Everyday Systems

I started No Snacking on Feb. 14, I added No Sweets on March. 14, I added No Seconds on April 14, on that day, also, I weighted myself: 150 lbs.
Today, May 15 I weighted myself again and the scale says (roll drum, please): 147.
I can't express how pleased I am; I have noticed that in the last year my weight had skyrocketed and I thought that I would just keep gaining and gaining so, I was going to be happy if the scale just told me my weight hadn't gone up, well, not only weight gain has halted, but weight loss has started.
I could tell that clothes felt differently, even though I haven't been able to fit on a different size yet.
Weee!, seriously, I'm simply gleefull.

So anyway, although I initially went a bit crazy with the amount and content of my plates (too many quesadillas), my meals haven't been lean in the least, they have been just regular meals, I have had my sugar in my tea and my honey on my peanut butter, I have had my milk and all my cheeses full fat and even full fat yogurt a couple of times, a couple of "Whoah, Nelly" S days in which I ate a lot of dessert and I'm sure I have about three red days.
I also exercised most days, but nothing that I haven't been doing before, while i was gaining weight non-stop.


At the end of this period I find that:

- I'm officially done with seconds on No days, Special days, Sick days, Any day; I can't believe how used I was to feeling stuffed, sluggish, distended and indigested; that's just not for me any more, whenever I'm tempted to get just a bit more I now remember the feeling of stuffiness and I rather not eat that last morsel than feel like that ever again.

- I'm officially done with snacks, they just serve me no purpose; if I have them even on weekends, then my eating schedule suffers and I get cranky if I don't get the now expected "time to eat" signal in time; I just don't like it any longer; I've learned to wait until the next meal is ready.
And really, I don't know why did I even start snacking to begin with and how it became and habit.
Now more than ever do I realize the importance of being conscious of what I put in my mouth and when.

- And I'm left with Sweets alone.
I have traditionally been a savory kind of person, between salty stuff and sweet stuff I always went to the salty, I never liked cake, most candy, gum, jelly on my bread or ice cream (I love sorbet, though), that changed upon my arrival to the U.S., so many new things to try, so much sweet stuff around the house, so easy to get them (you should have seen my expression the first time I saw whipped cream in a can, where I come from, if you want it, you have to whip yourself).
Well, the sweet tooth that I developed these past years is now really fading to it's former self, I find myself wondering why did I eat most of the stuff I regularly ate and I'm so not missing any of it.
Now, in addiciton to a new favorite (doughnuts), the old few sweet favorites are all I need, a bit of sorbet, some dulce de leche, lemon tea loaf, fruit with whipped cream.

- My diet looks like it has suffered quite a bit of a restrictive reform, but, truly, these Ss that are now a thing of the past have been removed from my eating habits naturally, they just don't belong any longer, just like they didn't use to belong before I started gaining weight.

- I'm a much calmer person, the days of crying out of dietary frustration are over.

- I'm regaining my old confidence, it was all but gone for the last two years.

- I'm sleeping better.

- I've become very regular in all bodily aspects (sorry, it is too much information, but I figured I should include it in the changes I had gone through).

- As I told you gals some time ago, my husband has been picking a few good habits here and there, no more seconds, a smaller portion and while his snacking is still out of control, he no longer buys sweet snacks; he has gone back to nuts, crackers and fruit.
Because of that, he has lost five lbs himself, he is a big, muscular, bony, tall fellow, so that isn't much, but it is nice to see that good habits have positive consequences for us all.
Oh and he no longer offers things that are NoS at the wrong times, and last weekend?, he said "Heeey, how come you are having sorbet?, oh that's right, today is an S day!!".

- I'm very thankful and happy to have found Reinhard, NoS Diet, and you, gals; really, I come here and I make these grouchy and stern posts but I really like you all.

Way to go!!! Thank you so much for posting all this. It really is so inspirational for us new people hear the wonderful changes in mind/body you've gone through!

Moxie

I'm regaining my old confidence, it was all but gone for the last two years.

Isn't it amazing! I am getting back some of this too ... my confidence.

It must be truly disheartening to feel "out of control" with food,

Blueskgihs

Way to go.

