Everyday Systems

After an all-you-can-eat-and-more Saturday, I felt so awful physically on Sunday that I thought I'd do an N day. Didn't eat a thing 'til noon because I felt ill. But was feeling better (ravenous) by dinner so that took care of that . Didn't overdo as much as Saturday but still...

Maybe if the S day is PLANNED as an N day, that would work. Except if that led to feelings of deprivation. But maybe the decision could be made after the first S day. If it was not idiot-like, then YAY, you get another S day? or would that be rewarding with food...

Methinks it's time to listen to S days gone wild podcast again.

On Sunday morning (my only S Day), I looked something I thought I'd eat and decided that I wanted to save room for a second Snickers bar. The memories of weeks of S Days (I started to think of S as standing for stomach ache) has resulted in my not wanting to eat quite so much.
Kathleen

I hear ya! S days are my biggest problem right now. Kathleen has me talked onto trying only 1 S day. I'm sticking to Saturday. This will be my first 1-S day week. My mental struggle is written in my daily checkin if interested. I seem to be trying everything!!

Kathleen wrote:I started to think of S as standing for stomach ache

Ha! Loved this! Especially since I'm there RIGHT NOW. I'm feeling crappy for overstuffing even as I write this.

So maybe the rules for me need to be:

No Sweets
No Snacks
No Seconds
Except Sometimes on Days that Begin with S
And even on S days, No Stuffing to the point of Stomachache!

Vigilant2010,
I am in the minority opinion of thinking it's just fine for me to stuff myself to the point of a stomach ache because --

it's self-correcting!

My stomach revolts now before the food goes down my throat! This past Sunday, I was considering eating something right before me but decided not to eat it because I wanted a Snickers bar later.

This was not a "willpower" decision. I used zero willpower. I think that, long term, that's where you need to be with a diet. You use no willpower. It's just natural for you because your body has learned the downside of stuffing yourself.

In my dieting days, stuffing myself was a more pleasant experience than starving myself. I just now read an article in the Wall Street Journal about diet meals which had from 200 - 290 calories. That is starvation portions. No thank you! When I feel frustrated by the slow progress of this diet, one of the things I say to myself is, "No more Lean Cuisine!"

Because I'm no longer starving myself and stuffing myself on S Days has proven to be unpleasant, I'm gradually eating less on S Days.

Kathleen

I am so sick and tired of being overweight, that I am determined to make this work. On S days I do not set limits, but I do set boundaries.

I realize I DO NOT HAVE TO SNACK or HAVE SECONDS. I carry the spirit of that BOUNDARY into my S days.

If I have baked goods, I make them from scratch, AND I HALVE ALL RECIPIES BEFORE I MAKE THEM. A half a cake or pie or batch of brownies is usually just enough for two to share over the weekend so, I can enjoy a treat with out the temptation of over doing it.
I serve my treat on a saucer and I sit at the dining room table. I am forced to recognize I am eating and included in my enjoyment is cleaning up afterwards. I wash, dry and put up my saucer and fork.
I eat my treat real slow, no gobbling it down between commercials.


I will bake a half Oooey Gooey Butter Cake and enjoy a square or three over the weekend. I will make a half key lime or lemon pie and enjoy a slice or three over the weekend. I will buy a Pint of ice cream and enjoy a spoonful or three over the weekend. I will make a big bowl of salsa (salsa is great over eggs or grilled meats and veggies, I can use it during the week) and enjoy a small bowlful or three over the weekend.

My first S days, I did perma graze, but my portions were small. By the third set of S days I started to be able to tell the difference between when I was hungry and when I just wanted to eat something. Recognizing those feelings were a big breakthrough for me. Now I know I just WANT the treat so it is easier for me to control the portion. Taking the time to bake or make my treats lets me to know that I must really want them.

Now, on S days, I may want a piece of fruit between meals and I will have it. I may want baked goodie after dinner or before bed I will have it. Today I know that tomorrow is just a day away.

This past weekend was much better. Didn't feel much like snacking, had a few treats (4 skinny cow cones over two days, French toast for breakfast). Popcorn at the movies, which I didn't even finish. Nothing major. Nice...

In the back of my mind was my upcoming visit to my GP, who I check in with every three months. Back in December, she told me that the conversation she hated to have with her patients was that they had to change their diet because they'd developed diabetes or heart problems. I joked that I would have to change doctors.

She challenged me to change one thing about my diet and to lose 5 pounds in the next three months. I found no_s in January and had lost 20 pounds by the time I saw her in March. She was genuinely thrilled for me and had actually heard of no-S! I've lost 10 more since then, with a little yo-yoing in between *had a hard time getting back on track after memorial day weekend and then had a binge last weekend).

I had a really excessive weekend -- it was pretty much the first time since I've started where I felt like I was just eating compulsively, for the sake of cramming food in my mouth. I don't know WHAT that was about! Except that I was really tired?

Thalia,
I went through that, and I figured it was just a phase which it was. It was amazing how much I could eat. Now I get stomach aches on less food! In fact, one weekend I had a stomach ache on Friday night and figured my body was anticipating trouble!
Kathleen

Thalia wrote:I had a really excessive weekend -- it was pretty much the first time since I've started where I felt like I was just eating compulsively, for the sake of cramming food in my mouth. I don't know WHAT that was about! Except that I was really tired?

I think these kinds of events keep me humble and help me to not get lax about continuing in good NoS habits in general.

I do think it is worthwhile to think and analyze about any outside factors (like tiredness, stress, etc). I found a few weeks ago that I was very anxious and uptight because I was mentally making my long list of tasks to accomplish this summer while school is out, but school WASN'T out yet, so all that mental energy was being wasted and I was feeling majorly burdened. (This was translating itself into red days on the one night of the week we eat later due to evening meetings--somehow shoving food still has a bit of a comfort factor.)

THINKING about it all, though, helped me realized that 1. I couldn't do anything about getting to those tasks right now, so no need to feel guilty and 2. I could write all my ideas down so I wouldn't forget them when the time came.

I did write my long list and my inner turmoil has settled down completely. (And Thursday's red habitcal streak has been broken. Yay!)

Thalia wrote:I had a really excessive weekend -- it was pretty much the first time since I've started where I felt like I was just eating compulsively, for the sake of cramming food in my mouth. I don't know WHAT that was about! Except that I was really tired?

I haven't had excessiveness like this, but I have had stomache aches this past weekend after eating dessert on Father's Day. Even the chocolate chip cookie I had on Monday upset my stomach. I get nauseous when I see sweets on TV. Snacks are not a problem.

I wish I was where you guys are. I don't care how long I've gone without sweets (and I've done that for months at a time in the past), I never get
nauseous thinking, seeing, or eating sweets.

I just don't seem to experience these dramatic turnarounds that others do. I wish I did.

vmelo--I don't either--it will be something I have to manage forever--and some S days I seem to have much more control then others--it does seem like the earlier I open the sweet door, the harder a time I have--I am trying to put off the inevitable these days--

I am not a sweets person so much when it comes to chocolate or candy or anything, more when it comes to pie or cheesecake or pastries. We have had a candy dish sitting here for a LONG time and I haven't eaten a single piece and I still have the box of Valentine's chocolates hubby bought me.

I might eat a puffy peppermint candy now and then but that's about it.

Now salty snacks - they are always calling my name....