Everyday Systems

Hi all,

I'm currently about 3 weeks into my second attempt at No S and it's going quite well (details are in my check-in thread), but in just over a week I am going away on vacation, and I'm currently trying to decide what to do about the diet while I'm away.

I'm away from Monday to Friday, so no official S-days will be included. The place we're going is a holiday park where there's lots of things to do - various sporting activities, cycle paths, swimming - so I will probably be having a fairly active week. The accomodation is self-catering but there's lots of nice restaurants & cafes there, and I don't really want to deprive myself of enjoying good food & occasional treats while I'm on vacation!

Also, as I haven't been doing this for long, I'm worried that the change of routine, plus all of the extra temptation, will mean that if I try to keep to the diet, I'll fail, and end up feeling miserable, and find it hard to get back on the wagon when I get back. So I'm currently looking at 4 options really:

1. Just make it a week of S-days. But I think I'd feel a bit guilty about all that yellow on my calendar.
2. S-days while I'm away, balanced out by an extra 4 non-S-days on the weekends before and after my break. But I'm not sure I can do seven days in a row without a break! I'm not big on willpower.
3. No exemptions - try and stick to the diet the whole time.
4. A mixture - maybe 3 S-days out of the 5, or something - but it might get too complicated and I might forget which day it is, or it might not fit in well with our planned meals out.

Anyway, I'd really like to hear what other people do. Please help me decide!
Spook

Well, I'd totally forget option #2. I'd take each day (and meal and snack) as it comes, do the best I could and not worry about it. If you overdo, you can tighten your belt and watch your intake a little more closely on N-Days when you get home.

Another way to unpack is by "S's." What do you mind most - no Snacks, Sweets, or Seconds?

So you could...

5) Do No-S in terms of snacks and seconds, but allow one sweet per day.
6) Same, except snacks are the exception.
7) Same, except seconds are the exception.
8 ) Plan one S-of-your-choice per day

Another thing... remember to make your MEALS special and satisfying. You may find you can do No-S just fine if you take advantage of your meals to have food you especially enjoy.

Spook wrote:Hi all,

I'm currently about 3 weeks into my second attempt at No S and it's going quite well (details are in my check-in thread), but in just over a week I am going away on vacation, and I'm currently trying to decide what to do about the diet while I'm away.

I'm away from Monday to Friday, so no official S-days will be included. The place we're going is a holiday park where there's lots of things to do - various sporting activities, cycle paths, swimming - so I will probably be having a fairly active week. The accomodation is self-catering but there's lots of nice restaurants & cafes there, and I don't really want to deprive myself of enjoying good food & occasional treats while I'm on vacation!

Also, as I haven't been doing this for long, I'm worried that the change of routine, plus all of the extra temptation, will mean that if I try to keep to the diet, I'll fail, and end up feeling miserable, and find it hard to get back on the wagon when I get back. So I'm currently looking at 4 options really:

1. Just make it a week of S-days. But I think I'd feel a bit guilty about all that yellow on my calendar.
2. S-days while I'm away, balanced out by an extra 4 non-S-days on the weekends before and after my break. But I'm not sure I can do seven days in a row without a break! I'm not big on willpower.
3. No exemptions - try and stick to the diet the whole time.
4. A mixture - maybe 3 S-days out of the 5, or something - but it might get too complicated and I might forget which day it is, or it might not fit in well with our planned meals out.

Anyway, I'd really like to hear what other people do. Please help me decide!
Spook

I just went on a mini-vacation last weekend + one day. The point of the trip was eating good food and drinking good wine. I was ultra strict on what I ate for 3 days and felt really good about it. I always ate a good breakfast (this is easy if you eat in your room) and had an OK lunch and dinner. I am on a low carb diet and I am amazed how difficult it is to eat out when you can't eat bread, pasta, rice, beans etc. You CAN do it if you WANT to. I didn't lose any weight but I didn't gain any, and I had a great time with my family.

