Everyday Systems

The common-sense approach of "don't be an idiot" is refreshing... but sometimes hard for me to implement. A lot of my S-days ARE pretty idiotic (still), which I haven't worried about (much) b/c I stay pretty on-target on N-days. They've been getting better gradually, but I would like to get to the point that some others are, where they're not that much different from N-days...

The recent discussion on S-days had some really useful ideas for me. I have known for some time that I always do better when I tell myself TO DO something rather than NOT to do something. (For example, "eat more veggies and fruit" works better for me than "don't eat junk"... and works out about the same as the good stuff edges out the bad.) Just how my mind works...focusing on a positive goal is more productive than telling myself to avoid a negative.

So... what does "don't be an idiot" look like when it's turned around into a positive? The answer (for me) lay in the discussion on one of the other threads: Be mindful.

Note that there are still no restrictions on what I can have on an S-day. If I really want it, it's mine! I just have to ask myself "do I really want this?" and if the answer is "yes," take time to really focus on enjoying it.

I tried this out this weekend, and absolutely LOVE it. My servings of snacks/sweets/seconds dropped, but my enjoyment of them rose.

This is exactly the middle-step I needed between No-S and Some S Sometimes. Thanks to everyone who contributed to that enlightening discussion!

I think this is a really useful point. Thanks for making it KCCC. I think that's sort of been floating in my head and I've sort of been hovering around it, but not quite.

This will be the one S day rule I'll implement -- "have whatever you want, just be sure it's what you want."

Thanks.
Julie

Well, I still did "want" a good bit yesterday.

Which was totally okay - as someone said in another thread, S-days are about easing up so that you can be strict on N-days. And it's okay to be "a little stupid."

My "be mindful" re-phrasing is not about restricting S-days further, b/c I know I need them to be unrestricted. It's about trying to get rid of "don't do this" phrasing and change it to "do do this," which I know works better for me.

And I do like double-checking with myself about "do I really want this?" before it goes in my mouth. That helps me be only as stupid as I need to be, and no stupider.

Yeah, mindfulness is a good way to get through S-days. My only rule for S-days is that anything I eat must taste delicious. No mindless face-stuffing.

Case in point: I made some chocolate-chip cookies this past Saturday. I burned out on these cookies a long time ago and I never make them for myself, but a friend came over to help me clean, I offered to bake anything she wanted as a thank-you, and she picked CCC's. I had one cookie just to see how my recipe was holding up, one more with tea in the late afternoon, and that was it. I packaged the rest up and put them on top of the fridge, where they sat until this morning when I brought them in to work.

I had other indulgences over the weekend, absolutely, but the cookies weren't tasty enough (to me) to make them worth the calories.