Have you learned anything about yourself from this diet?

christmas tree · Post by **christmas tree** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:35 pm

I always thought I didn't have any willpower or was weak minded when it came to dieting. First, tracking points drives me nuts. Writing every single morsel of food that goes into my mouth drives me nuts. Cutting out a food group requires me to cheat & feel guilty all the time. Feeling guilty is the biggest binge driver for me. I am fortunate to love all kinds of foods, but unconsciouly before no s tended to eat more of the foods that were fattening and not really healthy. It's crazy but most diets made me feel very judgemental about myself. The No sss plan never made me feel that way. Psychologically, thinking about a full satisfying meal that I could actually sit down and eat without feeling guilty or deprived has helped me with the snacking and sweets. Before, not having an after dinner dessert was total deprivation. But if I eat enough at dinner and am satisfied I can pass on the dessert or think have it on the weekend. It is definitely slow going. But I really think I can do this the rest of my life. And I could not honestly say that about any other eating plan out there. Has this plan helped you feel differently about yourself?

silver · Post by **silver** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:07 pm

i learned that small plates aren't as small as they appear. and if you fill them up twice just because the first one isn't satysfying enough, you eat too much but you can't see it. i actually tried to "measure" what you can put on one plate. just out of curiousity. did you know that you can fit the same amount of risotto in a bowl and on a plate? the problem is, it looks less, so you have another go, 'cos you don't feel satisfied. one plate rule was what i benefited from most.

so i guess what i learned is to be honest with myself. and not only about how much i eat

MerryKat · Post by **MerryKat** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 1:52 pm

I have learnt that my need to control and tweak everything to 'perfection' is part of my problem. I so over obsess something that I literally think it to death.

As a result it has taken me 2 years to understand that No S in it's simplicity is the 'perfect' plan for me. There is no down side to No S.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. all I have to do is follow the rules and I will (and do) loose weight far easier than on any other plan I have ever followed!

Post by **reinhard** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:04 pm

Before no-s, I used to come up with all kinds of grand and elaborate resolutions -- and never stick with them for long. I could do any crazy thing for a short amount of time, I had "will strength," but no "will endurance."

But no-s was a really lucky idea. Sure it required a bit of "will strength" up front, but I had that, that was no problem. The difference was that that little push was enough to build some habit, which made endurance easier. Not a cakewalk, mind you, but easy enough that I could do it. And it stayed just hard enough so that, as I kept doing it, my "will endurance" got a great workout. I found that other tasks that required this sort of thing were suddenly easier.

Having more general purpose will-stamina was great in itself. But the realization that by framing the problem as I'd framed no-s, as a matter of willpower and habit rather than something biochemical or physiological, I'd made it much more tractable, was just as valuable. I wasn't only stronger, I knew how to make my problems weaker -- and how to become even stronger by overcoming them.

From then on, new self-improvement systems kept occurring to me, systems that actually worked, that I've been following for years. And they keep coming.

Reinhard

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:54 pm

I consider myself a "recovering perfectionist." No-S has given me a lot of practice in HOW to address those tendencies in myself, which apply to more than this context.

How to contain failure and move on. How to be more honest with myself, and at the same time more gentle.

It is incredibly counter-intuitive to me that the best way for me to succeed on No-S is to be nice to myself. I need to PLAN good things that I like for meals, and special good things for S days. I not only don't have to feel deprived to be healthy... it's counter-productive in the long run.

It's a different mindset.

silver · Post by **silver** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:12 pm

yes, i totally forgot how much thinking it used to take to decide whether to eat or not to eat something. in the end i always got fed up with arguing with myself and i just ate the damn whatever. no-s taught me to be strict. in a good way. so now if i have to think about it, if i have to make decision whether something is allowed, it probably isn't. i learned that from one of reinhard's podcasts. it made my life so much simpler and gave me more time to do more important things and took away a lot of opportunities to feel guilty.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:14 pm

The thing I've learned isn't specifically about me or for me. I've learned that no matter how good, how sensible, how right a program might be doesn't mean it will work exactly as written for everyone.

There's a commercial I've seen recently with a woman saying that she'd tried all sorts of plans, considered a life coach and finally realized that there was one person who knew what would work best for her: HER.

I was getting to that point long before I found No-S, but No-S added the habits I needed to incorporate. Finding them was almost like "Oh! Why didn't I think of that?" I haven't incorporated all the habits -- one plate, HabitCal because those are things that don't work for me.

