Everyday Systems

So far, I'm only on Day 3 but have found it to be pretty easy. I have had some hunger pangs, and urges to raid the cupboard for a snack, but nothing not easily controlled.

I know I'm pretty early into this though and I expect it's not this easy throughout. At what point does it get hard and start taking lots of willpower?

For me, certain events take a lot of willpower
-When friends come over on Monday and bring warm monkey bread
-When I want to gorge all weekend, even though I am trying to learn moderation.
-When I am at work and someone has brought in breakfast treats
-When I have eaten my plate and I perceive that I am still hungry.

Other than that, I find it reasonably easy too.

My biggest challenge has been after a full month of green days and no problems at all - it became really easy to get cocky about it and say (in the middle of dinner), "Oh, I can just make this an S-event and have something sweet/have another small plateful" - which led to me gaining back a couple of pounds.

Having a couple red days here and there really do make you stop and think. So just be careful, and even if you have the habit down, don't get cocky or complacent!

For me, it's when my husband gets a HUGE bowl of ice cream and I envy him and want some too...

What's hard about this diet is seeing virtually no weight loss. I weigh today what I weighed on 1/10. How can this be? Well, weight fluctuates around. What's encouraging is that my total weight since the start in Setpember is 13 pounds, and I am confident I can stay on the diet for the rest of my life.
Kathleen

Here's the truth of the matter: You're going to have good days, you're going to have bad days and you're going to have days that are absolutely awful. That's normal. If the bad or awful days haven't come yet, don't worry, they will. Just enjoy the fact that the first few days have been relatively easy. What's NOT normal is perfection and no challenges.

Nichole wrote:For me, it's when my husband gets a HUGE bowl of ice cream and I envy him and want some too...

Yep, I can see this being a problem. My husband is NOT on any diet, and helps himself to whatever. And I love ice cream!

I know it's going to get hard. I don't expect to lose weight quickly, either. But I would really prefer to lose it slowly and keep it off rather than lose it quickly and gain it all back in a month.

khristal23 wrote:

Nichole wrote:For me, it's when my husband gets a HUGE bowl of ice cream and I envy him and want some too...

Yep, I can see this being a problem. My husband is NOT on any diet, and helps himself to whatever. And I love ice cream!

I know it's going to get hard. I don't expect to lose weight quickly, either. But I would really prefer to lose it slowly and keep it off rather than lose it quickly and gain it all back in a month.

Yeah... the worst part is when he says, "uh uh uh, only on weekends" as he stuffs his face. He isn't on a diet either. Or cares about how he eats.

My husband forgets and offers me sweets... and I say no MOST of the time. I think the S days are hard because you can get a little out of control very quickly and not realize it until you get on the scale on Monday and feel you have undone all of your progress.

I know it's a life choice way of eating... so a weekend or failure days are natural and will come and go. I know the scale is the devil, but I just can't help wondering if my dietary changes are paying off. I know I should be able to tell from my clothing...

My biggest challenges are a few of those that have already been listed here:

1) Practicing moderation on the weekends - I did fine the first weekend, but I was really disappointed in my second weekend on this plan. I pigged out and perma-snacked, and I feel as if I took a big step backwards in terms of establishing habits. I need to realize that this is part of the process of establishing habits.

2) Slow weight loss---I don't weigh myself for this very reason. However, on traditional diet plans (e.g., WW, calorie counting, etc.), the weight loss tends to be faster. I realize that I cannot go on any of those diets anymore because they lead to misery and regaining the weight eventually. Patience is not my strong suit, though.

3) Nighttime is tough for me. I always feel as if I need a little something.

I've noticed reading through posts that some people lose slowly while others lose more quickly. Since I'm a woman, with about 40-50 lbs to lose, I bet it will go slowly for me. A lot of that is baby weight, which I already know is stubborn coming off.

Nichole wrote:

khristal23 wrote:

Nichole wrote:For me, it's when my husband gets a HUGE bowl of ice cream and I envy him and want some too...

