Alright, let's see how this goes!

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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Mavilu
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Alright, let's see how this goes!

Post by Mavilu » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:33 am

Hello, fellas!.
Let me introduce myself and tell you why I'm here.
I'm Mavilu, hailing from South America, living in California and showing the extra weight to prove it.
I arrived here in my late 20s with a 108lb frame and here I am, in my late 30s with a 145lb frame.
You see where this is going.
Since I moved here I picked the wondeful habit of exercising and lifting free weights, which of course has made me heavier, but even so, the belly and the hips are getting bigger and bigger, hmmm, I've tried so many things: grazing, EDiets, Discovery Chanel National Challenge, no eating, you name it and even though I lose some weight, I regain it.
See, the thing is that I'm by nature a cook and a baker; I like to eat, I'll will eat steamed fish and apple pies alike and I hate taking anything off my list and also, since I'm a bit of a food snob, I just can't stand low calorie fake cheese, spray on butter and such delicacies that would (maybe) keep me slim.
I use real oil (I'm an olive oil fiend), real butter, real eggs, real sugar.
And last but not least, I've got a husband that married me knowing very well that I will cook and bake feasts daily and expecting me to do so.
So, what's a gal to do?.
I didn't know anymore, I have spend many a day crying in frustration over this in the past few years.

And then, I stumbled upon this site.
Ha!, when I read the rules, it all came back, how I was raised, how we eat in my country, how I was eating until I came to live here.
Now, this is not an attack to the U.S., please do not think so, I love it here and I'm since last year a naturalized american (yay!) but, let me tell ya, the rule for eating here is that there are no rules, everything goes and if you have an american husband that eats without rules, well, you pick up a lot of bad habits over the years.
In my country's views, though, snacking ruins your appetite for the next meal, asking for seconds is rude and proof of gluttony and sweets are for children, more than anything.
And most everyone is thin.
Granted, the diet over there could be improved tremendously, but we are not talking nutrition here.
Anyway, very long post, sorry about that.

The thing is that I'm grateful that I was finally reminded of how is that I managed to get to the age of 27 without ever even knowing what a calorie was and sporting a 00 clothing size.
That's not to say that I hope to be a 00 size ever again, but a 6-8 would be nice.
And so it is that I have become a No S Diet Club Member, so I can go back to the roots.
I have stopped snacking of Valentine's Day and today, a month after, I have decided to add a second S rule: No Seconds.
I feel that I might need some support, because the truth is that I haven't lost any weight or inches in a month and I know that the thought "this is useless" crossed my mind.
I know I shouldn't expect much difference, because the brunt of my calories in on the second dinner serving and I know I can do this.
I want to do this, because I really miss the orderly, neat style of eating and I realize how good it is to eat this way.
Even if I never lose the weight.

I'll leave letting you know that I'm happy to be here and that I hope to be another supporting member.

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Jammin' Jan
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Post by Jammin' Jan » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:56 am

Congratulations on becoming a US citizen and also for finding your way here to No-S! Welcome!

In my country's views, though, snacking ruins your appetite for the next meal, asking for seconds is rude and proof of gluttony and sweets are for children, more than anything.
Amen to that! :D

chiquitabanana
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Location: San Diego, California

Post by chiquitabanana » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:16 am

Mavilu you will love no s - ing it is so simple yet it makes so much sense. You will find that you will have a clearer mind and less stressed about food period because you have the freedom to eat 3 healthy meals a day. I wish you health and a calm mind.
Heath starts in our heart and mind.

2poodles
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Location: Pennsylvania

Post by 2poodles » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:59 pm

Welcome!

I must say, I enjoyed your post and the history of "how you got to where you are". Your story really emphasized a lot of the no s philosophy. I'm new here as well - just finished one week. I'm down 2 pounds, but I'm also exercising (started running recently). It's good to see the scale go down a tad, and it's nice to feel like I'm eating "normally".

Good luck to you!
2poodles

joasia
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Post by joasia » Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:11 pm

I was born in the US, but my whole family is from Europe. And the same concept is true. They eat wonderful food and don't gain. The food in other countries is better tasting and higher quality, it just is. NO offense to the US, but we are focused on making money and eating quickly. Other countries linger and expect high quality food. I have experienced it first hand, food that tastes great and is high quality does not leave you wanting to over eat.
The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

wosnes
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Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA

Re: Alright, let's see how this goes!

