If you're doing well with No S and have a long history of dieting before finding No S, have you learned to switch off diet-y thoughts?
Diet thoughts sabotage me more than anything else when it comes to being successful on No S.
I think I've managed to take the focus off weight loss but I still have thoughts about what I'm eating which are judgmental and unhelpful.
examples would be looking at a plate of food and hearing this voice in my head saying "there must be 600 calories on that plate" (the voice is disapproving). or when I'm planning my meals the voice pops up to let me know that what I'm planning to eat is very carby which = 'bad'.
I realise that down the line I can improve the content of my meals and make them healthier, but while I'm trying to get into the 3 meal habit and drop the binges, it's not helpful.
I find it hard to ignore these messages - they started when I was 17 so it's been around 37 years, day in day out therefore a hard habit to crack. I'm not sure how to shut them up.
Switching off Diet Head, suggestions please
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Switching off Diet Head, suggestions please
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue
I am the SAME way. It's getting better!! My kids wanted Chicken Teriyaki which in the past I would have made, had a tiny bit of rice, tons of veggies & chicken & very little teriyaki. I didn't do it this time. I told myself those rules were done & had never really worked for me anyway (: Rice with teriyaki sauce is just awesome!! After that I read about the benefits of carbs & found that they help increase a hormone that dieting & cutting calories decreases (Leptin). I'm pretty sure we've all been brainwashed!! I think that if everyone ate NORMAL but just in correct portion sizes we'd all realize how crazy the entire diet industry is (:
My biggest diet baggage:
I need to eat a lot of calcium
I need to fill up on protein
Too many carbs are bad
I just ate a 1/2 bagel with scramboled eggs & cheese. It was so good & I would have never done that in the past (I ate my eggs & cheese by themselves to avoid the bad carbs & high calories in the bagel or bread). But I've found that eating that makes me happy & keeps me full until lunch. The more I tell my diet demons to shut up the more I realize that all those diet rules were probably hurting me more than helping me!!
My biggest diet baggage:
I need to eat a lot of calcium
I need to fill up on protein
Too many carbs are bad
I just ate a 1/2 bagel with scramboled eggs & cheese. It was so good & I would have never done that in the past (I ate my eggs & cheese by themselves to avoid the bad carbs & high calories in the bagel or bread). But I've found that eating that makes me happy & keeps me full until lunch. The more I tell my diet demons to shut up the more I realize that all those diet rules were probably hurting me more than helping me!!
I was an expert calorie and gram counter, and a very "successful" one, as I used that style of dieting to lose weight numerous times (then put it back on).
3 years in I can still tell you the calories in a medium egg, but can honestly say I don't care!
Everyone is different, but here's what helped me:
1. Stop reading anything diet related. That includes "health" blogs. It doesn't matter how cute the website is, or how pretty the pictures of food look, or how healthy that hot 20 something got from eating raw / vegan / paleo / fasting - it's all just fodder for my self criticism. If I need guidance on what to eat, I go with that polan quote "eat food, mostly plants".
2. Avoid conversations about weight and diet as best you can. Even here, on the only "diet" site I read, I skip the parts if posts where people list what they eat and I don't list on my own check in. I find it really triggers me reading how everyone else eats 1/2 what I would and never lists "bakery pie and sauce" for lunch. I also stay away if threads are about other diet or nutrition topics.
3. Focus on your food as food. How does it look, smell, taste? What do you physically feel like while eating and after. Not how you feel mentally, or what the research says, but what your body and senses tell you. Do you actually prefer rice noodles to egg noodles, or did you just read they had fewer calories? Turns out I feel awesome during and after salted caramel slice, sleepy and happy after a big bowl of pasta, a bit queasy after fried fish and chips and I get heartburn from too much beer
Good luck, and give it time - as you say you've got many years of programming to undo!
3 years in I can still tell you the calories in a medium egg, but can honestly say I don't care!
Everyone is different, but here's what helped me:
1. Stop reading anything diet related. That includes "health" blogs. It doesn't matter how cute the website is, or how pretty the pictures of food look, or how healthy that hot 20 something got from eating raw / vegan / paleo / fasting - it's all just fodder for my self criticism. If I need guidance on what to eat, I go with that polan quote "eat food, mostly plants".
2. Avoid conversations about weight and diet as best you can. Even here, on the only "diet" site I read, I skip the parts if posts where people list what they eat and I don't list on my own check in. I find it really triggers me reading how everyone else eats 1/2 what I would and never lists "bakery pie and sauce" for lunch. I also stay away if threads are about other diet or nutrition topics.
3. Focus on your food as food. How does it look, smell, taste? What do you physically feel like while eating and after. Not how you feel mentally, or what the research says, but what your body and senses tell you. Do you actually prefer rice noodles to egg noodles, or did you just read they had fewer calories? Turns out I feel awesome during and after salted caramel slice, sleepy and happy after a big bowl of pasta, a bit queasy after fried fish and chips and I get heartburn from too much beer
Good luck, and give it time - as you say you've got many years of programming to undo!
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moderatemeals
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Agree, great replies from Jen and Ironchef.
I've made a deal with myself to avoid the diet blogs, magazine articles, diet books, even just general health blogs for the month of May. I'm going to try to avoid getting into diet conversations with friends.
I'm shooting for my first successful 21 day Challenge, but my main focus for the month is going to be on getting out of Diet Head mode. Even reading a blog about eg Paleo is enough to set me off and cravings follow.
My progress with No S has been long...but I'm learning a lot during this process and I absolutely will stick with it.
I've made a deal with myself to avoid the diet blogs, magazine articles, diet books, even just general health blogs for the month of May. I'm going to try to avoid getting into diet conversations with friends.
I'm shooting for my first successful 21 day Challenge, but my main focus for the month is going to be on getting out of Diet Head mode. Even reading a blog about eg Paleo is enough to set me off and cravings follow.
My progress with No S has been long...but I'm learning a lot during this process and I absolutely will stick with it.
"We stop looking for the better diet and start looking for a better life." pangelsue
I actually skimmed through a few of my old diet books yesterday. I still get drawn back into the dark side from time to time. My diet head is going to take years to go away.Try to let yourself off the hook a little. This is just another habit. I don't want to trigger you, but I will admit that after six years, the health quality of foods does enter into how I plan my meals, but even before No S, I had spent time and energy decriminalizing foods. This gave me the chance to become experimental and eventually, I found that less manufactured/refined/ foods were more satisfying and I was curious about different combinations that had seemed burdensome before.
In the meantime, don't feel you have to get it right overnight. Try to see it as a bit humorous, if you can. Give some attention to the flavor and texture and how enjoyable the food is. Don't try to force yourself to choose a lot of previously shunned foods. Just like some people can wean themselves off junk food, others can wean themselves off other expectations. And try not to keep checking your progress every meal! It's like opening the oven to check on a cake. Eventually, you'll get some good routines down, and even those may change as conditions and priorities do.
You'll get there! And you probably can't rush the process anyway. Decide that you're probably going as fast as you can, and respect that.
In the meantime, don't feel you have to get it right overnight. Try to see it as a bit humorous, if you can. Give some attention to the flavor and texture and how enjoyable the food is. Don't try to force yourself to choose a lot of previously shunned foods. Just like some people can wean themselves off junk food, others can wean themselves off other expectations. And try not to keep checking your progress every meal! It's like opening the oven to check on a cake. Eventually, you'll get some good routines down, and even those may change as conditions and priorities do.
You'll get there! And you probably can't rush the process anyway. Decide that you're probably going as fast as you can, and respect that.
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)