Hi! Newbie Checking In

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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Ursula
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:47 pm
Location: North Carolina

Hi! Newbie Checking In

Post by Ursula » Thu May 15, 2014 2:27 pm

After months of lurking, I am ready to actively join the community. :D

In October I completed a whole month of NoS but, like so many others, I lost patience (and panicked over S days gone wild). Now, although I am 5 pounds lighter than my highest weight at the start of that October, but also no less than when I gave up, I've often revisited my progress calendar from that month of NoS, where I was averaging a weekly loss of one pound (even with the wild S days!), and wonder where I would be if I had only stuck with it...

I am 49 and have been a chronic binger/restricter since the age of 13 except for summer vacations spent in Germany; there my grandparents served three squares a day and didn't put up with any disordered eating nonsense. And guess what? Those were the happiest times of my youth: no angst & no self-hatred as body obsession was blissfully put on hold for the duration and focus was directed outward.

My mother immigrated from Germany when she started college in the US and eventually married my father. Unfortunately, she became so fully American that by the time I hit puberty, I was well-versed in calorie counting and daily weigh-ins. Ironically, the first time my German grandparents visited her in the US they were shocked to see obese people. They had NEVER laid eyes on people so overweight. Yet they were alarmed to see how thin their own daughter had become since leaving Germany. (My mother, like me, has never been overweight but, like me -- the old younger me! -- didn't accept herself unless her BMI was between 18 & 19.)

This little family history of mine beautifully illustrates how completely screwed up this country has become over food and weight. I think -- know! --Reinard's simple and elegant formula taking us back to old-country basics is the only antidote to the madness. I am ready to recommit and find food and body peace before I hit 50.

By the way, the Germany phenomenon remains intact: I fly to Europe twice a year to see my relatives -- in fact we have met up for the past few years in heavenly Austria, Kössen in Tirol to be exact! -- where I fall right back into three meals a day (with the couple of daily glasses of sparkling wine -- yay Sekt!), no seconds, no snacking, except sometimes on days that begin with S.

A quick shout out to eschano and anra: Servus! I always think of my next trip to Austria when I read your posts! :D

So happy to have found this great community!

Ursula
Last edited by Ursula on Thu May 15, 2014 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

eschano
Posts: 2642
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:20 pm

Post by eschano » Thu May 15, 2014 3:59 pm

Servus Ursula,

Really lovely to meet you.

This "wonder where I would be if I had only stuck with it..." seems to be a common thing with returning NoSers who lost patience along the way, so no worries, this time it will stick :)

I know what you mean about the 3 meals a day in Germany and Austria - not that this stopped me from bingeing when I was young but it's nice to have found a way back to my roots - much like yours, my grandparents only ate 3 meals a day and while my granddad would have a row of chocolate every afternoon around 4pm (1 row, not 2-10 like me) my grandmother would only indulge on a slice of cake or some cookies on Sundays.

I look forward to reading your daily check-in thread.
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

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Ursula
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:47 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by Ursula » Thu May 15, 2014 5:00 pm

Okay, eschano, got my daily check-in up and going. Thanks for reminding me!

Also, I had totally forgotten about "Kaffeetrinken" at my grandparents in the afternoons! (My aunts and cousins have dropped that tradition.). Isn't it amazing that they could eat breakfast, lunch (largest meal at the time), coffee and cake then a dinner and remain so slender??? Granted, breakfast and dinner were light affairs, but it seems like every hour of the day revolved around the next meal: my Oma started working on lunch not long after breakfast, while my Opa went into town daily and on foot (!) to get provisions (storage space is and was, as you know, scarce). Then a few times a week she spent hours in the kitchen baking cakes. Amazing.... So I guess they did have sweets pretty much daily like your Oma and Opa, but I also remember their sweets being MUCH less sweet than what I had in America (I used to sprinkle sugar on the whipped cream b/c my grandmother added only a pinch).

Anyhoo, thank you so very much for the warm welcome! I think maybe it takes a false start at NoS for some like me to really appreciate its power/wonderfulness/freedom/charm. :wink:
49 years old
5'6"
5-14-14: 144.4 (NoS Reboot)

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
Victor Frankl

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Mon May 19, 2014 1:57 pm

Welcome! So interesting to hear of the 3-meal tradition in Germany. I knew it is the tradition in Italy and France, but not Germany. Just goes to show that whole populations can live quite well without snacking.

Not only are you already in the healthy BMI range, you are also lighter than 81% of your peers in the U.S. and 82% of your peers in Germany. Only the media could convince us we need to be thinner than that, unless there was a time you comfortably weighed much less with no stress. I hope you can use No S to come to peace with your eating! It's changed my life after 38 years of wandering.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

eschano
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Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:20 pm

Post by eschano » Mon May 19, 2014 2:25 pm

Oolala, as an Austrian, I can tell you that most cultures in Europe eat 3 meals a day. Some 2 and some 4 like the French. But I don't know of a single one that allows perma-snacking. Most of Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic with their amazing cakes eats 2-3 meals with possibly an afternoon treat but mostly treats are taken on Sundays at lunch after mass.
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

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Ursula
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Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:47 pm
Location: North Carolina

Post by Ursula » Mon May 19, 2014 2:35 pm

Thanks, oolala! I have been waiting to hear from you since I view you as the unofficial No S ambassador and have always appreciated your no-nonsense, don't-sugar-coat-it, put-on-your-big-girl-panties posts (so German!).

It's funny because I was reading about you leading someone to No S via your review of Shrink Yourself so I skeedaddled right on over to Amazon to see what that was all about. I just randomly started reading reviews on the app (which doesn't immediately include a byline) and was SO struck by one review in particular. Well, of course, it was you. The years you have put into No S and your naked honesty are an invaluable service to newbies and long-termers alike. I especially appreciate (though I don't always like to hear it) your acknowledgment of the fact that the urge to binge never fully goes away. But No S seems to be the best way to reign in the demons day in and day out; though they may rear up on weekends, the fact that this is expected and "allowed" somehow softens, if not all out negates, the self-hate that invariably ensues.

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, thanks for calling me lighter than over 80% of my peers (in Germany too???). He, he: I need help. :shock:
49 years old
5'6"
5-14-14: 144.4 (NoS Reboot)

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
Victor Frankl

wosnes
Posts: 4168
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:38 pm
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA

Post by wosnes » Mon May 19, 2014 4:02 pm

eschano wrote:Oolala, as an Austrian, I can tell you that most cultures in Europe eat 3 meals a day. Some 2 and some 4 like the French. But I don't know of a single one that allows perma-snacking. Most of Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic with their amazing cakes eats 2-3 meals with possibly an afternoon treat but mostly treats are taken on Sundays at lunch after mass.
I think most other cultures have one or two lighter meals and one more substantial meal daily. "Three squares" here translates to three substantial meals. Then we add snacks.
"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."

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