Everyday Systems

Hi,

I'm sort of at my wits' end re dieting and food in general. After 2 years on WW and 6 stone gone, I've lost all my willpower and motivation and put almost a stone back on over the last month alone. I'm desperate to get it off again before things get out of hand and I'm right back to where I was ('morbidly obese'). I'm still 'overweight', and need to shift almost another 2 stone to get into the 'normal' zone on one 'of those hideous charts. Which really don't matter, I know. But I still feel bad, and I want to feel better.

The thing is, my time on WW (don't get me wrong, I'm massively grateful for the success I had with them) has, I'm convinced, messed me up in a whole new way re food. I can't stop obsessing over points, and allowances, and every time I go even just one point over, I go into 'the hell with it mode' and eat EVERYTHING I can get my hands on. Then I feel awful, and have to start all over again.

Rinse. Repeat.

I've tried everything thinking I need a new approach. MFP, SW, even a hypnosis CD. No joy.

Last night I stumbled onto the No S diet online, and I'm hopeful...so hopeful...

I love the common sense approach, the simplicity, and - I think most of all - the fact that you don't have to spend so much time thinking about food. The planning, the counting, the obsessing, the horror!

My main issue is evenings. Something happens to me after my son is in bed, around 9pm, when I turn into a kind of rabid squirrel raiding the cupboards for whatever I can get my hands on. I know there are lots of ways I need to try get this under control, and the point system worked for me for a long time, but something's well and truly broken again and I'm hoping that a good old-fashioned dollop of common sense, and a simple set of rules pinned to the fridge, can get me back on track.

Sorry for the massive, rambly post, but no one at home/work understands, and somehow it helps even just typing it out into the ether...

I realise the weekend probably isn't the best time to start No S, but I'm going to try and settle into the idea of it all the same, and attack Monday with that all important sense of hope that brings a bit of fresh determination...

Thanks for listening,
Muddy x

Hi Muddyhoof and welcome to NoS. I have been following NoS since October and can honestly say it has been life changing. I am 42 and have wasted so many years yoyo dieting. I've tried pretty much every diet out there including Weight Watchers but never found anything I felt I could truly follow for life. NoS is different, it is in fact very anti diet in the traditional sense and is all about helping you form a healthy relationship with food.
NoS can definitely help you lose all of the counting and obsessing over everything that goes in your mouth. The main thing I would advise is to give it time. It is much more about forming good habits in the early days than it is about weight loss. It will take a while to settle into this way of eating.
Good luck. I have found this forum to be very supportive and helpful.

Welcome, Muddyhoof! You will find many supportive people here who are or have been in the same boat! Hang in there while you form new habits and rid yourself of the obsession of counting, weighing and measuring every morsel! It is truly freeing! Good luck!

Welcome! I found that a cup or two of hot tea helped me overcome those nighttime munchies, so you might try that strategy. It took me a month or two not to WANT the nighttime munchies, but drinking the tea and reminding myself I'd had 3 solid meals and would get 3 more the next day (so I didn't *need* the snacks!) helped. Hang in there! I Hope your first week goes well

I would also add my support and I have been where you are.

I lost 3 stone with Slimming World (very similar to WW but only in the UK, not sure where you are located) then put 1 stone back on. Then lost another 3 stone with 5:2, then put a stone of that back on.

No S is the only one I can imagine sticking to for life. It gives me what I really need, which is the structure and support to eat like a normal person.

3 meals a day with sacks, sweets and seconds only at weekends, that's exactly how my grandmother ate, and she was naturally slim without fussing about it.

My advice would include starting check-in on the check-in thread if that is something that would help you. Also, my biggest weapon against evening snacking is a glass of wine. Just one, and I feel like I've had a treat, a bit of a luxury and that keeps me out of the cupboards.

Good luck

Thanks for the welcome!

Hi, muddy. Any day is a good day to start No S.

It's going to sound weird but I advise against attacking Monday with a sense of hope. Too much like going on a diet. What I DO recommend is cultivating a calm sense of resolve. Have faith that you can become reasonable with food over time and it may involve some tough decisions at some moments along the way, but it will be livable.

I have actually used meals I worked out on WW years before for nearly all my time on No S. Not JUST those meals, but they are actually the backbone. I don't use them because they are "diet" meals, though, but because I realize I like them and they left me feeling better for the hours afterwards. When I told myself the truth, I didn't really want to eat rich, heavy meals all the time. I like having more fiber and veggies. I like not feeling so full for hours afterwards.

Do not think you are a failure because the desire for extra food happens. Desire cannot pick up food and put it in your mouth. Desire is just a set of thoughts and sensations in the body. Do not count on them never appearing. Just keep reminding yourself that you ate awhile ago and you will again. I suggest to combat the night eating, you brush and floss after dinner, have a beverage ritual, and/or promise yourself a big breakfast. Look forward to it. Minimize how big a sacrifice it is to just get through those few hours and maximize how great you will feel and how much you will enjoy your food tomorrow if you hold out. You may not even want it when you wake up.

Hi Muddy

Hope your first few days have gone well. I started on a Saturday and found it gave me two days to "notice" where I was snacking and prepare myself.

I can relate to everything you say in your first post about dieting mentality - I have found no s so much better for not being obsessed and yet still sticking to it.

My munchie time is in the afternoon so I could start thinking about and preparing dinner to avoid it. maybe an early bed time for evening snacking?

good luck!

Welcome! I hope you find peace here

Just a note on that "What The Hell" feeling after a small fail. Someone here (Reinhard, or a wise poster) compared it to getting in a car accident. If you mess up your parking and ding your wing mirror, that is really annoying. You might also decide you're not going to use small car undercover spaces next time. But you'd never say "oh well, better drive this car into the wall now". The same with eating. I follow No S, but sometimes life happens and I cave and eat a sweet or a snack. What matters isn't the fail, but the response - picking myself up, dusting myself off and focussing on the next meal as an opportunity for success.

We can do this! Not perfectly, but very well

It's been about six months. Have you been able to implement No S, or something else? Have you been able to maintain where you were, keeping off 5 stone?

Warmest wishes.

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