Yep, I can see this being a problem. My husband is NOT on any diet, and helps himself to whatever. And I love ice cream!

I know it's going to get hard. I don't expect to lose weight quickly, either. But I would really prefer to lose it slowly and keep it off rather than lose it quickly and gain it all back in a month.

Yeah... the worst part is when he says, "uh uh uh, only on weekends" as he stuffs his face. He isn't on a diet either. Or cares about how he eats.

I have that problem too with my wife. She'll toss back a couple of cookies after dinner. Hard to watch.

But as I always say when she offers me a couple, "I have had a lifetime of eating cookies when i wanted at look what I did to myself, now is time for some control, so no thanks".

Hmmm - - that's a tough question. I mostly think No S has gotten easier the longer I am on it. My biggest challenges are:

1) Weeknight restaurant eating - - if everyone orders appetizers and desserts, it's hard not to join in. I do tend to order the appetizer and then eat a small amount, using virtual plating. Fortunately, we don't do this very much.

2) S Days! I really do struggle with these. Some of them I find myself binging - - and then I feel badly, both physically and mentally. I'm doing this less and less though.

3) My tendency to want to relax the rules - - i.e. if I didn't fill my plate at dinner it's okay to take a bite or two of leftovers OR sugary bubble gum isn't a sweet. I feel myself relaxing at this point (about 100 days in), and I have a bad feeling about it . . .

Renee, you make your own rules ... and then you are alright, lol !

I basically do No S but I am more strict in certain areas and more relax in other areas ...

1st big difference I am doing No S every day, no day off, no weekends, no b'days, no holidays, etc. Any time I am eating too much, it counts as a yellow or a red day, depending on the extent of the 'cheating' ... I don't care if it's X-Mas : if I ate like a pig, it's a red day ... no exceptions.

I can also snack sometimes, but I try to snack on things that are good for me like cucumber, celery, carrots, plain pop corn, etc.

Other times I also 'save' some food for later, like this morning I didn't have my plain yogurt and 1/2 banana.
I saved it for a bit later since I wasn't hungry anymore and I knew I was gonna cycle as well, I didn't want to do that without having eaten something 30 minutes before ...

If you make up your own rules, they are suited perfectly just for you, so you are more likely to succeed in the long run ... Anyway, I adapt the program so it suits my needs better and with all the exercise I do it'd be hard to perform on an empty stomach as well.

Same for the exercise, I change my training program regularly ... every week or two I mix it up in some way ... Minor tweaks.

Wow, this is my best day of the month so far ... I must be losing a lot of weight today ... this morning I was doing yard work outside for an hour straight in the sun and sweating bullets ... Later I went cycling for a long time too and it was intense. Plus tonight I plan on shovelglovin' a bit as well ...

It's crunch time due to my personal deadline, may 1st in the morning, it'll be my official first of the month weigh in ... 40 hours to go, but I'm very optimistic at the moment since I have been very focused the past couple of days in a row. (A deadline helps me, I know I have to be extra good until friday morning)

Cheers !

Marc

Kathleen wrote:What's hard about this diet is seeing virtually no weight loss. I weigh today what I weighed on 1/10. How can this be? Well, weight fluctuates around. What's encouraging is that my total weight since the start in Setpember is 13 pounds, and I am confident I can stay on the diet for the rest of my life.
Kathleen

That's great, Kathleen. I would love to weigh 13 pounds less than I did last September. I'll have to keep that in mind when I start wondering why I'm not losing faster.

Marc,

Reinhard encourages modifications, which is helpful to me. I'm on the other extreme from you in that I don't worry at all about S Days gone wild. In fact, one mod I have is that I can have pop on N Days. Now, I am not much of a pop drinker, but ginger ale has always helped me to settle an upset stomach -- and those S Days gone wild cause stomach aches!

It's getting better. I only had one really out of sight S Day this month.

Kathleen