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No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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mondurvic
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Replies to various threads

Post by mondurvic » Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:51 pm

This post will apply to several threads on the forum: What I eat on S days, losing and gaining the same 3 pounds, how much I've lost doing no-s, etc.

Started 2 1/2 weeks ago at 250. Lost 3 pounds the first two weeks. After this weekend, weigh 254, up 7 pounds from last Thursday, up 4 pounds since I started.

You can imagine my mood.

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:11 am

Judy,

I'm so sorry to hear this, but I hope and suspect it's just a freak of the scale.

I'll often go up or down as much as 5 pounds or even more in a single day (when I bother stepping on a scale, which I usually don't).

Please take some more measurements over the next few days to confirm whether this gain is real. I sincerely hope it isn't, but if it is, we can troubleshoot from there.

Reinhard

thtrchic
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Post by thtrchic » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:39 am

Maybe you should also measure yourself with a tape measure. If you're exercising, maybe you're gaining muscle?

joasia
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Post by joasia » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:00 pm

I have found that I can not go hog wild on s days. Because when I do, I eat everything that is not nailed down. And I think that fits under the "don't be an idiot clause". I keep my s days much like my no s days. With perhaps a plate of something sweet. But again, not half a pie. I have found that listening to my hunger has helped. I don't mean wait until you are starving. Just wait until you feel some rumbling/hunger in your stomach not your head. I know this is easier said than done. I'm not sure if you are female, but as a female I have found that you have to feel some hunger to lose weight. When I don't feel hunger everyday, I know I am not losing. But I know that if I do feel hunger, I don't need to get desperate, I will eat a nice meal next time it is mealtime. Try doing NOS for one month before you weigh yourself. This will keep the scale obsession at bay. It is really hard to stay away from the scale, but weekly/daily fluctuations can drive you nuts. But once a month you can see some real progress. Again patience of a saint is what it requires.
The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:17 pm

Judy,

Does it surprise you that you were gaining weight, or did you kind of have the sense that you were eating too much? Do you really think it was S-days, or were there problems with your N-days? S-days tend to get more blame than they deserve... but obviously, it certainly is possible for them to be the culprit. It should at least be easy to pinpoint the culprit if your literal observation of the rules has been strict.

If your N-days are perfect (I would always keep the focus on N-days), and it really seems like S-days are the problem, a good, humane, simple and clear approach that some people on the board have been using is to interpret "sometimes" as "once per S-day." So you get one snacky or sweet or secondy exception per S-day. I don't do this myself, but I think the "one" refers to "one incident" -- so it's not like you get a snack in the morning, a sweet with lunch, and seconds with dinner. You get one "exceptional" event (though that event could fall into multiple categories, like a snack which is also sweet).

But I would be cautious about clamping down on S-days... it is very important to keep them pleasant and rewarding and relatively free. It looks from your checkin like there might be some scope for improvement on N-days. I'd start there first...

I know it's discouraging not to see more progress, but you do have a platform to build on. Your efforts were not wasted. You've narrowed down the problem and cornered it in a little rat hole. Now all you have to do is beat its brains out.

Reinhard

mondurvic
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Post by mondurvic » Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:52 am

Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful post, Reinhard. You always strike just the right note.

The past few days have been bad - some of those dark-night-of-the-soul times. There has been discouragement, despair, bingeing and a brief flirtation with the South Beach Diet. The best thing about the episode was that I came to my senses more quickly this time - much, much more quickly. Despite a 2-pound weight gain (to 256), I believe important progress has been made.

I agree with you about being more vigilant on n-days, and I'll be concentrating on this.

Thank you.

Judy

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weight gain

Post by Kevin » Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:12 am

Give it some time.

