broke even

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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annolope
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broke even

Post by annolope » Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:51 pm

Well, I started noS last Friday and followed it to the word, but unfortunately I didn't lose any weight. However, I didn't gain any either so..... One thing I can say is that I feel better cutting back on the sugar. I notice that I don't have that routine afternoon headache daily and I don't have all these highs and lows in my energy level. I miss snacks, but that really has gotten better as the week has progressed. I find that knowing that I can have something sweet on the S days without guilt is pretty cool and it is much easier to turn sweets away on non-S days. I really wish I had lost some weight, but overall I think this philosophy is great and something that one can adjust to and follow for life. If anyone has any tips I would love to hear from you. Has anyone else had this "lack of lose" issue????? :roll:

Annolope
See you down the trail!

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peetie
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Post by peetie » Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:15 am

Annolope,
I think expecting loss the first week is more of that "diet" thinking that we are all so accustomed to. The old...lose 7 lb.s in 7 days type of mentality. This is a life plan. A plan to normalize eating. To feel better. To not be obsessed about food. Some people probably lose the first week, and some won't, but as long as you are changing unhealthy eating patterns, you are a winner!

You listed some really important benefits you are getting from this plan. Don't negate them just because the scale isn't moving yet. You could go on another fad diet and lose a chunk of weight the first week, but put it back on and more in the not too distant future. Slow and steady wins the race.

And as time goes on, you may feel comfortable tweaking your food...maybe higher quality...a bit less fat...you'll find a way that feels right for YOU, and you will find your natural weight.

Congratulations, Annelope. You're doing just great.

Peetie

annolope
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Post by annolope » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:52 am

Hi Peetie,

Thanks for the response. So true about the diet mentality, that is what I am used to and really really tired of. Glad to hear that I am on the right track.

Thanks again, :)
See you down the trail!

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:25 am

Annolope,

A week is not a long time. I wouldn't worry too much about it. I didn't weigh myself at all until I was a couple months into it.

You probably don't even want to lose more than a pound or two a week, for sustainability. Such a loss could easily not show up on an inaccurate consumer scale.

I know it's discouraging not to have good behavior immediately rewarded by good numbers. That's why it's better to focus on a metric you have complete control over: the behavior itself. Count "days on habit" rather than pounds. That way there are no surprises, and if you pull off the days, the pounds will come.

On that note, congratulations on your first successful week!

Reinhard

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:06 pm

Hi Annolope!
Good luck! I'm not sure if you are doing any exercise at all?
I would say that NoS is really a type of weight loss plan that must be combined with some daily activity...
Try that out for size and stick with it!
You will figure out how to shake up your body and lose the weight..
How overweight are you? When you are close to your optimal weight it takes a bit more effort on the "burn calories" end to get those last stubborn pounds to move...
You will do it!
Peace and Love,
8) Deb

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ClickBeetle
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Post by ClickBeetle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:00 pm

Hi Annolope,

It's not part of the No-S Plan, but I did some serious calorie reduction for the first few weeks I went on No-S. For me, seeing a "result" is a big motivator, and so I felt I would be more likely to continue over the long haul if I got some tangible reward up front.

Partly because of this I lost a few pounds right away. The great thing was that whenever I was tempted thereafter, I would just stick my thumb in under my waistband and feel how loose it was, and my motivation would come roaring back!

After the first couple of weeks, I just did regular no-S and didn't focus particularly on calorie reduction as much.

Everyone has a different motivator and this is what worked for me.
Chance favors the prepared. - Louis Pasteur

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ClickBeetle
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Post by ClickBeetle » Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:04 pm

PS, forgot to mention that adding 20-30 minutes of vigorous walking each day will also get you "results" faster.

By adding an exercise component, basically you are chipping away at the problem from both sides rather than one ... double the momentum!

Also, exercise improves your mood and makes you more resistant to "mood-snacking" ... and reduces your appetite ... in addition to all the other great benefits. It has really worked out for me in those respects.
Chance favors the prepared. - Louis Pasteur

Big Phil
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Good work!!

Post by Big Phil » Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:26 am

Hi Annolope,
You will probably find that other people will notice you have lost weight before the scale does. Like has been said above, waist measurements loss and looseness of clothes seems to happen faster than actual weight loss with this plan. I think some of it is a bloated look that creeps in when one consumes too much sugar, or that may just be me, but that goes faster than pounds lost.
If you work out how many calories are in a pound of fat and how many are required to run your body every day, it simply isn't possible to lose "7 pounds in 7 days" so when people do so they are losing something else - either muscle or fluid. Fluid in particular can flood back on in no time once the diet is over. No-S is slow and steady because it only gets the fat, the fluid and muscle isn't touched as you aren't disturbing your normal body routine too much. So, like Reinhard says, the more days on plan the better you are doing. You can know for every day you are on it you are directly losing fat.

Can anyone else back me up that other people noticed the weight loss before the scale did? Can I get an Amen?!!

Regards,
Phil.

Kevin
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Weight loss

Post by Kevin » Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:45 am

Hi Annolope.

Big Phil, and others, are right in my experience. In five months I've lost 20-25 pounds, but I didn't lose much, if anything, the first week.

My weight varies so much from hour to hour - much less day to day - that I've stopped thinking about my weight "today". Unlike others, I do weigh my self twice a day, because it's interesting. But I've learned to look at the range of weights over the course of a week.

