Days were crucial - particularly in the beginning - in order to get me to stick with the plan and work my way through these issues. All other diets and eating plans I had tried in the past were far too restrictive and/or unsustainable and in the end, just made my obsessions with food and body image worse!

As time went by - I struggled somewhat with my S Days - I tended to overeat excessively on sweet and starchy foods and all the other stuff I didn't have on the N Days. After some time, I was concerned that any good I was doing on my N Days may have been undone by the excessive S Days. However,during this time, my weight stayed pretty much the same, give or take a few lbs here and there. That in itself was a huge milestone.

The next stage of my No S Journey began this summer: I realized that in order FOR ME to lose any weight, I would probably have to start streamlining my S Days. I had a goal in mind - a vacation with my much slimmer friends who hadn't seen me in a couple of years. Perhaps it was having the goal or I was in the right frame of mind - or both - but to date, I have lost a total of 26 lbs. I no longer treat my S Days any differently from my N Days. I no longer crave the sweet, starchy foods and my bingeing is a thing of the past!

BUT I will not deny myself treats or S Events on special occasions. I fully intend to celebrate holidays and eating out with my family and friends as I have always done. I am comfortable around food and it does not rule my life anymore. I am so happy that I am able to admit that!!

I am starting to see real results with my body now and I think its time I got myself a whole new wardrobe since my clothes are just starting to hang these days! lol!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU Reinhard and all my fellow No Sers for your inspirational and encouraging messages and for offering me support and advice throughout this Journey! I couldn't have done it without you!!

WOO HOO! Good job!

NoSRocks wrote:I am comfortable around food and it does not rule my life anymore.

WOW! That's amazing!
Congratulations !!

Hurray! Yay for you! I'm thrilled that you are doing so well, enjoying the journey, learning what works for you and your wonderful body. It really IS a great feeling when food is no longer the "enemy."

Congratulations again!

Thank you SOOOO much everyone for your kind wishes and inspirational messages! Great to hear from you all and I also send my very best to all of you, too.

More than anything, I am so glad - not to mention flattered - that 'lil old me' is helping to inspire and encourage my fellow No Sers!

Congratulations! That's wonderful news.

However,during this time, my weight stayed pretty much the same, give or take a few lbs here and there. That in itself was a huge milestone.

It's great that you could see this as a huge milestone. A lot of people can't, and get discouraged.

I no longer treat my S Days any differently from my N Days. I no longer crave the sweet, starchy foods and my bingeing is a thing of the past!

BUT I will not deny myself treats or S Events on special occasions.

In the No-S mod lingo, it sounds like you're an "all caps" no-esser (you limit yourself to really special, or capital 'S' days). I'm not just glad to year this worked for you, but also interested. This is the first empirical "data" I've heard about the effectiveness of this mod.

Best of luck going forward and looking forward to years more "data!"

Reinhard

I was out of town and not online much so am just now getting to this message.

Wait, you're down 26 lbs. since JUNE? (What percentage of your previous weight is that? I always go by that.) That must feel pretty amazing.

Anyway, I knew from your thread that you were having a much better time, and this is just icing on the S-day cake.

I'd say you must have been ready, even though seeing your friends may have been a further incentive. Haven't we had many of those incentives before? It just seems sometimes the "sacrifices" seem more fair than at other times, and then they become less of a sacrifice. And No S is great for that. I don't think you could have forced yourself to be ready in 2009. I am seeing so much these days the wisdom of going through weaning ourselves off the extra food and off the more processed foods, so that we come to where we are by inner choice. It just feels better to eat better more often!

Once again, great news, my friend!

Congratulations, NoSRocks!

This is wonderful to hear - congratulations!!! And yes, you definitely are an inspiration to the rest of us here - so thanks for sharing!

Again, thank you ALL so much for your wonderful messages. So very encouraging and inspirational too.

To answer your question oolala - as of today (2nd October 2012) I am down approx. 28 lbs. since June. I found that as soon as I gave up the starchy, sweet foods I was having on S Days that I started to get real results. But when I say 'give up' it hasn't been a hardship at all this time around. I do think the vacation may have played some part in it, however I'd like to think that it was more to do with a natural progression/the next stage of the No S Plan. This way, I think I will be more successful in keeping the weight off. (fingers crossed!

Reinhard - thank you so much for stopping by as well and glad to hear that my post offered up some new and interesting insight to the No S Plan. WOW!! I am humbled and flattered at the same time. Thank you.

PS: I just found out Reinhard has posted my testimonial on Facebook! Wow! thanks very much, Reinhard ! Again, I am most humbled and flattered at the same time.

Thank you very much!! :)

Congrats, that's awesome! I've lost too 20 lbs and I understand very well your happiness. treat sexual health

Thanks again all for your lovely messages - you are too kind !

Congratulations also Protheus on your 20 lbs weight loss, wow! that is awesome! No S really does rock!

yay!!! congratulations

Gee, thanks Deb!

Did you limit your carbs during your N days...what were you eating?

Hi Leighg! Thanks for your question

Basically eating 3 meals a day (please see my daily check in thread for more info) and taking less regular S Days than I used to seems to be doing the trick. I haven't consciously cut carbs but overall, yes I do eat less bread based meals these days, preferring yogurts and fruit and/or granola bars for lunch.