Great Job!

That's awesome!!! I love how you developed the No S habits in stages...good for you

I hope other newbies read this. It's so inspiring to see how others gradually went into it if it was too overwhelming all at once. Congrats on WONDERFUL success on building habits!

Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You go girl!

I have traditionally been a savory kind of person, between salty stuff and sweet stuff I always went to the salty, I never liked cake, most candy, gum, jelly on my bread or ice cream (I love sorbet, though), that changed upon my arrival to the U.S., so many new things to try, so much sweet stuff around the house, so easy to get them (you should have seen my expression the first time I saw whipped cream in a can, where I come from, if you want it, you have to whip yourself).

What country did you come from? Whipped cream in a can is not whipped cream (ahem).

f

Thanks for sharing Mavilu. I've been so discouraged because I am not succeeding at all three nos. I like your idea to just work on one at a time until you have that one as an established habit. Maybe I can make this work for me. It is so depressing to feel like you are stuck and cannot change. Perhaps I can change one thing at a time.

Becky

Thank you, everyone!

blueskighs, the feeling of not being able to control my body was indeed horrible and the feeling of being out of control with food was frightening.
I'm glad your confidence is making a return, too.

fkwan, I come from Argentina, whipped cream may not actually come from a can but, the sheer idea of cream in a aerosol can threw me in for a loop, those were the times in which I truly believed I couldn't gain any weight no matter what I ate and several cans of whipped cream met their fate with me.
Now I know better.

For those that find it inspirational, thank God!, that's why I posted it, I believe that whenever we feel that we are having success, whether it's developing a good habit, understanding ourselves, maintaing, losing weight, whatever, we should let others here know, so we all get inspired.
Oh, and I thought I should let Reinhard know that his plan is working with yet another person!.

Yes, Becky you can!.
I know you'll succeed any way you try, because you can, but maybe it is easier if you try one at a time.

I just wanted to let you know, gals and guys that I had lost 3 more pounds, since I made this thread a month ago.
And that with eating lemon curd on my toast (100 cals per tablespoon) on my toast once a day almost daily.
At this rate, I figure, I'll be 18 pounds lighter than today by the end of the year.
Those of you feeling discouraged now and then: chin up!, the weight loss is slow, but it's there nonetheless and it adds up.

Malivu, it's so nice to hear your story! Keep the updates coming.

Yes, please do keep updating! It's so great to hear of successes!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Mavilu,

THAT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so what is lemon curd????????
is it something italian?

Blueskighs

I am glad to hear of all your success-and continued success!! YAH! Congratulations!

Thanks from me as well for taking the time to post all the benefits you've reaped (even the TMI, lol!). It is very inspiring to see someone succeed, and I can appreciate how you wanted to take it slow, with one habit a month. I would think that could be very helpful, and you have proved that true.

Well done, and keep it up!

Thank you, gals, yeah, I feel like you, keeping the forum on your updates can actually be a constructive thing.
Thank you again for your support!.

blueskighs wrote:Mavilu,

THAT IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so what is lemon curd????????
is it something italian?

Blueskighs

I hate linking to Wikipedia, but, this one is actually accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_curd
It is deliciousss.

Thank you so much for this post! It is so encouraging!

I hate linking to Wikipedia, but, this one is actually accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_curd
It is deliciousss.

Ah,

well now I actually know what lemon curd is!

Thank you Mavilu!

Blueskighs

I bring back an old thread of mine because I want to say some things, yeah.

The most important thing is that I'm still here and still a No S gal, I haven't been posting because there were a lot of viruses infecting our computer on daily basis and we had to do a bit of detective work, avoiding some places to discard one by one as the culprit.
Well, good news is that this site isn't the guilty one!.

