NWS days

blueskighs · Post by **blueskighs** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:08 am

So what do ya'll do for NWS days? I have decided to "skip" the concept of S-events and just have/keep it to about two NWS days a month. SO far this has worked well for me.

We don't have tons of family birthdays, etc to go to. SO far I have used our wedding aniversary and a special date where I cooked a "thank you" lunch for a friend. I counted my first NO S diet day as NWS because it was split ... morning and afternoon sweets and seconds, evening on habit (I found the book at 1:00pm

)

anyway ... since I don't have any other need in May, I am going to take Memorial day as NWS to give me my two. At first I thought I would not take NWS days

but now I see that they really are as helpful as S days, I can also see that it is wise to keep them about two per month.

Has anyone ever gone a month, several months without NWS days? Just wondering how other people approach these,

Blueskighs

Sheiler · Post by **Sheiler** » Thu May 15, 2008 7:23 am

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:22 am

Sheiler wrote:NWS

Non-Weekend S days: holidays, birthdays and other special events.

I have such a small family that it's something I don't have to worry about.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:23 pm

I generally don't take them unless there's a real family event.

JillyBean · Post by **JillyBean** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:25 pm

Hi Blue,

I don't think I will plan mine ahead, but it's just nice to know they are there. I used 4 in April after only being on No-S for a little over a week! We went on vacation. It seemed at the time like I ought to just wait and start this plan when I got back, but then I thought, that's diet mentality. This is not a diet, it's a way of eating for the rest of my life, so I started actually on a Friday.

This month I have not used any NWS's and if the occasion doesn't arise, I probably won't. I have every weekend and so those are just a nice safety net for me. Actually, I was thinking it might not be a bad idea, when the time does come, to use them as S events instead and just have the weekends as s days.

Good question though, and I look forward to more responses.

Post by **reinhard** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:16 pm

Looking over the last year of my habitcal data, I don't have a single month where I didn't take at least one NWS day. I usually took two, sometimes one, sometimes more (Chritsmas time, summer vacation). I never took an NWS day just for the hell of it (properly speaking, that would be a failure)-- there was always some holiday or event.

http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/vie ... &t=nosdiet

Keeping it to an average of about 2 NWS days + failures a month (ideally 0 failures) is a good sanity check for compliance and should be the first thing you worry about. I wouldn't give yourself NWS days for no reason if a reason doesn't present itself, but I think you'll find plenty do -- and don't begrudge yourself the most compelling couple or so a month.

Reinhard

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:17 pm

I find that a lot of "special events" are celebrated or occur on the weekends, so it's not really an issue.

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:24 pm

reinhard wrote:Looking over the last year of my habitcal data, I don't have a single month where I didn't take at least one NWS day. I usually took two, sometimes one, sometimes more (Chritsmas time, summer vacation). I never took an NWS day just for the hell of it (properly speaking, that would be a failure)-- there was always some holiday or event.

http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/vie ... &t=nosdiet

Keeping it to an average of about 2 NWS days + failures a month (ideally 0 failures) is a good sanity check for compliance and should be the first thing you worry about. I wouldn't give yourself NWS days for no reason if a reason doesn't present itself, but I think you'll find plenty do -- and don't begrudge yourself the most compelling couple or so a month.

Reinhard

Reinhard,

Thanks for the link to your HabitCal.
I enjoyed looking at it.
I was very pleased to see that I have room for more than 4 calenders
as long as I don't show them at the same time.
Even so, at present, I think 4 is enough for me.

Nichole · Post by **Nichole** » Thu May 15, 2008 2:25 pm

wosnes wrote:I find that a lot of "special events" are celebrated or occur on the weekends, so it's not really an issue.

Me too! Thank goodness. My brother's birthday party is on Friday, though, and I really want to resist the cake. With 3 brothers, 2 sisters, in-laws and 9 nieces and nephews, I think I have to be picky.

OrganicGal · Post by **OrganicGal** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:14 pm

I haven't had any S events that haven't fallen on a weekend since I started. Mothers Day for example. But I'm sure I will have eventually. In my family we tend to celebrate those special events on the weekends even if the actual date, i.e. b-day is on a weekday. Now we have our Victoria Day holiday here in Canada this coming Mon. the 19th...and I might choose to use that as an NWS, but we'll see. My brothers and I are going to be painting my house all weekend, so meals might be a bit chaotic anyway.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:27 pm

Nichole wrote:
wosnes wrote:I find that a lot of "special events" are celebrated or occur on the weekends, so it's not really an issue.
Me too! Thank goodness. My brother's birthday party is on Friday, though, and I really want to resist the cake. With 3 brothers, 2 sisters, in-laws and 9 nieces and nephews, I think I have to be picky.

