Everyday Systems

Wow, I have struggled so much with gaining and losing 20 lbs over and over. I am 5'3" and weigh 156.5. I feel the best around 148. I can maintain easily at 152. I know that is still overweight, but that is where I feel the best. I have been doing NoS off and on for the past 3 years and always it works. This last year was a difficult year and I let my weight get up to 170. Wow! Anyway, I am back on NoS and it is working once again. I have lost 11 lbs since Apr. 5th. I do walk most days at least 10,000 steps and use a 9 inch plate. No S is a lifestyle change. I feel so good waiting for my meals and not snacking. It works if you keep going and stay with the rules. (I use the 9 inch plate because that is all the food I need to feel full and I don't lose weight when I use larger plates.)

Hi mjn - I wonder, would you mind saying what it is that throws you off the No S wagon when it seems you are so happy with it when you are on it?

I'm pretty new here and just trying to understand what the issues are for longer-term No S'ing.

Take care, Graham

I think my question is the same as Graham's -- only worded differently. If No-S works, why do you go off the program? It sounds as if you gain when you stop following No-S.

I think I can shed a little light on that question - at least from my perspective. I do not handle stress, drama, and other high-emotional issues of living very well...really, not well at all. My way of dealing prior to discovering NoS was to drown myself in comfort foods and eat until I numbed the bad feelings. I know this is not the way to deal with feelings, but I was raised in a house where you didn't talk about bad things - the philosophy was if you "swept them under the rug," ignored them, and pretended they weren't there, they would magically disappear.
Well, of course, as an adult I know that approach is totally unhealthy and unproductive, but sometimes I am at a loss of how to handle bad things and I revert to the old ways of my childhood. Then I find it increasingly difficult to climb back aboard the NoS wagon. I am in the midst of this very type of situation right now. We are dealing with an aging mother-in-law who is in a nursing care facility and constantly reminds us how much she wants to come home, and both my sisters-in-laws recently diagnosed with cancer. I must admit that it is the cancer that sends me spinning having lost both my mother at a young age and my father a few years ago to it.
Okay, enough about me...but I hope this sheds some light on why I stray from NoS. Presently I'm working very hard on dealing with emotions and not giving up on NoS.
Mimi

I think that I will get off track for a couple of days at some point and snack or overeat alot and then I just keep staying off track. I have to learn not to do that. I have a hard time stopping that behavior once I get started. I love popcorn and that is a trigger food for me. I have to give it up or I just get back to eating it all the time, with lots of butter and cheese. Anyway, I feel so much better on NoS than any other times. I have to learn self control, that's all..

May I just gently say that if you are worried about illness, one of the best things you can do for yourself is eat well. I know it is no guarantee, but it's got to be better than eating too much. Although I am far from a vegetarian, I did take macrobiotic cooking classes years ago. Michio Kushi, who introduced this system to the US, used to say that overeating was worse than anything-worse than meat and worse than sugar. And that is saying something because those were pretty much toxins to them.

I hope this helps you when the anxiety munchies start yammering. Do your body and spirit a favor and don't eat! It will go back to being easier, and you will be in better shape to fight illness, if you are unlucky enough to contract something.

Thanks for the wise advice oolala53. I'm sure there is much truth to that...overeating surely plays havoc with all of the body's systems - evident with how badly one feels afterward.
It's not so much that I'm frightened about getting cancer or some other dreaded disease, but I can't stand to watch someone else suffer with it...too many terrible memories...and I don't handle them well.
But, thanks again for sharing your insight.

Mimi