Today is my first day

[candigirl]

HI, today is my first day. Sounds like something that might work for me. Would love to hear how it has worked for you. I'm excited to get started.

[sandooch]

Hi there!

I'm pretty new here, but I love it so far. No more having to limit what you have to eat (except for the sweets during the week) or thinking about food constantly. This diet gives you so much freedom.

Welcome aboard!!!

[BrightAngel]

This is my first day too, and it's mid-afternoon.
I AM thinking about food constantly,
I really missed my mid-morning snack, and
I want my usual afternoon snack (or snacks) so very badly.
I suspect I'll feel that way about my evening snacking too.
But perhaps the cravings get less over time.
I hope.

[candigirl]

Hi there!

I'm pretty new here, but I love it so far. No more having to limit what you have to eat (except for the sweets during the week) or thinking about food constantly. This diet gives you so much freedom.

Welcome aboard!!!

Glad to hear you like it so far. It gives me encouragement to keep going. Today hasn't been too bad. Hopefully, tonight while watching tv I won't miss that snack too much.

[candigirl]

This is my first day too, and it's mid-afternoon.
I AM thinking about food constantly,
I really missed my mid-morning snack, and
I want my usual afternoon snack (or snacks) so very badly.
I suspect I'll feel that way about my evening snacking too.
But perhaps the cravings get less over time.
I hope.

I know, I'm a little worried about this evening, too. But, lets just hang in there. We can do it!

[DianeA2Z]

Candigirl,
My snack time has always been in the evening after dinner. I'm still really new to No S, but I've adjusted our eating schedule so that dinner comes at 6:30 or 7pm. So far that's been working because I had made a lot of progress in the past by not eating past 8pm. I also always have a glass of water next to me. I'm sure I'm gonna run into snack urges at some point in time, and I hope I'll be able to come up with an activity that will get my mind off the snacking. One thing I've learned is: Don't watch cooking shows anytime after dinner!

I know that giving myself a manicure keeps my hands snack free and that's ok as long as I need a manicure when the snack urge hits. Maybe I need to get back to knitting or needlepoint...or work on quilting projects.

Diane

[Nichole]

Welcome!!! So far I've lost 2 lbs. or so.

[resting52]

Welcome Candigirl,

Have you signed up for HabitCal yet? It is an encouragement to me to know that I can only color the days green if I'm sticking with the No S rules. So far, so good!!!!

Resting52

[blueskighs]

Candigirl,

I just got to 21 days on Monday and I just can't say enough! This No S diet has completey transformed my relationship with eating and food,

Blueskighs

[BrightAngel]

I'm starting my 3rd day.
I'm finding the no seconds really easy;
The no sweets isn't too hard;
but the no snacking is incredibly hard for me,
as this has been my primary way of eating for many years.

My normal day begins at 4 a.m. and ends at 8 p.m.
I'm eating around 7 a.m., 12 noon, and 5 p.m. which are my normal mealtimes.

I think about food continually, and
greatly miss my three between meal planned snacks...
...plus, of course, those extra few bites here and there.

At mealtime, my plates of food are delicious,
and I'm full when I finish, but I'm not enjoying them much
because I feel ravenous when I start, and very sad when I finish.
The past two days I've gone to bed before 7 p.m. to keep from snacking.

When I first begin any kind of "structured diet",
I usually drop two or three pounds the first few days,
...which I know is mostly due to salt/water/waste loss...
but, although my calories are averaging around 1000-1200
this hasn't happened, and I miss it.

I think this is a great way of dieting or maintaining a weight-loss,
and I'm hoping my body and mind's negative reactions
to the "loss" of snacking will become less over time

[Jesseco]

When I first begin any kind of "structured diet",
I usually drop two or three pounds the first few days,
...which I know is mostly due to salt/water/waste loss...
but, although my calories are averaging around 1000-1200
this hasn't happened, and I miss it.

I think this is a great way of dieting or maintaining a weight-loss,
and I'm hoping my body and mind's negative reactions
to the "loss" of snacking will become less over time

Why do you want to drop any weight now, since you weigh so little?

Giving up snacks has been the hardest thing for me, too. And I already ate almost no sweets (except on rare binges), and no seconds. So I might actually be eating a few calories more, if I'm not careful on the weekends!

But I am adjusting well, because right before I read the book and started this diet, I was realizing that even my two healthy planned snacks often became more calorie-dense than what they should be. And I was gaining weight because of them. So I downgraded them to FRUIT ONLY and ONLY IF STARVING. That was working well, but I still wanted to try No S.

So now I am happy with No S (in my 4th week), except that I need to not be a pig on S days. I hate seeing my weight go to 126 or 127 on Mondays and then SLOWLY creep back down to 122 (124 today)! I know that we should not be a slave to the scale, but I'm not ready to stop weighing myself daily yet.