I wouldn't be. I'd just not overdo it -- that is, the amount taken.

Sheiler · Post by **Sheiler** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:27 pm

I haven't had any NWS days yet either, but it's really nice to know that I don't need to stress about it when I do, like I would if I were on a diet, instead of a sensible, long term, eating plan. Thanks Reinhard, you really took away all of my excuses, and made this as simple as it could possibly be. (Not always easy, but totally uncomplicated

)

Writer110 · Post by **Writer110** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:39 am

Oh wow! I'm so glad this thread was posted! I have been agonizing because I planned a really special girls night with one of my good friends for Saturday night. I invited her over for wine, appetizers & a good chat. This was all well & good until she changed the night to tomorrow- Friday. I am not concerned about eating sweets (I don't think there will be dessert, unless she brings it), and I'm actually not concerned that much about overeating (I don't see it as being a crazy free for all)- but I will probably have a few small plates as that's the way I planned our meal. I am planning on virtual plating best I can (as I'm much more interested in the wine and the chat

) but I was still getting a little obsessive- which I don't want this evening to be about at all.

I am going to figure out the final plan in the morning- but it's nice to know that that option exists sometimes- the key word being SOMETIMES!

I don't have any family here nor a SO nor tons of friends nearby so my celebrations (especially on non-weekends) are extremely rare. In fact, we've had 2 birthdays at work (meaning cake) and my roommate baked a cake 3 nights ago & I resisted easily! Yippee for NoS!

JustAnnie · Post by **JustAnnie** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:58 am

If the special day calls for some really special food that will make me feel deprived if I dont partake of it.....like DH's annual birthday pineapple upside down cake.....then I'll declare it a NWS day. If it's just someone's birthday with a plain old cake, I can skip it without feeling deprived so I stick to No-Sing.

blueskighs · Post by **blueskighs** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:47 am

I really appreciate everyone's comments. I can see that because of family size, location, etc this need would vary for everyone.

Reinhard it was informative to get a look at your habitcal, thank you for that.

I think the two main questions have been answered... whether or not to use NWS days and how often?

I think the answer for me is YES and look at a ball park of about two or so a month.

I am definitely going to keep them as Family things, Holidays and Seriously Special days.

So for my first two months I look right on target.

I am actually glad that Reinhard pointed out he takes at least one every month. I have a tendency to be too rigid which can set me up for future binging.

Since we have no more Family occasions in May taking Memorial Day ... an official holiday and very important to those who have served ... who BTW I greatly appreciate ... sounds like a good idea.

Blueskighs

Laff · Post by **Laff** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:25 am

I, too, tend to be a bit rigid (some would say anal) so this was also good for me. Not that I intend to have a NWS day for no reason. However, I have often failed at dieting because of one screw-up, felt guilty, threw in the towel. I have been at nos a month and have not had a reason to take a NWS day yet. We have a family birthday coming up which we may celebrate on Victoria Day so I may take that as my first no-guilt NWS day.
This thread has been helpful. Thanks for starting it.

clio · Post by **clio** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:11 pm

I really appreciate the idea and flexibility of a NWS day. I definitely feel that just knowing it's there helps you feel in control and prevents you from rebelling against the fixedness of only weekends or official holidays.

I had my first NWS day yesterday, it was dh's bday, and I'm very happy with myself because I treated as a no S event rather than an opportunity to eat too much the whole day. I did no S until dinner, then at dinner I had a plate of exactly what I wanted and cake and ice cream for dessert. All without guilt! yea! Any other diet, I would have agonized about what too do...probably eaten too much, feeling it was my only opportunity to get in all the sugar I could, and almost certainly have felt guilty and depressed the next day. But with no S it was a wonderful meal, it's over and today is a new (N) day...

flipturn · Post by **flipturn** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:36 pm

This is so informative, Reinhard; I really appreciate seeing your yellow days. I love the fact that Halloween was a yellow day for you. I have tried to be mature about Halloween, but self-sabotage always kicks in when the candy goes on sale. I feel that I deserve to buy some because I had to deny myself a holiday! This year perhaps I will call it an S day and have some fun . . .

