I went into this diet thinking S Days could follow the Intuitive Eating approach of "unconditional permisison to eat." I thought that a lowered amount of food on N Days would keep me from really overeating on S Days. That did work for a time. It reminds me of the woman who had gastric bypass surgery, lost probably 150 pounds, and has since regained a lot of it, if not all of it.
This past weekend, my weight went from 206.8 on Friday to 210.6 this morning, two days later.
So -- what to do?
How do you keep yourself from not being an idiot on S Days when you aren't following the restrictions of N Days?
Kathleen
Seeking Advice on S Day Behavior
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NoelFigart
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Four pounds of fat is 14,400 calories. I can promise you that you did not eat that many excess calories in two days. Even if you did, you body would not have metabolized it into fat that quickly.
On this diet, honestly, weighing more than once a month is really not going to show much.
That said, okay, you don't wanna be an idiot on S days. Idiocy is indeed possible.
For myself, I tend not to be a morning snacker (usually), so to keep myself on track, I make very very sure a eat a real breakfast. It's often porridge just like on weekdays, but that's because I am quite fond of steel cut Scottish oats with nuts and various sorts of dried fruit. I'll have pancakes with some eggs or sausage if I want 'em and not think a thing of it on an S day, mind.
I also try to make very sure to eat a "real" lunch. If I let my meal structure go, I will permasnack, guarendamnteed. While it's allowed and when it happens I don't feel like a failure, it's not how I prefer to structure it. If I eat a real lunch, I'll probably have a treat or two later in the day and feel good about it. If I don't, I'm much more likely to start nibbling.
You don't HAVE to do this according to the No S rules, and I think getting wound up in a knot about it isn't a good idea. But letting the N day habits gradually carry over does help.
On this diet, honestly, weighing more than once a month is really not going to show much.
That said, okay, you don't wanna be an idiot on S days. Idiocy is indeed possible.
For myself, I tend not to be a morning snacker (usually), so to keep myself on track, I make very very sure a eat a real breakfast. It's often porridge just like on weekdays, but that's because I am quite fond of steel cut Scottish oats with nuts and various sorts of dried fruit. I'll have pancakes with some eggs or sausage if I want 'em and not think a thing of it on an S day, mind.
I also try to make very sure to eat a "real" lunch. If I let my meal structure go, I will permasnack, guarendamnteed. While it's allowed and when it happens I don't feel like a failure, it's not how I prefer to structure it. If I eat a real lunch, I'll probably have a treat or two later in the day and feel good about it. If I don't, I'm much more likely to start nibbling.
You don't HAVE to do this according to the No S rules, and I think getting wound up in a knot about it isn't a good idea. But letting the N day habits gradually carry over does help.
What I've found after 3 months is this: I enjoy being actually hungry for my 3 meals a day on N-days so much that I rarely Snack on S-days. I focus on that great feeling and generally don't even want to snack.
Similarly, I so enjoy not being stuffed to the gills that I usually don't have Seconds on S-days. I really like developing the skill of filling my plate with the amount of food that will carry me through to the next meal, and don't want to miss that experience on S-days.
I've also found that the more I skip the sweets, the less likely I am to crave them, so I don't go wild on S-days with them because it's so great to be out of that sugar-dependence loop.
Now, my S-days are not like my N-days: I'll have a bit more at meals, enjoy a dessert at Sunday dinner, have a few glasses of wine, go out for breakfast, eat the birthday cake, etc. -- little treats so that I know it's an S-Day and don't start feeling deprived. But in general, I'm able to remember how GREAT I feel on N-days and that motivates me to approach S-Days with a view toward feeling great on them, too.
At first, I would find my Monday morning weight up 2-3 pounds from Friday, but now it seems to have pretty much evened out with the N-Days. And when I find myself obsessing about the scale, I scour this board for the many posts encouraging me to focus on the whole process vs. an x pound temporary gain.
This behavior is such a 180 from how I used to approach food that I can't quite believe it, and am very cautious about getting complacent. But with each week that goes by, the No-S way of life seems to become more and more "second nature", so I'm (cautiously) optimistic that this is becoming my way of life (vs. "being on a diet"). And this "second nature" behavior is carrying over more and more into S-days.
... a long-winded way of saying that my advice would be (1) make sure you are enjoying your N-days so much that you don't even want to go nuts on S-Days, and (2) be careful how much you depend on the scale for feedback.
Best wishes for many sane S-days!
