How did your Easter Weekend go? Here's my Easter-Disaster:

karinatwork · Post by **karinatwork** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:05 pm

Thursday (S-Day, son's 5th birthday):
Cake, snacks, everything

Friday (on the road to MIL's house, then visiting with friends):
Great! No slip-ups, they all had ice cream and I had nothing!!

Saturday (big Easter dinner at MIL's house):
Snacks all day and sweets and stuff, felt sick all day)

Sunday (on the road back):
Chocolate until the cows come home, unhealthy lunch & dinner, felt sick all day)

Monday (back to normal and to work):
Glad to be back to normal and trying to make up for the weight gain over the weekend...

Big sigh.
More water.
Less food.
I need some greens. Make that "WANT" some greens.
Am I learning?

Post by **reinhard** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:09 pm

I don't actually see anything wrong here... You Essed on S days, you didn't on N-days. That's good behavior.

My daughter actually vomited all over the car from eating so much chocolate on Easter. Now THAT was a disaster.

Reinhard

karinatwork · Post by **karinatwork** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:12 pm

Thanks Reinhard... well, maybe I'm conditioned by all those people posting how they have ONE snack on the weekend and ONE chocolate chip cookie or something, while I have a whole tray full of them... all the while knowing that I really shouldn't and that I don't really want to but I do it anyway BECAUSE I CAN...?

I mean, I guess I'm pretty new to all of this and I have to regulate myself better, but it's helping that I can resist DURING the week.

Now I am only worried that I will love and re-gain the same 5 lbs over and over and over and over and over again...

Oh... and sorry about your daughter's accident. I hope she's feeling better! I was expecting something similar for my son, but the only sick one was me! LOL

Jaxhil · Post by **Jaxhil** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:20 pm

Oh, Reinhard, ewwwww! LOL-I laugh because my kids have done the same thing :p NASTY, hehe. I do hope she's feeling better! Poor baby.

I think you did fine too, Karina! My first few weekends were like that too (including the feeling sick all day!) And I am finding as time goes by they are getting MUCH more reasonable, because who wants to feel sick all weekend?! I really didn't believe everyone who said this would happen-I thought I loved my treats too much to be reasonable, *ever*-LOL But they were right! My weekends now include a few treats, to be sure, but I'll have ONE donut-and be perfectly happy with that, actually NOT wanting another!-who would've thunk?? In the past the bare minimum was three, and I actually felt virtuous if I resisted the urge for a fourth. Sad, huh? LOL

But it's a process, and I think you will find it getting less tempting to make yourself sick just because it's a weekend. It's amazing, I am SO excited to see it happening in my own life!! I never would've thought I would honestly not feel like gorging on my S days. But the tummy aches are just not worth it, and like I said, I am finding I actually, honestly, just don't want as many treats now as I did at first. I'm getting pickier. Some treats are worth it and others, are not-they're not good enough to make it worth it to me.

I know what you mean about wanting to eat the whole tray full because you CAN-lol-yesterday my son made chocolate chip cookies (my *favorite*) and I only ate THREE. That has NEVER happened to me

I truly did not want another-in fact I only ate HALF of the last cookie, because I just couldn't take another bite

So see, it can happen to you, too

Anyway you ARE doing great-and I wouldn't worry about your weekend- it will work itself out, I'm willing to bet!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:25 pm

One of the biggest differences between No-S and many other diet programs is that on other programs you either don't eat the goodies and feel cheated out of a celebration or you do eat the goodies and feel guilty afterwards. With No-S, eating the goodies IS part of the program - just like it's part of life.

cvmom · Post by **cvmom** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:38 pm

I have had only one kid/vomit/car incident and that was enough for me!!!

Karina:
Your weekend sounds reasonable. Here's the thing: when you begin to eat with a No S mindset you are more aware of how sick the extra food can really make you feel. (At least, that's been my experience - I am using "you" as a figure of speech.)

There is an excitement on Friday night because you know you have made it through the week and can look forward to your reward. But, by the same token, there is an excitement on Sunday night because you know that you can jump right back into the ease of restrained rules. I used to have ice cream every Sunday night because it was my farewell snack. I noticed that the quantity of the ice cream in the bowl was getting smaller and smaller. Point being: the longer you do this you will be satisfied with less. Don't worry about people who have one cookie as an S treat. They may be farther along on the journey. Don't try to restrain yourself on S days. Your body will naturally adjust and will feel satisfied with less.
Good luck. Dru

karinatwork · Post by **karinatwork** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:43 pm

Oh, this is bad. BAD I tell you. I am still dealing with the aftermath of Easter, and the weight is not budging. I probably didn't do very well yesterday either, I had neither sweets nor snacks nor seconds, but I certainly didn't make wise food choices at breakfast and lunch, and at dinner I loaded up my plate pretty good... I'm back doubting. I'm back thinking that maybe it can't work because from years and years of calorie counting and points calculating, you can't lose weight if you eat a full plate of pasta!
I guess I am getting depressed because I am back where I started, and my trip back home is creeping closer and closer. I really wouldn't care, normally, but when I saw my family last two years ago, I weighed 50 lbs less then now, and they will be shocked. They saw me heavier too, of course, but they will be so sad that I gained so much weight back. And if you knew my family, you knew how mean they can be. To give you an example, a few years back, when I gave my dad the good news of me getting married, the first words out of his mouth were: "But you ARE going to lose weight so you'll look good on your wedding pictures, RIGHT??"

