Sooo, it's been, what, three months since I was last here? I'm ready to try again, but I've been considering why I failed last time and I'm wondering if I need to build up to Vanilla No-S.
There are two main reasons why I didn't last very long last time I tried this:
1) I'm a postgrad. I'm currently working on my dissertation, which means I'm home pretty much every day, and there's not much to differentiate N-days and S-days. I think this makes it harder for me to start a five-day span of N-days on Monday. I'm thinking a way around this might be to start with 2-3 N-days a week (Tuesday/Thursday or Monday/Wednesday/Friday), and once I've got the habit down on those days add in more.
2) I found it quite draining to be depriving myself of food when I was hungry. I do want to ultimately not need snacks, but at the same time, if I was more active one day or misjudged the energy content of my lunch, I'd be ravenous by dinner. If this happened a second day, it was that much harder to resist. My possible workaround here is to distinguish between 'snacks' and 'snacking'. Snacking would be forbidden on N-days. However, if I'm hungry, or if there's something I'm really craving, I can have a small quantity, on a plate, with a cup of tea. Effectively, I'd be making it into a mini-meal.
What are your thoughts on my mods? Bear in mind that these are not meant to be permanent, but rather options for easing myself into the habit of No-S; last time I tried I found that it felt less like building a habit and more like I was relying on willpower all day.
Fell off the wagon; not sure how best to continue
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
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automatedeating
- Posts: 5305
- Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:16 pm
Learning to live with hunger between meals is, in my opinion, the willpower-requiring habit that most defines NoS for me. Medical conditions aside, after a few weeks you'll adjust. You'll begin to enjoy having a healthy appetite coming to a meal.
If you're looking for an "ease into it" mod, how about allowing yourself seconds at meals? That way you could be sure to eat enough food to make it to the next meal.
Don't forget--milk, milky coffees, and other beverages are technically OK in-between meals.
It sounds a little to me like you don't have much faith that you can withstand a little hunger. Well, I promise you (again, medical conditions aside): You CAN handle hunger between meals.
If you're looking for an "ease into it" mod, how about allowing yourself seconds at meals? That way you could be sure to eat enough food to make it to the next meal.
Don't forget--milk, milky coffees, and other beverages are technically OK in-between meals.
It sounds a little to me like you don't have much faith that you can withstand a little hunger. Well, I promise you (again, medical conditions aside): You CAN handle hunger between meals.
Month/Year-BMI
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2
8/13-26.3
8/14-24.5
5/15-26.2
1/16-26.9; 9/16-25.6
8/17-25.8; 11/17-26.9
3/18-25.6; 8/18-24.5; 10/18-23.8;
3/19-22.1; 10/19-21.8
6/20-22.5; 7/20-23.0; 9/20-23.6
4/21 - 25.2
I agree with automated eating. The best way to continue is to follow the rules. I was on disability when I started No-S and I'm now retired. I manage to know what day it is all the time.
When I started No-S I didn't realize there was a one plate rule. I took the no seconds rule quite literally. So I didn't always stick to one plate. By the time I realized there was a one plate rule, I was successful just not eating seconds and saw no reason to change what I was doing. Several years down the road I rarely use more than one plate unless I'm eating out and a dish is served on a separate plate.
Don't make your reasons (home all the time) excuses for failure. With the possible exception of medical reasons, there is no reason an adult should need to eat between meals. Make sure you eat enough at meals.
And remember, hunger is not an emergency. You're going to eat again soon.
When I started No-S I didn't realize there was a one plate rule. I took the no seconds rule quite literally. So I didn't always stick to one plate. By the time I realized there was a one plate rule, I was successful just not eating seconds and saw no reason to change what I was doing. Several years down the road I rarely use more than one plate unless I'm eating out and a dish is served on a separate plate.
Don't make your reasons (home all the time) excuses for failure. With the possible exception of medical reasons, there is no reason an adult should need to eat between meals. Make sure you eat enough at meals.
And remember, hunger is not an emergency. You're going to eat again soon.
"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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Imogen Morley
- Posts: 1022
- Joined: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:11 pm
I'd suggest plain old vanilla No S, with some doable meal schedule to follow, with 4-6 hours between eating events. If you are feeling snacky, you can always have some caloric beverage, as much and as often as you need. And don't be afraid of having overfilled plates at the beginning.
I'm the self-styled queen of mods here, and I can tell you they rarely work. With mods you need no less willpower (and possibly more!) than with vanilla No S.
I'm the self-styled queen of mods here, and I can tell you they rarely work. With mods you need no less willpower (and possibly more!) than with vanilla No S.
When I say I'm hungry between meals, I mean hungry. Like, I could eat dinner at 4pm. But then I eat dinner at 6, and I'm hungry at 10. I'm probably not eating enough at my meals, though I usually feel satiated when I'm finished; in fact, I often feel downright full after breakfast and dinner. I suppose if my lunch isn't big enough, though, my dinner will be enough volume to fill me up, but not enough energy to see me through till the next morning.
Maybe I should take the sorts of things I'd usually have for snacks (cheese and crackers, apple and peanut butter, fruit and yoghurt) and do something like automatedeating said, and have them as a sort of 'dessert' (rather than seconds, because with cooked meals there won't be enough for seconds). In most cases, I could do this within the 'one plate' rule, even. In theory, this would also help with the 'no sweets' thing, because I'd be having something sweet to finish off my meals, but it's not a 'sweet'. Does that sound better?
ETA: I eat at reasonable times, too. Breakfast is between 9 and 9:30; lunch between 1 and 2; and dinner between 6 and 7. Actually, I often put dinner off until 8 or 8:30 because I'm afraid of being hungry into the evening; it's a lot easier to deal with hunger for an hour or so, knowing I'll get a meal afterwards, than to deal with it between dinner and bedtime.