Kathi · Post by **Kathi** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:05 pm

So what is the difference between an NWS day and a failure? I went to my cousin's graduation party last night and ended up having a piece of cheese before my meal and one piece of cake. I hadn't intended to do either, so I marked yesterday as a red day. But could it--should it--have been marked yellow?

It didn't actually feel like a failure, in that I stuck to one piece of cake and, most importantly, didn't use the "I blew it" excuse to eat more once I got home. I was tremendously proud of that--the all-or-nothing mentality is probably my worst problem connected to eating.

FWIW, that would bring me to two NWS days this month, the other being my birthday, which I had certainly planned to celebrate as an S day!

phano · Post by **phano** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:25 pm

I think the difference between an NWS day and a failure is probably intention. So, if you decided that a day would be an S day for some special reason, you would be exempted from the rules.

However, I would say you could certainly take a graduation as a retroactive S day.

Congratulations on being so moderate, too! That's such a huge feat (for me anyway) at these sorts of things. And by all means take your birthday as an S day!

blueskighs · Post by **blueskighs** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:03 am

I think the difference between an NWS day and a failure is probably intention. So, if you decided that a day would be an S day for some special reason, you would be exempted from the rules.

this is actually why I plan my NWS days in advance. This way it is very clear to me whether or not I am having and NWS day or a red day. For me personally, having this level of honesty with myself is important ...
I think it woudl go to having a fence around the law.

If I have an S on day that is not an S day and/or I have not planned an NWS in advance that is a red day. But that is just me. I find keeping it really clear very helpful. That is why I post my planned NWS days on my check-in. Just a personal quirk for me to keep myself accountable.

Blueskighs

NoelFigart · Post by **NoelFigart** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:08 am

I'm glad this was brought up. I'm trying to decide if I should declare my son's birthday an NWS day or not. His party is ON an S day...

But it's his thirteenth, and while we're not Jewish, I REALLY like the idea of a 13 year old rite of passage. I think declaring some level of adulthood for someone that age might actually mitigate some teenage excesses by tempering it with the idea that he's a young man now.

CrazyCatLady · Post by **CrazyCatLady** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:10 am

For me, I would call a graduation party an S day. Same with my children's birthdays. In fact, on my oldest child's birthday last month, I called it an S day although she lives out of state and we did not see each other that day! But it is the day that I gave birth to her! I don't remember what my indulgence was, but I know that it felt right to acknowlege the S day. (Didn't do a cake or anything, but I COULD have!)

I don't think a naturally skinny person would stress over having a bit of something extra on a special day. I think that is why Reinhard said we can have little S days (with a little something extra) and big S days (like Thanksgiving).

Best of luck to us all as we figure this out! I like the idea of recognizing an S day in advance, and not just declaring one. However, sometimes I think they can sneak up on you! Last week was Nurse's week, and someone brought giant cookies to my office one day, which didn't really tempt me much. But the next day someone else brought me chocolate covered strawberries! I got to thinking about how much better they would be fresh, instead of waiting a few days until the weekend! I wondered if they could be a fruit, but they really couldn't, all covered in chocolate! Then I realized....I'm a nurse! It IS Nurse's week....I can EAT a strawberry! So I shared them with my family at dinner, and the one I had was DELICIOUS! And allowed, because I am No S-ing. I didn't have to count calories, or feel guilty!

I NEED my S days to make this plan work. I certainly don't want to declare extra days to be S days. But I will declare what seem to me to reasonably be S days, and I will enjoy them!

gulfcoastmom · Post by **gulfcoastmom** » Wed May 21, 2008 12:33 pm

so far this week has been s days (sick that is) sever sore throat no voice.. can only swallow cold and soft things and not much at one time... on the plus i have lost weight because i cant eat...
now for my other nws days the week that my dd had her baby ... they were more of a hit and miss... not really bad days but i think i was more snack eating... or mini meals on the go... now that i think about it maybe i was closer to a ns day that week... didnt have much time to snack through the day...

Sheiler · Post by **Sheiler** » Wed May 21, 2008 5:58 pm

Noel,
What a nice idea. I think an acknowledgement of a young man's growth towards adulthood is a really beautiful thing, and I think it does help them understand that they are entering a time of taking on more responsibility. Just wondering, if his birthday is on an S day, which day would you take off? Would you just expand the celebration to the Friday before, or what?

Sheiler · Post by **Sheiler** » Wed May 21, 2008 6:01 pm

Noel,

Just reread your post and realized that you meant the actual day of his birthday. As Rosanne Rosanadan would say," NEver Miiiind!..