Everyday Systems

I've been following the No-S plan for about two weeks now. I ran across a reference to it in another online forum, and after reading through this website I decided this plan is just what I need I tried "diets" and failed due to lack of attention to detail. Trying to write down every bite that enters my mouth and weigh/measure the food just feels so ridiculous to me.

This no-S plan, however, is supremely simple. Just. No. S.

I thought there was no way I could do this. No snacks? Don't be ridiculous! I get weak with hunger if I don't snack at 10 am and 4pm.
And the permasnacking all evening after dinner? It was my way of unwinding after a stressful day!

And no sweets? "Chocolate maltballs" was my middle name.

(The no seconds part wasn't so much of a stretch. Huge meals were not my downfall.)

After mulling it over and reading this website, I realized that I probably wouldn't die of hunger in 4-6 hours. So I tried it. I thought surely I could do it for 21 days. And gol-darned if I don't survive the hunger pangs! I'm NOT some freak of nature who needs to eat every 3-4 hours!

I feel so much better after only 2 weeks, I am hooked. My knees don't hurt a tenth as much as they did 2 weeks ago. Explain that.

I won't weigh more than once a month in order to avoid the emotional drama that goes with not losing or not losing fast enough.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello to everyone. I'll be checking back in at the end of my 21 days.

Welcome, Benjumanji!

I also found the realisation "I can't actually starve to death in four hours" the biggest epiphany of No-S

Great to hear about your knees! Mine just started hurting again (a very little) but I think it is because I've started jogging and they aren't used to it. I try to give them a rest between bouts and hope they'll strengthen up.

Kathleen.

Welcome and good luck Ben!
Peace and Love,
Deb

Welcome, Benjumanji!

No snacking really is easier than people think and even if it starts out hard, strictness makes it easy.

To quote Shakespeare (who knew everything about everything) on the reformation of a rather different habit:

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either curb the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.

-- Hamlet - III, 4

Reinhard

Hello BenJ, fellow pilgrim, your previous habits mirrored mine, especially the nighttime perma-graze. I'd like to echo Reinhard's quotation, which in a simpler form I have been using as my m.o. "Act as if."

I'm trying to eat as I will when I get to be the shape I want to be!

Hi, everyone, and thanks for the replies. I'm checking in after my 21-day Free Trial! ...oh yes, I forgot! Everything about this plan is free. What a great gift.

Thanks for the Bill quote, R. I always have to read everything by him three times before I understand his meaning, but he does have a way with words. (By the way, what different habit exactly? Virtue?)

I've lost 6# in three weeks. My clothes are more comfortable, my stomach is a little flatter, and it seems like it's easier to get up from a chair.

Best of all, this is a lifestyle I can envision myself living forever. It is much healthier and less time-consuming than permasnacking. I can't believe how easy it is to train your stomach not to expect food every three hours. I just don't get hungry, or I get a little hungry but I tell myself to forget about it because dinner isn't for a couple of hours. I pass up the ever-present treats at work, because it's a "No S" day. No need to spend an extra millisecond considering the possibility of eating a donut or whatever. I kicked the after-lunch maltball habit--I never thought I'd get that monkey off my back.

I think staying away from sweets keeps my appetite under control. Has anyone else found this to be true?

I need to add some urban rangering and shovelgloving or both. For now, I'm taking it one habit at a time.

Well done on your 21 days of success - isn't it so amazingly easy.

I have definitely found that not having sugar reduces my appetite and makes me much nicer to be around (no sugar highs and lows).