New to No S with some worries--encouragement appreciated!

[PhD2010]

Hello everyone! I just started No S on Saturday (easing myself into the mindset of what would happen today, basically) and have been reading a lot of the bulletin board posts to see what everyone else has written etc.

So, all of that is to say that you all are wonderful and I'm so happy to be amidst such a supportive group! But...as this is my first N day, I am anxious/worried that I'm stuffing myself in order to not be hungry before my next meal. And its scary to think I might be over-eating in the process of trying NOT to over-eat. Does that make sense?

That being said, I am loving No S and I guess I'm just posting to anyone who has experienced this in the beginning phases as well. Thanks so much in advance!

Best,
Ashley

[winnie96]

I might be over-eating in the process of trying NOT to over-eat.

That's it exactly! It takes awhile to fine-tune each meal so that you arrive at the next meal hungry, but not ravenous. Initially, I ate too much, then went into not-quite-enough mode, and now after almost 6 months, I pretty much know how much to eat. It's a very interesting process, and I hope you will enjoy it vs. becoming anxious about it. For me, No-S was quite a leap of faith. You have to be willing to not "get it" for awhile, which is a difficult task for us professional dieters.

Good luck, don't worry, and don't be afraid of overeating. You kinda have to do that to know what overeating is, in the context of No-S! Best wishes ...

[reinhard]

I am anxious/worried that I'm stuffing myself in order to not be hungry before my next meal. And its scary to think I might be over-eating in the process of trying NOT to over-eat. Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense. And it's probable, maybe even inevitable that you will do this (at least sometimes) in the beginning. This isn't a bad thing, however, it's an important step in building the habit of meal based eating.

Some relevant teaser content from the book (pages 83-84):

Overloaded plates are actually a positive help when
you are starting out. They will ensure that you are full
enough to make it through to the next meal without
snacking. This is important, because getting the “meal-
ing†habits down is more important than caloric restric-
tion up front. The habits are machines that automatically
keep churning away, restricting your food consumption
long after your conscious mind will have tired of paying
attention. So if it costs a few extra calories up front in the
form of overloaded single plates to build such a machine,
think of them as a sound capital investment.

Gradually, you’ll get very good at estimating how
much food it will take you to make it through to the
next meal. Shame will whittle away at your portions if
they’re too large, and hunger will keep you from mak-
ing them too small. This is a very valuable skill, and
not something any book or manual can teach you. You
have to learn it through experience, and the no seconds
rule provides a safe, simple structure for acquiring it.

Plates come in various sizes. Some will end up hold-
ing more food than others. But calorically speaking, a
single meal doesn’t matter (habitually speaking, it does,
which is why it’s so important to be literally strict).
Over the course of months, hundreds of single- plate
meals will add up to a substantially smaller amount
of food than the same number of multiple- plate meals,
and that’s really all you ought to care about.

Reinhard[/quote]

[PhD2010]

Thanks so much! Both of your comments were quite helpful and just what I needed to here to keep me sane and trucking along.

All the best,
Ashley

[bizzybee]

I was thinking about this adjustment we all do from eating what we believe to be an optimal amount for our bodies, whether we are following a diet and counting things or eating what main stream society deems a meal and appropriate snack foods. But, in all the years I've been hyper-focused on food and nutrition and nutrients and caloric density, I have never had any idea what my appetite tells me. Its sort of amazing how you do overeat at first with No S, out of fear of hunger. Then maybe you don't think it through and skip a meal or grab something too small and sit with a rumbling angry stomach for two hours waiting for lunch. Also, as your body learns to expect less frequent meals, suddenly it's week 3, you are putting less on the plates, rolling into the dinner hour just beginning to notice hunger...