can't seem to make it!

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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Hungry Girl
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can't seem to make it!

Post by Hungry Girl » Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:31 am

I am not doing very well. I manage all day at work but when I get home I am unable to stick to the plan. First I have a glass of wine (maybe 2) to destress, then a healthy dinner with my husband, but then the sweets and /or seconds start cropping up. Evenings are bad!!! Maybe I should look for a different plan, but if I can't make this one work I don't know what I can do! Anyone else struggling? :cry:

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BrightAngel
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Re: can't seem to make it!

Post by BrightAngel » Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:49 am

Hungry girl wrote: Anyone else struggling? :cry:
Yes, I think many of us struggle.

I have had a very hard time when trying to stick to the plan.
My basic problem is the snacking.
I try for a while, and then give up for awhile, and then try again for awhile.
Most of the people here have shared that they also did not have total success at first.
Anyway, Tomorrow morning I'm going to make another try at it.
BrightAngel - (Dr. Collins)
See: DietHobby. com

rose
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Post by rose » Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:04 am

After 18 months on NoS I very rarely have cravings after supper. But at first it was not so easy. I still get anxious for a snack sometimes on Friday evenings if I am not busy enough. Train your belly, don't let it order you about! (as always, paraphrasing Reinhard's advice on the NoS front page).

Advice:
* make supper a little less healthy and a little bigger for a while. And possibly lunch too.
* hide the food away immediately after you've finished eating. Actually I fill my plate and then put the food away even before eating.
* brush your teeth immediately after supper.
* don't keep snack food at home during the week.
* get busy after dinner. Something that keeps your mind off food. It's summer, go for a walk or something. Read or watch a thriller. Phone someone. Make love ;)

Also, make sure that lunch contains enough complex carbs. Perhaps your evening cravings are actually caused by an energy drop.
Started NoS Jan 07 at 74.5kg (164 lbs, BMI 26.7)
Stable since Jan 08 at 64kg (141 lbs, BMI 23)
My progress chart

kccc
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Post by kccc » Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:59 am

Breaking the evening grazing habit was hard for me too.

I started having a glass of wine (or gum) after dinner, to signal "we're done here." (But I don't have one before.)

Maybe moving your wine to after dinner?
Brushing teeth?

And get out of the kitchen/dining area as fast as you can after dinner. Rose's idea about finding another activity is excellent. I found I had about an extra hour in the evenings after I quit using it to wander in the kitchen and look through the pantry and so forth. I took up knitting, and read more. (I think eating used to be my "hobby." :oops: )

This is a HABIT. You can change it. Once you do, it will work FOR you instead of AGAINST you.

Good luck!

Betty
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Location: London

Post by Betty » Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:45 pm

Hungry girl,

Also, make sure you eat well for breakfast and lunch. I don't know what you mean by a "healthy" dinner, if you mean lots of fruits and veggies or if you mean "light", but one thing that sets up evening snacking is just plain hunger.

I would suggest that right now you don't worry about how little you eat at meals, but how much. Make sure that your nighttime nibbles aren't because of hunger, but just (just :!: ) the habit of snacking. Then later, when you've got the habit down, start decreasing the size of your meals if you're not already losing.

Good luck,

Betty

Hungry Girl
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Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:28 pm

THank you all

Post by Hungry Girl » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:47 pm

Thank you all for your excellent advice! Of course I am going to stick to the plan becasue this is the most sensible plan ever. There is no where else to go!

I think I might make the glass of wine an S food for me and only have it on S days. I think it all goes down hill after the wine.

I never want wine after dinner, it is while I am making dinner usually!
Thanks again for all your help :oops:
Here we go again!

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:03 pm

Having a ritual "punctuation mark" after dinner is helpful, whether brushing your teeth or something else. I usually have a drink or two with dinner, but I linger over it very slowly, starting before but finishing after. So for me, finishing the drink actually serves as a punctuation mark/surrogate dessert.

The habitcal (or something equivalent) can be very helpful incentive as well. If you know you have to fess up in this unambiguous way, even if only to yourself, you'll hesitate to cross the line. I've been amazed at how motivationally useful it's been.

Reinhard

gingercake
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Post by gingercake » Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:23 pm

I second the ideas of moving wine to the end of dinner, or making wine a less regular feature. For me, wine + empty stomach = total food inhibition. Before deciding to move wine to S days only, try having a glass as you are finishing your plate. You'd be surprised how different its effect is on a non-empty stomach. Or put on a pot of tea, or, yeah, some other end-of-meal ritual.

Edited to add: totally agree with Reinhard about the habitcal. I don't know why, but the idea of getting a red square is usually enough to keep me strict. (Also, I really like the "strictness" podcast. It's a good one to re-read now and then.)

foxylady
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Post by foxylady » Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:33 pm

I used to be a real night time eater. Gradually over a few years that became one night time snack..... about nine thirty or ten o' clock. Since discovering No S something wonderful has happened! I no longer want to eat ANYTHING after dinner.... because I don't FEEL as well if I do. For one thing, I do not sleep as soundly and the next morning my energy levels are not as high. This is amazing to me since night time eating has been a habit for nearly all my life.

What is really important to me is this concept of getting in touch with myself ..... knowing that if I eat after dinner I'm not going to FEEL AS WELL! WOW what a change.

So If you just start making little changes, like the good ones suggested here great things can happen. I am proof of that.

Foxylady
Within your weakness, there lies your strength...... sleeping. ( Sylvia Brown's grandmother )

blueskighs
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Location: California

Post by blueskighs » Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:03 pm

for me sometimes I am just tired and need to go to bed early, being tired can be a trigger for me,

Blueskighs
www.nosdiet.blogspot.com Where I blog daily about my No S journey

Dawn
Posts: 215
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:47 pm
Location: So Cal

Post by Dawn » Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:04 pm

Late evenings were the worst for me in the beginning, so I decided to make a habit out of allowing myself one thing at 8PM, but I decided it had to be the same thing every night so that it was controlled and only so desirable. Sugar free hot cocoa did the trick. It's a beverage and as you know they are allowed, but for me it was too desserty and not something that I wanted to continue to allow for any longer than I had too.

The hot cocoa was my default plan and I used the heck out of it in the beginning and slowly weaned myself off of it. I would tell myself to hang tough and that at 8PM I could have my sugar free hot cocoa. Knowing that I could have something made it easier to stick to just that one thing. I know cold turkey is the path most people go down, but it just wasn't working for me during the hours of 6PM and 9PM. It did take a while but for 100 calories, I figured it was keeping me from doing a lot more damage.

It's not a cop out if you have to take baby steps in one area of this.

Good luck and please keep us updated on your progress.
Dawn

roseha
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Location: New York NY

Post by roseha » Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:59 am

Yes Hungry girl I do recommend the habit cal if you aren't already using it. Even if you're the only one who's looking at it, there's just something so *tangible* about that Red, Yellow and Green! It really is a great invention that Reinhard came up with - you really have to stick with noS to get that Green mark and I do think it's helped me a lot. Good luck!

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