Maybe I should take the sorts of things I'd usually have for snacks (cheese and crackers, apple and peanut butter, fruit and yoghurt) and do something like automatedeating said, and have them as a sort of 'dessert' (rather than seconds, because with cooked meals there won't be enough for seconds). In most cases, I could do this within the 'one plate' rule, even. In theory, this would also help with the 'no sweets' thing, because I'd be having something sweet to finish off my meals, but it's not a 'sweet'. Does that sound better?
ETA: I eat at reasonable times, too. Breakfast is between 9 and 9:30; lunch between 1 and 2; and dinner between 6 and 7. Actually, I often put dinner off until 8 or 8:30 because I'm afraid of being hungry into the evening; it's a lot easier to deal with hunger for an hour or so, knowing I'll get a meal afterwards, than to deal with it between dinner and bedtime.
I'm coming down on the other side. I've seen people who ate three meals and a snack at the time they found most challenging regularly for quite awhile before it became more natural to skip the snack. One of those people, who is retired, is now having some 2-meal days on several days a week by choice!
However, maybe meals are your issue. When I first started, I added the snacks I would normally have to the previous meal. I was pretty full, but as time went on, I needed less. However, I've found I really need to have a serving of a full fat at just about every meal or I really feel it. Fat is so dense it's relatively easy to add it without it bloating me, unless it's really a lot. But I don't get hungry very fast after rich meals.
I often have fruit with a nut butter at the end of lunch and dinner. If I have the time, I have a hot drink to really seal the deal.
However, maybe meals are your issue. When I first started, I added the snacks I would normally have to the previous meal. I was pretty full, but as time went on, I needed less. However, I've found I really need to have a serving of a full fat at just about every meal or I really feel it. Fat is so dense it's relatively easy to add it without it bloating me, unless it's really a lot. But I don't get hungry very fast after rich meals.
I often have fruit with a nut butter at the end of lunch and dinner. If I have the time, I have a hot drink to really seal the deal.
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)
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)
Hi, Flor! Yay, someone with my lifestyle situation! I do not work outside the home and am at home pretty much all day, every day, with 7 dogs (one of whom my husband rescued from the side of a freeway 2 months ago after she'd been hit by a car; after having her pelvis and both back legs surgically repaired, she's kept me at home even more than usual lately). And I too am back to No S-ing for the second time. On my first go-round I also toyed with non-weekend S days, which seemed to work, but ended up messing with my eating-disordered mind: I would make it through the weekend, then see the next five days as offering two opportunities to binge and call S Days. By going straight vanilla this time and keeping S days where Reinhard intended them to be, I am the one in charge instead of handing the reigns over to my primitive little monster.
My mealtimes are exactly like your too. At first, I had a really hard time between breakfast and lunch since I was not a breakfast lover. So I didn't eat enough and felt famished by lunch. But I am/was a newbie and deferred to others around here and, guess what? They are all spot on: make your meals bigger and embrace NORMAL hunger. I learned there is a distinct difference between the kind of hunger I had from 500 calories a day that messed with my hormones and sleep, and the between-meal-NORMAL hunger of No S: one sends alarm bells through your body while the latter gently reminds you that the tank is near empty, but there is no need to panic. There really isn't.
And last, I will add, as a fellow homebody, keep tempting foods OUT of the house (if you can, that is. We don't have kids, so it's admittedly easier...not sure if that is your situation). I hope to not have to do that someday, but for now, I feel I must.
p.s. One more thing, I drink a large mug of coffee in the morning and save a second one (with creamer) for my hungriest time of day. This may vary, but is usually around noon or 1 pm before lunch. In other words, the between-meal drink suggestions already made really do help get you over the temporary hunger hump.
My mealtimes are exactly like your too. At first, I had a really hard time between breakfast and lunch since I was not a breakfast lover. So I didn't eat enough and felt famished by lunch. But I am/was a newbie and deferred to others around here and, guess what? They are all spot on: make your meals bigger and embrace NORMAL hunger. I learned there is a distinct difference between the kind of hunger I had from 500 calories a day that messed with my hormones and sleep, and the between-meal-NORMAL hunger of No S: one sends alarm bells through your body while the latter gently reminds you that the tank is near empty, but there is no need to panic. There really isn't.
And last, I will add, as a fellow homebody, keep tempting foods OUT of the house (if you can, that is. We don't have kids, so it's admittedly easier...not sure if that is your situation). I hope to not have to do that someday, but for now, I feel I must.
p.s. One more thing, I drink a large mug of coffee in the morning and save a second one (with creamer) for my hungriest time of day. This may vary, but is usually around noon or 1 pm before lunch. In other words, the between-meal drink suggestions already made really do help get you over the temporary hunger hump.
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
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
Just an update:
I've been increasing the size of meals, especially lunch, and I've been managing pretty well to stick to three meals a day. I think the important thing for me is to make sure I'm getting carbs, fat and protein (and fruit/veg, but I don't think that really contributes much to satiety). For instance, yesterday for lunch I had an arugula, apple, avocado and almond salad (eat ALL the As
), with a bit of wholemeal toast slathered in peanut butter, and it kept me satisfied till dinner.
I've been increasing the size of meals, especially lunch, and I've been managing pretty well to stick to three meals a day. I think the important thing for me is to make sure I'm getting carbs, fat and protein (and fruit/veg, but I don't think that really contributes much to satiety). For instance, yesterday for lunch I had an arugula, apple, avocado and almond salad (eat ALL the As
), with a bit of wholemeal toast slathered in peanut butter, and it kept me satisfied till dinner.