Everyday Systems

OK OK, before I'm accused of false advertising, I said CONTROL not ELIMINATE.

Here's my experience at 3 weeks, and some thoughts on it.

The No-S diet is very easy for me to follow. I do get cravings throughout the day, usually for something sweet, but they are easily dismissed by telling myself "I can have that on the weekend." Before, telling myself "No, no, bad, bad, mustn't, mustn't." it just turned the craving into a monster that would pursue me all day and all night and eventually defeat me.

The first weekend after 3 days of No-S I had a sweet on Saturday, then didn't even want one on Sunday.
The second weekend I went to an outdoor jazz festival and had the extreme pleasure of being able to eat normally (A big ol' juicy cheeseburger, a beer, and a Krispy Kreme) without any guilt whatsoever. Sunday I had one sweet and that was all I wanted.
The third weekend I had one sweet on Saturday, one on Sunday.

Other than those weekend culinary adventures, I have usually 3 meals, but sometimes 2 if my schedule pushes the third too close to retirement. I make most of them healthy, typically a protein like fish or chicken plus salad and/or vegetables. But if occasionally I feel like having pasta or whatever, I can do so without guilt. I find my stomach is getting used to the one-plate amount, and if I have too much on my plate, I naturally stop before I finish it off. I've left 1/4 to 1/3 on the plate at restaurants where they pile up an excessive amount of food.

I started gaining weight just about at my 40th birthday, and have nearly 23 years of failure in trying to battle the slow, inexorable increase in my weight. This is the first method I've tried that is not a constant struggle punctuated by failures. I think I could stick to this forever.

I'm gradually working up a shovelglove schedule (very gradually) and I alternate days of that with aerobics on a mini-trampoline. (I used to be a major urban ranger when I lived in San Francisco, but since moving to the suburbs don't find walking particularly attractive, so I do the tramp.)

Of course, it's slower for women, and slower for old folks, but frankly, if I stick to it, I don't see how I can fail to lose fat and gain muscle on this regimen.

And it's SO EASY, SO SIMPLE!!

I'll report back with results in time, but for now, thanks, Reinhard, I think you may have saved me.

Hi Rumba! This sounds excellent!!!
I am so happy that NoS is boosting your morale, and not making you nuts...unlike those other attempts which played such head games on you.... When you do NoS it is still a game, but a game that's heavily optimized so that you win!!!! That's the wonderful twist
I love the discipline of the week, and the relaxed non-guilty enjoyable ss's on the weekend... The weekend is your escape hatch or steam valve... and you really appreciate it so much more, when you know in your heart it was well earned... But what you will really really love, is that, even on a really wild S weekend, you probably won't gain weight... That's been my experience... I liked your Krispy kreme story... LOL...
Those are definitely good!
Love and Peace,
Debbie

Hi Rumba.

I had just been wondering whether or not my desire for sweets was just a habit or an actual craving.

I find that when an S day rolls around I don't want a doughnut first thing in the morning. But, if I am grocery shopping in the afternoon they look way-good. Like you, I tell myself that I can have one on the weekend and after a minute or so I forget all about them. And I haven't had one since I started no S.

So, I don't know. I'm probably not making much sense.

Does anyone else have an opinion? I think if you taper your sugar intake that you eventually lose the craving...

CV

cvmom, I definitely agree that staying away from the Sugar Monster reduces the frequency with which he appears. Definitely.

I've mentioned before on this board that I can't sip one soda or have a bit of a piece of cake or cookie. I might finish the one okay but an hour later I'm being attacked by the Sugar Monster's big brother Super Sugar, Cousin Sugar, and Baby Bear Sugar, too! Next thing I know I'm downing another 40 oz. of Pepsi, Nestle Caramel Crunch bars, gorge gorge gorge.

The real key for me has been to include fruit at each meal. It has helped kill those dastardly cravings for soda and sweets, plus I get all the vitamins and nutrients I need along with it.

Samurai:

For me it is the cookie. I never met a cookie I didn't like. Honestly. I like Oreos, homemade cookies, gourmet cookies from the bakery etc. The only cookies I'm not too fond of are gingerbread cookies.

Hands down, the best cookies come from England (biscuits they call them) and are called Hob Nobs. I can get them here at an English specialties store.

Oh my gosh, what day is it? Why am I obsessing about cookies???

Who started this thread???

Wait, before I go off the deep end I have to remind myself how I found this site: looking to stop eating sugar. Reinhard...I love ya babe. Thank God you preach moderation because I know that I could never give up cookies forever.

CVMOM

P.S. I always have fruit in the morning and sometimes (if it fits on my plate) a little at night too.

Rumba, I love your story! I hope you will continue to post!

CV Mom, when I was doing the nonfat vegan thing for nearly 5 years, I ate almost no sugar at all, and I find now that I really have no taste for it any more. A little jelly on my toast or peanut butter is about as much as I can stand these days. I think what happens is that if you don't use your sweet tooth for a long time, the tooth fairy comes and takes it back.

I am also finding that my cravings for sweets are diminishing. And when I do have something, it just doesn't seem as good as it did before no-s. It's amazing really considering how addicted i was just a few weeks ago.

Hi Rumba, thanks for posting this and sorry it took me so long to get around to responding. Good meal habits, not pills, not miracle foods, are the best way to control "cravings." I'm not sure what is more astonishing, that this is true or that it is, despite our willfull ignorance, so obvious. The old fashioned responsibility centric picture of the world really does work better than pseudoscientific victimhood. Maybe not as a description, which isn't really what we care about, but as a prescription for change. It's all about habit, and the little bit of will and structure it takes to tame habit.