There's is a distinct progress-plateau-progress aspect to my weight loss. Your body won't give up its stasis easily. It may need to be convinced that your new diet is for real, that it's going to last, and that you're not going to starve. I know this doesn't sound scientific, but there may be things about metabolism that don't work in a straight line.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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Post by pangelsue » Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:48 pm

Good thoughts, Kevin (and all). The road to success is not straight and you are talking to the queen of curvy roads. I have been here over a year and have lost only 5 pounds and that is off and on BUT, and here is the reason I stay. I know I belong here and I will eventually get the right combination. Once you tasted the freedom of No S there is no other diet that doesn't feel locking like yourself voluntarily in prison. Two days on any other diet and I think, "forget this". Also, spend enough time here and you will stop trying to change the diet and start looking at yourself for the "other answers". Many of us have. No S is so simple (not easy), that when I couldn't do it, I had to accept the fact that it might not be a new diet I was looking for, it might be a new attitude and understanding of myself and my relationship with food. I no longer focus on the food. I shoot for my best version of No S and when it doesn't work (and it still sometimes doesn't) I relax and ask myself why. The answers are coming and it is helping in a lot of other areas than just my diet. I think many of us here who are struggling have become obsessed with making food the culprit. I personally have been medicating with food for a very long time and No S, with it's simplicity, is helping me realize that and deal with it.
On Extreme Home Makeover, I am always amazed that people think a big gorgeous house with all the trimmings will make the bad stuff go away. It helps the people who just need a house to live in but for the people who have a sadness or life event to live with that affects their very soul, you can tell that a new house doesn't always do it. It gives them a hand to dealing with the pain of what happened to them. That is how I now feel about No S. For people who just need to lose a few pounds, it works, they love it and move on. For people like me who have real issues with food, it is a tool to take the focus off food and give me the time to work on the pain that is behind a lifetime of overweight. That is a good thing, weight loss or not.
A lot of growing up happens between "it fell" and "I dropped it."

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Post by silverfish » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:40 pm

Amen.

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Post by kccc » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:58 pm

Pangelsue, what a GREAT post.

ITA that No-S is helping me "make peace with food." And everything tastes so much better without a side order of guilt. :)

I am losing weight, but ve-ery slowly. At one point I was exasperated (there's a thread here somewhere from that time). Now, I accept that as part of the process. Maybe I don't really need to lose more (BMI is in normal range, scale is just not where I want it to be). Maybe I will.

But in the meantime, now that snacking is no longer my "unintelligent default" activity, I am finding other things that I enjoy. I just learned to knit. I'm reading more. I play more games with my son. I'm finding other things that "feed my soul" instead of my body.

It's a good thing. ;)

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Post by joasia » Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:03 am

And that is really the thing. I think a lot of people with weight problems use food as a hobby. I know I have in the past. When I am bored, I eat. So now that I am eating less, I try to find other ways to pass the time. Like walking the dog, shopping for fresh ingredients and cooking, reading, etc.
The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

florafloraflora
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Post by florafloraflora » Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:55 pm

What you said, milczar.

Good thoughts from everybody else, too.

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:28 pm

Hey Judy :)
For me personally, NoS has only worked to lose me weight when I add exercise to the picture.
When I don't exercise, it's lucky to even maintain, considering I've never truly done it 100 percent but most of the time had about 75% success during the week.

But if you add exercise to this you will be amazed at the turnaround you experience.

My metabolism plummetted after I turned thirtyish.. and especially after I became a Mom, and *NO* diet, South Beach, Starve-yourself.com, and extreme carbo reduxo majik (hahah I made those up!) will acchieve results or a healthy you, and especially won't be maintainable without *some* form of enjoyable exercise that gets the blood pumping and the calories burning.

Good luck staying focused!
We are rooting for you!!!
Peace and Love,
Debs x
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

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MerryKat
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Post by MerryKat » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:04 am

I have to agree with Reinhard. From personal experience, when No S stops working for me it is seldom the S-days that are to blame. 99.99% of the time for me it is that snacking (my major downfall in life) has crept back in - often unrecognised until I go looking for it.

Go back to the N-day basics and encourage yourself with the thought of having treats on S-days.
Hugs from Sunny South Africa
Vanilla No S with no Sugar due to Health issues - 11 yrs No S - September 2016 (some good, some bad (my own doing) but always the right thing for me!)

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