Post by wosnes » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:49 pm

Mavilu wrote: See, the thing is that I'm by nature a cook and a baker; I like to eat, I'll will eat steamed fish and apple pies alike and I hate taking anything off my list and also, since I'm a bit of a food snob, I just can't stand low calorie fake cheese, spray on butter and such delicacies that would (maybe) keep me slim.
Ha!, when I read the rules, it all came back, how I was raised, how we eat in my country, how I was eating until I came to live here...
the rule for eating here is that there are no rules, everything goes and if you have an american husband that eats without rules, well, you pick up a lot of bad habits over the years.
In my country's views, though, snacking ruins your appetite for the next meal, asking for seconds is rude and proof of gluttony and sweets are for children, more than anything.
I don't think low-fat cheese, spray-on butter and so on are delicacies, I think they're junky, chemically enhanced, fake foods!

I bet if you follow No-S and go back to the rules you were raised on, your weight will return to what it was when you moved here.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

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MerryKat
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Location: Sunny South Africa

Post by MerryKat » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:32 pm

Welcome to No S.

Enjoy returning to your natural way of eating and enjoy the real food you are encouraged to eat on No S.
Hugs from Sunny South Africa
Vanilla No S with no Sugar due to Health issues - 11 yrs No S - September 2016 (some good, some bad (my own doing) but always the right thing for me!)

maslowjenkins
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Location: Tulsa, Ok

Post by maslowjenkins » Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:28 pm

"snacking ruins your appetite for the next meal, asking for seconds is rude and proof of gluttony and sweets are for children, more than anything. "

well, now, that's good stuff right there. i'm gonna write that down!
welcome to no s!

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Mavilu
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Location: California

Post by Mavilu » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:49 pm

Hello, everyone!, thanks for your warm welcome.

I've done a few days of No Seconds and here is what I found (probably, this is old news for you, though!):
When I make soups and stews, which is often since I'm a fan of those, I always eat one ladle (half a cup) first and then another one as seconds, totalling one cup or 8oz.
Not that much, right?.
So, I made chili and since I wasn't going to get second, I just put the two ladlefulls of chili on my plate at once.
Mercy!, it was a lot of food!.
I looked at it dismayed "this is how much I've been eating?" and I thought I was being discrete with the ladle measurings!.
I ate it all to see how I was going to feel, knowing that it was so much food and even though I really didn't feel stuffed afterwards, I did get the often ignored 'that's enough" signal from my stomach at barely one third of the plate.
Huh.
The lesson I learned: you DO eat much more than you realize, even if you measure it and think you don't. :lol:

Thanks again, fellas, for all your nice responses, now, I'm off to be a good forumite and read and post in some other threads.

Hungry Girl
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Post by Hungry Girl » Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:53 pm

I come from England and am a good bit older than you , but this is the way I was raised to eat also. It is such a relief to rediscover this way of eating and that our mums's were right all along! :D
Here we go again!

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Hunter Gatherer
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Post by Hunter Gatherer » Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:00 pm

Welcome to the forum and to No-S! You don't need to appologise for long posts, especially when they are well written and well thought out. :)
"You've been reading about arctic explorers," I accused him. "If a man's starving he'll eat anything, but when he's just ordinarily hungry he doesn't want to clutter up his stomach with a lot of candy."
Dashiell Hammett

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FarmerHal
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Post by FarmerHal » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:19 pm

Welcome!

It's interesting to know that when I was a kid, snacking wasn't allowed because it would ruin my appetite.
Present day- my kids- they're always asking for a snack or a sweet and then barely touch their actual meals!

methinks they need to get noSing too! Just so they'll eat healthy meals instead of snacks all day long. I'm setting them up for failure.

Look forward to hearing more from you!
{FarmerHal} ...previously Shamrockmommy...
Vanilla NoS... Making good habits.
Restart 12/2015, size 22
3/2016 size 18
1/2018 size 18

Jaxhil
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Post by Jaxhil » Tue Mar 18, 2008 1:24 pm

It's so nice to "meet" you, Mavilu~welcome to No-S!

I too thoroughly enjoyed reading your introduction post. I was once a size 0 also, and though I have no desire to be a 0 again (lol), I agree that a 6/8 would be lovely.

I wish the US would adopt some of the eating patterns I hear about in Europe and South America -we would be a much healthier nation as a whole. It's such a shame everyone is always in a rush to get the mealtime over with and go on to more "important" things (usually work!). We would all benefit from an attitude adjustment in this regard!
Hilary
_______

"Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity."-St Augustine

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."-Thomas Jefferson

kccc
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Post by kccc » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:50 pm

Loved your intro - welcome! I agree with Jaxhil, I wish our general culture supported better habits like you describe.

Shamrockmommy, It's hard with kids, especially when the general culture is so against you. I have found that limiting "snacks" to "food I'd be perfectly willing to let my child have at a meal" really reduces them. I don't want to eliminate them entirely, b/c my son is at an age where he goes through growth spurts and is really hungry... but since the food isn't "special" (like sweets or chips), he only asks for something when he's truly hungry. (Mind you, at someone else's house, if he can get a candy bar, he's all over it!)

