Happy Failures

[eschano]

Hi,

I thought about what threw me off my diet-path in other diets and, like many other No-Sers have noticed for themselves in this forum, it comes down to perfectionism.

This is the first diet where I can indeed go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiam (a tweaked quote from Churchill).

Why?
a) This quote from someone on this forum (sorry that I can't remember!) about not wrecking you car over a dent really helps me. (I think it was "if you back into a pole you don't go and drive your car into a wall" about the WTH effect).

b) Now, I'm acknowledging my failure and just get right back on track. This obviously means that my failures have been very contained - they're in fact nearly in a grey zone - and I don't feel like my habits have been affected too much. I don't try to ignore the fact that I screwed up or hide it from others or me, which sadly I have tried in the past. If you really want a fun game try to hide things you know have happened from yourself. I just felt like such a loser for my lack of willpower. Reading about willpower has helped a lot.

c) It's the first diet I've come accross that deals with habits and not weight goals. I'm delighted and surprised that I'm slowly losing but when I do see a gain I don't throw away the system anymore and sure enough I'm down again within the week. It's very freeing.

Happy Failures to all of us so we can succeed enthusiastically on the whole!

[BrightAngel]

I thought about what threw me off my diet-path in other diets and, like many other No-Sers have noticed for themselves in this forum, it comes down to perfectionism.

This is the first diet where I can indeed go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiam (a tweaked quote from Churchill).

Happy Failures to all of us so we can succeed enthusiastically on the whole!

Excellent point.
Thanks for sharing your encouraging thoughts here.

[vmsurbat]

b) Now, I'm acknowledging my failure and just get right back on track. This obviously means that my failures have been very contained - they're in fact nearly in a grey zone - and I don't feel like my habits have been affected too much.

Happy Failures to all of us so we can succeed enthusiastically on the whole!

This actually describes my NoS success quite well. I've been at NoS for FOUR years and I have rarely made the "21 Club" (21 straight days with no fails). However, when I catch myself slipping (The last lonely carrot in the serving dish or the cookie my neighbor brought over just for me and is waiting for me to eat it), I just stop. Mark it and Move on. Life goes on and so do my NoS habits. And...tada.... now 50+ pounds lighter, no yo-yoing, I'm just living my life, enjoying good food, and VERY grateful for NoS which is why I still hang out on the boards....to encourage others that perfection is NOT REQUIRED.

[eschano]

Many thanks for your very inspiring post Vicki.
Congratulations on your healthy habits. It's very inspiring and reassuring to hear that you barely went without making the "21 Club" and still managed to lose weight and maintain healthily without bingeing (which was my biggest problem) and yo-yoing. Thanks for still hanging out here too - your comments are extremely helpful.

Thank you BrightAngel. I enjoy your posts a lot.

[Jethro]

You wanna hear about "failure?"

Based on my HabitCal, my NOS compliance rate since Nov 2011 to today was 73.4%.

During this period I had a broken hand and a cancer operation.

Yet I've lost 45 lb. I know it's slow (2.5 lb. per month), and I still have 25lb. to go. But I'm getting there, slowly for surely.

Don't let "failures" derail you.

[eschano]

Hi Jethro,

Your comment has been great! I looked at my compliance rate for the first time - this is really useful. I'm still in the first three weeks so not a lot of time to fall off the wagon. I have 88% including S days.

It was especially heartening to read how much progress you've made without 100% compliance. Very encouraging!

It seems that the freedom of perfectionism will be the most valuable thing to get out of NoS.