One of my favorite cookbook authors is releasing a book called The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great. In the review at Amazon, she says, "Diets are like trying to sell everyone the same style and size shoe. If this way of eating is forced and not really you, you'll revert to your old patterns every time. Better to find a way to eat for life. " (Pam Anderson) Most folks will try some diet plan or program and when it doesn't work for them, feel like failures. The problem isn't that they're failures, but that plan or program isn't right for them. Every plan or program will work exactly as written for some people, but not for all people. But for reasons I really don't understand, we're afraid or unwilling to take something that doesn't work for us and makes us feel like failures, and adapt it so that it does work for us. I don't understand why we're so unwilling to trust our own judgement about what will work for us.

No one style and size shoe is going to fit everyone; no one plan or program will either.

babyprrr · Post by **babyprrr** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:29 pm

I've learned that I have amazingly good self-control when it comes to saying 'NO', once I've made my decision. The major problem before No-S was not saying 'no' but more with deciding. Deciding whether that piece of cheesecake was okay because 'a slice once in a while wouldn't make much of a difference'. Then I would eat it, and feel really guilty and binge on about half a box of cereal because there was no point since I'd already eaten something bad, and then vow to start the 'diet' tomorrow.

Since starting No-S, I've found that since all the hard decisions have already been made, it's so much easier to just say no. Last night, watching movies at my friend's, I was offered pie, chocolate, chips, and belgian truffles. Still managed to say no since it was a wednesday. Going to reward myself with a nice slice of cheesecake on Satuday.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:45 pm

babyprrr wrote:I've learned that I have amazingly good self-control when it comes to saying 'NO', once I've made my decision. The major problem before No-S was not saying 'no' but more with deciding. Deciding whether that piece of cheesecake was okay because 'a slice once in a while wouldn't make much of a difference'. Then I would eat it, and feel really guilty and binge on about half a box of cereal because there was no point since I'd already eaten something bad, and then vow to start the 'diet' tomorrow.

Since starting No-S, I've found that since all the hard decisions have already been made, it's so much easier to just say no. Last night, watching movies at my friend's, I was offered pie, chocolate, chips, and belgian truffles. Still managed to say no since it was a wednesday. Going to reward myself with a nice slice of cheesecake on Satuday.

You are awesome!!!
That well deserved cheesecake will taste 100 times better than the "opportunistic" (credit to Reinhard for that concept) eating of sweets just cos they are there.
Good luck!
You are right. All the hard decisions are made for us with NoS, but we get to take all the credit for doing it!
A nice balance if I must say, which *NO OTHER DIET* has..

Peace and Love,

Debs

apple · Post by **apple** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:09 am

I have learnt that I can do a lot more than I think I can.

- That I do not need sweets every day.
- That if I eat more filling meals I won't feel as hungry in between.
- That I enjoy high-quality chocolate/cookies/etc. much more than eating sweets "just because they're there".
- That I can have chocolate in my cupboard and not eat it.

I still have a lot to learn but I feel confident.

LoriLifts · Post by **LoriLifts** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:00 am

I like this thread!

This is my first week of no S. I'm learning that it's hard for me to stick with simple rules. I keep wanting to "tweak" the plan and add restrictions.

I'm a tweaker! Who knew!

The good news is that I have not attempted to re-invent the wheel. I'm commited to following the No S Diet the way it was intended.

And I won't change the shovelglove either!

mrskeith · Post by **mrskeith** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 1:35 am

I am very upset that I didn't think of this first.

I did something similar before. I'd diet all week and allow myself Sundays to eat what I wanted. This is far easier.

silverfish · Post by **silverfish** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:29 am

I learned I can't starve to death in four hours.

This is a very important lesson, and it is good to know that in the event of an apocalypse there will be a window of time for me to scavenge for supplies

laura99 · Post by **laura99** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:57 am

i've learned that there are others just like me

i really thought that i was the only one that could eat sweets like i do. feels good not to be alone in this

phano · Post by **phano** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:00 am

Now that I'm doing No S, I feel like I have a lot more control over my life in general. I used to think that things happened to me--or at least act that way. "What are all those dishes doing in the sink? How is it that the dirty clothes hamper is overflowing? Why am I still carrying my pregnancy weight (even though the 'baby' is three)??" Well, now I know. I'm making decisions all the time. No S woke me up to my food decisions, and that's getting under much better control. And that nucleus of control is emanating out into the rest of my life: I can now say "no, thank you" or "another time" to watching TV instead of doing my homework or the dishes or something else. Huzzah!