Transitioning Back From S Days

JustAnnie · Post by **JustAnnie** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:17 pm

This is my first weeked on the NO-S system so these are also my first "S" Days. I'm already worrying about transitioning back to "No-S" on Monday. Was that difficult for any of you, especially those who put no restrictions on their weekend eating? Did it take a while to get the transition down or was this something that just fell into place for you? (If I did this correctly, there should be a poll with this)

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:16 am

I can't quite get to your poll to answer... but for me, the "wilder" the S days the more relieved I feel to get back to No-S.

Rosemary · Post by **Rosemary** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:31 am

Annie, Like KCCC I find a sense of relief come Monday. Perhaps it's the lack of having to make decisions, because they've already been made for N days.

I, too, wasn't able to vote in the poll. Odd - when I went back to the topic just now the poll showed in a different format, and I was able to vote.

JustAnnie · Post by **JustAnnie** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:21 am

Don't know what's up with the poll. It's there and available when I looked at it.

Maybe, for some of us, it really is more comfortable just to be in control. I never thought of that. Thanks for giving your thoughts on this.

Jammin' Jan · Post by **Jammin' Jan** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:15 pm

No problem voting on Sunday a.m. Maybe it's fixed.

At first, Mondays were difficult because I would revert to my old habit of between-meal snacks on S-days, and my system wanted to continue that. But after a while, N-days were kind of a relief and I looked forward to them.

pangelsue · Post by **pangelsue** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:54 pm

I have trouble transitioning but I agree with the others that there is relief on Mondays as well. Here are two thoughts for you that might help. If not, just ignore them but they do help me.

Once on these boards, I was complaining about weekends and how I always tended to go crazy and gain what I lost during the week and someone here said to me, "Don't think of the weekends as a chance to eat everything you couldn't eat during the week. Think of them as a chance to take off the training wheels and practice what you learned about eating during the week." I try to do that everyweekend. Sometimes I do OK and I sometimes I fall off the bike but I do see weekends as training ground now and not a chance to go nuts.

The other thought was something I read once. There was this grade school that didn't have a fence around the playground. One would think this would mean the children would feel very free and be able to go anywhere they wanted but the reverse was true. They were afraid of getting hurt or hit by a car so they played only in the middle of the playground. Then the school fenced the playground and the children played on every square inch of the playground because there was no longer any fear. I think the playground without the fence represents the weekends for me. Lots of freedom but I know there are dangers in taking full advantage of that freedom. So acutally the weekends are scary for me. N days and planned S days are like the fenced in playground. There may be a fence but within the constraints I place upon myself I am free to move around anywhere I like. Rules are defined and we know what is expected. Living without rules is really more scary than freeing. I think that is why most of us fear our appetites when they out of control.
I think very few successful people here have insane feeding frenzy weekends anymore. Most of them did in the beginning but ultimately they built some sort of fence around the S day playground that gives them real freedom and security. Many of them seem to go into the weekend with a plan for whatever parties or treats they want to enjoy. They don't say "Whoohoo, the weekend. I can eat everything in sight." They say "Whoohoo, it is the weekend. I can go out and enjoy that sundae, OR movie popcorn, OR cake OR whatever I have been looking forward to." But they don't enjoy them all on one weekend. I am not there yet. This weekend, one S day was successful, the other one, not so much and I have been here a year. Move forward with patience. We are trying to change a lifetime of habit.

Just a couple of thoughts that are helping me. Good luck on your first weekend.

JustAnnie · Post by **JustAnnie** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:47 pm

Pangelsue, you gave me a lot to think about and it makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

I guess I haven't totally removed my fence yet on "S" days as I am only allowing myself one "S" per day.......either a snack, sweet, or second but not all of them and not in multiples. I made a little hole in my weekend fence and maybe after I get more days under my belt I'll feel safe enough to bring the entire fence down on "S"Days. Right now I'm still very nervous about it.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:29 pm

I have been allowing my S days to be pretty unstructured, b/c I felt I needed a "safety valve". At least at first, I needed to know I could have XYZ on the weekends if I wanted it. ("If"? Hah!)

Yes, that's made for some wild S-days. Yes, I could have lost weight faster if I'd been more restrictive. Yes, there has been a real "two-steps-forward-one-step-back" feeling to this system for me.

BUT... I've stayed on it, which I can't seem to do with WW. My general relationship with food is improved. (Everything tastes better without a side order of guilt.) And the S-days seem to be calming down on their own.

The most useful piece of advice I've found was to PLAN something REALLY special for S-days, rather than just eating all the stuff lying around. I've done best when I do that, and don't feel deprived. And I'm starting to be a good bit more discriminating in terms of what's "worth" an S day. (Of course, with Christmas, there was a LOT that was "special," lol!)

But even with all-out S-days, I'm already back to what I weighed just before Christmas. I'm fine with that - in past years, I put on a good bit of weight over the holidays.

And I'm right back in the No-S groove.

I enjoy my food so much more when I'm not dissecting every bite and worrying about "can I have this?" With the few simple rules of No-S (and my plate-division rules, which I'd already established), I feel good about what I eat overall.

mstevens · Post by **mstevens** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:17 pm

I didn't have a problem for a while, but I'm trying to come back to No-S after slipping for a month or so, and it's a big problem at the moment.

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:00 am

I used to really like it. As Jan wrote, the feeling of order was nice after the chaos and excess of the weekend. But now, years into it, I don't notice it so much anymore -- because my weekends (usually) aren't that excessive anymore. I'll always have something sweet on an S day, and it'll often double as a snack, but it's hardly a bacchanal. I never made a conscious decision to tame my weekends, I just stuck with the literal no s rules and they wound up that way after a few years. I do occasionally still have a real bender weekend now and then, and after these, moderate, mo-N-day mornings feel great.

Reinhard

Everyday Systems

Transitioning Back From S Days

Do You Have Trouble Transitioning Back to "No-S" on Mondays?

Transitioning Back From S Days