Similarly, I so enjoy not being stuffed to the gills that I usually don't have Seconds on S-days. I really like developing the skill of filling my plate with the amount of food that will carry me through to the next meal, and don't want to miss that experience on S-days.
I've also found that the more I skip the sweets, the less likely I am to crave them, so I don't go wild on S-days with them because it's so great to be out of that sugar-dependence loop.
Now, my S-days are not like my N-days: I'll have a bit more at meals, enjoy a dessert at Sunday dinner, have a few glasses of wine, go out for breakfast, eat the birthday cake, etc. -- little treats so that I know it's an S-Day and don't start feeling deprived. But in general, I'm able to remember how GREAT I feel on N-days and that motivates me to approach S-Days with a view toward feeling great on them, too.
At first, I would find my Monday morning weight up 2-3 pounds from Friday, but now it seems to have pretty much evened out with the N-Days. And when I find myself obsessing about the scale, I scour this board for the many posts encouraging me to focus on the whole process vs. an x pound temporary gain.
This behavior is such a 180 from how I used to approach food that I can't quite believe it, and am very cautious about getting complacent. But with each week that goes by, the No-S way of life seems to become more and more "second nature", so I'm (cautiously) optimistic that this is becoming my way of life (vs. "being on a diet"). And this "second nature" behavior is carrying over more and more into S-days.
... a long-winded way of saying that my advice would be (1) make sure you are enjoying your N-days so much that you don't even want to go nuts on S-Days, and (2) be careful how much you depend on the scale for feedback.
Best wishes for many sane S-days!
I agree. A weight increase on the scale could be due to any number of things, and not be a reflection of actual body weight gain. I think a lot of us have a tendancy to overdo on S days initially. After a while, not so much.NoelFigart wrote:Four pounds of fat is 14,400 calories. I can promise you that you did not eat that many excess calories in two days. Even if you did, you body would not have metabolized it into fat that quickly.
On this diet, honestly, weighing more than once a month is really not going to show much.
That said, okay, you don't wanna be an idiot on S days. Idiocy is indeed possible.
For instance, I went out to breakfast on Saturday and had a breakfast I wouldn't eat during the week. Yesterday afternoon I was craving potato chips, so had some. And that was it. No sweet treat -- I didn't get around to making or buying any. I did have some planned, but the ingredients will keep until next week.
I fully intend to be an idiot on Thanksgiving, though. Although if last year is any indication, I'll eat more, but not really go overboard. I ate as much of everything that I wanted, but not to the point of being completely stuffed. I had one plateful -- and dessert. That was it. Well, maybe I nibbled a little.
The big problem with Thanksgiving and Christmas is that we have things that only appear on those days -- and I really LIKE them!"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
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gratefuldeb67
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- Location: Great Neck, NY
Hi Kathleen 
I am sorry about the little setback.
You haven't really mentioned about what you overdid it on.
You have only mentioned the weight gain, which I am pretty sure will level off in a few days of being good again, so don't worry bout it too much.
I am sure it will become apparent to you what you need to work on if you think back about whether you truly overdid things or maybe you just ate something very salty? I don't know.
If you were truly overdoing things then simply cut back on the amount of S's you have.
And, really, don't make it a habit to weigh on Mondays. This is bound to psych you out and worry about the weekends if you have a temporary gain.
I'd also say, for now, forget all that intuitive stuff hahah, because if you really have bad habits, they will win over your intuition unfortunately until you can develop some healthy ones to replace them.
Plan ahead and just limit the S's to a few per weekend.
I promise that will not ruin your overall progress.
The Gastric Bypass example only proves that bad habits must be changed to good ones.
Good luck!
Debs x
I am sorry about the little setback.
You haven't really mentioned about what you overdid it on.
You have only mentioned the weight gain, which I am pretty sure will level off in a few days of being good again, so don't worry bout it too much.
I am sure it will become apparent to you what you need to work on if you think back about whether you truly overdid things or maybe you just ate something very salty? I don't know.
If you were truly overdoing things then simply cut back on the amount of S's you have.
And, really, don't make it a habit to weigh on Mondays. This is bound to psych you out and worry about the weekends if you have a temporary gain.
I'd also say, for now, forget all that intuitive stuff hahah, because if you really have bad habits, they will win over your intuition unfortunately until you can develop some healthy ones to replace them.
Plan ahead and just limit the S's to a few per weekend.
I promise that will not ruin your overall progress.
The Gastric Bypass example only proves that bad habits must be changed to good ones.
Good luck!
