Everyday Systems

I am trying to collect a list of reasons to follow NoS apart from the vanity of weight loss. First of all, I do not understand how anyone could follow NoS faithfully without losing weight from the morbidly obese category. So here is what I have found so far for the major obesity "co-morbidity" factors. By following NoS we can reduce our risk for all these things:

heart disease, high cholesterol, high triglycerides
hypertension, stroke
Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, poor vision
sleep apnea, breathing problems
metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease
bone & joint problems
some cancers
gallstones, acid reflux

Also, feeling overstuffed is really not a particularly pleasant way to feel.

My digestion works more comfortably when I eat well, regularly, and reasonable amounts.

I sleep better when I am not overfull and when it has been at least 3 hours since I ate.

And then there is the psychological side of health. NoS is a sane and reasonable way to eat, and doing what I know is right makes me feel good about myself.

What else? Has your doctor ever told you that losing weight would greatly improve "x"? Please add your favorite benefit of maintaining NoS habits whether or not you ever get skinny.

Hi elegant,
The psychological thing you mentioned is important to me.
I’d like to bet that No S is good for our mental health in many ways. Sugar highs and lows affect our moods, bargaining with treats uses up our attention, failing on diets affects our morale... and bad digestion makes us anxious and low. But the routine of No S is calming, the boundaries protective!

So mental health would definitely be on my list of benefits!

Increased self respect and self confidence.

I didn't start No S to lose, even though I could have used it. I just wanted to quit my obsessive compulsive overeating. I did lose some but accepted staying overweight for at long stretches because I liked eating this way better and knew my odds of making something else work were low. (If I had had health problems, I think I would have been able to speed things up. )

I've narrowed them down (is it shocking that my narrowed list is 2x+ times than most others?:shock: ) to the ones that have nothing to do with appearance: yeah, there were some in there, but I knew those hadn't kept the weight off me in the past. I just fell in love with the concept of moderation and was willing to do a lot to live it out.

At the risk of overkill (because some of them are basically paraphrases of each other, but were very helpful in the beginning, I'll put the whole non-appearance based list. I read the this EVERY DAY for three months and still very often for the first year. It was amazing how often one of the ideas would pop into my mind at the right time in a way it hadn't before when I would panic and think, my God, I have to lose weight! That never worked. I think it was because I never really faced the mental toll it was taking on me. (actually, appearance reasons were also taking a heavy toll, which is why they played a much less prominent role for me. I vowed to respect myself if I was eating sanely no matter what. )


1. Stop wishing and do! Face the discomfort.
2. I’ll finally reach a New Year’s or birthday NOT wishing I ate better.
3. I'll be proud of having faced down my demons.
4. I’ll be freer of my mind and all its conflict.
5. I'll be living closer to my "true" self that is not at the effect of the call of fake hunger.
6. I'll live my principle that enough is better than more than enough.
7. I can help others with my experience.
8. I can use my energies to develop new interests and skills.
9. I won't fear being found out about my “bad†eating habits.
10. I'll be able to keep up more in dance.
11. Remember OCD retraining. {I had seen that overeating is very similar to OCD, in that there is a brain pattern that powerfully creates a sense of urgency to perform the behavior.) Otherwise, I might do this for my last years on the planet. Do I want to overeat for 2 more decades?
14. I'll be respecting my body's true needs.
15. I'll be respecting my emotional life rather than rejecting it.
16. I'll be respecting the planet's resources better.
17. I'll feel saner when I am consistently eating and moving sanely.
I'll be honoring the experience of those who suffer from hunger and even die from it every day.
18. I'll enjoy my food more.
19. I'll feel more comfortable in my body more of the time just because I’ll feel more fit and less full.
20. I'll end this 40+-(!) year effort.

The biggest one was did I really want to overeat for my whole adult life? I could NOT live with that.

Thanks a lot. This is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Anybody else?

Oolala, I especially appreciate combining a couple of your thoughts into this paraphrase:
I don't want to overeat for my last years on the planet.

Less profound, but I reckon I've saved some money now I don't snack any more. Taking away that temptation to drop into the shop on the way home from work saves me a few pounds a few times a week...

I liked self respect.

I have very little with No S, but I have already discovered a number of reasons why it is worth continuing with it:


Yesterday I climbed a hill without drowning a bit, and I was able to walk faster.

I feel very liberated of not having to be subject to some rules of food. (liberated, and happy in a genuinely genuine way, like little children).