I also want to report on progress:
For sure, I'm 5 lbs down since I started in february, that makes a lb a month.
But, honestly since I started weighting myself once a month, I kinda got over the weighting obsession and I forget to weight myself (as in two months ago: I went for two months straight without weighting myself and only remembered to weight in last month, because my husband was curious about my weight).
That reflects that, indeed, all my weight anxieties are gone and I'm very comfortable with myself most of the time, possibly, because I had lost the fear of never ending weight gain, it's obvious that I had succesfully stopped weight gain for good.
My hurry to lose all of the weight I would like to lose (10, 15 lbs, maybe?) is gone, as well, instead, I just wonder how am I going to be looking like after a year of NoS?, maybe I won't lose any more, maybe I will, who knows?, even though I would still love to be able to wear some of my old clothes, it's just not a matter of life and death any longer.

I've applied NoS to other areas as well; I'm back at weight-lifting and biking consistently and nightly stretching as well; after I fell off the wagon, I tried unsuccsesfully to get back into routine for 5 years, nothing worked!, nothing except a little NoS psychology: I can take both S days or one off as long as I do my best during the week, anything will do, even ten minutes and a few crunches, but I must do it to validate the weekend, and of course, once I start for "just ten minutes" I go ahead and do what I must and I still feel like exercising during NoS days, but if I don't, I know they are there for me to veg on the couch.
And in the spirit of trying something new, I'm learning to be a coordinated crosscountry skii machine user, which is giving me lots of satisfaction.
I've regained muscle mass, I've gotten more shapely and I'm pain and ache free thanks to my stretching.

We have relegated "kitchen free eating" to S days as well, that way, we keep a tab on how much restaurant and fast food we are eating.
It really helps to know exactly how are your eating habits going and honeslty, it was getting out of hand and that's possibly the reason as to why am I losing weight slowly.

NoS has also made me realize that yes, indeed, the way my body is and feels and how it changes over time is naught but my responsibility and my choice and that's liberating and sobering at the same time.

So, all in all, I'm going back to the person I used to be more than 5 years ago: happy, healthy, sleeping well, shapely, strong, guilt free and confident that I'm doing my best in all areas of my health.
I might not be in the pants falling down club yet, but, a pair of capris that were snug on the waist the first days of summer are now falling to the hip bone and hanging under the belly button.
And that is good enough for me!.

Wow Mavilu,

What a great post! And congrats on that you have gained in terms of control, enjoyment in exercise, food awareness, wow, the list can go on and on!

Congrats again,
Melissa

Mavilu, GREAT posts here, I love hearing updates like this!!

Persistence pays, that's for sure!

Malivu,

Congratulations on your continued success and thank you for risking viruses to keep us updated! (glad it wasn't us!)

The fact that you've lost the "hurry" and "fear" makes me even happier than the pounds you've lost (which are also great).

I'm also delighted that you've been profitably applying "no-s psychology" to other areas.

The "loose pants club" might not be quite as exclusive as the "pants falling down...", but it's still got its perks.

Congratulations again and best wishes going forward,

Reinhard

Thank you, everyone!.

reinhard wrote: The fact that you've lost the "hurry" and "fear" makes me even happier than the pounds you've lost (which are also great).

That is exactly why I'm here. This time last year, I reached the lowest weight I've been in my adult life, but the diet that got me there was extremely unhealthy, both from a physical standpoint and from a mental one. There was a lot of hurry (it was all about fast results) and a lot of fear: to the point that most of us worried about whether eating more veggies would stall us.

It took a year to get my head on straight again (more or less), and unfortunately, I put 20 lbs back on in the meantime.

I do still want to lose it, but what is most important to me right now is to stabilize.

I am so, so happy to hear that there are so many people here who are doing just that, and still making progress. Congrats Mavilu, and thanks for posting; I really needed to read that!

I love the idea of taking No S in stages! For September I am going to try and stop snacking! In October I will try and stop sweets. And November will be no seconds. By the end of the year I should be completely 'No S' ing right? It is good for me to start with no snacking because that includes most of my sweets anyway. I don't usually have a problem with seconds so that is why I am leaving that until last! Wish me luck!

HG

Hungry Girl, was it you who was looking for a buddy when you first got here?.
Well, even if you weren't, allow me to be your buddy for a minute here:
Yes!, go at it in stages, it's going to make all the difference, you'll see, I have faith in you!.
GO GO HUNGRY GIRL!

Jessdr, I'm glad I could help!.