Birthday policies?

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DaveMc
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Birthday policies?

Post by DaveMc » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:47 am

Hi folks, I've been following No S for about a month and a half, now, and I'm really feeling like it's the most sensible, sustainable plan I've ever encountered. Great stuff, Reinhard! I even bought the book, so enjoy your nickel (or whatever you get from the publisher for each copy)! :) Snacking was my great downfall, and now I've got the no snacks habit firmly in place for N days -- what's been a nice surprise is how much easier this is. I hadn't realized, before, how much trouble it was to maintain and replenish supplies of snacks in my office! Now I just bring a lunch, and that's it - simple.

I'll have to introduce myself more thoroughly later, but for now I thought I'd just say "hi", and ask a quick question: What do people tend to do when their birthday falls on a day that's already an S day? I have a birthday coming up on a Saturday (this very Saturday, in fact), and I must admit to feeling a bit cheated: I thought I'd be getting an extra S day out of that! :) And looking ahead to 2010, it'll be on Sunday ... so no birthday S days until 2011? Shucks.

Some national holidays shift to the nearest Monday or Friday, while others honour a specific date and just fall whenever they fall (like July 4 in the U.S., or Canada Day (July 1) in Canada). I have an uncomfortable feeling that birthdays are more like the latter than the former -- that is, the specific date is important, so it doesn't really make sense to shift them around.

Still, I was curious about what others do. I won't actually be all that disgruntled to do without a bonus S day, the weekends are more than enough of a release valve for me. Comments?

Cheers,
Dave

wosnes
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Post by wosnes » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:00 am

It falls when it falls. No bonus S day.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:07 am

Hi Dave,

Welcome! And congratulations on your successful start.
I even bought the book, so enjoy your nickel (or whatever you get from the publisher for each copy)!
Thanks! It's a whopping 60 cents, actually! (and an additional 60+ cents if you buy through my amazon link -- yes, an amazon associate gets a bigger cut than the author). Sort of surprisingly, kindle books work much better on both levels (about a dollar from both).
What do people tend to do when their birthday falls on a day that's already an S day?
My rule is if the celebration falls on some other day (unlikely, if the actual day is a weekend) then I'll let myself take that as an S-day. But I won't give myself an extra day just for the sake of a quantitative match. I've actually found that there are so many excuses to take S-days that I'm relieved when birthdays fall on a weekend -- a bigger challenge is NOT taking every tenuous S-day opportunity.

Happy birthday and sorry if that's not quite what you wanted to hear! (and feel free to ignore it, of course).

Reinhard

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Post by Bushranger » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:07 am

wosnes wrote:It falls when it falls. No bonus S day.
That sums it up perfectly.

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DaveMc
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Post by DaveMc » Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:29 pm

Tough crowd. :)

Well, I must admit I was sort of hoping for a "Sure, go ahead and take a bonus S day", but I appreciate the commentary. One of my favourite things about No S is that it's a diet where I have discretion, so I'll take your advice under consideration, and decide. (I guess you always have discretion, but most diets aren't so clear about it.) You've biased me towards not taking the extra S day, though, curse you! :)

Interesting that you should mention too many non-weekend S days as being a problem, though. I'm only a little over a month in, so it may be too early to have real experience with this, but so far I've only taken one civic holiday (a long-weekend Monday) as an irregular S day, so they don't seem to be coming thick and fast.

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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:05 pm

Hi Dave :)
Welcome.
Here's a suggestion.. Why not make a special event for yourself during the week that is fun, but fun which isn't based on food?
Or if it is, make it quality, and enjoy a really well cooked meal at a very nice restaurant and let the fact that you took yourself out to celebrate, and someone else (the waiters, the chef, your invited company, etc..) be a reward.

Good luck and hope you have a great Birthday.
8) Debs
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

kccc
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Post by kccc » Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:23 pm

Lol! Yup, No-S throws the responsibility right back on you, doesn't it?

Building on Deb's excellent suggestion... one of the things I totally love about No-S is that I can have perfectly N-compliant meals that are incredibly special. Since you're not limiting entire food groups, you can have food you really, really like! Maybe indulge in slightly pricey treats that normally wouldn't be in the fridge, or go out? And enjoy!

Or, of course, take an S-day just because. If you don't go crazy, some of those ARE allowed. Just track them, and don't take too many.

Happy birthday, and welcome to the group!

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DaveMc
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Post by DaveMc » Thu Aug 27, 2009 11:44 am

KCCC wrote:Lol! Yup, No-S throws the responsibility right back on you, doesn't it?

Building on Deb's excellent suggestion... one of the things I totally love about No-S is that I can have perfectly N-compliant meals that are incredibly special. Since you're not limiting entire food groups, you can have food you really, really like! Maybe indulge in slightly pricey treats that normally wouldn't be in the fridge, or go out? And enjoy!

Or, of course, take an S-day just because. If you don't go crazy, some of those ARE allowed. Just track them, and don't take too many.

Happy birthday, and welcome to the group!
For the record, I didn't take an extra S-day. Getting to two months in, now, I'm finding that I'm not so desperate for "extra" S-days: the weekends are plenty. Thanks for all the responses!

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:26 pm

Excellent! Thanks for the update! Hope it was a happy (if not extra-) birthday.

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