No S Lessons over 10 years
Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 8:34 pm
There seem to be discussions regularly about motivation and whether to think of NoS as a weight loss plan. Here are my thoughts:
1. Most people will not lose and keep off weight with the only motivation being to lose weight. Health scares will sometimes do it, but not always. I think you have to decide that you really don't like the way you are living and the relationship you have with food. You may be tired of bingeing, dieting up and down or you may just be tired of getting bigger and bigger. I know I feel better about myself when I am lighter and not being controlled by food. Mistakes I have made in the past have been to have a number in my head that was what I needed to weigh or a clothing size to aim for, and when I was younger they were totally unrealistic for my body type. NoS allows your body to find its own appropriate weight and size as you learn to eat in a way that most people have followed in trim cultures for generations.
2. Yes you have to eat fewer calories to get to a healthy size. The good news is that NoS takes care of that automatically as you incorporate the rules. I had to learn to wait until the next meal to eat instead of snacking. I had to learn to stop after one plate. This meant changing lots of habits. No more eating over the sink or in the car or cleaning off children's plates or nibbling while cooking. The rules are simple, but I had to unlearn many habits.
3. Then there is the No Sweets rule. Waiting until an S Day to have a sweet treat is tough if you have been used to daily treats. And most of us are not able to eat just "one." I have had to impose a no sweets in private rule for S Days because I can put away an entire recipe by "evening out the pan."
4. So if we are eating 3 plates without snacking or seconds and are limiting sweets to S Days, our calorie intake will be obviously less than before. If we are not losing then I think the binge problem still has to be addressed. For some of us even after getting N Days within the boundaries, the S Days had to be tackled. At first, I would plan all week long what I was going to buy or bake (still food obsessed) and then of course, I would overdo it. The S Days gone wild problem! It is a success not to be out of control all week, but 2 days of excess will actually cause me to gain and undo whatever I lost during the week and it is depressing. When the N days are consistently under control, then S days need to be addressed. I had to be reminded that it is "except on S Days SOMETIMES" and also I made a rule not to eat trigger foods in private.
5. The final obstacle for me to overcome was what actually went on my plates. I had to learn how much to eat to get me to the next meal. And then the time came to back off on the caloric density if I wanted to eat healthier or lose those last pounds.
6. I summary, I want to encourage all the new folks to be patient with themselves. There are many habits to replace, and I wasn't successful with all of them at once. Even though there may be failures and no weight loss at times, as well as regressions, there are still many successes as we go through the process. Just think of all those changes being made. Those successes are what will carry us into maintaining weight loss, and the rest of our lives we can have a healthy relationship with food.
1. Most people will not lose and keep off weight with the only motivation being to lose weight. Health scares will sometimes do it, but not always. I think you have to decide that you really don't like the way you are living and the relationship you have with food. You may be tired of bingeing, dieting up and down or you may just be tired of getting bigger and bigger. I know I feel better about myself when I am lighter and not being controlled by food. Mistakes I have made in the past have been to have a number in my head that was what I needed to weigh or a clothing size to aim for, and when I was younger they were totally unrealistic for my body type. NoS allows your body to find its own appropriate weight and size as you learn to eat in a way that most people have followed in trim cultures for generations.
2. Yes you have to eat fewer calories to get to a healthy size. The good news is that NoS takes care of that automatically as you incorporate the rules. I had to learn to wait until the next meal to eat instead of snacking. I had to learn to stop after one plate. This meant changing lots of habits. No more eating over the sink or in the car or cleaning off children's plates or nibbling while cooking. The rules are simple, but I had to unlearn many habits.
3. Then there is the No Sweets rule. Waiting until an S Day to have a sweet treat is tough if you have been used to daily treats. And most of us are not able to eat just "one." I have had to impose a no sweets in private rule for S Days because I can put away an entire recipe by "evening out the pan."
4. So if we are eating 3 plates without snacking or seconds and are limiting sweets to S Days, our calorie intake will be obviously less than before. If we are not losing then I think the binge problem still has to be addressed. For some of us even after getting N Days within the boundaries, the S Days had to be tackled. At first, I would plan all week long what I was going to buy or bake (still food obsessed) and then of course, I would overdo it. The S Days gone wild problem! It is a success not to be out of control all week, but 2 days of excess will actually cause me to gain and undo whatever I lost during the week and it is depressing. When the N days are consistently under control, then S days need to be addressed. I had to be reminded that it is "except on S Days SOMETIMES" and also I made a rule not to eat trigger foods in private.
5. The final obstacle for me to overcome was what actually went on my plates. I had to learn how much to eat to get me to the next meal. And then the time came to back off on the caloric density if I wanted to eat healthier or lose those last pounds.
6. I summary, I want to encourage all the new folks to be patient with themselves. There are many habits to replace, and I wasn't successful with all of them at once. Even though there may be failures and no weight loss at times, as well as regressions, there are still many successes as we go through the process. Just think of all those changes being made. Those successes are what will carry us into maintaining weight loss, and the rest of our lives we can have a healthy relationship with food.