Thanks for the replies. As I think I mentioned, willpower is not my strong point - that's why No S is working for me, because the rules are simple and unambiguous, and there's no wiggle room.

So, while I quite like KCCC's idea of changing the S's, I really want the simplicity of either sticking to my current regime or allowing myself to ignore it (while still remembering that the S-day rule includes the word sometimes).

I'm currently veering towards the latter - no 'rules' while I'm away, but don't go mad either. Kind of what wosnes said.

After some further thought I'm now back to thinking that I will go for option #2, to have some extra non-S days before and after my holiday. Otherwise I end up with 9 S-days in a row, which is probably too many.

Is this a dumb idea? I'm starting to think that the extra discipline will actually make it easier for me to keep in good habits while I'm away.

I have been bumbling in my program (after 8.5 years of mostly ease) and still working things out but I am going to answer as if I am in my strong compliance.

I'm probably the only one who thinks this way, but S days are S days whether I have an S or not. Remember the SOMETIMES part of the rules. So talking about taking non-S days isn't the way I think about it. When I'm compliant, if I don't have an S on S day, it makes no difference for the rest of the days. I don't earn an NWS day by skipping S's on S days. That involves bargaining/mental accounting that I would rather not do and which most humans can't keep track of.

I think regarding vacations as times to eat willy nilly is not a good habit UNLESS we have been following a rather limited eating program for a good deal of time. But it should also not feel like you are somehow punishing yourself.

All I can tell you is 1) my very first year, I had a good week and then Thanksgiving came and it took me a YEAR to get back to it, with one other week of compliance in August; 2) on vacations, I can almost always fit lots of scrumptious food into the No S structure, even without any S's. I opt for a beverage if others want something in between meals. I make more of an effort to turn my thoughts to the environment- people, places, events, etc.

Another way people sometimes think is to use the concept of S events rather than S days. Perhaps use the regular S days and perhaps 3 S events on weekdays. I really think having some kind of limit will make you a little more choosy and the events more special. It's not as if you're starving the rest of the time.

It's okay to be a little choosy on the bookend S days as well.

Whatever you do, enjoy every bite of what you DO eat. That's a good rule every day.

When I was camping last week, I was asked if I ate chocolate. My reply was yes, but not for afternoon tea. Obviously I don't regard holidays as a free for all with food.

Maybe stick to the 3 meals a day and allow one s a day. That way you are not going crazy but also can have a dessert or seconds if you really want it

I'm probably the only one who thinks this way, but S days are S days whether I have an S or not. Remember the SOMETIMES part of the rules. So talking about taking non-S days isn't the way I think about it. When I'm compliant, if I don't have an S on S day, it makes no difference for the rest of the days.

You are not alone. If I didn't think this way I think I'd be setting myself up for constant internal negotiation, which I've personally found undermines my efforts (in particular, I've seen myself do this with alcohol moderation). Gotta fence around the law.

I went on a cruise this summer, and I stuck with 3 meals. I also ended up taking about 3 S days out of the week. I honestly did not pre-plan them but allowed myself them when we were at restaurants ashore with particularly fun desserts, not at the regular cruise dessert offerings, which were reportedly so-so. Other than that, I just enjoyed the meals without seconds or sweets. (I just realized that this thread is quite old, but I will leave this here in case it helps anyone.)

I think some of these "old" threads resurfaced, thanks to SpamALot. We've deleted most of them, but they brought old threads to the forefront. In a way, it's like a little gift from the SpamMonsters, kind of like finding an old childhood picture while you are cleaning out a closet.

During my first year of nos I tended to have 2 meals a day on holiday. I had snacks and sweet stuff as I wanted them by in moderation.

They didn't have an adverse impact on my loss, though I do tend to walk more on holiday, so I guess they balanced out.

For me nos isn't a diet but a way if eating for life so it has to work during holiday periods.

Jx