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introducing myself

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:28 pm
by gingercake
Hey everyone. So I found out about this a few months ago when I was having one of my semi-monthly nervous breakdowns about being on a diet for the last four to seven years. Not that it's been all bad - I lost up to 49 lbs at one point, the slow way, by eathing mostly whole foods and staying on weight watchers maybe 70% of the time and eating like a crazy person the rest, of course all the while feeling guilty and fearful. I kept it all off until very recently.

So anyway, in one of my "if I have to count, weigh, or measure one more point/calorie/gram/oz I will tear my eyes out" fits, I googled something like, "What do normal people eat?" and found that a lot of people before me have asked that question, because there were a lot of forums and whatnot addressing that. Someone mentioned the No S site and I checked it out, and I was all...oh my god that makes so much sense. Even I can do that and maybe that's the ticket to lose these last 20-30 lbs. or maybe a little more. (I have no idea, because I've never weighed that little as an adult so I sort of have to see how it looks and feels.)

I followed it for a few weeks until I hit my first PMS on No S. (I can get it bad, my stomach is a bottomless pit, and I crave junk.) I had bad week of binge eating and then commenced freaking out, and, like a lab animal goes back to its cage, scurried back to points and calories. In the last 6 weeks of trying to "diet" again by restricting, I've actually gained like 6 lbs. and fell right back into crazy diet mentality/mistery. So, I had a moment of sanity and lucidity last night and am eager to do this again. Also, and this may be TMI but what the hell - I recently started a new birth control that will supposedly alleviate most of my PMS systems.

I'm 37, live in the western U.S. with my husband, and make my living as a writer. I love to cook. I love to walk. I love the Internet. I love my DVR. I'm a fan of common sense.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:39 pm
by CatholicCajun
Good MOrning and Bienvenue(welcome), you will meet a lot of nice people on these boards, and all are willing to encourage you and give you whatever advice you need/ask for.

You diet delimea probably describes 90% of the women on these boards.

I suggest taking things one meal at a time, no more, no less, just one meal at a time. God Bless and good luck.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:40 pm
by JillyBean
Welcome, Gingercake!

I finally came around to the "common sense" way too! I've been on diets since I was a teenager and dieted myself up to about 50 extra pounds. They do not work! I can't say I've lost any weight yet doing this either, but I have not binged once since starting (about 6 weeks ago). That was my biggest hurdle and I'm feeling ready to tackle more now. Anyway, enough about me, glad you are here.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 7:40 pm
by Laff
Welcome here! You can do this and many people here will support you. I would suggest preparing ahead for PMS time. You may want to increase your servings a bit but just 3 meals a day! Use the habitcal to watch your habit forming behavior change. If you really are so hungry that you feel the need for a snack have a glass of juice or milk (or water). I know, it sounds so easy but some days is so hard. We are behind you.
Laff :)

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:04 pm
by Dawn
Welcome! You sound like fun, and I am a big fan of fun. Also I think DVR is the greatest invention of all time. This common sense you speak of has me intrigued. I will have to Google it as I am not familiar with it.

As for eye tearing out fits, you had me at count, but you did leave out one of the best of all - journaling - ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Not that I know a lot of "normal" people, but I really don't think normal people, count, weigh, measure or journal every morsel of food. Or do they? OMG, if they do then that means.........we’re normal! Well, we all know that's not true, so no, normal people don't do all those crazy things.

Look, I wouldn't dare tell you how you are feeling during PMS, after all that could be dangerous, but mostly because only you know how you are feeling. That being said I just want you to consider the possibility that your “cravings†are more habit and conditioning rather than real cravings. I found this out for myself after No-Sing for a while. Quite the shocker I gotta admit. And it doesn't help that society and the media perpetuate these things too. Whenever there is a sitcom with a woman PMS-ing you can bet there will be a scene with her bitching at her husband with a Snickers bar in one hand and a box of tissues in the other. Like we are all emotional, chocolate eating demons every 28 days!

