Everyday Systems

Hello from a former yo-yo dieter even though it has been 10 years since my last "push." I had typically used WWs and could count points, with the help of intricate spreadsheets, with the best. I could stick with it too... for six months. Then I'd gain most if not all of it back.

I started counting points again three weeks ago and was doing well. However, I knew that I would not be able to sustain the point counting, searching through websites looking for something to eat that had a certain value. I was spending a lot of time every day. Hours. In fact, when I was on WW in 2005, I used the entire time from the start of work until lunch obsessing over counting points, weighing every day, calculating elaborate trends, etc. I could never see counting points for the rest of my life. Ugh.

I hereby quit counting points forever! >>Giant sigh of relief!<<

I am ecstatic over finding the No S Diet! The simplicity bowled me over. I officially, started two days ago. I think I'm going to make my no S time be from Friday lunch until Sunday breakfast.

Health-wise, it's past time I started. I am diabetic (type 2), hypertensive, hyperlipidemic and have moderate kidney impairment. I had surgery a year ago the remove a benign tumor on one of my adrenal glands to relieve the high blood pressure. Fortunately, it was a success! I was eating way too much food and didn't keep my diabetes under control. I got scared that I may have to go on dialysis in the future so I am making the big change.

I love the support that everyone gets on here. WW had support too, but they only made a shallow presentation and never stuck around for everyone to discuss their problems and successes. This seems better. I think local groups of No S Dieters would also be awesome. Does anyone do that?

Numbers:
Maximum weight: 325 (1997)
Current weight (three weeks ago): 285
Goal: 185
Lowest weight since max: 212 (2005)

Warmest welcome, Ferd! It's great to have you in the NoS community. Sounds like you have some health problems that you are hoping to deal with. Wishing you the best, that NoS proves to be a good solution to bringing you into moderate eating. (I don't know of any groups who meet in person... I think we are spread over too many continents, and perhaps too small in number!)

I've toyed with the idea of running a local group in San Diego, but I've never followed through. I am very much committed to using No S for establishing moderate, orderly eating for its own sake, not for weight loss. I haven't figured out how to do that. I've seen so many people leave because they weren't getting results fast enough only to return years later heavier. I want to avoid that.

Welcome! I'm a reformed yo-yo calorie counter.

I live in Australia and have no idea if there are even any other No Sers in my city, although there are one or two other posters from my country. The upside of being spread over many continents is that there is almost always someone awake to reply if you hit a bump in the road If it helps, start a check in thread on the Daily Check-ins page - there is always a heap of support, humour and gentle advice to be had.

Good luck!

Welcome on board! Looking forward to reading your thread!

Welcome! NoS has definitely helped me become more satisfied with eating and generally happier with myself - I think knowing that I don't have to be perfect on NoS has really helped me forgive myself for fails and be kinder to myself.

I am looking forward to reading about your journey. Good luck!

Thanks for your replies!

I thought I'd add a few notes - things I have noticed so far.

• > I have decided to make Friday and Saturday my S-days.
  
  > I think I might join a local TOPS group just for the support and they have a decent set of scales. It's MUCH less expensive than WW and they don't mind which diet you follow. For those of you unfamiliar with TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) it's at http://www.tops.org/
  
  > I think that doing three weeks of WW before switching is actually helping. My stomach is "smaller," and I have a greater appreciation for the nutritional value of foods.
  
  > The first five days are going well - it doesn't hurt that two of them were S-days.
  
  > I was looking at the monthly challenges and was wondering what a good definition of a "yellow day" would be. I'm thinking that it would be one meal that was off the rails (portions or food quality) or one snack. Anything more than that would be a "red day" I think.
  
  > I have always wanted to eliminate eating for emotional reasons (I think this is why I am so large to begin with), so only eating at mealtime is going to be a major triumph.
  
  > Also, I want to eat only when hungry. I haven't had much problem with that on No-S days, but I think I can do it most of the time on S-days. At least I'll give that a shot. Going through the whole week of No-S days might change my perspective.

One of the helpful things I read on here early on was that you don't need to fix everything that's wrong with your eating all at once. Focus on the big stuff - getting a good green N day habit going.

ferdberfle wrote:I was looking at the monthly challenges and was wondering what a good definition of a "yellow day" would be. I'm thinking that it would be one meal that was off the rails (portions or food quality) or one snack. Anything more than that would be a "red day" I think.

For me, any day that doesn't follow the 14 words of No S is red if I didn't decide to make it "S" in advance. Yellow is for "exempt" days, like weekends, birthdays, anniversaries - days I decided in advance would be Special. Mostly because I know myself and I know what a slippery slope I can get on

Also, I want to eat only when hungry. I haven't had much problem with that on No-S days, but I think I can do it most of the time on S-days. At least I'll give that a shot.

I'd be a bit cautious with this one, especially if you've previously struggled with emotional eating - remember that hunger can be a habit just like other things and can also be elusive. You know how you can feel really hungry, but then get busy with something else and forget about it? So, then you wonder, was that hunger or not? It helps if you can initially plan your meals at consistent times, as this tends to "train" your hunger to turn up on time. My aim these days is to get hungry about an hour before a meal. If that isn't happening, my meals are a bit big or heavy.

Welcome! This is a truly helpful and supportive community. I would urge you to do a daily (or weekly) check in thread, if you feel like you need some extra help and accountability.

ironchef wrote:Yellow is for "exempt" days, like weekends, birthdays, anniversaries - days I decided in advance would be Special. Mostly because I know myself and I know what a slippery slope I can get on

I see now. I guess I wasn't looking very closely.

Good Luck! You can do this

ironchef wrote:remember that hunger can be a habit just like other things and can also be elusive.

This is very true. I used to be hungry all the time in the beginning, now, having achieved a moderate weight ("normal BMI" but I prefer moderate weight because it's somewhere I am happy at, healthy at and where I look good too - a bit superficial I know but hey) and I barely ever feel hungry anymore.

I think it's because my body has the habit of now getting hungry at set meal times, about 30min before. It's just a habit. While when I was snacking all the time I was hungry all the time. And it felt like real hunger too, even if it probably wasn't.

What I've done so far with S Days, is to not let myself fail. Period. I have had some wild S Days, but now I usually have one S Day where I truly enjoy my treats, and I eat just enough to be satisfied. This has helped keep my N Days green, so I'm going to keep focusing on that for now.

Good luck!

A yellow day is an S day. It means it is not a failure to have an S. Officially, any S on an N day is a fail/red. Some people design two habitcals for themselves: one that shows any failure as a red, and one that marks only BIG fails as red. The first one keeps them honest; the second one keeps them hopeful.