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:01 pm

Karina,

This isn't going to work unless you think long term -- months and years, not a long weekend, and not about some immanent trip. It's only been two days since easter. Anything a scale does in two days is utterly meaningless.

I'd remove the fractional pound from your current weight -- scales are just not that accurate and you'll make yourself crazy paying attention to these tiny fluctuations. In fact, I'd round to the nearest 5 pounds before I read any meaning into a measurement at all.

Keep the focus on behavior, on days on habit. As you build habit your portions will get smaller. If you want to use the scale as a sanity check, weigh yourself maybe once a month -- taking maybe three measurements over three consecutive days and recording the average.

You don't need scales and you don't need to count. People were much thinner before they had either. Scales I can see some use for occasionally as a rough sanity check, but counting never. And they're usually both counterproductive the way most people use them.

Best of luck getting over this hump,

Reinhard

karinatwork · Post by **karinatwork** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:06 pm

Reinhard,

What you say makes sense, as always. But this is not a hump. I'm not giving up this easy. As I just stated to a very nice person on this board:

I really like this "diet". I think it's much better than WW. I rarely think about food during the day anymore. I eat my three meals and then I'm done with it. I want it to work. I like this feeling of freedom. I hope it works.

That's what I am hoping for. If it works, I can do it. It's as simple as that. I see people that are posting about their daily meals, and I think 'Hell yeah, I'd lose weight if I ate this little!!!', and then I look at my meals and I want to scream and run and hide because I KNOW BETTER than eating all of this because I can tell you by just looking at a plate for a second how many calories/points/grams of fat I am about to ingest.

This works, I know it does. It can totally work. Will this work for ME? Too early to tell, and therefore too soon to give up. No real 'hump'. Just a momentarily depression that will NOT cause me to run for the vending machine just yet. I do a lot of thinking, and I am a worry wart. Look up "worry wart" in the dictionary and there's my picture. I'm worried about it working for a bit and then not anymore. I am worried about it not working at all (yoyo). I am worried about lying to myself and marking the day down as a success (living by the No-S rules, but leaving all the "other" obvious dieting rules in the dust). Don't know if you know what I mean.

Do you want to know how I found your website, Reinhard? I looked up diet reviews on Google. And yours stuck out from the rest. It made so much sense to me right away. I remember reading the South Beach Book a few weeks ago out of desperation. My friend recommended it to me so I read it. I read the first chapter. And the second. And then I only read the "testimonies"... how they were all happy and skinny and how they loved the diet... and how they were all MISSING THE CARBS AND THE SWEETS AND THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN LIFE WAS GOOD! I can't believe he even published those testimonies, what the heck??? I wasn't really reading between the lines, it was all right there. Why would ANYBODY want to live their lives like that??? I want to live the NO-S life. I want to think THIN. I want to not care about food anymore. A bit like I feel right now, that freedom, right? Just more relaxed (because I will KNOW that it works).

Sorry for my ranting. I guess I'm PMSing today. Must be.

Ray E. · Post by **Ray E.** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:54 pm

Karina,

I wouldn't worry about it. You did what S-days are designed for and are now eating appropriately on N-days. Over time, your S-days will become less like "bingefests" since the habit of eating 3x/day will be normal and you'll know that the next S-day is right around the corner.

I've only been doing this since December, or so, but even for me it's fairly automatic now. As you stick with it, I'm sure you'll see the same, positive results.

Ray

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 9:42 pm

Karina,

As hard as it is, focus on habits and not immediate results. Don't worry about what you put on during Easter weekend. Worry about sticking to No-S the week after.

My S days were pretty wild at first. Still can be, if I'm stressed. The difference is that (a) they gradually got better on their own (as long as I attended to the N days) and (b) they are NOT a source of stress in themselves.

Trust the process.

You might want to read/listen to some of R's podcasts for inspiration. My favorite is the one on strictness - especially the part about "no punishment" and why. It's a good way to think.

Hang in there.

cvmom · Post by **cvmom** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:51 am

Hi Karina.

I'm sorry that you are having self-doubts. I think I had them too, in the beginning. I was afraid to trust myself. The rules almost seemed too easy. But the only thing you can do is just try it.

The first month or so is a little challenging because your body and mind are used to certain things. But then, habits develop.

You will learn to enjoy your S days without guilt. There were some days in the very beginning that I felt like an S day was permission for a binge. But, that seemed to go away very quickly. An S day is always special because I feel that I've earned it, even if I don't eat all that differently then I did during the week.

I wish you well on this endeavor. It is a path towards really enjoying your food and eating like a normal person.

Good luck. Dru

PS. The podcasts are really good.

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:36 pm

With a Dad saying things like that, I can see why you are tense about going home. He probably meant well. I'm a dad, I mean well, but I'm sure I crush my kids pretty regularly. I have learned one thing about parenting: if you can tell you kids your sorry about your behavior, you're a better parent ("sorry I yelled so loud about your bike: I had a bad day at work and just got ticked when I saw it in the driveway. I wasn't really yelling at you.")

You don't want *another* diet, do you? You want to eat in a way that integrates into your life, right? No-S really feels like that to you, right?

Should your father say anything again to you, I would tell him that you are eating three squares a day, losing weight slowly, and you're pretty sure you're on the right track. He'll probably understand that.