Just something to think about. If you really do genuinely have these cravings you are kinda screwed and it will be tough, but if it's just habit and conditioning, you have the ability to see it for what it is and then you can scratch that problem off of your list.

I think it's good that you don't have expectations about an exact weight. I really think the way this works is that after a given time you will just weigh whatever you weigh. I am cutting back the food as much as I can, and I only have so much time to exercise. So I figure after about a year of No-Sing I will be where I should be. To do anything more would put me back to the eye tearing out days - no thanks. Of course I do have a number in mind, or at least a range, but if I fall short 5 pounds or so, oh well, it's a small price to pay to leave behind all the BS.

Good luck and I look forward to hearing positive things from you.

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:31 pm
by gingercake
I do enjoy fun (I feel like I need an exclamation point there, but I'm resisting) - another reason I'm drawn to Reinhard's approach. There is humor. I've spent enough time crying over this stuff to last a lifetime, truly.

Journaling is a mixed bag for me. There have been times when it helped me out of a downward spiral, but only when I'm focusing on writing down what I ate and how I felt to try to know my body better, not when it's all about counting it up and then making a judgment about my self worth based on the total.

The PMS stuff is real, for me. I get cravings (as well as actual increased hunger that is hunger and not cravings), migraines, mild depression, need for more sleep, the works! I'm optimistic, though, that after seeing my doctor last week we have a solution in place. (But, I totally agree that the "jokes", etc., in the media about hormonal women are over the top and a bit insulting, not to mention dismissive of what could actually be real issues!)

The DVR is pretty much the best thing to happen to me in the last few years.

I'm thinking in terms of a year, too, before I even make any judgments. I didn't lose a single pound in the last year while making myself crazy, so doing the same while staying sane would actually not be a bad result. I would like to lose, though.

Thanks for all the welcomes!

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 11:01 pm
by Dawn
Sorry to hear the PMS thing is that bad for you. Even with all the jokes about PMS it's good to see that it is being taken more seriously over the last so many years. Hopefully the great new habits you establish with No-S will make dealing with this very real problem a bit easier. No-S isn't a cure all but a lot of people have said that it has helped them deal with many things more calmly. Not sure why. Maybe for some of us the idea that we can give up snacks makes us believe we can do anything!! I know after the first month on No-S I was ready to put on a leotard, a cape and fly out the front door and start fighting crime. Who knew saying no to a Little Debbie snack cake could make me feel like a super hero?

And I agree, I would like to be thin too, but not at the cost of my sanity. I have lost 7 pounds in nearly 4 months. Maybe that's not the kind of slogan that will sell any diet products, but the idea that I did that without dieting - now there's your slogan! So it takes awhile. Where am I going? I haven't a thing to wear!

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 11:39 pm
by Mavilu
Welcome, girl!.
There really isn't much to add about the forum that the other ladies hadn't commented on, already so, I'll just say that NoS is the way to go when you feel that you lost the handle on your eating and your weight.
I speak from experience.
Hang around the forum and read threads here and there and you'll se that you are not alone, more importantly, that NoS is the sanest thing happening to most of us in a long time.
I'm glad you are here, I hope to see more of you around.

Re: introducing myself

Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:45 pm
by Jessies Daughter
Gingercake

While relatively new to this No S Thingy, (I call it a “Thingy†because I have never been on a successful “Diet†and my brain does not register a “Thingy†as being a method of losing weight.) I am finding that diets do not work for me but… LIFESTYLE CHANGES DO!

Welcome to a brand new way of viewing food and how you eat it. In return for embracing NO SWEETS, NO SECONDS, NO SNACKS, you will be taking up a healthier way to eat which will lead to a healthier way to lose weight.

I have found a home and I am sure that you will too. Welcome!

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:45 am
by blueskighs
the slow way, by eathing mostly whole foods and staying on weight watchers maybe 70% of the time and eating like a crazy person the rest, of course all the while feeling guilty and fearful. I kept it all off until very recently.
Gingercake, I have maintained a healthy BMI for past 15-17 years ... eating "healthy" some percent of the time and then as you say "eating like a crazy person the rest ... and of course, feeling guilty and fearful."

