Everyday Systems

OK I have stopped and started this diet so many times I am losing count. I think I have been searching for something that will work faster, but it always ends in pounds gained back. OK --- I am starting fresh tomorrow but this time I am going to make way healthier choices and eat out less. I eat way too much fast food! Well anyway I am going to stick to it this time even if it is slow. Any support is appreciated!!

Welcome back, mbjackson!

Have you tried using HabitCal? I find the prospect of another green square surprisingly motivating. It might be worth a go, if you are not already using it.

In your posts, you mentioned making healthy choices. In No S, there are no restricted foods, only sweets are restricted and those only on N days. No S handles healthy food choices by using intelligent dietary defaults. These are meals that you preplan and use when you need a last minute meal that you don't have time to prepare--I think there's a sticky on this.

The secret to success with no S is simple--don't add rules. No S is about establishing good habits, and letting the habits take care of everything else.

This morning I've mentioned Reinhard's podcasts in several posts. Download the ones that pertain to No S and listen to them. They certainly helped me.

Thanks--I will check out the habit cal and podcasts.

Be careful of trying too much at once.

If you're having trouble sticking with one thing, it's going to be even harder sticking with two or more.

No-s is just about controlling excess, not about particular kinds of food. That doesn't mean nutrition is not an important issue too, but it's easier to tackle one issue at a time, and they don't necessarily all need systematic intervention (my experience is that once you get the excess issue down, good nutrition more or less takes care of itself -- the "spotlight" effect of those limited opportunity single plates).

And it's going to be slow, you're going to have to accept that. It's the nature of moderation.

A good tool for keeping you on target and feeding your understandable hunger to see progress is the habitcal, as too solid flesh pointed out. It keeps you focused on one thing at a time, the important thing -- behavior -- and you get an immediate, clear visual sense of how you're doing. You get a visual reward even after just one day. There's no way you're going to lose any actual weight in a day, but you can certainly get a green square. And I think you'll find that that's surprisingly satisfying.

http://everydaysystems.com/habitcal/

Reinahrd

Good luck, first of all .

Many of us (maybe all of us, actually) have been where you are, starting & failing & then picking up & starting fresh. So don't beat yourself over that, what's done is done, today is a new day.

However, I agree with the others. What you mention 'make healthier choices' & 'eat out less' are actually two rather big NEW rules you're proposing to add to vanilla NoS. Now obviously I don't disagree at all that these two things are absolutely good ideas & common sense ways to lose weight. But NoS works because it helps you gradually build habits, until one day you realise you're not actually thinking about it; the habits have become ingrained. If you're trying to do NoS PLUS trying to make 'healthy choices' (whatever that means for you) PLUS trying to change your lifestyle by eating out less, I believe that's too much to hold on to in your mind. Better to start with 21 days of vanilla NoS, just working on having good, green N days. And that's it. After those 21 days are up, think about what went well, what went less well, and go from there. But it does take time to establish NoS, so give it that time before moving on to other things.