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:47 pm

Welcome, Malivu!

"No Snacking" is the hardest (and most important) rule, so I think if you've managed that for a full month, you're in excellent shape.

It is a moderate system, even with all three rules, so it's not hugely surprising that doing just 1/3 of it hasn't resulted in striking immediate losses (though I don't doubt that even that even 1/3 would result in significant loss over time, assuming you're actually overweight).

Your surprise at how much seconds can add up to when you put it together into a first is precisely why the "no seconds" rule is so powerful: it forces you to see your excess. That sight, partially because it's embarrassing, partially because your appetite will actually respond to it directly, will result in smaller and smaller portions over time, without measuring, without much conscious involvement, even. Fill your eyes, and your stomach will follow.

We in the U.S. used to stick with three square meals too, until quite recently. So there's nothing un-American about no-s :-). As far as I can tell, No-s works well with any traditional way of eating. It's the lack of traditions around eating, the forgetting of what we used to know, especially here in the U.S., but also increasingly around the world, that is the problem.

Reinhard

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Mavilu
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Post by Mavilu » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:48 am

Hiya, again!.
Thanks for the rest of the welcoming replies!.

KCCC, I agree about your not entirely limiting what your kids snack on; I was raised by my older sister and have a nephew and a niece that are twelve and fifteen years younger than me and boy, did they eat when they where teens!, especially my nephew; we used to tease him "uh-oh, he's heading for the fridge!!", I realize now how bad that sounds, but, since guilt was never tied up with food (especially in his case!), this was something humorous, we never hurt his feelings.
We would have hurt his feelings if we would have observed a "no snack" rule, though, that for sure, that boy was ravenous all the time!. :P

Reinhard: thank you for your words, yes, I figured I would tackle one S at a time, so I can make sure to accustom myself to them.
A hundred and forty five pounds doesn't sound bad, but I'm officially five pounds overweight; even though I've got some muscle definition (well, a lot in some areas, what the hey, I might as well be proud of that!) five pounds too much is much too much in a small five foot three inches frame.
I really need to lose some weight, because my perfectly fine size ten clothes are getting too tight and I'm not about to spend more money on new clothes.
Plus I really, really want to stop feeling guilty for liking food, that drives me off the wall, I hate that feeling!.
If I eat properly, I don't have to feel any guilt.
And I haven't felt any guilt for a month, and it's rejuvenating!.

You know, my husband is much older than me; he grew up in the fifties and he remembers mealtimes with such a nostalgia, his parents grew up during the Depression years and were very adamant about their boys finishing their meals, even so, they were thin boys and grew into thin young men. Now a days, as older adults, only one of them remains thin.
You would think that the others would go back to the roots, but, the bad habits are too ingrained in their lives, now and they've pass their bad habits into their children.
That's how it goes
What was the point of this... oh yeah, the point is that, yes, I do know that it isn't as if people in general in the U.S. never ate properly, it's just that, as you have expressed it, they've have forgotten how to eat and not wanting to accept that it's their choice and responsability to do so is what keeps them from not having rules for eating any longer.
I bought your book today and by the look my husband gave it, I can tell you that he is going to resist adopting the NoS rules; he knows I've been practicing most of it for about a month now and it doesn't sit well with him, the poor fellow.
He knows that he is overweight because he over eats, but he hates to admit it, hates it!.
Not admitting it, now that he knows the cause of it is what keeps him wearing pant suspenders.
And I do agree that that is the major problem everywhere, suing McDonald's may make you financially affluent but won't make you (or keep you!) thin!.

And yes, I do see the bad habits creeping up everywhere, unlike most of my fellow compatriots, I cringe whenever I remember that Walmarts full of economy packs, jumbo packs, family packs and all sort of giant packs are being built everywhere in my country as we speak and donughts and other sweets are fashionable to eat right now, over there.
I know they would hate me for saying this but the truth is that everyone wants to be "in" and being "in" means doing "american stuff", if that means gorging on Pillsbury cookies between meals, then so be it.
We spent some time living in the Philippines and the people over there went crazy over the very few McDonald's they had in Manila; literally, they would be lines snaking out of the store, all for a Quarter Pounder with Fries, all because having an "american meal" was cool.
The thing is that most people would complain that it was so much food and the meat left them bloated, but they would still have them.
My guess is that, unless we don't catch up quickly with our eating habits on the U.S. and other powerful nations, the rest of the world will soon be as overstuffed as we are right now.

Anyway, kudos on the book, I haven't finished it, yet, but I'm already happy that I've got it.
I asked one of the girls in the bookstore if they had the book and when she gave it to me, she asked me what it was about, given that two other people had asked for it this week.
So, I told her a bit about it and to check the book out as well as the website, I hope I made a convert!.

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