I think I was ready to get off the merry go round and just do something different with my life ... i.e. something other than think and obsess about what I eat and how much I weigh :D

NO S has been the solution. It has changed EVERYTHING. WELCOME back,

Blueskighs

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 2:58 pm
by gingercake
NO S has been the solution. It has changed EVERYTHING. WELCOME back,
Thank you, and by the way I love your blog! (And I have done the FAA/gray sheet thing before, too...even had a sponsor for about 5 seconds before I realized I was a grownup and didn't need some stranger's approval over what I ate. But that is a rant for a different day!)

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 4:10 pm
by DXB1605
Welcome Gingercake!! I know what you mean about the counting points/calories/anything until it drives you crazy. I am sure you will find the NO S way a breath of fresh air.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 9:36 pm
by blueskighs
Gingercake,

thank you for your kind words about my blog.

The interesting thing about gray sheet (which I did for about six months twenty years ago) is that it kind of really changed by life.

On the positive side it taught me to shop, cook and prepare EDIBLE VEGETABLES :D

on the negative side it got me obsessed with a perfectionistic eating style that bordered on, if it was not outright, orthorexia. For twenty plus years I pretty much felt like a total failure if I ate any flour or sugar.

Ironically because gray sheet was so rigid, stringent and the folks there were so unforgiving :) i.e. "abstinence" was three meals a day and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN BETWEEN(except calorie free beverages), NO EXCUSES NO EXCEPTIONS, EVERY SINGLE DAY, even after all this time, THOSE habits are somewhere still in me and it has actually made NO S with S day weekends and being able to eat whatever I want for my three meals a day on N Days kind of like a "walk in the park".

WHO KNEW?

Blueskighs

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:18 am
by gingercake
The interesting thing about gray sheet (which I did for about six months twenty years ago) is that it kind of really changed by life.
I know what you mean. I went six months once without eating any sugar or "white" foods (white rice, white pasta, white bread, etc.) and I honestly believe it had a permanent healing affect on a lot of the compulsive eating and blood sugar issues I had. Ever since then, I always gravitate back to whole foods and my brain and body are happiest that way. And I learned about the wonderful world of grains like whole barley and rye berries and such. So I don't regret that time at all. It was a good intervention and did a lot for me. I don't think I'd be able to do No S without that foundation. But now it's like I'm ready to "graduate" from all that and trust myself without the flashcards and checkboxes and sponsors and journals.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:39 am
by Betty
One of the great things about NoS is that it just makes so much sense. I mean, giving yourself the chance, guilt free, to eat differently on those days (xmas, birthdays) where you would fail on a diet anyway.

In the beginning, I also treated pmS days as S days. I decided that I wouldn't use Veteran's day or Martin Luther King day or other national holidays that weren't "eating" holidays as S days, but every month I would allow myself one pmS day. Because if I didn't, I would fail for sure.

Now it's a bit easier. Maybe it's not eating as much sugar. But I don't have nearly the food cravings during *that* time of the month as before.

Good luck,

Betty

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:08 pm
by FarmerHal
Welcome, Ginger.
I also have a hard time with PMS (and also have a solution in place- it should be completed in a month or so (having an ablation) and I hope it works!!)
Anyway, I know it's very hard to decompress from dieting. I have been nosing since Dec. 15 2006 and have lost 31 pounds in that time. With many imperfect days, and weeks going off N days. one thign I always take with me when I slip up is the no seconds rule. I just cannot get any more food in me than that one plate! And then if I do, I feel disgusting and my tummy is extremely uncomfortable! ugh.

So, my point is, if you slip up one day. Oh well. Get right back on at the next MEAL. Don't wait for tomorrow. Remember that every little bit helps. Every plate helps add up to slow, weight loss.

And check out my siggy for my daily mantra!! :)