Reminder of basic facts

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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ozarka
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Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:04 pm

Reminder of basic facts

Post by ozarka » Fri May 18, 2007 12:16 am

I've been away from the board for a while - and I'm sure these are things that MANY & MOST of you already know - but for those people out there who are like myself - who like to keep track of things by writing them down - or for those who constantly need to know where they stand - or for those who had just forgot......here are the basic facts that helped me get back on track. (I thought they may be useful because I've seen a significant amount of people writing about not losing weight)

** Remember - one pound is 3500 calories. You will not lose weight unless you burn these calories. The good new is: This does NOT mean you have to physically work out to burn ALL of these calories. Your body burns many of these on it's own throughout the day. The first step to losing weight is knowing how many calories your body will burn on a regular day. Below is a good website which can calculate this for you:

http://www.stevenscreek.com/goodies/calories.shtml

As soon as you know how many calories your body naturally burns in a day - you can then begin to get an idea of which foods (and how much food) you can be eating in order to lose weight. For example: if you want to lose 1 pound a week - you would need to burn 3500 extra calories a week. If your body naturally burns 2000 calories a day, you could eat 1500 calories per day (without having to work out) - and lose your one pound a week (this would eliminate 500 calories per day - equaling 3500 in a week). You could also through excerise into this - which would allow you to eat more - and physically work off the extra calories.

I know this seems like calorie counting...... but it doesn't have to be as tidious as it sounds. You have to get a general idea of how many calories you consume and burn in a day in order to lose weight. Once you get a general idea - you know more or less where you stand in what you should/should not eat in a day (IE: determine what your S's are). It can also be an explanation as to why weight is not coming off. Obviously if your body burns 2000 calories in a day - and you eat 2000 calories a day you will remain the same weight. It works best for me to keep track of the numbers - and then weigh myself once a week.

AGAIN - I know this is not for evreryone - and I know some may feel this is not part of NO-S dieting - but for me it's back to basics. It's realistic, and I still do my snacking on week/ends. So I just thought I'd put this out there for all others in the same boat as myself.

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david
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Post by david » Fri May 18, 2007 1:45 pm

If you are trying to do No-S AND count calories you are on the wrong track.

If you want "back to basics" read the main No-S page (link is above), do what the manifesto says and carve away everything else.

--david

chentegt
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Post by chentegt » Fri May 18, 2007 3:25 pm

david wrote:If you are trying to do No-S AND count calories you are on the wrong track.

If you want "back to basics" read the main No-S page (link is above), do what the manifesto says and carve away everything else.

--david
I agree. For the REAL most basic stuff, just don't overeat!!

Easy as that!

cab54
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Location: Midwest

Post by cab54 » Sat May 19, 2007 3:37 pm

I know that in eating 3 balanced meals a day,--- not snacking, not taking extra food with my meals, and not eating sweets on weekdays, I am definitely taking in less calories than I used to.

That's all I need to know. :)
Cheryl

Starting weight--200 (gah!)
Currently--185
Goal weight--135, or wherever I end up

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Jammin' Jan
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Post by Jammin' Jan » Sun May 20, 2007 8:26 pm

The whole point of No-S is that we don't bother about calories.

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JustAnnie
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Location: Tennessee

Post by JustAnnie » Sun May 20, 2007 10:33 pm

No-S is a way of life that frees you from couting calories and over thinking the whold "diet" thing. It works too!!! I've lost 25 pounds.
Just Annie

You Can't Fail Until You Quit Trying

thtrchic
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Post by thtrchic » Sun May 20, 2007 10:36 pm

Wow, Annie, 25 pounds is great! How strict are you about your S days? And how much attention to eating healthy/balanced vs. just letter of the No-S law N day meals are you paying?

Julie

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JustAnnie
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Location: Tennessee

Post by JustAnnie » Sun May 20, 2007 10:53 pm

Keep in mind that I have a lot to lose yet. I'm finding that my S days are becoming more and more like my No-S days. After several months my body is kind of on a schedule and I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at approximately the same time each day. It's liberating to know that if I come across something tempting on the weekends I can try it if I like, but I don't feel the need to endulge very often. My hardest time of day is always evenings. Sometimes I stay up very late to work on something and I'm STARVING before I go to bed. When that happens I'll drink some milk or tomato juice so I can sleep but that's really the only "cheating" I do.
Just Annie

You Can't Fail Until You Quit Trying

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Mon May 21, 2007 2:02 pm

Ozarka,

Sorry if you feeling like you've gotten a lot of flak on this... while I'm emphatically not a proponent of counting calories, I guess I can understand why just as a sanity check it might make sense occasionally to check some default foods.

I would caution against putting too much emphasis on this, of course. I don't actually think there's anything basic about it... counting calories is a very novel, very sophisticated behavior. We were much thinner before we had a clue what a calorie is and which foods have how many.

Still, if you want to use it to design some intelligent defaults, that might make some sense.

Best wishes, whatever you decide, and please feel welcome to post more on this subject, even if it doesn't conform to strict no-s orthodoxy.

Reinhard

P.S. congratulations, Annie!

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