When I started, I ranged between 194 and 197. Now I range between 173 and 178 (always lighter in the morning, always lighter on non-exercise days, always lightest in the middle of the week, strangely enough). It's really that big a range. So, you can see that over the short term, I gain weight every week, and I lose weight every week, depending on which 7 days I choose to examine. I lose weight every night, but gain it every day.

I toss out the highest and the lowest measure when I think of my weeky range. Here's what I know: In May my weekly range was 194-197. At the beginning of July, it was 186-190. Now it's 173-178.

Consider taking a longer term view on weight loss.
Kevin
1/13/2011-189# :: 4/21/2011-177# :: Goal-165#
"Respecting the 4th S: sometimes."

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:53 pm

Fluid in particular can flood back on in no time once the diet is over. No-S is slow and steady because it only gets the fat, the fluid and muscle isn't touched as you aren't disturbing your normal body routine too much.
Hey there Phil!
Though it is a bit hard to actually peer into our own bodies and know exactly what is being lost when we lose, I would say that what you wrote seems to be right... Nicely put!
The fact that we aren't putting ourselves into mega overdrive is a really great part of NoS... I'm sure, if our bodies could speak, they would thank us for this humane form of dieting... It is a life long thing, so it might as well be pleasant!

Hope you are having fun down under!
No worries up here!
LOL..
Peace and Love,
8) Deb

Sandy
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Location: New Hampshire

Post by Sandy » Mon Oct 17, 2005 2:38 pm

Hi, I am on my 21st day today - yeah! I have tried a few times to reach 21 days and I have to say I feel wonderful. Hang in there regarding the weight - the important thing is to get the feeling of control. Yesterday was an S day and I ate to much apple crisp - what I learned was I slept like crap all night because of being full and the fact that I used to do this more than one night a week so even though I ate way to much it was one night and I'm back on track. Next Sunday I won't make that mistake - I will have one serving and feel better.

I also only weigh myself once a month so I have no idea if I have lost or gained and won't know until November 1st. All I can say is, I have been on a "diet" for the past 5 years and have put on weight, therefore if this weight comes off at 1 lb a month - its better than what I was doing before.

This is a fantastic, easy solution to a million dollar problem...........

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ClickBeetle
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Post by ClickBeetle » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:43 pm

Hi Sandy -- I love what you said about "I used to do this more than one night a week". I have had plenty of slip-ups on No-S but the bottom line is the "slip-ups" nowadays are actually better than an average "normal" day before No-S! So I don't feel like I've really fallen off the wagon, and that's important for me because it's hard to stay motivated if I feel like I've screwed up.
Chance favors the prepared. - Louis Pasteur

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Azathoth
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Post by Azathoth » Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:12 pm

Lots of great things already mentioned here, but I just wanted to emphasize a few of them and add my own thoughts here and there:

Annolope: What everyone is saying is true. No-S is not so much a "diet" as it is a lifestyle. This is so important to keep in mind. You're not going to just massively drop the weight in the first 2 weeks, but on the flip side of that you're not going to bail out on it and go back to the way you were (including putting the weight right back on) because this isn't a "diet" that you go on for a short period of time and then give up on. It's a change in your way of thinking, eating, and feeling. You're going to notice that the more you make NoS a habit, the more you're going to feel better about yourself all of the time and the more you're NOT going to even notice that you're doing it! You'll suddenly begin to find that this is just the way you eat and live, 3 meals a day, leaving out the bad sweets, enjoying yourself on special days. This is the way life was meant to be led, and once you start living the lifestyle you'll look back and wonder why you would ever do anything differently.

What Reinhard said is very true (of course!): Losing 1-2 pounds a week is the most you should expect from any healthy form of weight loss. Losing less than this is fine as well, but more would not only be unhealthy but would likely cause you to rebound and put the weight back on very quickly thereafter. But don't concentrate on scales and weights, just concentrate on how you feel and how long you've been successful and soon enough you won't have to think about it, success will be automatic and failure, when it does happen, will occur in the form of a minor slip that as ClickBeetle states won't be nearly as bad as how you would normally have been eating before starting No-S.

Big Phil: I absolutely found that other people noticed the weight loss long before I was truly aware of it. I suddenly found my friends that I hadn't seen in a few weeks suddenly looking at me funny and saying things like "Wow, you really look like you've lost a lot of weight." I'm a scale watcher (it works for me, but I don't suggest it for most people, it can lead to poor habits) so I was aware of the few pounds I had lost, but what was amazing was that it was not even entirely the weight I had lost that they were noticing, but the FAT I had lost and the slight muscle tone I had begun to put on. I must say, it was a VERY good feeling to have others notice the change that I myself was conciously starting to become aware of.

I know this post is getting far to long, and all I'm really doing is saying that the things people here are telling you are the right ones, they are wise and they are intelligent and best of all, they are all living the NoS lifestyle. Good luck, you really will appreciate this lifetstyle more and more as you begin to let it work its magic.

Sandy
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Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2005 5:18 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Post by Sandy » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:00 pm

ClickBeetle, I'm a virgo so I follow rules to the letter, if I slip up even a little I feel like I fail. I am very hard on myself. For instance I have been working out every morning at 5AM for 19 years.........I cannot go to work unless I have worked out. Kind of obsessive wouldn't you say.

I have never in my life been freer from food than I am now.

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