Thanks so much for your testimonial, I'm just back to No S after a disastrous break. This is so inspiring to me. It gives me hope. I had pretty much just maintained my weight after about 8 months of pretty strict No S. But when I let it go for a couple months, I gained several pounds! Maintaining is success, but losing is also a worthy goal.

Congratulations to you! I hope to be able to post something similar in a few months.

Hi Patty !

Thank you sooo much for posting! It means a lot to me, too and also gives me inspiration to keep going! Reached a new 'low' of 140 lbs this week! I'm finding now that the weight loss is slowing down and I am now losing on average once every 2 weeks now instead of weekly. But the wonderful news is, I'm still losing! Thanks again Reinhard!!

Tbh, I am probably at the ideal weight range for my height and build now and the main goal now is to maintain my weight. That's probably why I haven't been posting as much lately. Fingers crossed now for my next stage of the No S Journey - maintenance. However, I will just be continuing on with my current eating patterns which are suiting me very well and are not overly restrictive. I am planning on having a few treats over the forthcoming holiday season ONLY if I feel like having them. I am surprised and delighted to say that it won't be a hardship if I don't feel like having any desserts etc. but the option is always there. Another aim is to post here with an annual update on the previous year i.e. like vmsurbat has been doing. I LOVE reading her updates! So inspirational to me, also. Hopefully, I will have similar progress on No S! We'll see what happens by next year. Thanks again all for listening and for posting to my thread! Big hugs from Roxy xxxxxxxxxxxx

Roxy, Hugs back! I'm not kidding, what you have done is so encouraging!!

Did you get your new wardrobe? You deserve it!

LOL! Thank you so much for your kind words!!

You are too kind, Patty!

Hmmm, you didn't answer... Go buy some new clothes! Shopping will be fun with your new body!

Hi again, Patty! Sorry hon, I missed your question re. the wardrobe! I overlooked that one somehow. I know you won't mind too much since you know I don't get always visit this thread as much these days. Also you're a nice lady and will understand

Yes, Patty I do indeed get such a pleasure out of trying on clothes and finding clothes fit so much better! Luckily, I'm still able to fit into some of my old clothes since i don't have the spare cash right now to go and buy an entire new wardrobe. I also notice recently that with the weight loss, my pants have become much longer in length and i'm practically tripping over them now - lol! It is such a joy to go into stores and not have to worry as much about clothes being tight etc. Sometimes, I almost have to pinch myself as its such a wonderful dream and i feel I can hardly believe it! Thank you again SO much, Reinhard and No S for leading me here in the first place!

Just popping in for a little update: Thanks to wonderful No S, I am currently at 137 lbs and going by the current trend -I think I'm going to continue to lose more! Weight coming off very nicely now in 1 or 2 lb increments every 2 to 3 weeks and I continue to follow my current 3 meals a day as I had been doing since the start of the real 'serious' weight loss campaign (earlier this year). Ironically, I still don't get the opportunity to walk as much or as regularly as I used to do but amazingly it doesn't seem to have impeded my weight loss and it continues to come off gently, slowly but surely. I still have the 120 lbs goal in my head but I am not striving for it if you guys know what I mean. I am happy just taking things as they come these days. Eat this way and see how it all pans out.

Happy Holidays to one and all!!! I will pop in from time to time to give you an update and let you know how i am doing i.e. if the weight keeps off etc. As I said previously, I very much enjoy vmsurbat's yearly updates and find them very helpful and inspirational indeed so I think that's what I intend to do long term. We'll see how it all works out. Have a wonderful holiday season everyone and again, thanks all for stopping by with your wonderful and supportive messages !

Roxy, thanks for the update and for answering my question. I remember how much fun it was to try on clothes for me a few years ago when I was about 22 pounds lighter than I am now. I didn't have much cash, but I would go to thrift stores and shop the clearance racks at the big stores especially KOHLS. I normally do not like to shop, period, but I do like having something new that looks good on me! Your testimony is so encouraging to me!!! I'm really into NoS again, and the S days are finally mostly Sane. I'm exercising and my clothes are starting to loosen.

Gee, thanks Patty - you're so welcome!

I had a bit of fun in Old Navy last week, trying on some lovely fitted jackets that I wouldn't have given a second glance at this time last year because I know for a fact they wouldn't fit and it was pointless even going there. I had also lost interest in clothes shopping PERIOD.

I hope this doesn't sound too smug, but I felt great trying on all those 'young vibrant' styles alongside all those youngsters (about half my age). I didn't care if they thought I looked like mutton dressed as lamb - I was just proud to get clothes to fit me.

Wells, Patty and my fellow No Sers - if you don't hear from me for a while now, do not fear, Roxy's still 'ere!! LOL! I don't post as much these days sadly (mostly due to lack of time etc) but I will pop in every now and again with an update. Thanks so much Patty for your kind and flattering words. I am delighted as mentioned that I can be an inspiration to others! I know it took me a while to get in the groove so to speak but fingers crossed, I can now continue or better still, maintain my loss. Will speak to you all soon, guys, take care and have a wonderful holiday season if I don't speak to you before then! Love and kisses, Roxy xxxx

We'll miss you, but the goal is to be free, no?

Aww!!

Thanks for your very nice message and well wishes, oolala!

Miss you guys too.... but you know, I'm never really that far away