I actually enjoy the bigger meals, and for most of my snacks, wasn't really even hungry. I just ate them because I promised myself I could and I looked so forward to them. My mind is adjusting to the 3 meals per day and I am drinking a lot of tea and coffee in between meals. I do think that I am thinking a little bit less about food, and I like that!

I think you will adjust, BrightAngel, if you give it a little more time. It sounds like you have been very structured (like I was for several years) and good about your meals and snacks, etc. If you could tell yourself and your next meal is only ___ hours away, and then get busy (and drink something), that may help.

But if it doesn't, it sounds as though what you have been doing has worked well for you, and you can always go back to that.

[BrightAngel]

Why do you want to drop any weight now, since you weigh so little?

I think you will adjust, BrightAngel, if you give it a little more time. It sounds like you have been very structured (like I was for several years) and good about your meals and snacks, etc. If you could tell yourself and your next meal is only ___ hours away, and then get busy (and drink something), that may help.

But if it doesn't, it sounds as though what you have been doing has worked well for you, and you can always go back to that.

Thanks Jesseco,
I am in the process of maintaining a large weight loss, which takes a tremendous amount of work.

For me scales have been an extremely effective measurement tool.
I am very susceptible to DENIAL about my eating behavior
which makes it important that I continue to use tools that measure:
......(1)my eating behavior and
......(2)the results of that behavior.
I choose to use my Diet Power food journaling software to record/measure my Behavior,
and I choose to use the scales to measure my Results.

Having reached my weight goal, doesn't mean my body stays at the same scale number all the time.
My weight bounces around between 3 to 8 lbs all the time.
Some of the time this is because of salt/water/waste issues,
other times it's due to emotional overeating around a celebration/holiday/vacation/crisis/or simply a mood.

My signature contains a visualization I made of my maintenance goals.
It is my wish to be stabilized in the middle of my maintenance range..
preferable in the middle of my green area...because of my frequent upward weight bounces,
but at least the middle of my blue area, so normal upward weight bounces won't put me in my red area.

During the past 26 months, sometimes I've been near the bottom of my green area,
but more often at the top of my blue area,
I too often bounce into my red area, and even sometimes get up into my black area.

I average my weight, and my averages are showing a very gradual weight gain.

During April I've weighed in the 115 lb range about 2/3 of the time,
but bounced up into 116, 117, and 118 the rest of the time.
In February my monthly weight average was 114.9
In March my monthly weight average was 115.9,
and back in September that average was 111.5
So, I'm not happy that this morning I weighed 117.0, because I want my averages to drop.

Recently I've been doing some alternate day dieting that has been kicking me back into a "binge/fast" mode,
and I'm hoping the No S diet can help me stay away from doing that.

I've found weight-maintenance to be even more work than weight-loss.
I keep looking for some kind of food plan that will take a little less effort,
but in any event, at present it is very important for me
to continue to stay interested and motivated in the maintenance process.

[FarmerHal]

This is my first day too, and it's mid-afternoon.
I AM thinking about food constantly,
I really missed my mid-morning snack, and
I want my usual afternoon snack (or snacks) so very badly.
I suspect I'll feel that way about my evening snacking too.
But perhaps the cravings get less over time.
I hope.

BrightAngel.
I used to feel that way when I first started nosing 16 months ago. You really do get over it. I don't even LIKE snacking between meals now, as it makes me feel all bloaty and overfull! Plus the good thing is, most of my favorite snacks I can have with lunch anyway, (I adore(d) crackers, now, not so much!) so I don't get too worked up over missing out on them anymore.

Sweets/evening dessert I REALLY struggled with, BUT I was really strict with that tummy toddler for the first week or two and the sweet cravings got much better.

I know that feeling of deprivation- like you're missing out and it's almost a desperate feeling! It does get better. Hang in there, be a little (or a lot) strict with yourself and you'll get through it. And, today's Thursday, so only one more N day to an S day and you'll be able to taste those snacks and sweets again. You might find (like I did) that some of those snacks and sweets aren't all that tasty anymore.

Give your body time to adjust. Both physical (digestion, insulin/pancreas) and psycological (habit) are VERY powerful right now, and it will take some work to change them and replace them with new habits.

You can do this, heck, if I did it, you can!
I'm the world's biggest cracker snacker (a whole box or 2 each DAY!) and sweet lover (did someone say cake??!)


ETA: I just read your last post, and I noticed you said you eat more when in crisis. I am very emotional myself and it took me a while to realize that *eating* will not change the current (bad/sad) situation I'm in. Sure, while I'm eating something, I feel good because it tastes good, but once that last bite is gone, the problem is still there. Just a few weeks ago I was in a bit of a crisis myself, and the first instinct for me was to EAT. Soemthing sweet, something ENORMOUS, I thought would make me feel better. But then I realized just what I said. Food won't change the situation. I faced the problem and did not eat and everything worked out well.

One thing about the noS for me, is that I didn't just learn about eating because of FOOD but eating because of emotion, and what a psycological path this has been for me!
Good luck!

TIffani