It gives a lot of security not having to be seeing constant rises and falls of weight. What you lose, takes hold and does not fire after a few days.

Now I know what a lot of food is. Before I had no idea, I thought I really needed my bingeing.

I discovered the hidden feelings behind my bingeing.

The type 2 diabetes one speaks to me, as do several of the emotional and spiritual freedom ones.

Actually, now wanting to help avoid dementia affects what I put on my moderate plates. Hey, you middle agers! What you do know has a profound effect on dementia later. It might even be too late for me, but the voodoo feels good, so I continue.

Oolala, it's so moving to read that you told yourself you could help others with your experience. And that you kept telling yourself that. Because look what happened--you are a constant source of intelligent assistance in this goddamn wilderness. And that's not counting all the success you've had with the food, body image, habit-building, etc.

Plus, is gluttony not one of the seven deadly sins?

Funny you should mention the "sin" aspect.
Recently I did some research on gluttony and read that St. Thomas Aquinas way back in the 1200s wrote that there are 5 ways to commit the sin of gluttony:
1. Eating too soon or too often (grazing, anyone?), a waste of time
2. Seeking delicacies or better quality food, eating too expensively, a waste of money
3. Overly or elaborately prepared food, eating too daintily, a waste of time & attention
4. Eating too much food, a waste of quantity
5. Eating with too much pleasure, being overeager to eat, a waste of attention & affection

Like so many sins, gluttony is the misuse of one of the survival needs of the human body:
hunger vs. gluttony
procreation vs. lust/sexual sin
rest vs. sloth

7 Deadly Sins vs. 7 Virtues
gluttony vs. temperance (moderation)
lust vs. chastity (purity)
greed vs. charity (generosity)
pride vs. humility
wrath vs. patience
envy vs. gratitude
sloth vs. diligence

In other words, if I didn't eat so much, I would have more
time
money
energy
health
attention
emotion
food itself

to direct toward & use for better things like
feeding the starving
fostering world peace
cleaning up the environment
...

or not. Perhaps I will start with
not buying as much junk food
smiling more
cleaning my house
...

or not...
But I WILL determine to make today a green NoS day!

I think I'm going to stick with the gluttony of eating with too much pleasure-in moderation.

And I determine to make today another green NoS day!
Thanks, all, for these motivating thoughts. Keep them coming as you think of them.

That is a great list Oolala53! I think I’ll try and make a similar one and put it in my phone to reread every day. I have noticed that reading about No S is already motivating on it’s own, but a list like that just might do the trick!

Heartburn is sometimes relieved by moderate eating.

Being a good role model to our children is a motivator for me.

I have discovered something about myself this go around on No S: Appearance reasons get me to START eating habits, but they are not sufficient to KEEP me with the habits when things get difficult or temptations are high.

Funny (?) story- I had been going through a stressful/disappointing time, and my nearly daily iced coffee with cream and sugar habit was through the roof. I had also hit my late thirties, gained about 8 pounds, and developed some rashes that were sticking around. This was highly unusual for me and threw me into a panic-- WAS I DIABETIC? Had my eating habits/stress release mechanisms gotten that out of hand??? Thankfully- the answer was "no" - the rashes had another cause, but this was enough to kick myself into gear.

Certainly not old, but no longer a spring chicken, this was a wake-up call that, while I may never be a perfect or extremely healthy eater, some STRUCTURE to my eating habits was in order. Gone are the days of anything goes- It just isn't realistic if I want to stay healthy.

After this experience, the fear of avoiding disease (specifically diabetes- and why not add in hypertension, coronary artery disease, etc.) and KEEPING the health my youth blessed me with, is enough to keep me from eating between meals or desserts on N days, almost all of the time.

Vanity helps me to start/be excited about stating the eating habits, but health (specifically envisioning those stubborn rashes) is the reason that helps the habits stick.

Gillian Riley, English specialist in overeating issues, says that is a very common trajectory and recommends getting to the benefits unattached to appearance as soon as possible, if not from the first. It's not proved to be a very good motivator for the long run.

I agree with Oolala53. I'm doing better and sticking with it this time because I found motivation to do it that has nothing to do with appearance. I hope to lose 30 pounds, but that is no longer a motivator because I couldn't stay motivated even a full day with that goal! I'm wanting to be free. To put food in it's proper place. To not use it for happiness, comfort, entertainment, distraction, and all other false reasons.

Thumbs up.