Debs xThere is no Wisdom greater than Kindness
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blueskighs
- Posts: 1787
- Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:11 am
- Location: California
Kathleen,I went into this diet thinking S Days could follow the Intuitive Eating approach of "unconditional permisison to eat." I thought that a lowered amount of food on N Days would keep me from really overeating on S Days. That did work for a time.
first of all DON'T PANIC! in periods where I have done "scientific weighing" on No S I have had such debauches
and weekend weight gains ... not to worry! I know, so much easier said than done! It is curious, I just wrote about this on howfunisthat's daily check in. It was not until my third and fourth month on No S that my S days got really wild. But I have to say I "believed" and just kept on keeping on and keeping my N days green.
At that point my weight was bouncing between 125 and 129. My original maintenance goal weight was 124.5 and I was like ... maybe I just won't get there ... and need to adjust my goal weight to 125-129. By August my fifth month I WANTED to retool my S days. I had had enough monster cookies, buckets of mini peanut butter cups, huge slices of VON's Cake, donuts, etc and it was actually pretty easy to make the change and get my S days more on an even keel.
Now my weight is rocking between 121.5 and 123.5 ... that is lower than my original maintenance weight.
SO JUST DON'T PANIC and keep your N days green. Let yourself just go through this "process". I suspect your weight will fall rather quickly and predictably through the week and by Friday and Saturday you will be feeling great.
Also, I do beleive the quote above I pulled from your original post is absolutely correct. The deal is this, you have to trust the process and keep your N days green while your body and mind all catch up with one another. If you keep your N days green you will eat less on your S days. It won't necessarily be a straight line immediate volume reduction. My experience, life is not really like that. It's more up and down, wave like, but you can acheive it and you can feel great about acheiving it!
I wouldn't worry too much at this point, as you go along just pay attention to what you enjoy and how you enjoy it. Reinhard's podcast on S days gone wild is also great to listen to.
You're doing great! This is a subject that if you want to discuss more or I can offer you more support, you are welcome to pm me,
Blueskighs
www.nosdiet.blogspot.com Where I blog daily about my No S journey
Thanks for the feedback. I've got a couple of changes I'll make as a result...
Noelfigart,
I didn't eat real meals over the weekend. I let go of meals and perhaps having more normal food as well as treats would be better than just indulging in everything I denied myself all week. I really have reverted to the behavior of the binge at the end of the starvation diet.
winnie96,
The odd thing about this behavior is that it isn't really enjoyable, although I really enjoyed the Haagen Dazs bar in the bathtub on Saturday morning! There's almost a francticness to my overeating. I decided last weekend that S stood for stomach ache, and I've noticed almost a relief in returning to the safety of N Day behavior.
I have eaten without discrimination on S Days, whereas I'm getting much pickier with my N Day meals. For example, today for lunch, I took the time to open the Swiss cheese package rather than settle for the cheddar cheese which was in an already opened package. It seems like a small thing, and it is, but what I'm learning to do is respect my own taste preferences. With dieting, you learn to disregard how you feel and what you like. I've had my last Lean Cuisine, that's for sure!
wosnes,
What is worrying me is that my S Day behavior has gotten worse, not better. I initially had a very bad reaction to that much overeating, as in I had to lie down because I was so stuffed. This past weekend, I sailed through even though I ate as much or more than in my earlier weeks on this diet. I think I need to stick it out and see how things change, although having regular meals would be one way to reduce the intake of sweets. I didn't have regular breakfasts or lunches over the weekend, only dinners with my family.
gratefuldeb67,
I think maybe I should cut back on weighing myself, especially on Mondays. One thing I've recognized about this diet is that what structure I end up following is the weight I'm going to accept. I've always had a weight goal in mind instead of a process that I would commit to following for life. This is a very different approach.
Blueskighs,
I never considered that this might just be a temporary situation. I ate an incredible amount over the weekend, but the only thing I really enjoyed was the Haagen Dazs bar at 6 in the morning in the bathtub. The rest of the weekend was like "diet backlash" from my dieting days.
I feel comfortable with keeping the N Days green, although I decided to change to Reinhard's one plateful instead of my looser one serving for meals.
Kathleen
Noelfigart,
I didn't eat real meals over the weekend. I let go of meals and perhaps having more normal food as well as treats would be better than just indulging in everything I denied myself all week. I really have reverted to the behavior of the binge at the end of the starvation diet.
winnie96,
The odd thing about this behavior is that it isn't really enjoyable, although I really enjoyed the Haagen Dazs bar in the bathtub on Saturday morning! There's almost a francticness to my overeating. I decided last weekend that S stood for stomach ache, and I've noticed almost a relief in returning to the safety of N Day behavior.
I have eaten without discrimination on S Days, whereas I'm getting much pickier with my N Day meals. For example, today for lunch, I took the time to open the Swiss cheese package rather than settle for the cheddar cheese which was in an already opened package. It seems like a small thing, and it is, but what I'm learning to do is respect my own taste preferences. With dieting, you learn to disregard how you feel and what you like. I've had my last Lean Cuisine, that's for sure!
wosnes,
What is worrying me is that my S Day behavior has gotten worse, not better. I initially had a very bad reaction to that much overeating, as in I had to lie down because I was so stuffed. This past weekend, I sailed through even though I ate as much or more than in my earlier weeks on this diet. I think I need to stick it out and see how things change, although having regular meals would be one way to reduce the intake of sweets. I didn't have regular breakfasts or lunches over the weekend, only dinners with my family.
gratefuldeb67,
I think maybe I should cut back on weighing myself, especially on Mondays. One thing I've recognized about this diet is that what structure I end up following is the weight I'm going to accept. I've always had a weight goal in mind instead of a process that I would commit to following for life. This is a very different approach.
Blueskighs,
I never considered that this might just be a temporary situation. I ate an incredible amount over the weekend, but the only thing I really enjoyed was the Haagen Dazs bar at 6 in the morning in the bathtub. The rest of the weekend was like "diet backlash" from my dieting days.
I feel comfortable with keeping the N Days green, although I decided to change to Reinhard's one plateful instead of my looser one serving for meals.
Kathleen
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gratefuldeb67
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gingercake
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Yes! From the first sweet I eat on the weekend, it's like sugar is all I want until Sunday night. I think some of us are more sensitive when it comes to that.winnie96 wrote: I've also found that the more I skip the sweets, the less likely I am to crave them, so I don't go wild on S-days with them because it's so great to be out of that sugar-dependence loop.
Your S days sound exactly like what I want for my S days. And my goal, too, is to feel as good on them as I do the rest of the week. Thanks so much for posting your experience.Now, my S-days are not like my N-days: I'll have a bit more at meals, enjoy a dessert at Sunday dinner, have a few glasses of wine, go out for breakfast, eat the birthday cake, etc. -- little treats so that I know it's an S-Day and don't start feeling deprived. But in general, I'm able to remember how GREAT I feel on N-days and that motivates me to approach S-Days with a view toward feeling great on them, too.
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howfunisthat
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- Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:35 am
- Location: New York
Kathleen....you've done so well. The scale might not be reflecting everything, but it's so apparent through your posts that you've changed from the inside out. Your thoughts seem to have evolved from those first posts of this adventure...you & your daughter will be the healthiest mother/daughter team there could be....
janie
janie
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy...
I'm feeling better. I think I need to stay off the scale for Sunday and Monday and just let this diet take its course. My daughter had her first failure. I told her that my first four days were failures It's clear she has fewer eating problems than I do. I worked hard to find a diet that worked and persuaded her not to diet despite her pediatrician telling her two years ago about claroie counting as a way to lose weight. I had 30 years of calorie counting as a way to gain weight and didn't want her to go down that path!
Kathleen
Kathleen
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howfunisthat
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You're so wise to help her see that going down that diet road is just setting herself up for disaster. My dr. told me when I was 5 that I should lose 5 pounds. I look back at pictures & know that weight really wasn't a problem for me then...but the moment he told me to lose 5 pounds I started on my road to diet obsession. You're helping her now...and she'll have such a healthy outlook on eating.
Have a great day Kathleen...janie
Have a great day Kathleen...janie
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy...
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gratefuldeb67
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Wow, what a jerk!!howfunisthat wrote: My dr. told me when I was 5 that I should lose 5 pounds. I look back at pictures & know that weight really wasn't a problem for me then...but the moment he told me to lose 5 pounds I started on my road to diet obsession.
He wasn't doctor Scarsdale was he??? LOL
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness
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howfunisthat
- Posts: 605
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Deb....Thanks...it's nice to know someone else thinks he was a jerk too. If a dr. said that to one of my kids without talking with me first I would be livid. I guess the only positive this about this memory is that I can remind myself that it took 48 years to develop these bad habits & I should be nicer to myself about developing these new ones...
janie
janie
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy...